Recipes for drisheen, from Cork’s top chefs

THERE’S a recipe book that sits on my bookshelf full of many ways to cook one of Cork’s most famous black puddings - one of my own creations is nestled within its pages, so I can testify to its versatility.

It got me thinking: could we do the same for drisheen?

The most famous way of serving drisheen is with tripe and onions. The Farmgate Café at The English Market has this dish on its menu every day, ready to serve its regulars who come in for it. Should they run low, it’s a quick dash for head chef, Pamela Kelly, from the kitchen to O’Reilly’s to pick up some more - a genuine zero miles food!

The Farmgate have kindly shared their famous recipe for Drisheen, Tripe and Onions here, by Pamela Kelly, head chef - www.farmgatecork.ie

Drisheen Tripe and Onions

Ingredients

1 lb (450g) tripe

1 small onion, peeled and sliced

salt and freshly ground pepper

cold milk - sufficient to cover

roux (butter and flour)

Method

1. Put tripe into a saucepan with enough water to cover. Put the lid on and cook for 8-10 minutes.

2. Discard the cooking liquor, add the onion to the tripe and cover with cold milk. Simmer gently for 1 hour or until tripe is tender.

3. Strain off the milk into a fresh saucepan and thicken with some roux. Season with salt and plenty of pepper. Strain the milk back into the saucepan with the tripe. Add peeled and sliced rounds of drisheen and heat through.

4. Check seasoning (it will take quite a bit of pepper) and serve on a slice of buttered white bread.

I had thought this dish was the only way of serving drisheen, but while reading, researching and interviewing for this series, I’ve discovered many different ways to cook, serve and eat it that demonstrates its versatility.

Donagh O’Reilly, Ireland’s only drisheen maker, gave me two ways he likes to cook it:

“I fry it sometimes with a rasher. Put the rasher in the pan, fry it, then put a bit of drisheen on the bacon to flavour it.

“But the way my dad used to always do it, from my grandmother’s time actually, was to put a pot of milk on, loads of salt and white pepper, mushrooms and tomatoes, boil them up and pop in the drisheen for a few minutes to warm through. That’s my favourite way, served with toast and tea.

“My grandmother would cook it for us on a Sunday morning, when we were kids.”

Regina Sexton, culinary historian, in her essay I’d ate it like chocolate, recalled the way Declan and Michael Ryan, who ran the Michelin-starred Arbutus Lodge before it closed in 2002, cooked it:

“The drisheen is placed in cold water and brought close to the boil. Care must be taken not to allow it to reach boiling point, as this makes it too tough and spoils the texture. It is taken from the pot, and the casing removed. It is then sliced and arranged on a large piece of thickly buttered white bead.

“A rudimentary white sauce is prepared, to which an extra knob or two of butter is ritually added. It is seasoned with plenty of pepper. The sauce is then poured over the drisheen and bread.”

Dr Flicka Small last week introduced us to the way James Joyce recalled how he most preferred his drisheen - served with a Tansy Sauce.

In 1930, English travel writer, H.V. Morton, in his book In Search of Ireland, asked for drisheen to be cooked for him while staying in a hotel in Cork. “When I asked in the hotel for ‘drisheen’, they thought that I was trying to be funny. The drisheen is a native of Cork. If you see a man in Waterford, Wexford, Galway, Dublin or Limerick with what appears to be a chocolate-coloured python, you can be certain he comes from Cork. […]

“They brought me the drisheen boiled on a plate. In a moment of mistaken enthusiasm they poured melted butter on it. I believe I would like it better fried.”

It feels right to collate these old ways of cooking drisheen into one place - for posterity, if nothing else. But for a younger generation of Corkonian, with their well-travelled palates, how might they like to eat it?

I asked two Cork-based chefs, no strangers to cooking offal, if they would take up my challenge of devising a recipe that would appeal to a new generation.

To their credit, Brian Murray from The Glass Curtain and Harrison Sharpe of Elbow Lane, both put serious thought, time and effort into coming up with their creations. Here are their stories and recipes…

Drisheen and Date Bites, Brian Murray, chef/proprietor The Glass Curtain www.theglasscurtain.ie

“This recipe is a snack. The date puree makes more than you need, stores well in a fridge and is also excellent with cheese and terrines.

“I was buying drisheen in the market and got chatting to the lady behind the counter and another of her customers - two ‘Pure Cork’ women! One swore by the traditional method cooked in milk, the other suggested frying it with a little smoked bacon fat; they had a good-humoured argument over what I should do with it. The crisped bacon and pastry gives contrasting texture to the soft drisheen.”

1. First make the spiced date puree (recipe below) - this adds acidity and sweetness.

2. Brush slices of Brick or filo pastry with butter, sprinkle with thyme and sea salt, and bake between two baking trays to keep flat.

3. Fry the bacon until crispy and set aside, then cook slices of drisheen in the bacon fat until warmed through.

4. Serve the drisheen with a piece of crispy bacon on top and sandwich between two pieces of baked pastry.

Date Puree

700g Medjool dates, pitted

2 whole star anise

2tsp ground ginger

30 black peppercorns

300ml white port

150ml sherry vinegar

100g muscovado sugar

Method

1. In a medium dry pan, toast the spices.

2. Add port, vinegar, sugar and bring to boil making sure sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Place dates into a deep saucepan and strain the port mixture over. Add enough water to cover the dates and cook until soft.

4. Blitz well, season with salt and sherry vinegar.

Drisheen Ravioli, Harrison Sharpe, head chef Elbow Lane, www.elbowlane.ie

As with all Market Lane restaurants, (Elbow Lane Brewery & Smokehouse, Market Lane, ORSO, Goldie and Castle Restaurant Blackrock), sustainability is at the heart of Elbow Lane, and while best known for its ‘nose-to-tail’ dining, Sharpe has developed strong relationships with local growers and vegetables now take more limelight on his plates, served alongside cuts that are overlooked by most kitchens.

“I’m no stranger to offal, which means I’ve an acquired taste for acquired tastes, but drisheen had me intimidated! I headed to O’Reilly’s and asked the lady at the counter to recommend preparing it. She gave me three options: boiled, fried in butter, or cooked in a white sauce with lots of onions.

“This gave me some ideas, and I headed back to Elbow Lane to experiment. The result is delicious - a modern version of the three ways advised to cook drisheen at the stall. This is a weekend project, perfect for a lazy Sunday!”

Harrison recommends buying fresh lasagne sheets, unless you’re confident in making your own pasta.

This recipe is in several parts. Follow in sequence for best results. (Serves 4).

Drisheen

250g O’Reilly’s drisheen

Buttermilk

Brine (combine 20g salt with 500g water)

Method

1. Pierce drisheen all over, place into a ziplock bag adding enough buttermilk to cover. Refrigerate overnight.

2. The next day, rinse off buttermilk and place drisheen in a container with ½ the brine for 2 hours.

3. Drain and rinse the drisheen, place in a bowl with fresh water. Leave for 1 hour.

4. Drain the water, rinse again and soak in the remaining brine for 1 hour.

5. Drain and soak in fresh water for a final time for 1 hour.

6. Fill a medium saucepan with water, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and bring the water to a simmer, add the cured drisheen and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the saucepan and place in a bowl of ice water.

7. Add the drisheen to the court-bouillon, cook over a very gentle simmer for 10 minutes.

8. Remove from heat, cool, then chill in refrigerator. Roughly chop.

Stock

1 carrot

1 whole garlic bulb

1 celery stick

½ onion

½ leek

1 tbsp black peppercorns

4 bay leaves

1 sprig of thyme

150g white wine

½ lemon, sliced

1ltr water

Method

1. Add all ingredients to a pot, simmer for 30 minutes.

Drisheen filling

40g butter

1 onion, finely diced

30g balsamic vinegar

150g cream

250g drisheen

Pinch of nutmeg

40g Parmesan cheese

4 sage leaves, finely chopped

2 egg whites

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent.

2. Add balsamic vinegar and reduce by two-thirds, add the cream, bring to the boil until thickened.

3. Add Parmesan, sage, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and chopped drisheen. Set aside to cool.

4. Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and combine with the drisheen mixture.

Brown butter

150g butter

3 sprigs of sage

Juice of ½ lemon

50g hazelnuts

40g dried apricots

Method

1. Add butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring until all the water has evaporated and the butter starts to foam and smell nutty.

2. Cook until bubbles subside, and the butter has specks of brown.

3. Pour into a bowl with the remaining ingredients.

Ravioli

300g fresh pasta

Drisheen filling

water

flour

Method

1. Work in batches of 4 ravioli.

2. Lay the pasta sheets on a lightly floured surface. Scoop a teaspoon of drisheen filling onto the sheet leaving 2cm around the edges and 5cm between each scoop.

3. Lightly brush between the filling with water and place another sheet over the top removing as much air as you can. Punch out with a ravioli stamp and reserve on a lightly floured tray.

4. Bring a saucepan of well-salted water to the boil and gently drop the ravioli in to cook for 3 minutes.

5. Remove using a slotted spoon, add to the brown butter and toss.

6. Serve with grated Parmesan.

Between the old and the new, these recipes show drisheen is versatile and delicious as a humble dish or elevated to restaurant standard. All we need is an open mind and a curiosity to taste