FIRE STEAKHOUSE DUBLIN
ALL FIRED UP FOR IRISH BEEF
The World Steak Challenge is an event that takes place every September. This year, the event was on in Holland, at Vlees & Co in Amsterdam, with the awards ceremony being reserved for November at the Smith & Wollensky American Steakhouse in central London.
n the panel of judges involved in the competition is Irishman Richie Wilson. He is Culinary Director at both Fire (steakhouse) and Sole (predominantly seafood) restaurants in Dublin.
Like so many chefs in Ireland, the influence came through the maternal line, through his mother and her mother.
“I always loved cooking,” says Richie.
“I don’t think that there was ever anything else that I wanted to do… Growing up, food was very important in our household and mealtimes were very important.”
Richie’s journey through the Irish catering scene followed a fast-evolving path as the sophistication levels of the Irish palate rose rapidly. From the Gresham Hotel via Eddie Rocket’s (where he met his wife-to-be, Sue),
Richie had to move from his native Dublin to Athlone for his formal culinary training.
“I really soaked it up,” says Richie. “I very happily stayed behind in college when there were nights on, like when there was a dinner on for 2nd and 3rd-year students.”
FIRE award-winning steakhouse and bar in the heart of Dublin city centre.
A LEARNING CURVE
“I’d volunteer to help out and get involved. I wanted to be involved in everything.” Richie organised some work placements in Dublin and these included a stint at Grattan’s Restaurant; a “crazy busy” place at the time where he prepared many Cajun prawns. Then came a placement at the Hibernian Hotel.
“The food in there was at another level,” says Richie. “That really opened my eyes more than anything I’d seen up to that point. It was such a huge learning curve –I really learned from there.”
After graduation, Richie was awarded a scholarship to American private university Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island.
“The learning curve on that was massive,” recalls Richie. “I learned ice-carving from a master ice-carver, a Japanese chef taught me how to make Japanese food, a German chef taught me how to make sausages… it was superb tuition.”
A SUPPORTIVE FAMILY
For Richie, the hospitality sector was always exciting but even though his parents were always supportive of his career choice, it was one that they never overly encouraged, knowing how tough the job was.
After his American educational chapter, he returned to Dublin. Back at the Hibernian, he got a phone call from a rising culinary star.
“He said, ‘I’m Paul Flynn’ and I was thinking like, ‘Yeah, who are you really?’… Paul was running La Stampa at the time and he was literally in the process of opening up the Tannery.”
"A GREAT MENTOR"
It was the beginning of a memorable 3-year spell at the Tannery in Dungarvan.
“He was a great mentor,” says Richie. “An amazing chef and an amazing person. He’s not out to shock like some television chefs and his skills and palate and understanding were second to none.”
Sue was coming back to Dublin to do her Masters so he left The Tannery with a heavy heart but his next move was to work with another culinary star, Kevin Thornton. It involved cutting short his holidays when the job offer came through but Richie couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Although he came close to leaving after the first intensive day in the kitchen, the buzz on the next day convinced him to stay. He remained for another year and a half until Thornton’s Restaurant achieved its second Michelin star in 2001 – the first time an Irish chef had achieved such an honour.
FIRE RESTAURANT
After a move to the highvolume world of the Westin Hotel, Richie got the call to work at Fire (previously known as Fadó), where he has worked for the last 12 years.
“They don’t accept second best in anything all,” says Richie. “And it’s a family – we all watch out for one another, and I know that a lot of people say that but it really is a family here.”
The two restaurants employ some 186 people between them, with a large marketing and sales operation ensuring that seats are filled all the time. There is also a very strong culture of using all Irish produce as much as possible. “We never rest on our laurels,” says Richie. “Providence is everything to me. In reality, if you find the best possible produce, everything is easy after that. In both restaurants, it’s a definite decision to use Irish produce wherever it’s humanly possible.”
THE WORLD STEAK CHALLENGE
It creates a very different level of service in a restaurant, Richie says, when the waiter is familiar with the producers of all the elements of the meal. And it’s part of the philosophy and drive to find the best that has encompassed Richie’s involvement in the World Steak Challenge.
“The World Steak Challenge is ultimately a search for the best steak in world,” says Richie, who points out that it wasn’t until after Covid that FIRE had decided to focus its efforts on becoming a topclass steakhouse. And it was around 5 years ago that the competition was brought to Ireland – specifically to FIRE.
“For every single member of staff, it was an amazing experience,” recalls Richie.
“You’re talking well in excess of 400 entrants from around the world. Each piece of beef is sent as a whole joint. The rules are that there must be nothing on the bone.”
As the competition has grown, so too have the number of categories – both of the steak types and their geographical source – and the number of prizes. Wagyu beef gets an entirely separate category, as it’s so different in nature from everything else.
“A full team of Irish butchers travels with me as well,” says Richie. “This will be the second year that they will have travelled with me but it’s probably the 5th or 6th year that they’ve done the butchering for it.”
The beef producers choose the piece of beef that they want to enter. The cut is presented to the judges in its raw form first, with variations from the different butchering practices from the different parts of the world.
“On the day of judging, we’d have five or six chefs all lined up on the grill. Each chef will be cooking one steak at a time. Our idea is to get as level a playing field as possible, so we’re not judging how the chef cooked it, or how they’ve seasoned it. We have to get everything as consistent as possible so that the beef on its own is being judged.”
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Steaks are cooked on a Synergy grill, which burns off any residue that might influence the flavour of the next steak and salting is carefully monitored so as to be consistent. Aside from the main competition, there are also round-table talks on various subjects. These include such topical topics as carbon footprint. On that, Richie says, it is surprising the amount of measures that one can take to reduce beef production’s carbon footprint.
“There are a lot of things you can do –from the type of feed you use to the age at which you slaughter the animal. The older the animal is, the higher amount of methane it produces.”
SHARING KNOWLEDGE GLOBALLY
Another aspect of these great world beef gatherings is the networking value of them. It involves sharing knowledge with beef producers and chefs from Argentina or Australia or Italy and all of them hold the Irish bovine in great esteem. Much of this, Richie says, is down to the “phenomenal” promotional work carried out by Bord Bia.
“The level at which Irish beef is held at around the world is astonishing. And it isn’t until you sit down with people like this that you fully realise how proud you can be of the produce that’s coming from this country.”
This year’s event:
“This year was by far and away the largest since it’s conception,” says Richie, “with more entries than ever and 94 judges attending. I also believe this year was the toughest in terms of judging. With the bar being raised each year, achieving a medal is a serious achievement. Winning a gold is enormous!”
“I am delighted to say that Ireland has performed extraordinarily well with all of the producers, receiving notification of their achievements last week. Our own Peter Hannan achieved a Gold Medal for the Salt Aged Rib-Eye we serve here in FIRE and SOLE.”
THE COMPETITION
“I cannot wait to go to London in November when the overall awards will be presented and I can tell you that Ireland will be well represented there!”
“Each year I get more and more excited as the competition draws closer and with good reason – 3 days of sampling the best beef in the world is truly a privilege. Representing Ireland along with fellow Irish judges, the Irish butchers and of course our chef Ciarán, filled me with pride and put a little pep in my step while I was there.
Can’t wait for next year!”
