Introduction

To say that the Burren is a karst landscape of glacial limestone in north Clare would be like saying that hurling is a stick-and-ball sport played in Ireland. Neither statement is wrong – both are factually irrefutable – but both miss the spirit, the soul and the passion of the people who live here (and who fervently follow the sport). It was the people and their passions I went in search of over three seasons of the year: spring, summer and autumn.

At first glance, the Burren seems a rugged, desolate place, the kind of landscape – both literal and metaphoric – that takes a special kind of organism to survive there, let alone thrive. But linger awhile and you will notice that an astonishing variety of life has found niches and crevices in which to do just that. And just as a mixture of Arctic–Alpine and Mediterranean plant species have been swept here by the forces of nature, so too have a diverse array of people settled in and around the Burren. One chef said it best: ‘There have been people on the Burren as long as there have been people in Ireland.’ They have always made their lives and their livelihoods in connection with the health of the land.

From Dublin and London, Sweden and France, from Finland and from the north Clare land their families have lived on for centuries, they have come to the Burren. Like those seeds scattered by the forces of nature – relying on their own tenacity to survive – they have found a crack in the crag, put down roots and been nourished by the soil and spirit of their surroundings.

The names and faces and stories in this book are of the people of the Burren who create food in the Burren. It’s a place that has been renowned for the quality of its produce for as long as people have cared about what they eat.

Tudor banquets of King Henry VIII are said to have been stocked with Pouldoody Bay oysters, where cold limestone-filtered water enters the salty tidal flats of Galway Bay. Cromwell’s general Edmund Ludlow infamously said of the Burren in 1651 that ‘it is a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him’. What has been forgotten, however, is that he continued by lauding the quality of its lamb and the fatness of its cattle, attributing this to ‘the grass growing in turfs of earth, of two- or three-foot square, that lie between the rocks, which are of limestone’, that is ‘very sweet and nourishing’.

Even to this day, heads of state and visiting royalty are served organically farmed salmon smoked in Lisdoonvarna. Ireland’s first pub to earn a coveted Michelin star happens to be in the Burren.

Oysters from the Flaggy Shore are a sought-after delicacy all over the globe. The weight of awards, trophies, plaques and placards lauding artisan producers, local foods and places to enjoy them could sink a Galway hooker.

These things are no secret. Many people know the food, know the restaurants and know the places, but few know the people behind the produce. That’s the book you hold in your hand. As a follow-on to my book Dingle Dinners, the Burren EcoTourism Network, the Burren Food Trail and LEADER provided me with the opportunity to tell the stories of the people behind the swinging doors. You’ll meet farmers and shopkeepers, chefs and artisan producers in these pages. You’ll get to know whence they came, why they came and, importantly, why they stay in the Burren. What follows are snapshots of people in their homes, talking about their food and expounding their love of the place.

We then offer you an even rarer opportunity: to prepare, taste and share with your family and friends meals and dishes these Clare foodies make for their own friends and family. This isn’t ‘chef ’s food’ per se. Rather, these are the dishes that people who make food for the public make in private. We settled on menus for a party of six people in all of the recipes, but everyone’s appetite is different and you may have a few leftovers. For those times when group cookery is the plan for the day, we have also included suggestions for the wonderful north Clare tradition of a Long Table supper – a shared communal meal.

It was a privilege to sit down and share a cup of tea (or a pint) in homes, farms, shops, pubs, restaurants, inns and production facilities in the Burren. It is an honour to have been asked to relate the stories they shared with me within the pages that follow. You’ll read of dishes from mothers’ and grandmothers’ kitchens, of meals prepared to welcome home loved ones, of suppers they throw together after a long day working or meticulously prepare for special occasions. They are foods that bring the Burren to mind for the foodies of one of Ireland’s finest culinary destinations, foods from the heart and soul of the place they call home.

TLG, 2019

note on measurements As visitors to the Burren come from all corners of the world, we have to assume that this book will make its way into the hands of cooks around the globe. We have, therefore, offered all of our recipes in standard imperial and metric measurements. The same for temperatures and ingredient names.

We hope you enjoy these wonderful menus and recipes no matter where you call home.