Irish beef makes return to New York with Michelin-star menu

Irish beef, marking its return to the US market for the first time in more than 15 years, received the Michelin-star treatment at one of New York City’s top restaurants, Daniel, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

More than 100 guests, including American chefs, importers and media, joined Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and a Irish trade delegation last night to celebrate the re-opening of the American market to beef exports from Ireland.

Diners enjoyed Irish “beef tartare with oyster gelée,” “pasture-raised ribeye of Irish beef tartare on gougère” and “beef tenderloin and foie gras carpaccio with black truffles and hazelnuts.”

The dishes were cooked by two-star Michelin chef, Paris-based Jean Paul Jeunet, Dublin-born Cathal Armstrong who owns the acclaimed Restaurant Eve near Washington DC and Daniel's own Jean Francois Bruel.

Bord Bia, the food marketing agency, described the feast as an “Irish beef demonstration.”

Irish steaks are not expected to be sold US restaurants until March. Thanks to meat magnate Larry Goodman, however, a special consignment arrived especially from his ABF plant in Clones, Co Monaghan to whet the appetite of American diners about the quality of beef from cows fed with grass rather American grain-fed cows.