FOOD FILE:Benoit Lorge, who has a chocolate shop in Kenmare, has designed a very smart range of chocolate shards that come in milk, dark and white varieties.
The Valrhona chocolate snaps with a satisfying crack, and toppings on the shards include pistachios, toasted hazelnuts, candied ginger, fudge, and dried raspberries and oranges. There are also caramel, cinnamon, chilli, honey and orange flavours, and sugar-free versions of both milk and dark. The shards come in smart 80g cellophane packs and cost between €4.95 and €5.50. They’re on sale now in specialist food shops and delis and some wine shops.
‘Tasting India’, by Christine Manfield, published by Conran Octopus (£40)
BOOK OF THE WEEK:Cookery books are becoming ever more lavish productions as publishers strive to get us to part with cash for the pleasure of holding them in our hands, rather than downloading recipes from the internet.
With Tasting Indian, by Australian chef Christine Manfield, Conran Octopus has raised the bar to even greater heights. Large-scale, coffee-table format, tick (it’s a big production, in every sense). Masses of colour photographs, tick (Anson Smart’s work has a National Geographic quality). And here’s where the stops come out: it’s the first book I’ve come across since David Thompson’s Thai Food that is bound in silk – a riot of gorgeous gold and purple embossed fabric that begs to be stroked.
Christine Manfield has written a travelogue as well as a recipe book, gathering stories as well as instructions on how to create wonderful dishes. “This book is my story of India, gathered across many visits,” she says. “The recipes I’ve collected along the way reflect the stories of countless mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sons of daughters, brothers, sisters and aunts, as told to me during my travels. Listening to these stories has been a most nourishing experience, like being enveloped in the generosity of a sari.”
Mansfield spent more than two decades researching and writing this epic, and it was time well spent. It’s going to sit on my beside table for quite some time, too, as I dip in and out of a cook’s adventure in one of the most vibrant food cultures in the world. There are almost 500 pages to enjoy and an even more breathtaking photograph each time you turn a page.
I’ve never really wanted to visit India – too hot, too hard, too heartbreaking – but I do now. The directory at the back of the book helpfully includes Manfield’s recommended places to stay, eat and shop, right across the sub-continent. This book could inspire you to take the trip of a lifetime.
Take tea with hipsters
Dairine Keogh has joined the diverse band of independent retailers opening up in Dublin’s hipster zone, South William Street. Having got her specialist tea and coffee company Clement Pekoe up and running online in 2008, she recently opened the doors of her retail business at No 50 South William Street (below), where you can choose from a huge range of loose teas and freshly roasted coffee, or pick up a take-away from the Brew Bar.
