CELEBRITY food blogger Donal Skehan had an opportunity to get his hands dirty down on the farm during a visit to Killarney as part of his hit new TV series.
The self-styled Kitchen Hero spent several hours on location at Muckross Traditional Farms and the fruits of his labour were broadcast on RTE 1 this week.
Donal’s new cookery show is all about getting back to basics and rediscovering the Irish kitchen and Killarney afforded him the opportunity to do just that when he milked a cow by hand and got to separate cream from milk using methods favoured by previous generations.
Veteran Muckross farm labourer Neily Cahill put the energetic young foodie through his paces when he taught him how to milk Daisy the cow whilst sitting on a three-legged stool and using only his hands and a galvanized bucket.
“It’s all about the rhythm like, ‘tis like playing music,” said the peak-capped Neily who has been milking cows for over 60 years.
“I started when I was seven and I milked three cows before going to school. We’d be up at half five every morning and we’d have to do it in the evening again,” Neily told the TV presenter.
After that experience of a lifetime, it was into the Muckross kitchen where apron-clad Bean an Tí, Mary T McCarthy, demonstrated how to separate the cream from the milk using a hand-operated device invented by a Swiss engineer in the early 1800s.
Donal then put the raw materials to good use when he utilised the turf-fuelled range to whip up a delightful rice pudding with poached rhubarb, orange and vanilla.
“One of the real highlights of filming the series was getting to shoot at the Muckross Traditional Farms in Killarney, a truly spectacular part of the country,” said Donal.
“It was there I learned classic Irish recipes for black pudding, Irish soda bread and techniques like how to make butter.
“I also got my hands dirty learning how to plant potatoes,” he added.
