Taste the Island - Wood Fired cooking & eating with Gill Meller and Rodrigo Gonzalez
As part of the Taste of Ireland Gill Meller will return to The Green Barn to work with head chef Rodrigo Gonzalez and his team of chefs to cook an amazing day of wood-fired food.
Gill Meller is a chef, food writer, author, food stylist and cookery teacher who lives and works near the small fishing town of Lyme Regis, in Dorset. He has been part of the River Cottage team for 11 years. Working closely with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall across the breadth of the business. Using only the bounty of the gardens, tunnels & hedge groves with our organic sheep and Dexter cows from our fields, the day will consist of wood-fired ovens, pits and spits being used to cook an incredible wood-fired feast. Guests will gather in a special part of the Burtown house gardens for an Autumnal Outdoor cookery demonstration. This will include watching part of the evenings’ feast of local lamb and organic vegetables from the gardens, placed into an earth oven and cooked below the ground for several hours before being unearthed later that evening and brought to the table.
Cooking in the earth is a technique that has been practiced in different ways and by different cultures for many thousands of years. The most famous earth ovens – or pit ovens, as they’re also known – are those of the Māori people of New Zealand. and evolved from an even older Polynesian tradition. Earth ovens, called hāngi, remain a part of Māori culture today; they are a simple and effective way to cook both large and smaller quantities of food. Guests will gather at the earth oven again later on for mulled cider, a fire-based pre-dinner snack and the unearthing of the feast, always an exciting part of the process.
There will be three fire cooking stations, below ground as mentioned, a fire pit above ground and a rustic log fire.
During the afternoon Gill, Rodrigo, and Dermot Carey – head gardener will take guests to the kitchen garden and polytunnels to gather herbs, flowers & veg which the kitchen team will prep in the open plan kitchen, allowing for conversation and interaction between the chefs and our guests.
Dinner, which you will have witnessed being prepared throughout the day will be served at roughly 7pm, family-style on long tables with sharing platters.
This will be an incredible day, not to be missed.
(Ticket prices are for the meal, involvement during the day is optional. Therefore feel free to arrive at any point during the day that suits you, and enjoy as much of the day as you are available for)
Tickets €75.00 plus Eventbrite booking fee.
