Being better, not best

Barb, she's here!

This is going to be great.

Somewhere I can share the swirling ideas inside my head, usually destined for notebooks or the ears of family and friends and sometimes a passionate, rambling Instagram post. I should have a plan, a structure or themes but the obvious thing to me is it be true to real life; led by the little seasonal changes week on week, the reality of a busy family, running a business and the current affairs affecting my mood.

One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is our obsession with the best; best pint, best bread, best coffee, best view, best kiss, best film and so on and so on.  But ‘the best’ is subjective and circumstantial; if we all had the same opinion of the best then the world would be a very boring place. 

What do we really mean by the best?

Some of my ‘best’ food experiences are things like Jambons from the Spar the morning after a big night out, warm lemon drizzle cake straight from the oven with mum and Dad whilst watching Kevin on Grand Designs and Fish and Chips in a random pub after a long day hiking up Diamond Hill with a sleepy 3 year old on my back. 

These don’t mean they are the best plates of food I have ever eaten but they stick in my mind and for obvious reasons they seemed like the best at the time. The best can be affected by nostalgia, the company, the weather, the staff, so many external factors, never mind your mood or what your body wants! 

Food businesses who claim they are the best suggests that others aren’t; for me they are missing the point.  I’d rather be part of an encouraging, supportive and inspiring food scene than one that is competitive, arrogant and exclusionary. We should all just be focussing on better rather than best.

In my view, the food businesses I most admire are innovative, sustainable and interesting. Most of all they are passionate and integrity driven, they have style, standards and a great understanding of food.  Others may disagree, with portion size, extensive menu/choice and price playing an equally important role. This makes the best a tricky thing to talk about, difficult to recommend and to believe! When we say it, we are really saying, ‘In my opinion, at the time I experienced it, I felt it was the best.’ The next time you claim something is the best consider exactly what you mean and let me know!

The Actual Best

I need to talk about a love in all baker’s lives…rhubarb. And at the risk of sounding hypocritical the BEST in season ingredient at the moment!

The arrival of these neon pink stalks after months of relying on nuts and chocolate and the odd citrus is total elation in the bakery and means not only a change of flavour combinations and style but also COLOUR. We can’t get enough, we gorge on rhubarb, it’s rhubarb everything. This is the very essence of seasonal eating; utterly overdosing when it’s at it’s peak.

After three years of begging we were lucky to get some beautiful rhubarb this year from Ryans Rhubarb in Dublin (Charlie from Broughgammon farm collected it for me on his way back from Temple Bar Market-our food producer network is supportive and amazing). Two boxes of Oscar worthy rhubarb and I couldn’t wait to get baking; a flurry of cakes, tarts, puree, syrup, compote, pastries, candied, powder and anything else we can think of (yep of course, G&T).

There are so many great ways to enjoy rhubarb, such a welcome ingredient, whether its in crumble or pickled, cake or pavlova; doesn’t matter a bit, get yourself some stalks and enjoy this special, strange plant whatever way you like. Here’s a couple of ideas that I love.

Candied

A couple of stalks of rhubarb cut into 2 inch sticks then thinly sliced, line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper, lay the strips on and sprinkle liberally with caster sugar. Bake in a preheated oven for about 8 minutes, let cool and you’ll have chewy delicious strips of bright pink rhubarb, perfect for decorating cakes.

Simple spelt cake

Grease and line a 8inch spring-form cake tin and preheat oven to 170 degrees.

200g butter, softened

100g caster sugar

100g demerara sugar (keep 25g aside)

3 eggs

200g wholegrain spelt flour

2 tsp baking powder, pinch salt

2 tblsp milk/yoghurt

Chopped rhubarb, around 3 stalks.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar using the paddle until pale and light. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and add slowly with the mixer running, making sure it’s thoroughly incorporated before adding more. Scrape the sides of the bowl down, mix briefly again. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and fold in with a spatula, followed by the yoghurt, spoon mixture into the prepared tin and scatter the rhubarb over the top then sprinkle over the reserved demerara. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before releasing from the tin. Custard goes so well with rhubarb, but cream, ice cream or yoghurt are also delicious.

Obviously decorate with gorse petals if you can find some. Next week I’ll be chatting more about my love of gorse and the wonder that is wild garlic.