Neven Maguire: Home Chef

France is the biggest export market for Irish lamb. Over the last three years Bord Bia have worked on a promotional campaign ‘Agneau Presto’ that is aimed at getting younger consumers to eat more lamb. Part of this campaign involves cooking lamb on specially designed tricycles and Neven cooks lamb stir fry for hungry tourists in front of Notre Dame. Neven also interviews sheep farmer James Murphy, who is in Paris to promote Irish lamb. On the menu tonight are salmon and asparagus wraps with a sun-dried tomato dressing, a butterflied leg of lamb and a mulled fruit trifle.

Neven visits Paris and meets Jacques Cagna, a Michelin-starred chef who is also a member of Bord Bia’s Chefs Irish Beef Club. Established by Bord Bia in 2004, the Chefs Irish Beef Club is an exclusive European forum which brings together some of the world’s leading Michelin Star chefs to collectively endorse the high quality of Irish beef by serving it in the finest restaurants across the Continent. Jacques only serves Irish beef at his restaurant in the 6th arrondissement in Paris and during this programme he shows Neven how to cook braised beef cheek. Neven will also prepare a roasted vegetable, chickpea and feta salad; an inverted Cashel Blue burger and an apple and almond tart.

Approximately 20% of the farmhouse cheese made in Ireland is exported to Britain, making it the premier export destination. (The UK is Ireland’s most important market for food exports.) Breda Maher, who makes Cooleeney cheese in Tipperary, represents some of the best Irish farmhouse cheese makers in London, where Neven meets her at Paxton and Whitfield, a cheesemonger in Piccadilly since 1797. Irish farmhouse cheese is also available in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Asda, Harrods and Selfridges. On the menu today: spicy chicken salad with avocado salsa, a pizza tart and vanilla crème brulee with apple compote.

The UK is the Ireland’s most important export market for food. More than 90% of Irish beef is exported, and the biggest market for Irish beef is the UK. Goodmans Steakhouse in the City of London sells a lot of Irish steak and Neven meets the head chef, Olly Bird, to find out what it is about Irish beef that his customers like. On the menu today: peppered monkfish and Chinese greens, ribeye steak with sauce Diane and autumn berry crumble with citrus cream.

More than 90% of Irish beef is exported, and the biggest market for Irish beef is the UK. Jack O’Shea, originally from Tipperary, is widely regarded as one of the leading butchers in London, supplying Irish beef to many top restaurants as well as to Selfridges Food Hall, where he runs the meat counter. Neven goes to Selfridges to meet Jack and find out the secret of his success. On the menu in today’s programme are warm potato and herb pancakes with sautéed mushrooms, braised beef cheek with roasted garlic mash, and Cointreau-infused strawberry meringues.

The Germans eat more than twice as much butter per head as the Irish, seeing it as a healthy and natural product. The number one brand here is Kerrygold, selling over two million packs per week. Neven visits the factory, situated in Kerrygold Strasse, near Dusseldorf, to meet John Jordan, Kerrygold’s Director of Marketing. Germany is Ireland’s second most important export market for food and drink in continental Europe, with dairy produce accounting for a third of the exports. On the menu in today’s programme are a goat’s cheese paté with apricot relish, roast chicken with lemon, garlic and thyme and a blueberry tart.

France is the leading Eurozone market for Irish food and drink products, and the second largest global market after the UK. It’s Ireland’s biggest customer for lamb and seafood, second largest for beef, and third for whiskey. Anyone who has young children will be familiar with cheese strings, a lunch box staple. It’s made by Kerry Foods, who make a version for French children called Ficello – more than a million Ficello are sold each week. Neven meets Arnaud Laurent, head of marketing in France for Kerry Foods to discover how it is that, in a country where there are more than 365 different cheeses, one of French children’s favourite cheeses is made in Co Cork. At the other end of the scale, Neven also meets a neighbourhood cheesemonger who has just started to sell Irish artisan cheeses. Tonight’s menu includes French onion soup with an Irish twist, herb crusted turbot with potato purée and chive velouté, and sticky toffee pudding with Irish whiskey.

Neven visits London’s Chinatown where the majority of the “heads-on” duck sold are farmed in Co Monaghan by Silver Hill Foods Ltd. Silver Hill Foods has its own breed of duck, and sells its products, including ducks tongues, duck’s feet and feathers and down all over the world. Neven interviews Lyla Steele, the founder of the company at the Min Jiang Chinese Restaurant, overlooking Hyde Park. On the menu in today’s programme are a Crispy Shredded Chinese Duck Salad, Neven’s mother Vera’s Fish Pie and a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake.

Germany is Ireland’s second most important export market for food and drink in continental Europe. It imports a lot of Irish beef and Germany’s number one steakhouse chain sold 50,000 Irish steaks during a 3 week long promotion. Neven visits a Blockhouse restaurant to interview the manager and see how they cook the steaks. On the menu today are tempura of plaice with lemon mayonnaise, a steak sandwich with chilli butter; and chocolate brownie with fudge sauce and caramelized pecans.

Donegal Creameries make a yoghurt and oat snack called Rumblers which is especially popular in France, with supermarkets and Starbucks among the customers. The product is designed to suit the French taste for more lactic yoghurt. Neven meets Sheila Gilroy Collins, Marketing Director of Donegal Creameries in La Coupole, a famous Parisian brasserie, to find out more. On the menu today: chicken liver paté with fig jam, braised lamb shanks with barley and rosemary, and poached plums with amaretti and lemon marscarpone.

Fifteen years ago, Neven did some of his chef’s training at the Grand Hotel, Berlin, in what was formerly East Berlin. Germany is Ireland’s second most important export market for food and drink in continental Europe, with dairy produce accounting for a third of the exports. Baileys cream liqueur and Tullamore Dew whiskey are also particularly popular here. Neven has arranged to cook dinner for Irish Ambassador to Germany Dan Mulhall and his guests, including the former head of Dresdner Bank, the chairwoman of the German-Irish Parliament Group in the Bundestag and Ireland’s Honorary Consul General in Cologne. Neven meets Ambassador Dan Mulhall in front of the Brandenburg Gate for a quick guided tour of the main sites of the city before returning to the hotel to cook dinner. On the menu tonight: Roast Pumpkin Risotto, Rack of Irish Lamb with a herb crust, and Pears Belle Helene, served with a Chocolate and Baileys mousse.

Neven visits Amsterdam and cooks a crab tart, Irish stew, and rhubarb cake for the chefs at the Michelin-starred La Rive Restaurant at the Amstel Hotel. The Dutch eat more Irish beef per capita than in any of the other continental export markets, and Neven is on a mission to get them to eat more Irish lamb.

Neven travels to Madrid to cook a dinner for some food bloggers, hosted by the Irish Ambassador to Spain. Spain is the number one importer of fresh fish from Ireland and Neven cooks a dinner using Irish crab, hake, razor clams and scallops.