Championing the Taste of Cavan

With Taste of Cavan just around the corner Gearóid Lynch took time out to show Thomas Lyons around his kitchen while talking about tourism, training and tips on how not to ruin a good steak.

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There is more than a little mischief to Gearóid Lynch. Sure he is serious about food. As chef-proprietor of the Olde Post Inn Gearóid is a businessman, but there is always a bit of divelment at the back of it all.

As a Fáilte Ireland Food Champion he is recognised as an influencer of Irish cuisine and a developer of Irish food tourism. Like all great chefs, he knows the value of experience. This is apparent in his CV, which includes Le Coq Hardi and Thornton’s in Dublin, Pied a Terre in London and working with possibly the most decorated female chef in the world, Luxembourg’s Lea Linster.

In the kitchen, he is deft and precise and he clearly has an ability to recognise the value of quality staff.

“If you come into the Olde Post tonight you might not meet the manager. She may be dealing with another customer but, no matter what member of staff you meet, they will be able to deal with any query, talk about the menu, about the suppliers or answer questions on allergens,” he says as a 20-minute chat on food concludes.

He has confidence in the people with whom he works. Watching the knowledge, focus and attention on display as early prep takes place, it’s easy to see that confidence in his kitchen staff is not misplaced.

In a county with a surfeit of quality chefs who’ve achieved national and international attention, the Olde Post Inn stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of them. Gearóid opened his first restaurant, aged 23, and since 2002 he, along with wife Tara, has run the stylishly-renovated 19th century post office in Cloverhill.

Pride of place is a part of his persona and it feeds into his business ethos. However his interpretation of local extends beyond the parochial. 

“At the beginning our business was all about local, from getting local ingredients to meeting the needs of the local public. They are still our number one, tourists are a bonus. For us local is Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Longford and Meath. This weekend the restaurant could be filled with people from Cavan, next weekend it could be people from Monaghan,” he explained.

The relationship with ‘the local’ is a two way street. Developing a reputation is made easier when you have confidence in your suppliers.

“It’s very important. We buy good local produce, we know where our meat comes from, where our eggs and cheese come from, we are on first name terms with the supplier so we are guaranteed good produce. When you have good produce, you have to do very little with it,” he says.

Of course it’s not the complete truth. It overlooks the chef’s skill. Gearóid Lynch is in the top tier of food professionals. His assertion that the quality of your ingredients determine the quality of your end produce is a fundamental, but the abilities of the chef overseeing it is what brings customers back time and again.

Still Michaelangelo’s David is carved from marble, not moulded in plasticine.

“When I worked in Le Coc Hardi John Howard [Ireland’s original celebrity chef] said: ‘If you get good ingredients it does the rest for you.’ You make sure you buy in good meat and good fish.”

It's the foundation of a good restaurant - attention to detail.

His commitment to creating the perfect plate brings him right across the country.

“To me local is Clare, local is Cork. We are a small island, you can travel across it in four or five hours. Buying in Fermanagh, Belfast or Waterford is local. As Irish people working together, we have a great brand. We are very lucky with the quality of our meat, milk, cream, butter, yogurts and cheese; it’s unparalleled.”

His gift in the kitchen was first acknowledged when he won the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year in 2000. Euro-Toques is the international group known as the “community of chefs and cooks”.

Perhaps that recognised his skills as a communicator. He repeatedly stresses the importance of ‘talking’, talking with suppliers, talking with customers and talking with family.

“People are busy and stressed out. They are rushing and racing, there is an element of - do we have time to cook? But I think everybody should give themselves time to relax and time to cook. They should realise that it’s a therapy, but I do realise that there is a lot of pressure on people’s time.

“If you open up a cookbook and see a nice paella or a nice lamb stew give it a go. Give yourself the time to put in a little tender loving care. It is its own reward. A good lamb stew will take you around an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes, but it is worth it, it’s a therapy. You have to take time. The family table is about more than just the food; it’s about communication, but the food plays a very important part of that,” he states. He speaks of the value of educating children about the importance of the meal and the ceremony that should surround eating.

“When we [Gearóid and Tara] have our days off we cook all the time at home. It's important that we sit at the table with our children. The kids talk and we have the craic and even if someone is not in good form they stay at the table until we are all finished,” he says.

“On my days off I may get a nice piece of fish or go to Brian McEntee in Butlersbridge - even if my butcher here is Paddy Gaynor in Ballinagh – I would ask him for a few nice cuts and take it home and say this is what we are going to have this evening,” Gearóid explains and again we get back to the quality of local ingredients.

The role specialists play in guaranteeing quality is not lost on the chef.

“I think it is important that we try and save the small butcher. Butchers are becoming a thing of the past. That's very sad. If our local butcher goes it will be a terrible loss. He is someone with knowledge, someone who can talk to us. You can ask him how long the meat is hanged, what's that fillet like – he will be in a position to say if it's not ready for a week or 10 days. When you ask him to hang a leg of lamb he will. It really is someone we can't do without.”

Modern shopping habits are weighted against specialists.

“We have to eat to survive. Sometimes supermarkets can be very reasonable and can be very cheap, they can also allow people to buy in bulk. But does the same TLC go into it? You can't say it doesn't, but you can't say it does. The difficulty is that you can't ask a fridge how long a piece of beef has been aged.

“It's nice to have someone with that knowledge. I know if we lose them we will regret it. I'm not going to preach about this I do understand that supermarkets fulfil a very important role as well, but it would be bad if that was at the expense of the local butcher.”

The time spent calling in to a butcher and chatting about the meat is an indication of care and consideration about the end product. That consideration flows right through the cooking process.

“You do have to put in your own little TLC. If you buy a nice piece of fillet steak from your butcher bring it home, season it, leave it out. Some people take it out of the fridge and just put it on the pan. That will destroy the nicest piece of meat. It toughens it up, a bit of love that needs to be a part of cooking,” and so the magic ingredient in food preparation is laid bare.

The county has been selected as one of the Top Ten 'Foodie Destinations' in Ireland and now competes with other destinations for the top spot. Organised by the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Foodie Destinations celebrates Ireland’s unique and wonderful food offering, and encourages local food tourism initiatives across the country.

Cavan's application is backed by food producers, restaurants, cafés, B&Bs, hotels and food businesses across the county, as well as organisations including Cavan County Council, Cavan Chamber, Local Enterprise Office Cavan, and Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board.

Among the high-profile Cavan chefs backing the bid are Neven Maguire and Gearóid.

That reputation as a food destination has been steadily building since The Olde Post opened its doors. Gearóid feels this is well deserved: “I think Cavan should be one of the top 10 Foodie Destination for quite some time. We have some of the best restaurants in the country. We have a superb range of eating houses; roadside diners, gastropubs, coffee shops and hotels. Then we have great shops, butchers, artisan outlets. There is a lot going on.”

Taste of Cavan has played a part in building that reputation. Starting in 2012 with 7,000 visitors it has burgeoned to attract 25,000 visitors last year: “People are coming to see the demonstrations and what we have to offer, from food to artisan beer or cider. You would be surprised how many people are doing things in their home, it is a great opportunity to encourage more people to bring their produce to a wider audience. I’m not surprised Cavan is at the top with the best counties for producing food in the country. It really is the garden of Eden.”

The Taste of Cavan returns on Friday August 10 and Saturday August 11 at Cavan Equestrian Centre with an expanded offering of the best local and regional food and craft produce, and a star-studded line-up of Ireland’s top chefs. Gearóid will provide one of the headline demonstrations, joined by the likes of Richard Corrigan, Rachel Allen and Neven Maguire.

This year’s event offers more opportunities than ever for visitors to join in the fun with a variety of hands-on workshops with the country’s top chefs. Taking the event beyond the traditional two-day format, this year’s Taste of Cavan also features a ‘Taste of Cavan Food Trail’, running on Saturday and Sunday throughout Cavan Town, where participating restaurants will offer patrons the opportunity to sample a delicious taster dish at a reduced price.

The Taste of Cavan Food Trail sees 20 local restaurants offering tasting plates for the special price of just €5 per plate.

The Food Trail will run from 1pm to 4pm each day with plenty of mouthwatering dishes to choose from. Barduccis Italian Restaurant offer a Margherita or signature pizza, Latte Da have a smashed avacado on rye bread; while the Chilli Lounge have two dishes on offer. Murph’s Bistro at the Derragarra Inn, The Big Apple Restaurant, Chapter 1, The Melbourne Bakery & Coffee Shop and a host of others will be offering fine food for just a fiver.