Meal from birr castles 1666 cookbook to be recreated

A number of Ireland’s leading chefs will recreate a 17th Century meal in the beautiful setting of Birr Castle on RTE’s Lords & Ladles this week.  

In Lords & Ladles six of the great stately homes of Ireland are visited by three of Ireland’s best chefs – Derry Clarke, Catherine Fulvio and Paul Flynn –  a pinch of history, a splash of opulence, a good stir, brought to the boil frequently – that in a nutshell is the recipe for Lords and Ladles.

On the first show of this brand new series we visit the majestic Birr Castle in County Offaly, home of Brendan Parsons, the 7th Earl of Rosse, and his wife Alison.  We’re here, primarily, to create a meal using recipes from a hand written 17th century cookbook. One of the centre pieces is a Potato Pie from a recipe dating back to 1666.

The new RTE prodution takes the viewer on a historical journey to celebrate our past through the wonders of food and the glories of cooking.

Each week the Chefs arrive at a Great Irish Country House and must recreate a grand dinner from its history while tantalising the TV audience with sumptuous descriptions of the treats that are on the menu. But first they must Draw Lots for the division of labour – one will Gather the ingredients, one will cook, and one will get to dine with the gentry.

The Gatherer must source the ingredients for the feast from the local environs – hunting, shooting and fishing feature strongly, as do cow’s lips and eyes, lamb’s stones and lots of tongue. The cook will familiarise themselves with the workings or not of the kitchen,  check out the original house cookbooks – some fine old tomes filled with mouth-watering recipes from the past – Birr Castle boasts a cook book dating from 1666.

Meanwhile the diner gets to explore the house with its owners and caretakers, learning about its place in the history of the area and the Island, the trials and tribulations of the family seat and of course help lay the table using the finest silver and china from the house safe.

The cook’s work all done, the meal will be served with all the pomp and ceremony it deserves, to the audible delight of the diners who can’t help themselves from gasping at the spectacle as the sumptuous banquet is laid before them.