...there's both eatin' and drinkin' in it
New butter on the block
The ladies at Improper Butter – Elaine Lavery and Hannah O’Reilly – are on to something. Simple idea (small packs of brightly flavoured compound butters which can snazz up anything from a sandwich to a steak), clever name (for those familiar with the Irish language – ‘im’ means butter) and snappy tagline (‘Butter. But better.’)
Given the image above, I may as well get straight to the point: National Potato Day is, once again, on its way.
Started as an initiative by Keogh’s, it’s two years since the inaugural National Potato Day took place and this year, for the first time, it will run with the support of Bord Bia (which, I suppose you could say, makes it official). That, in turn, means that we can expect more in the way of events in the run up to the day itself, Friday August 23rd, and greater media coverage; details of happenings will appear on the potato.ie site from this coming Monday, July 29th, with a number of events announced already, including the plan by Sam’s Potatoes to make an attempt on the record for the largest ever potato sack race at the Tullamore Show on August 11th and a 5K fun run hosted by the Meade Potato Company on National Potato Day itself.
Running and sack racing aside, I chatted to Lorcan Bourke of Bord Bia about their aims for National Potato Day. It was a conversation that had a familiar ring: counteract the perception that carbs are bad; highlight the neat nutritional package that is the potato; broaden people’s perspectives on how a potato can be prepared; bring some colour to the potato palette (***) – in other words, the kind of thing I do on a regular basis. So, with that in mind and anticipating the event to come, here’s a little colour from the warmth of the Canary Islands, where they’ve got salt and spice and aren’t afraid to use ’em.
Tequila Mockingbird Cake:
a coconut tres leches (3 milks) cake with chilli caramel shards, pipettes of tequila, lime and cardamom bitters, plus toasted coconut crunchies coated in dark chocolate with dehydrated lime zest dust.
Made by Kate Packwood of Wild Flour Bakery and every bit as stunning as it sounds.
You’d have to admire a food culture that can inspire something like the Tequila Mockingbird Cake (and if you’re wondering just which culture that might be, the tequila is a rather large clue).
This very Mexican dessert – as interpreted by the exceptionally talented Kate Packwood of Wild Flour Bakery – featured at an equally Mexican party hosted by Lily Ramirez-Foran to mark the re-launch, this week, of her Mexican Cook blog. There was molé, there were margaritas and, given the current heat wave, there was even a bit of Mexican weather too. More to the point, though, there were pickled potatoes.
Pickled Potatoes. Made by me.
© 2025 The Daily Spud
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Whaddya Sayin’?