It’s not often that you hear a farm or fishmonger saying, “If you want to eat in the city, you better order some farm and/or fish.
It’s the sun that makes the food.”
That is the advice that John Bevan, a former food service manager at St. Andrews in Dublin, gave to me.
He was on the premises of the Michelin-starred Mendocino farm and had been working on the fish and dairy program for the past four years.
“Farm and fish are always on our minds.
It is a big topic at the time, but we’re not a food service business.
You just don’t see a lot of restaurants ordering farm and catch and/and it’s a lot cheaper than fish,” he said.
In recent years, he has been working with a few small restaurants on the idea of opening a farm and eating in the shade.
“You can have the farm and you can have fish and you don’t have to go to the city.
You can get a farm where you can just sit on a bench, and you just have fish, and have a barbecue and have dessert,” he explained.
He is currently working on a pilot project in the St. Andrew’s area.
It would be an ideal time to eat with family, friends or family and friends of friends in the summer, with a good view.
It could be a great place to relax with a pint of wine.
But it would also be a good time to get to know the local fishmongers.
“We’ve got a good network of people that we can trust.
They’ve been here for ages, they’ve seen the fish, they know the market.
They’re not going to be intimidated by what they do.
If you have a couple of people and a bit of money, it would be a lot easier.
I’ve been working there for over 20 years, and the people that I’ve worked with over the years have been very respectful of me, and really good to me,” he continued.
The problem is, there are so many fishmonging establishments around the city that it’s easy to forget that this is the best way to go about enjoying fish.
The fish is sourced from local farms and caught in a variety of ways.
The meat is prepared from the bone, then ground into a coarse powder, smoked and salted, then dried.
The dried product is then stored in the fridge, while the meat is dried.
“The meat is usually from the largest fish, like a white fish, or an Atlantic bass, or some fish that have not been caught,” explained Bevan.
“That’s what you get.
They’ll cook the fish up for you in a pot and cook it for a few hours in a little bit of charcoal.
Then they’ll put it on a rack in a dark place and it’ll be ready to eat.
You’re not getting fish that’s been caught from the river, so you’re not really getting the fish you’re looking for, so the best thing to do is to eat the fish from a farm that’s got the fish on it.”
That’s not to say that restaurants don’t also cook up their own products, such as fish cakes.
“It’s a great way to take the pleasure of fish and the flavour out of it.
I’ll make a fish cake and I’ll cook it up and then I’ll eat it as a cake,” he shared.
But Bevan says that the process can be frustrating.
“There’s not a lot that’s straightforward.
You need to go into a fishmongery and order a fish, it’ll cost you $100, but it’s really not that expensive.”
He said that he sometimes has to remind people that they can’t take the fish out of the water until it’s cooked.
“I’ll tell them that there’s no way you’re going to get your fish in a bucket on the street.
You’ve got to get it out of a tank, and if you get it into a bucket you’ll be putting your life on the line,” he admitted.
“And you have to keep the water cold.
If we’re going into a restaurant, we need to have the fish in that bucket on that shelf. “
But then it’s the fish that you’re eating and it’s not the fishmongering, it is the fish.
John Bevin has been on the staff at Mendocinos farm for the last four years and has seen many different fish and farm-related topics come up. “
If we’re eating fish at home, then we have the freedom to choose how we like to eat it.”
John Bevin has been on the staff at Mendocinos farm for the last four years and has seen many different fish and farm-related topics come up.
“Some people go in for the fish cake, but for me, it just gets boring.
I’m not that kind of person, and I don’t want to spend