Food is my true passion.
I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef and the host of Bigger Bolder Baking, so that
means great food is part of my everyday life.
You’ve seen me Boldly Bake over-the-top recipes.
Now travel with me on my Culinary Adventures around the world.
In the first episode of Gemma Eats…
I’m in my hometown of Wexford, Ireland…
Eating GIANT traditional Scones…
the best local seafood …
and a legendary frozen treat…all right now on Gemma Eats…
Welcome to the sunny southeast part of Ireland.
We are in County Wexford.
This is actually where I’m from.
I brought you down to Rosslare where I wanted to show you a little bit of what it has to
offer.
It is a seaside town and people come from all over Ireland to go on their vacation here
during the summer time.
It’s really pretty.
It has some great food.
And I’m going to head into Kelly’s Deli right now and get a cup of coffee and one
of their delicious scones.
So come on!
Before we go into Kelly's, you should know more about the Kelly Family.
The Kelly’s Hotels were founded in Wexford in 1895.
Kelly's Resort is just down the street from Kelly's Deli.
Families from all over Ireland spend their summers here year after year.
Being from Wexford, my family celebrated many special occasions including my Holy Communion
when I was 7 years old.
On this latest trip, My dad, husband and I had an incredible meal in their bistro but
I'll save for that for another time.
The Kelly's family have been taking care of people for years so they really know what
they're doing.
Everything they serve is baked nearby.
You'll find fresh loaves of Irish Soda Bread, breakfast danish, flakey croissants and other
goodies made from scratch.
But their scones are the reason why I'm here.
Not only are they as big as your hand but they're a dark golden brown which is the way
I like them.
So in Ireland you can’t have a cup of tea or coffee without having a homemade scone.
Now this is a raisin scone and they serve it here traditionally with some jam, cream
and some butter.
And you would have all three on there.
And it’s absolutely delicious with a cup of coffee.
So I know it seems a bit extreme to be putting jam, and cream and butter on a scone but when
you have them all together you’re going to know exactly why.
It’s so great.
I will admit it seems more like a dessert than it does like something you would have
for breakfast.
Have a little bit of my coffee.
Mmm.
They make really good coffee here.
A bit of my scone.
I don’t know…in America if I would be eating this for my breakfast but there’s
something about being home.
In Ireland.
Having a cup of coffee.
You have to have a scone.
Oh, so yummy.
So scones are kind of little crispy cakes.
They’re really easy to make.
You bake them off really fast.
But they’re crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.
Loaded with fruit usually, maybe berries.
Something like that.
Nuts.
My favorite one is just simple with berries because that’s the traditional way you’d
have them.
I think my favorite part about a scone is actually the crispiness around here.
You see that.
And on the base.
You see how crispy that is.
I always get tons of requests for Irish recipes on Bigger Bolder Baking and that's why my
Traditional Irish Scones are one of my favorites to share.
I’d say it’s because we’re a nation of tea drinkers.
That the weather is cold here.
It’s rainy a lot.
The kettle is always on.
I’d say that’s why scones are so popular.
Because you’re always having a cup of tea or coffee.
And you have something sweet to go with it.
But it’s a whole big ritual.
You have a hot drink.
You have a scone and it’s sweet.
You put jam and cream on it.
It’s freshly baked.
Like my mom would whip these up at home in no time at all.
If she knew someone was coming around in half an hour, she would whip up freshly made scones.
Outside of Ireland, I’ve never had a scone that tasted the same.
In America they’re very different.
They’re a little bit dryer.
Sometimes they put icing on them.
So it’s a bit of a different experience and they don’t put butter in the middle.
Irish Scones are definitely unique.
When you come to Ireland you have to try one of these.
I definitely like to have my fair share of scones when I’m home in Ireland.
Now that I’ve grabbed a quick bite, I'm going to hit the road.
Getting around my hometown of Wexford means you’ll be driving a lot.
Everything is really spread out.
But at least I get to enjoy the beautiful Irish countryside.
So right now we are driving to Carne.
Carne is a little kind of village near Rosslare Strand in Wexford and it is known for its
seafood.
They get great seafood here that comes in from Kilmore Quay.
And seafood that comes into this part of Ireland gets shipped all around the world.
It’s really fantastic.
So we’re going to head to this really popular local brew pub kind of a thing and it’s
called The Lobster Pot and it’s been around for donkey’s years.
And it’s really quaint.
For me it’s a blast to the past because we used to go here as kids all the time with
my brother and my sisters, my mum and my dad.
And we used to love it.
So it’s really nice to be able to go back.
These villages in Ireland are tiny.
There are only a few thousand people who live in them because they’re kind of like villages
in smaller towns so they’re their own little communities.
Places like the Lobster Pot are part of the fabric that makes Ireland so special.
They have so much character that makes each one unlike any other.
For years, visitors from far and wide along with locals like my family have gone out of
their way to make a trip to the Lobster Pot.
I went a little early on a weekday but these place can be jammers during the summer.
I have a personal connection to this place, too.
This is the owner, Ann Hearne.
She's the mother of a friend, Sharon Hearne-Smith, who is an incredible Irish cookbook author
and food stylist.
Ann and her husband, Ciarin, have owned the Lobster Pot for 33 years and it’s still
an institution.
So it’s pretty cold and rainy today so it’s a nice day for soup and being in a seafood
restaurant you have to order their Seafood Chowder because you just know it’s going
to be good.
All of this fish is sourced locally in Wexford.
Just look at that.
How meaty it is and those gorgeous muscles.
We’re really fortunate in Wexford to get really great fish and shellfish.
It is so good.
Mmm.
So you get such different chowders all over the world.
But generally in Ireland you get a creamy base chowder.
Now it’s not generally really really thick.
It has a little bit of a touch of cream.
And then some local fish.
Some Shellfish.
A few vegetables in there.
Chowder is serious comfort food.
It’s like a hug for your heart.
It makes such a difference when your produce is sourced locally.
It’s as fresh as it can be.
The seafood and the shellfish is that little bit sweet.
There is not fishiness from this.
Good fish should never smell or even taste like fish.
It should taste like the seawater and that’s what this tastes like.
Oh, I could eat that all day long.
So the whole reason I came here is for this dish.
It’s called Crab Mornay and it’s crab meat with a cheesy saucy on top.
Now this crab is fished in Carne, where we are right now in the Southeast of Ireland.
Just check that out.
Do you see the crab?
And the cheese sauce?
The thing about it is it’s not really rich.
It’s absolutely beautiful.
A little bit salty.
Decadent.
Yummy.
Make sure I don’t eat it too fast and burn my mouth.
You know what.
When they say some things never change.
That’s not a bad thing.
It tastes the exact same as it did when I was a kid.
It’s absolutely gorgeous.
One of the reasons why I love crab meat and a lot of shellfish is that little bit of sweetness
and the little bit of saltiness from the seawater.
And the cheese sauce on top is a Wexford Cheddar Cheese Sauce so that is also cheese that comes
from the local town.
I’ll tell you.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
So years ago, probably when I was in my early teens, they filmed the movie Saving Private
Ryan here.
Not a lot of people know that but they filmed it in Wexford on one of our really big beaches.
And I remember the film crew actually came here to The Lobster Pot to eat and I was just
astonished.
I thought that was absolutely amazing.
People from Hollywood going to The Lobster Pot.
So here I have a dish that is absolutely simple and delicious.
It is Crab Claws fried with Garlic Butter.
Now it seems like a pretty easy thing to do.
The flavor of this with the sweetness of the fish and the crab claws is absolutely gorgeous,
so I’m going to put on a little bit of lemon on top.
I’m going to dip them in my garlic butter.
And I’m going to go like this.
Take it straight off.
Then you get this and you go like that.
Then you suck out that bit of meat that is in there.
Mmm.
And that is how you eat a crab claw.
Not the most polite way but definitely the most delicious.
Mmm.
Look at this big bad boy.
Crab meat is really delicate.
It has a delicate taste and a delicate texture.
It just kind of falls apart.
Mmm.
So when I was a kid we used to come on holidays to Rosslare and we’d rent a house.
And in the morning my mum used to go over to the fisherman and she used to ask them
for crab claws because they would take the body of the meat of the crab and they would
sell it but they would give my mum bags of crab claws.
And we were like 7, 8, 9.
Pretty young.
So she would bring the crab claws home.
And she would cook them.
And she would give us big bowls of crab claws and we would just sit there watching TV eating
them.
I can still picture myself sitting there eating them and I can almost taste them.
You know when people talk about their final meal, definitely mine would be a whole lot
of seafood, shellfish, prawns, crab, lobster.
All that sort of stuff.
That’s the way I want to go…
The world has become so filled with fast food chains and large restaurants but it’s still
nice to see a family run place…especially one that has been around so long.
Even though my seafood lunch was epic, I’m still on the hunt for more great Eats to show
you and I think I know just the thing…
Now I know a convenience store doesn’t seem like the kind of place a food lover should
be but wait and i tell you…
Shops all over Ireland serve this giant ice cream famously known as a 99…
This is what you have when you go to the beach, it’s summertime in Ireland or Britain.
It’s soft serve ice cream…mmm…with a Cadbury’s flake stuck into it.
Now why it’s called a 99, I have absolutely no idea.
All I know is that it’s absolutely delicious.
And this reminds me so much of my childhood and summers and being off school.
Yep, you can’t beat a 99.
Ireland isn’t always thought of as a food destination but whether it’s freshly baked
goods, seafood straight from the ocean or simply delicious desserts, you’ll find some
of the best food you’ve ever had here.
I guarantee it.
Coming up Next week on Gemma Eats…
I enjoy a traditional Irish Breakfast Find out what a Folacht Fia is??
And see me brave the elements to enjoy the best fish and chips around…all right here
on Gemma Eats.