This article is from page 100 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 100 JPG
THE awards just keep on rolling in for Lisdoonvarna’s Burren Smoke- house, which last week claimed its third major national prize in as many weeks. The smokehouse brought back two category awards, as well as the overall Grand Prix award from the SHOP 2008 Final in Dublin last week. The undoubted star of the event was the smokehouse’s newest product, smoked salmon with honey, whiskey and fennel glaze.
This new recipe was conceived as a means of bringing an uniquely Irish flavour to the smoked salmon.
“We couldn’t believe it; to get one award was something else but then the second and third awards was just unbelievable. To get the award for best product in show was really spe- cial,” said Birgitta.
‘There was such huge competition out there and we feel very fortunate. It’s great recognition, not just myself but for the whole team in the Burren Smokehouse. It’s the whole package that was being judged – the original product, all that we do to in terms of flavouring as well as the final pres- entation.
‘We wanted to come up with some- thing which was uniquely Irish. Pre-
serving salmon with honey is an old Irish tradition – both in terms of pre- serving and improving the flavour. We wanted to create a really Irish product, and something that really had its own character and flavour. It worked really well, the judges really loved the salmon.”
The smokehouse has won a number of high profile awards in recent time, most notably two Gold Medals at this years Great Taste Awards.
“It is satisfying, we have been working on product range a lot this year, coming up with new ideas and widening the range more and more. This makes it more attractive for the
customers who come to our shop and for the shops that we stock,” contin- ued Birgitta.
‘They can now choose more differ- ent flavours than ever before. When you marinate the salmon it makes it even more palatable for people. It’s about giving people something dif- ferent. People are getting into new flavours and they like to widen their experiences more and more.”
The smokehouse won the award for the best Irish product and the over- all award for the best item on shop at SHOP 2008. The SHOP awards are organised by a collective of some of Ireland largest food retailers.