Welcome to Tastefully Yours

The food of a country is part of its history and civilisation and, ideally, the past and the present should be combined so that traditional food is not lost under a pile of tins or packages. The Irish have long memories, the aromas from the kitchens of our childhood remain when many other things are forgotten. What stopped the spread of Irish cuisine were the terrible famines of the 1840's and 1850's. The increasing dependence of rural Ireland on the potato, a fickle crops at the best of times,… Continue

The main reason for looking at the appearance of a wine is that it can warn us of faults. If a wine is to old, has been badly stored, or the cork seal has failed, allowing air to damage the wine, then it is described as out-of-condition. This is the most common fault that shows itself in the appearance: out-of-condition wines will be dull in appearance, and will at least have a hint of brown, though a brown colour does not always indicate a faulty wine. It is worth making a quick note of the col… Continue

The Video added by Carsten is very informative. Tasting wine rather than simply drinking it increases our appreciation of the wine by allowing us to examine it in detail. Although the process can seem repetitive at first, with practice it becomes a subconscious habit. Forcing us to put our sensations into words means the impression of the wine lingers longer in our memory. It also helps us communicate to other people what wine tastes like, sometimes long after we have tasted it. This is a nice s… Continue

Cod, Trout, Mackerel, Sole and Plaice are all very popular fish, but Salmon deserves a special mention. Salmon is now beginning to be treated in many different ways. All we knew at first was smoked salmon as a change from fresh salmon. Then came the pickled salmon, flavoured with dill, which is a Scandinavian speciality. Smoked salmon is no longer only served cold with lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper, but can be used in any recipe calling for fresh salmon and cooked exactly the same… Continue

When cooking fish it is useful to know the various categories into which they fall. There are freshwater and salt-water fish. Then they are further categorised by there shape, round like a trout or flat like a plaice. Most freshwater fish are round and all the flat fish are from the sea. A round fish will produce two fillets, slightly thicker in general and a flat fish four slender fillets. Fish are also either oily like herring and salmon or white fleshed and non-oily like sole and halibut. Mos… Continue