Producer Francesca Lalor explores the world of the professional kitchen, as seen through the eyes of Irish chefs
“My ethos of food is that the hero of the dish is the ingredients…and my life’s work is to make them sing…” Chef Gavin McDonagh
Knives At Dawn will be broadcast on Newstalk 106 – 108fm on Sunday 8th September at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 14th September at 9pm. Podcast from www.newstalk.com after the first broadcast
The working life of a professional chef involves long hours, split shifts, ferocious stamina, practiced skill, and above all, the quest for culinary perfection...
In her latest radio documentary, premiering this weekend on Newstalk, producer Francesca Lalor follows the lives of Irish chefs, from the start of their training, through their experiences working in kitchens around the world; from Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, to poky dive-bar kitchens in the Lower East Side of New York, and back to Ireland. Their passion for food is contagious. Their backroom tales of all the drama, steam, sound and fury that take place in professional kitchens are at times extreme, at times hilarious, and always gripping. This documentary, Knives At Dawn aims to capture their stories.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when garlic was practically unheard of in Ireland. When you couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee anywhere. Where eating Italian meant visiting your local chipper. Exotic ingredients like balsamic vinegar, Jalapeño peppers, Parma ham or mozzarella were either unheard of or highly unusual. But now, Ireland has a burgeoning culinary scene that is experimental, vibrant and modern. A scene that is holding it’s own against any food scene in the world. And one of the reasons for this is that many of our chefs emigrated, trained and worked around the world, and have now returned, armed with new knowledge, skills and experience.
So where did these chefs end up cooking? What experiences did they have on their travels, armed only with the tools of their trade: their precious set of knives wrapped in their apron?
In this programme, we follow the lives of Irish chefs as they tell the story of their careers in their own words. Beginning with their origins, right back in their early training days, we travel with them as they recount their experiences of emigrating and working in kitchens around the world, before we journey back with them to Ireland, as they return with their new-found skills, ready to break into the Irish culinary scene.
Who will tell the story?
Knives At Dawn features Irish chefs who have developed their reputations in International kitchens. Each of our chefs comes from a very different background, and each took a very different path over the course of their chefing careers. What they share is that they are passionate about their jobs. They are also excellent storytellers, with the passion to bring their varied experiences in kitchens worldwide to life. They are the upstarts, the returned rebels, the innovators...and they represent the future of the Irish food scene.
Chef Brendan Keenan, currently trains chefs in Cathal Brugha Street at the Technological University Dublin:
Originally from Ardee in Co.Louth, Chef Brendan Keenan was meant to take up a job as an accountant, but opted to rebel, and trained as a chef instead. In 1989, he won a Green Card to the US in a visa lottery, and secured a scholarship to train in New York. “I got lucky”, he says. “I just walked up Broadway and got a job”. Working in top kitchens, including the Waldorf Astoria, he cooked for the great and the good, before returning to Ireland. One of Brendan’s claims to chefing fame is that he cooked for Margaret Thatcher when she was in Dublin for political talks in the ‘80s. “The British Secret Service insisted on coming into the kitchen, and standing over me as I prepared her food. They made me taste each ingredient before it went into the pot”, he remembers. Brendan now trains budding chefs back home in Dublin, bringing his wealth of experience and passion for ingredients garnered abroad to a new generation of trainee chefs.
Chef Gavin McDonagh, formerly of Brioche Restaurant, and currently development chef with the Dylan McGrath Restaurant Group:
Originally from Crumlin, Gavin McDonagh started training as a chef at the age of 16 in his local college, Crumlin College, before continuing his training in Cathal Brugha Street and Tallaght IT. He started cooking “just to have a trade”, but when he entered a chef competition in Hotel Olympia in London, and won three gold medals, he got bitten by the bug. Returning to Ireland, he walked into L’Ecrivain Restaurant in Dublin, and got hired as an apprentice chef, under the tutelage of Derry Clarke. “Derry mentored me constantly”, he says, “and encouraged me to compete at Eurotoques with the Irish National Team”. In 1995, he won the Baileys Young Chef of The Year, and his prize was a four month stint working as an apprentice chef in Paris in a 1-Star Michelin Restaurant, in a very old classical style restaurant called Le Petit Colombier, under Chef Bernard Fournier. There, Gavin developed a love for classical French cooking. “In Paris, I learnt the ethos of what flavour should come out of food, and the old-school way of doing things…One of my jobs was to go the market at 5am every Tuesday. I learnt about ingredients…you’re picking up kilos of Morel mushrooms, that would cost a fortune in Ireland, and using them for stews…truffles are being used as if they’re free…”
Returning to Dublin, via stints in kitchens in Germany and the U.K., he landed a job cooking in the Michelin-Starred Restaurant Patrick Guilbauld…”In my formation as a chef, I got to experience two different styles of Michelin starred food, and that’s what informs my cooking. My ethos of food is that the hero of the dish is the ingredients…and my life’s work is to make them sing…”. Gavin currently works as development chef with the Dylan McGrath Restaurant Group.
Knives At Dawn will be broadcast on Newstalk 106 – 108fm on Sunday 8th September at 7am, and repeated on Saturday 14th September at 9pm. Podcast after first broadcast from www.newstalk.com
Francesca Lalor is an award-winning radio documentary/drama maker. She is Series Producer of Documentary & Drama On Newstalk 106-108fm. She also lectures in radio production in DLIADT and Griffith College Dublin. This is her 20th feature-length radio documentary/drama.
CREDITS: Knives At Dawn was produced, recorded and edited by Francesca Lalor. Mastered by John Murphy of Guerrilla Sounds. The programme was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with the Television License Fee.
With thanks to Chef Brendan Keenan, currently training chefs in Cathal Brugha Street at the Technological University Dublin; and Chef Gavin McDonagh, formerly of Brioche Restaurant, and currently development chef with the Dylan McGrath Restaurant Group.
Sound and Vision is a funding scheme for television and radio that provides funding in support of high quality programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience, and programmes to improve adult literacy. The scheme is managed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
