Lakeland Dairies, a dairy farming co-operative steeped in Irish heritage has partnered with the UK’s leading Chef organisation The Craft Guild of Chefs, to survey their members during their annual Celebrate Green campaign.
Celebrate Green incorporates St Patrick’s Day (17th March 2021) and runs for the whole month of March. Its focus is to celebrate the lush green grass of the Co-operative’s 3200 family farms, where Lakeland Dairies’ milk is made from contented cows grazing freely on lush, green pastures of its family farms, located on the beautiful Isle of Ireland.
The survey found chefs’ favourite Irish food is Colcannon (25%). A delicious and popular side dish created with a comforting creamy mixture of buttery mash and greens. Colcannon was closely followed by Irish Coffee Cheesecake (20%) and Dublin Bay Prawns (17%).
40% of Chefs surveyed said they will be making a special dinner to celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 17th March 2021, with an additional 35% saying they normally make a special dinner to celebrate the day but won’t be doing so this year due to Covid.
56% of chefs said it is important (40%), or extremely important (16%) to buy dairy products that come from Northern Ireland (UK), or Ireland.
And 97% of chefs said it is important (35%) or extremely important (62%) to them that their dairy products come from farms where cows can graze freely on green grass.
Paul Chmielewski, Head of Marketing and International at Lakeland Dairies comments:
“Celebrate Green during the month of March is a fantastic opportunity to embrace our Irish heritage and dairy farming excellence. St Patricks Day is such a popular event throughout the globe when many households will be creating some of their favourite Irish dishes and food. We were delighted to see Colcannon come out on top!”
Lakeland Dairies creates professional dairy products for chefs including a range of creams that have been carefully crafted and treated to have great taste and to provide a longer life for added convenience in busy kitchens.
The survey found chefs top three valuable properties in cream were taste (86%), quality (83%), and performance (64%).
With 91% of chefs agreeing that long life creams have excellent properties for professional cooking, with 16% of those ‘strongly agreeing’.
The survey also found 70% of chefs use long-life cream at work, with 24% of those chefs using them often.
The chefs’ top ten favourite Irish foods
1. Colcannon
2. Irish Coffee Cheesecake
3. Dublin Bay Prawns
4. Irish Sone and Jam
5. Boxty Pancakes
6. Dublin Coddle and Chump
7. Chocolate & Stout Cake
8. Seafood Chowder
9. Irish Stew
10. Irish Porter Cheese
Lakeland Dairies’ Colcannon Recipe
Makes 12 portions
Ingredients
• 100ml Millac Gold Double
• 1kg Mashed Potato
• 150g Diced Leeks
• 200g Shredded Cabbage
• 100g Lakeland Dairies Butter • Sea Salt
• Milled Black Pepper
Method
Melt the butter in a pan and cook with the leeks without colour. Add the cabbage and wilt. Pour in the cream and then add the potato. Add seasoning and serve.
