Fresh fare straight from the Lough
Article written by Sam Butler for Newsletter
Diners at top hotels and restaurants in the Republic are being given an opportunity to enjoy a unique delicacy from Co. Antrim.
Lough Neagh eels are turning up increasingly on menus there as a result of a link up with one of Dublin’s gourmet food businesses. La Rousse, Ireland’s gourmet food innovator is now marketing the delicious and rare eels from Lough Neagh, Europe’s largest wild eel fishery, to its high-end foodservice customers in the Republic of Ireland as well as across Northern Ireland.
Many leading chefs in Northern Ireland have been including the eels in their menus for many years. Michelin star chef Michael Deane, for example, included smoked Lough Neagh eel on his gourmet menu during his stint last week cooking for affluent diners at the St Regis Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
Lough Neagh Eels, based at Toome, is one of only three Northern Ireland products to have achieved EU protected name status, the first food from Northern Ireland to achieve this status. The others are Comber Early Potatoes and Armagh Bramley apples.
The fishery is now providing fresh and frozen eels, long prized by foodies in London as well as in the Netherlands and Germany, to La Rousse for its gourmet clients. The eels have been shipped fresh to Britain and the Netherlands for decades and were smoked to provide a popular street food in Amsterdam. They are also in demand at Billingsgate Market, the biggest seafood market in Britain.
The business, a fishermen’s co-operative, is now processing and adding value to the eels at the loughside fishery and has plans to launch a smoked product in the near future.
Lough Neagh’s Cathy Chauhan says: “La Rousse is an ideal partner because of its vast experience of working with leading chefs and also because of the company’s high end customer base.
“We are learning a great deal from the La Rousse team and its network of chefs about how we can supply the products that they wish. While we have experience in exporting fresh eels to the Netherlands and Great Britain, growing business in foodservice particularly in the Republic is a new development for us.”
And it’s business that Lough Neagh is keen to expand and has invested in processing and vacuum packaging technology and the development of innovative products for discerning chefs and diners.
The deal with la Rousse is an important step for the co-operative in helping it to realise its vision of becoming a supplier of fresh, frozen and smoked eel products for menus and dinner tables everywhere. Building this business will enhance the earnings of the 200 fishermen and their families who fish the lough in season.
The co-operative is seeking to build on the existing reputation for quality and outstanding taste of the Lough Neagh eel and is determined to ensure that the economic value of this unique natural resource continues to be developed sensitively, harnessing the products to the benefit of the business and the fishing families who supply the eels. To this end, the co-operative is also focused on conservation and careful management to ensure the long-term sustainability of the stock.
Clifford Webb, a La Rousse food manager, adds: “We are delighted to be working with Lough Neagh eels, a unique Irish product, in the development of business particularly in the Republic of Ireland. It’s a superb product.
“Eel, however, is a comparatively new product in the Republic, and what we’ve been doing is to create awareness there of this exceptional and versatile product among leading chefs. This has involved working closely with chefs and the team at Lough Neagh on the development of creative dishes using the Northern Irish eels.
“The agreement is also a further demonstration of our strategic focus on helping suppliers, especially artisan enterprises on the island of Ireland, grow business among the huge number of chefs in our extensive network,” he adds.
La Rousse has specialised in the supply of fine foods to premium food establishments since 1992. Based in Dublin, the company offers a wide range of fresh, seasonal and innovative produce from a network of producers.
Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative produces around 400 tonnes of eels annually and has long been committed to careful management of the fishery through rigorous conservation policies, including measures such as quotas, restocking and scientific research, which have helped to secure a viable and sustainable future for the eels, the fishermen and one of Northern Ireland’s exceptional gourmet foods.
