The perfect St Patrick’s Day is all about eating, drinking and connecting with others, so to help you celebrate in style we asked Dublin-based foodie Ali Dunworth – festival curator and food writer – to create some whiskey-perfect eats to pair with your pours.
As Ali explains, the way Slane Irish Whiskey is made means it’s the perfect whiskey for food pairing. “Thanks to the triple cask ageing, Slane is an easy-going drink with lots of flavours and aromas to play with. It can taste like a classic Irish whiskey but then you pick up on spice or honey and then a bit of vanilla, so it pairs wonderfully with lots of foods.”
Ali’s sophisticated street food dishes bring out Slane’s complex yet smooth flavour beautifully. “The spiciness along with the sweet tones from the sherry cask means I thought of pairing it with cheese straight away,” she explains. “The baked camembert is a no-brainer and it’s exactly the type of food you want with a glass of whiskey. With the sticky sausages, the flavours – honey, marmalade, mustard – mirror the honey and spice notes of Slane Irish Whiskey well. With the cheese dip, I just love the kick adding the whiskey gives to the unctuous sauce. It makes it feel like a grown-up version of a comfort food dish.”
In terms of your pour, Ali says the recipes tick both straight serve and cocktail boxes.“The sausages and cheese dip are party foods that will go well with any whiskey-based drink, particularly cocktails. The cheese dip delivers a real flavour pop, so anything with a bit of zing will go well with it. While the baked camembert is perfect for sharing over a straight serve of whiskey.”
This recipe is sticky, sweet and savoury and goes great with a cocktail, as cocktail sausages should. A winner at parties and so easy to prepare.
Ingredients
450g or about 30 cocktail sausages
2 tbsp marmalade
2 tbsp Slane Irish Whiskey
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sesame oil
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Method
Preheat your oven to 190c
In a bowl add all of your ingredients except the sesame seeds. Whisk together to combine.
Add your sausages into the bowl and mix to coat. Transfer into a roasting dish.
Put the sausages in your preheated oven. They’ll take 30 minutes in total to cook, but set a timer, so at 10-minute intervals you can give the sausages a stir and toss them around to stop the marinade from sticking and burning and make sure they brown evenly.
The crispy potato paired with an indulgent cheese sauce makes for a sensational sharer
