Chef Jess Murphy is New Irish Times Columnist

New Zealand-born Jess Murphy, chef and owner of Kai Restaurant in Galway, Ireland, is the new food columnist for the Irish Times. In her first column for the newspaper, Murphy discusses her cooking heritage, and the merits of the “unofficial national dish of New Zealand”, the meat pie.

“The thing about living in New Zealand in the 1980s, back in the day when the All Blacks had part-time jobs, is that there wasn’t a whole lot of culinary inspiration,” Murphy writes. “We were famous for pavlova, Kiri te Kanawa and Sir Edmund Hillary. I grew up in the small North Island town of Wairoa, where my grandmother was a big influence on me and sparked my interest in food. She owned a sheep station, where there were always things to do; drinking raw milk straight out of the vat, shaving pigs with my mum’s old Bic razor, or fishing for eels with cat food pushed down mum’s tights.

“New Zealand isn’t all about hobbits and sheep, though there’s a fair amount of both around the place. Although we are not really known for our cuisine, there are a few things we do exceptionally well.

“This [meat pie recipe] is a showstopper, almost medieval in appearance and served with baked or mashed potatoes, this punchy salad, some pickles and the obligatory New Zealand condiment, a dollop of ketchup, it makes a great dish for ‘The Dinner’ – as you’d say here in Ireland.

“This is a beef pie, but just as nice made with mutton, hogget or even goat if you can get your hands on some. You don’t have to use the marrow bone (you can just cut a hole) but this looks much better.”

Original article by Jess Murphy, The Irish Times, November 3, 2018.