FOOD STORIES
The Irish Bakery
Photographer Andrew Montgomery and Leiths-trained cook Cherie Denham introduce a new series based on their latest book The Irish Bakery. This month: hedgerows
The idea for a book celebrating the beauty of Ireland, and in particular the deep traditions of Irish baking, had been in the back of my mind for a while. It simmered there for several weeks, until a simple Instagram post from my car at Holyhead, while I was waiting for the ferry to Dublin, changed everything.
For all its bad press, social media can still be a wonderful way of bringing people together. After posting that iPhone image, of the ferry terminal through my rain-speckled windscreen, I received several replies but one really snagged my attention. It was from Cherie Denham, commenting on the joy of cooking mackerel on the beach on Ireland’s north coast. With time on my hands to scroll her Instagram feed, I found image after image of beautifully baked soda farls, wheaten bread, cakes and pies. Her passion and skill were immediately apparent. I instinctively knew that this could be the person to make my book happen.
At first, Cherie was hesitant. Though she had written recipes and baked all her life, she’d never cooked for the camera. I suggested we meet for a test shoot and several weeks later I arrived on Cherie’s doorstep. As I entered the kitchen, I saw that every surface was covered with food ready to be shot, some in multiple quantities. This proved to be a good sign: of the eight recipes we shot that day, seven are in this book. Cherie and I began meeting up regularly, in England and across Ireland, to plan and execute the shoots. I had decided to avoid the saturated colours of summer for most of the shoots, favouring instead the soft, mellow hues of autumn and the low, crisp light of late winter. I would photograph Cherie not only cooking the dishes but sourcing the ingredients, too – sometimes from the surrounding countryside, sometimes from local producers.
Growing up, we’d get apples from our Uncle Willy, pears from Auntie Evelyn’s tree and blackberries from the farm. I still remember the cows’ breath on the cool autumnal air
I never felt rushed while shooting. I think the concept of time is slightly different in Ireland: for me, it felt as if there was more of it. No one was in a blistering hurry to be somewhere else, and what I sometimes thought would take two hours to photograph ended up taking most of the day. This was not down to any particular difficulty but because everyone seemed to enjoy the process. And – as with so many things in Ireland – it would inevitably morph into a social occasion.
It’s these occasions that the book is really about. In all those times of gossip sharing and storytelling, a kettle w
