I have a bit of a history with baked goods: In my tweens I spent months perfecting recipes and competing in (and winning) the county fair kitchen competitions; Santa brought me a whole new set of baking implements for my 10th Christmas; and my wife got me The Science of Cooking for my 29th Christmas. I'm just a tad enthusiastic.
So when, on my walking tour of Kinsale, the guide pointed to a bakery/cafe and said that they were finalists for Ireland's Best Scone, my brow raised and I thought to myself with a good measure of arrogance, "I'll be the judge of that."
I slipped back to Janey Mac's after the tour and tried my best to hide my tone of self-importance when I asked, "So you guys were finalists, huh? Which scone got the honor?" The waitress pointed to the orange-rhubarb scone and somewhere, a tumbleweed rolled in the wind while the song from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly whistled. I purchased one and took it to the nearest make-shift table. A local crow flew in to be the solo witness of this showdown (/beg for crumbs).
Visual evaluation: nice browning, good light scattering of the sugar crystals, could use more of the pink rhubarb peeking through the surface.
Physical evaluation: great crumb, grain of sprinkled sugar could be slightly bigger, perfect balance and levels of rhubarb and orange. And it was still warm!
Verdict: this scone deserved its title.
I went back to the baker and asked, "....Do you make the recipe available?" He knew I'd been won over. Unfortunately, no, it's not public. But he said that it's based on a recipe by an Avoca bakery, and that I should try to develop it myself. Then he graciously added, "But if you get stuck, email us."
It looks like I have a new recipe to work on.
So when, on my walking tour of Kinsale, the guide pointed to a bakery/cafe and said that they were finalists for Ireland's Best Scone, my brow raised and I thought to myself with a good measure of arrogance, "I'll be the judge of that."
I slipped back to Janey Mac's after the tour and tried my best to hide my tone of self-importance when I asked, "So you guys were finalists, huh? Which scone got the honor?" The waitress pointed to the orange-rhubarb scone and somewhere, a tumbleweed rolled in the wind while the song from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly whistled. I purchased one and took it to the nearest make-shift table. A local crow flew in to be the solo witness of this showdown (/beg for crumbs).
Visual evaluation: nice browning, good light scattering of the sugar crystals, could use more of the pink rhubarb peeking through the surface.
Physical evaluation: great crumb, grain of sprinkled sugar could be slightly bigger, perfect balance and levels of rhubarb and orange. And it was still warm!
Verdict: this scone deserved its title.
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| I didn't give the crow any of the prized scone, but it swallowed my extra tab of butter in one gulp. |
It looks like I have a new recipe to work on.
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