Dairy goodness

Meringue roulade with strawberries and lovely cream 

My feelings towards cattle are conflicted (not the opening statement you were expecting I'm sure).On the one hand, I very much dislike them (Oh let me count the ways). If you've never stood nose to nose with a cow or bullock (never mind an actual bull - yikes!), I have to tell you that they are bigger, smellier and more menacing than you would imagine (yes, menacing - I've definitely had some give me the evil eye). Farmers are always telling me 'not to worry, sure they won't touch you'. But what does that mean exactly? What do they mean by 'touch'?  It certainly doesn't mean that they won't rock right on up to you at an awkward gallop, jostling with their bovine buddies and climbing up on each other to see who can get closest to you (no, I didn't know they could do that either). Generally, at this point (if possible) I head for the nearest cattle wire and hop quickly over it before the herd arrive (all very calmly as you can imagine; not a moment of panic). Meanwhile, the herd gather as close as is bovinely possibly, snorting and drooling and doing other things that I won't mention on a baking blog. Lovely. 

So why am I conflicted? Well, I do love a nice steak every now and then, or a spicy chilli con carne or a warming beef stew in the winter (hello cow meat). Most important, though, are the fabulous and versatile dairy products. I adore milk, butter, yoghurt and cheese in their natural state and of course, they are used in an infinite number of cakes, desserts and confectionary to delicious effect. Irish dairy products are rightly considered some of the best in the world, which is of course, down to cattle grazing their days away in our lovely green fields. Most people think that the recent growth of artisan cheese in this country is something new, remembering the choice of either cheddar or the 'cheese' spreads and slices of our youth (Easi-Singles anyone?). The Irish annals (records kept by monks from the early medieval period onwards), however, mention over 400 different types of cheese and milk products in Ireland. Cattle were the currency of the day and the bigger your herd, the greater your wealth and position. Clearly, we lost our way sometime over the last 1600 years, descending from such dizzy, dairy heights to become purveyors of processed cheese and margarine. 

Having said that, one of my most treasured food memories from childhood was being first to pop open the foil disc on top of the milk bottle, so that I could have the creamy top on my cornflakes. (Melted butter on toast was another favourite.) So processed cheese and margarine aside, the potential for greatness was always there in the raw product. And aren't we lucky? Fudge would not be quite so fabulous without milk and butter. Chocolate fudge (butter) icing, cheesecake, shortbread, rice pudding, anything containing cream... more sweet things than my poor little brain could list and all of them rely on really good quality dairy products to be at their best (like the lovely strawberry meringue roulade made by No.1 Sister that features in today's photos). I guess this means that I should be grateful for the countless cattle that glare and snort at me in the fields when I'm out and about. Sigh. I'll just need to be quicker on my feet to avoid getting too close!