Cabin Fever Cooking: the chefs who are showing us how to cook online during Covid-19

Has staying indoors given you the cooking bug? If you’re on the lookout for new recipes and methods of creating delicious meals, here are the chefs to follow

With a fair chunk of the nation staying home, Irish home kitchens have never been so busy. We find our selves dusting off pans we forgot we had and attempting things we’d usually only do once a year. But where to even start when it comes to looking for recipes? Searching online can be a minefield.

Fear not, an unfortunate silver lining to the current situation means that a plethora of talented chefs and home cooks are online, sharing with us their tried and tested recipes, insights and let’s face it some much-needed distraction. Here are some of the Irish accounts I’ve been tuning in into for inspiration and entertainment

Eric Mathews, Chapter One

The head chef of Michelin starred Chapter One has been creating a bit of buzz online with his home cooking Instagram stories ‘Cabin Fever Classics’. So far he’s whipped up a divine looking Amatriciana pasta dish, perfect turbot with mussels and homemade Parisian steak and chips. Throwing in expert tips on garlic chopping, shopping and cooking, usually with a drink in hand and a few tunes thrown in for good measure, making these well turned out dishes seems very achievable.

Shane Smith 

Nothing quite passes the time at home like baking, especially if you’ve kids to keep busy. It helps that the rewards at the end are (usually) worth it. Shane Smith, pastry chef from Airfield Estate has been keeping lots busy with his foolproof home baking tutorials on his Instagram stories and then helpfully posting the recipes on his feed. Soda bread, scones, seasonal tarts and cookies, he’s covering the classics we want to bake and eat at a time like this.

Niamh Shiels, Eat Like A Girl

Niamh is an Irish cook and writer based in London that has an incredible repertoire of home cooking recipes and there couldn’t be a better time to delve into them. She cooks gluten-free for the most part these days but these dishes are not your average free-from fare. Taste and flavour are paramount with plenty of comfort food fixes. Noodles, stews, quesadillas, brunch dishes, roasts and plenty of bacon – she even has a book dedicated to it. And she’s great at interacting online should you have any questions.

Gastro Gays

Patrick and Russell have been writing and cooking for their shared blog Gastro Gays for some years now so they have accumulated quite the collection of ‘stuff-you-want-to-eat’ recipes. They’re great at recreating dishes they’ve enjoyed on their many adventures – Piri Piri chicken, croquettes, taco fries, onion rings, French toast, fried chicken, pimped hot dogs and plenty more. They are also doing a #COVCookClub, a twice weekly digital cookbook and cookery club and make sure to tune into their podcast series Chew The Fat while you’re at it.

Chloe Foodie

Chloe made a name for herself through her Dublin business Foodie Cafe along with her fun food-focused social media. Now based in Zurich she’s recently started working on her online recipes again, setting up a weekly newsletter, and sharing the sort of recipes that make you want to get in the kitchen – easy homemade dumplings, salted peanut caramel tart, tahini chocolate chip cookies. She might even make up a song as she cooks. All the good feels.

Gina Daly

Home cook, food blogger and mom Gina Daly started sharing her food on Instagram to hold herself accountable for what she ate on her weight loss journey. Her relatable, doable recipes struck a chord with many and she’s now on 80k+ Instagram followers and has just released a cookbook. Enjoyable recipes, made from scratch with plenty of vegetables thrown in will appeal to anyone at home with kids trying to keep things fun, think Big Mac Lasagne, Banging Beef Satay, Soy Crispy Chicken and her brilliant fakeaways that include a very tasty spice bag, cheesy fries and even a doner kebab.

Caitlin Ruth

Chef Caitlin Ruth built quite the reputation during her time at Deasy’s Harbour Bar in Cork, cooking wonderful Irish dishes with lots of local ingredients. Now she’s sharing her kitchen knowledge with us step by step on Instagram stories, posting her go-to recipes and techniques including basmati rice, braised lentils and a beetroot dinner with plenty more to come.

Paul Treyvaud

Over on Facebook, chef Paul Treyvaud has started filming daily live family cook alongs with his sons helping him out. These recipes are all about getting families into the kitchen together so think achievable recipes the kids will eat like curry and tomato sauce. He posts the recipe details beforehand so you can get everything ready and encourages the grown-ups to have a glass in hand, which is always a good idea.

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