Award-winning chocolatier Norma Kelly on her life in food

Award-winning chocolatier and owner of Praline Pastry & Chocolate Café in Cork, Norma Kelly’s pastry skills have been honed from a very young age, starting when she was just a little girl pulling up a chair to stand beside her mother or grandmother as they regularly prepared cakes and tarts together at home.

Norma’s passion for pastry runs deep, and she regularly trains for Irish and European chocolatier competitions. In 2015 her hard work and dedication was rewarded as she was named winner of the ‘Best Moulded Praline’ category at the Cacao Barry UK and Irish Chocolate Masters.

More recently, in 2019 Praline was awarded Gold and Silver at the Blas na hEireann Awards for its Praline Opera Pastry and Chocolate Fudge Cake respectively, and in 2022 picked up a Bronze for its Signature Chocolate Box.

Here, she shares her life in food…

What are your earliest memories of food?

The food at my maternal grandmother’s house. She used to make jams and I particularly remember crab apple jelly, probably because I hated it but it was given to me on bread all the same – I’m still not a fan. But I remember how she used to cover the jams with the little disc of clear film and it was pulled tight across the top of the jar, then secured with an elastic band. And if she caught you drumming the tight covering of clear film, you’d be given out to. She took great pride in those jars.

How would you describe your relationship with food?

All consuming. It quite literally fills my entire day.

What was the first meal you learned to cook?

Chicken Mornay. My mother roasted chicken thighs in the oven, then they were covered with a mornay or cheese sauce, crushed up corn flakes were then sprinkled on top, and it was gratinated under the grill. I loved that dish and funnily enough I can’t remember when I last made it.

How did food become a part of your career?

When I was 17, I got a summer job in the kitchen of a local hotel, on the wash up firstly and then I was given some jobs preparing food. from the first night I worked in that kitchen, I never had interest or desire to follow a different career path. It was the only thing I wanted to do after that and although I would have happily not returned to school after that summer, my parents of course were having none of it, so I returned to school and continued to Dublin Institute of Technology (now TU Dublin) to study Culinary Arts after my Leaving Cert.

I stayed in Dublin for almost 14 years working in restaurants and incidentally I returned to DIT after my graduation to teach part-time and study a Masters in Culinary Innovation & Food Product Development.

What’s your go-to breakfast?

I’d love to say granola, fruit and yogurt. However, I’m really a pancakes, maple syrup and bacon kinda girl. I do keep that for the weekends now though, and do my best to munch through the granola during the week.

If you’re impressing friends and family at a dinner party, what are you serving up?

Probably an Indian dish from Chef Sunil Ghai’s cookbook, Spice Box. Indian is one of my favourite cuisines – his food is amazing and his recipes are excellent. Of course, with me being a Chocolatier, it would have to be chocolate fondant for dessert.

Who is your culinary inspiration?

Professionally, Ruth Hinks from Cocoa Black, an award-winning Chocolatier and Pastry Chef from Scotland. She and her husband own Cocoa Black, a pastry and chocolate business and school. Ruth has a really practical and down to earth approach to her pastry and chocolate creations. I’ve done many chocolate and pastry courses at her school.

Personally, I have to mention my mother here. My memories of growing up are centred in our kitchen at home. As well as working as a Nurse, she was always preparing fresh food for her family, and of course she taught me how to bake. I try to do the same for my family now and although my children are still quite young, I try to bake with them when I can, even though there is an extensive clean up operation after!

What would your last meal on earth be?

Prawn cocktail with fresh Dublin Bay prawns for starters, Butter Chicken for mains, and Chocolate Fondant with Vanilla Ice Cream to finish.

What’s your go-to comfort food?

Crusty white sourdough toast with lashings of butter melting into it.

What’s the go-to quick meal you cook when you’re tired and hungry?

Pasta with pesto and freshly grated parmesan.

What is one food or flavour you cannot stand?

Liquorice.

Hangover cure?

The aforementioned white toast with butter.

Sweet or savoury?

Definitely sweet when I go out for a meal. I always say I’ll have the cheese board to finish, but when it comes to the end of the meal I just have to have something sweet

Fine dining or pub grub?

Pub grub for sure. Hearty food in relaxed surroundings

Favourite restaurant in Ireland?

I couldn’t say to be honest, there are so many great restaurants. So many I’ve been to and so many I’m yet to visit.

Best coffee in Ireland?

Praline in Mitchelstown of course!

Go-to beverage accompaniment?

Anything chocolate related.

What are your thoughts on the Irish foodie scene?

I think we have a very exciting and adventurous foodie scene here in Ireland. Especially since Covid, chefs started trying lots of different styles of food and different ways of serving food, from food trucks to pop-up restaurants to dining outside in all weather. We embraced it all and made food more central to the way we socialise. And I think that although the pandemic is over, we have held onto our appetite for new food experiences.

What’s your favourite thing about cooking?

I have to answer this as my favourite thing about baking. When I’m baking my mind is focused on the recipe and the ingredients, and that’s my therapy.

What does food — sitting down to a meal with friends, mindfully preparing a meal, nourishment, etc — mean to you?

Myself and my husband both work full-time and our children are still very young, so between school and being at our childminders, dinner time in the evening, as well as nourishing us, is our chance to connect with the children. Even if it’s a quick bite to eat over toddler tantrums, It still means that the five of us sit together and catch up on the day for 15 minutes or so. When catching up with friends, what once were long weekends of partying and socialising, have now turned into cosy catch ups over a good meal when our schedules align. And, if I’m honest, I think the latter is far more fulfilling.

Food for thought — Is there room for improvement within the Irish food/restaurant/hospitality scene?

Of course, there is always room for improvement in every walk of life. If we stop improving the offering, then customers get bored, and they deserve better than that. As a chef/business owner, I love trying out new ideas and watching customers’ reactions. I am always striving to be better, otherwise we will just stagnate

Chef’s kiss — Tell us about one standout foodie experience you’ve had recently.

I had afternoon tea at Cashel Palace with some girlfriends recently. The food was excellent, the company was perfect and the cocktails were amazing.

Compliments to the chef — Now’s your chance to sing the praises of a talented chef, beloved restaurant or particularly talented foodie family member.

It has to be my mother. I’ve probably taken it for granted most of my life, but she is an amazing cook and baker. She’s one of the best bakers I know. For her, there is only one way to do something and that’s the right way in everything she does.

Secret ingredient — What, in your estimation, makes the perfect dining experience?

Good conversation!

Photography by Kirsty Lyons