#jameslowe

[dotdotdotciara]

MY TOP 4 IRFU PLAYERS FROM EACH PROVINCE

Credit: joe.ie 

Finally, we’re onto the province that makes up the basis of the Irish team, my home province, the most talented province. Shall I go on?

 There are many players that are worthy to be noted here; Johnny Sexton, our fabulous Wexford beast Tadhg Furlong alongside an oldie but a goodie Brian O’Driscoll but instead we are ONCE AGAIN back on the International stage again for Leinster with our newly capped, national treasure… JAMES LOWE! Literally the most smiley person to ever live.

Born in New Zealand and of Maori descent, Lowe started playing rugby in high school. He played rugby for a local club for 5 years, as well as playing with the All Blacks on an international level for 3 years before moving to Ireland and signing with Leinster in 2017. He gave up playing with the All Blacks to care for his mother who had a serious stroke, which has left her unable to walk.

He recently qualified for the Irish national team after 3 years residency in the country. He is proud of his Maori roots but has openly stated how much he loves playing for the province, saying ‘Shit man, I love this team.’ He recently signed another 3-year contract with the province. He plays as a wing and has scored 33 tries for the province in the space of 4 years!  He is a fan favourite for the club. Its fair to say that we’re incredibly lucky to have our hands on a former All Black, who is unbelievably proud to be Irish! 

The winger got very emotional during his first international match on the 13th of November 2020. He was clearly holding back tears during the anthems and told the media how much he missed his family being there, as they always pushed him to pursue his rugby career in Ireland! Awww! He then went on to score a try in his first international match!

I have gotten the chance to watch him live in 2 different Leinster vs Munster matches in the 2018-2019 Champions Cup and Pro14 respectively. I watched him get unfairly red carded and disqualified for 4 weeks, which infuriated the entire population of Leinster!   A few months after that, we were in the RDS in Dublin watching Leinster vs Munster again and as the squad was doing the warmups and practice kicks...I got walloped by one of the balls he kicked and expected a rugby ball shaped bruise on my body!  It’s my biggest claim to fame! :)

This ends my series on my top 4 favourite players in each province  *cries in rugby* 

Go raibh míle maith agat! 

[billybennight]

Here’s my shot of James Lowe at the private red carpet screening of 'Rally Caps.' @rallycapsthemovie #rallycaps @directorsguild #dga #jameslowe #redcarpetevents (at Directors Guild of America) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmIoMZGLRrB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thejamesonworks]

The Jameson Works x GAME

A Guide to Game: James Lowe on Snipe

For The Jameson Works x GAME project, we have collaborated with acclaimed chefs to delve into the craft and tradition of British game season and share some of the know-how that goes into the preparation, cooking and serving of this unique cuisine.

In the final episode of the series, chef James Lowe (Lyle’s) prepares the little known game bird Snipe, and explains why each Snipe tastes completely different. 

[thejamesonworks]

The Jameson Works x GAME

Grouse, Bread Sauce & Pickled Mulberries Recipe From James Lowe, head chef at Lyle’s

Grouse is my favourite, it’s seen by many as the king of of the game birds, and for me it’s the sign that game season has really begun. The first shoot of the year is on “the glorious twelfth” - 12th August, and from then onwards another bird comes into season every month or so and you’ll find nature almost writing the menu for you as the next bird and then the next appears to be cooked and served for our guests.

Grouse can be quite intimidating, firstly for its cost at the start of the season (it’s expensive because of low numbers and high demand in August) and secondly it has an incredibly unique flavour, which some may find too challenging. If you wait a couple of weeks for the price to come down and prepare the bird properly I think it’s a very approachable bird.

I like serving grouse with bread sauce as it’s quite a classical pairing. The mulberries really tie everything together, I love how mulberries are a wild fruit, they aren’t commercially grown as they’re awkward and don’t start yielding fruit for the first few years of their lives - there’s something very British about that!

Make sure you keep the heart and liver, it’s an integral part of the experience to eat the entire bird. Why would you waste anything if you’ve gone through the trouble of the shoot? Here, I’ve served them very simply, chopped, on a piece of toast.

Serves 4  Ingredients 2 onions 8 cloves 1 bay leaf 500ml milk 150g white breadcrumbs 1tbsp butter 200g mulberries 300g red wine vinegar 150g sugar Grouse Butter Small piece of sourdough toast Salt

Method - Bread Sauce - 1. Cut two onions in half, thinly slice one and stud the other with the cloves.  2. Put the onions in a small pot with the bay leaf, milk, and a pinch of salt.  3. Bring the mixture up to very low simmer, take off the heat and then leave to infuse for an hour. 4. Remove the onion, cloves and bay leaf, and then heat the milk very gently with the breadcrumbs. 5. Stir every 15 minutes until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a loose mashed potato.

- Pickled Mulberries - 1. Bring the vinegar and sugar to the boil and add the mulberries. 2. Take off the heat and allow to cool. 3. If you wish to preserve the berries, pour them into a sanitised jam jar while hot and seal.

- Grouse - 1. Remove the bird’s head and wings. Cut around the birds leg (just above the heel) with a sharp blade. Place the bird flat on the board. 2. Strike its leg very hard with the back of a knife blade to smash the bone. With one hand squeeze the lower leg muscle, then with the other hand pull out all the tendons by it’s feet. This means you will be able to eat the whole leg without having to pick bits out of your teeth! 3. Cut open the cavity at the bottom of the breast bone, remove the birds guts, but set aside the heart and liver. Season the bird with salt. 4. Add butter to a heavy based frying pan. Sear the bird on all sides, starting with the grouse on its side to ensure you coat all surfaces evenly. The bird should brown not blacken. If it turns black your butter is too hot, if it’s not brown enough your heat is on too low. 5. Place the plan and the bird in a 180 degree oven for 5 minutes. When you take it out, test that the thickest part of the breast has reached a temperature of 56 degrees centigrade. 6. Remove the bird from the pan. Add the liver, heart and bread fry briefly. 7. Remove liver and heart from the pan when they begin to firm up, and the bread when it becomes crispy. Leave to rest aside.

- Plating - 1. Take the breasts off the bone and the legs off at the hip. 2. Trim any discoloured meat, this is very important, it will probably be quite bitter where it was exposed to the blood or has oxidised. You want to make sure you have a good grouse experience! 3. Chop through the livers roughly and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. Spread on to the toast. 4. Plate the bread sauce and add the pickled mulberries to the juices from the pan and pour over the meat.

[thejamesonworks]

The Jameson Works x GAME

A Guide to Game: James Lowe on Grouse

For The Jameson Works x GAME project, we have collaborated with acclaimed chefs to delve into the craft and tradition of British game season and share some of the know-how that goes into the preparation, cooking and serving of this unique cuisine.

In this episode, chef James Lowe from Lyle’s takes us through the flavours of grouse and how best to maintain this meat prior to cooking.