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What the Chefs Eat: Black Trumpet Bistro’s Evan Mallett Written by Briana Palma Photography by Scott Erb and Donna Dufault
E
van Mallett is more than just a chef; he’s an activist, author, and community leader. Likewise, the dishes he serves at his restaurant, Black Trumpet Bistro, are more than just food; each one is a learning experience for diners at the renowned Portsmouth, New Hampshire eatery. Seasonality and sustainability, rather than a type of cuisine or culinary technique, define the menu at Black Trumpet. Every dish is a product of Mallett’s passion and creativity, so asking him to choose a favorite is like asking him to pick between his two children.
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Foodies of New England
Spring 2017
15
But if he must, the three-time James Beard Award nominee
might not otherwise eat. We have it a couple of different ways on
says it’s his Gruit-Braised Goat, a recipe that’s included in his book
our menu… [such as] paired with a gratin that’s made with pota-
Black Trumpet: A Chef’s Journey Through Eight New England
toes from our garden and we bake that in a béchamel, so it’s very
Seasons, which is part memoir and part cookbook.
classically French.”
“This is the dish that I think best embodies Black Trumpet and
No matter how it’s paired, though, Mallett’s Gruit-Braised Goat
delivers a message along with what I hope is a really delicious
delivers a consistent message about the ideals on which Black
flavor,” Evan says.
Trumpet Bistro operates. There is the importance of choosing lo-
Since Mallet is committed to whole animal utilization, every serving of Gruit-Braised Goat begins with a whole goat that has been
cally raised produce and highlighting underused foods, along with sustainability, waste reduction, and whole animal utilization.
locally raised. After the animal has been broken down, the meat
Mallett explains that goat meat has an important role in the story
is seared and cooked slowly for about three hours in a mixture of
of sustainable food thanks to the popularity of goat cheese in the
goat stock and gruit-style beer, which uses botanicals and aromat-
United States, which dates back to the 1970s.
ics for flavoring rather than hops. The beer is sourced locally from Portsmouth’s Earth Eagle Brewings.
“When you have an unsustainable, out-of-balance food system, what happens is you become possessed by a single-production
Once the goat meat cools, it’s shredded like pulled pork, rolled
item without thinking about the peripheral damage that creates,”
up in a log, and chilled. Then when it comes time to serve, Mal-
he says. “All of those farms that were raising goats for their milk
lett and his kitchen staff cut the log into thick pieces—“essentially
essentially had no choice but to kill male goat kids. So they would
hockey pucks,” he says—sear them, add the goat stock and gruit
just pile them up and have dead bodies on the farm.”
braising liquid, and reduce it all down. This second caramelization imparts the meat with a “deeper, richer flavor.”
Eating goat meat is part of the solution to that problem, and Mallett’s menu proves that it’s a delicious one indeed.
“At this time of year, in mid-November, right through to late
“It’s a very clean flavor,” he says of goat meat. “For people who
spring, I find that this dish really resonates with people,” he says.
find lamb very fatty, this is a nice alternative. It’s very clean and it’s
“It’s definitely a stick-to-your-ribs, soul-warming, hearty food. And
very flavorful.”
on my end of things, I’m getting people to eat a meat that they
Executive Chef and owner Evan Mallet
Black Trumpet Bistro 29 Ceres Street Portsmouth, NH 03801 603.431.0887 www.blacktrumpetbistro.com
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Foodies of New England
Spring 2017
17
Gruit-Braised Goat Ingredients 8–9 pounds goat braising meat (legs, neck, shank, and rib all work well)
3 tablespoons minced garlic
Braising the Goat: Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
smell burns off, about 2 minutes. Add the goat or lamb stock,
1/4 cup minced fresh gingerroot
Preheat a wide, heavy-bottomed 8- to 10-quart pan over high heat.
stir to combine, and bring back up to a boil.
Coarsely chop the meat into large, same-sized chunks so it will
Carefully transfer the goat meat back to the pot, cover, and reduce
cook evenly. Don’t bother trimming the fat; it adds flavor to the
to a low simmer. The meat should be just barely submerged in the
braising liquid and can be skimmed off at the end. Sprinkle the
liquid. Check every half hour to ensure that the meat isn’t sticking
meat with the salt and pepper.
to the bottom of the pot. In 3 hours, the meat should fall apart at
2 tablespoons ground fenugreek seed 1 tablespoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon ras el hanout (available at stockandspice.com)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups tomato puree
2 carrots, medium dice
1 pint gruit (or any rich and sweet ale that’s not too hoppy)
Add the olive oil to the hot pan and carefully add the meat in a single layer (you will have to do this in two or three batches).
Shaping the Logs: Let the meat cool in the braising liquid until
2 1/2 quarts goat/lamb stock
Sear it to a golden brown without disturbing it, about 5 minutes.
it’s still warm but no longer too hot to touch. Strain out the liquid
This brown sear is due to the Maillard reaction, or caramelization
from the pan and transfer the meat to a clean bowl. Wearing rub-
of sugars on the meat’s surface. This searing step is key to a
ber gloves, knead and shred the meat, adding salt and pepper
flavorful braise. If liquid starts to seep out of the meat, it will pre-
if necessary. Shape the shredded meat into a log on an unrolled
vent the surface from searing and will begin to stew the meat. If
section of plastic wrap and roll the meat up like a burrito in logs
this happens, it means the pan isn’t hot enough or is too crowded,
about 3 inches (7.5 cm) thick, twisting the ends of the plastic wrap.
so either turn up the heat or remove some of the meat from the
Refrigerate for 3 hours or for up to 3 days.
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 stalks celery, medium dice 1/2 Spanish onion, medium dice
pan and sear it in the next batch.
To Serve: When you’re ready to serve, remove the plastic and
Turn the meat and sear for 5 minutes on the other side. Transfer
cut the log into equal slices that will each serve as one portion.
the meat to a bowl and repeat with the remaining meat until all of
In a nonstick or carbon steel pan with a couple of tablespoons of
it is browned and moved to the bowl.
clarified butter/olive oil blend (“Building Blocks,” page 13), sear the
Add the carrots, celery, and onion to the pot and sweat in the goat fat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and stir, cooking for 2 minutes
18
Foodies of New England
the pull of a fork.
disks of goat meat until crispy, flip over in the pan, and add braising liquid to reduce.
more. Add the ginger, fenugreek, mustard powder, and ras el
This recipe is adapted from Evan Mallett’s book Black Trumpet:
hanout and stir to combine with the vegetables. Add the tomato
A Chef’s Journey Through Eight New England Seasons (Chelsea
puree and cook down to a concentrate, stirring occasionally, about
Green Publishing, 2016) and is printed with permission from the
4 minutes. Add the gruit or ale and boil down until the alcohol
publisher.
Spring 2017
19
Briana Palma Meet the Diamond Duchess Patriots.com November 5, 2014 On the afternoon of August 1, Leah Miller was home recovering from foot surgery when her phone started buzzing. The messages weren't typical "get well soon" wishes but they certainly made her feel a lot better; Ty Law and Robert Kraft were busting a move – yet again – and this time they were wearing flashy Air Force 1s customized by Leah. "I literally don't remember anything about it [the surgery] because I was so excited about the shoes," she recalled, explaining that friend and client Bianca Wilfork was sending her videos from the ceremony. "I didn't care about the pain. I didn't care about not being able to walk. I only cared about seeing the shoes." Ty had specially commissioned the now-famous sneakers for his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, asking Leah to make almost-matching pairs for him and Mr. Kraft in what would be her first foray into men's footwear. Each shoe was embellished with red, white and blue Swarovski crystals – 25,000 of them for Ty's pair – and the Patriots Flying Elvis logo beneath the laces. It was an "intense" project even for Leah, who has spent 15 years making custom clothing and accessories with an NFL twist. Known as the Diamond Duchess, Leah started embellishing sports gear back in the late 1990s, when her husband Jim was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears. At the time, there wasn't much out there for fashion-forward female football fans. "There was nothing," Leah emphasized. "Most wives didn't wear jerseys when I first got into the league. It was very rare to see a player's wife wear a jersey." So Leah, an art school graduate, set out to create statement pieces that allowed her to look good and support her husband at the same time. "I wasn't doing jerseys at that point but, for example, I'd buy a Victoria's Secret dress and put his number on it," she explained. "It was a little bit here and a little bit there." Soon enough, word spread about Leah's creations and her hobby began to turn into a real business venture – somewhat to the dismay of Jim, who fell victim to his wife's sparkly experiments. "At the beginning he'd complain," she revealed. "I was testing a lot of products, so I'd make something and then see how it would wash. There would be crystals throughout our washing machine and dryer – the most sparkly ones you would ever see. I remember he had red Swarovskis on his underwear and the guys were pointing them out in the locker room."
Despite the minor domestic mishaps, Leah's company, Bella Artistry, got off the ground, and Jim's 2004 season with the Patriots proved to be pivotal for the fledgling business. It was then that Jen Andruzzi asked Leah for a custom jersey – the very first one she made – and soon after, when the team reached the Super Bowl, lots of other wives and girlfriends followed suit. By the time the next Super Bowl rolled around, word had reached the west coast and Leah was charged with customizing more than 30 jerseys for Seahawks significant others. Although she now has nine employees, back then Leah was a one-woman show, doing everything from designing the pieces and purchasing fabric to hand-setting crystals and sewing on embellishments. "We've come a long way," she said. "The ones we do now are so much more time consuming. Now we're altering them, we're changing necklines, we're changing sleeves, we're adding skirts, we're adding leather. One piece could now take 40 hours, where back then I was just adding some crystals and sewing some lace at the hem." Although women of the NFL – including Bianca Wilfork and Linda Holliday – continue to be some of Leah's most loyal clients, her fame has started to spread to other leagues and in fact, beyond the sports world as well. She is now planning to move Bella Artistry's studio out of her house in Michigan and into a nearby space with a storefront. The idea, she insisted, came from Jim, who has become one of her biggest supporters. Reflecting on the journey from her first simple T-shirts to her first show-stopping Air Force 1s and now the upcoming store, she can hardly believe how far she's come and credits her faith for getting her there. "I look back on it now and I can see all the steps where God was grooming me and moving me in that direction, but back then I had no idea," she said, sincerely. "I always wanted to do something in art but I never thought it would be Swarovski and I never thought it would be sports related. Never, never in my wildest dreams would I think that this thing that I absolutely love would be my livelihood and that it would be where it is today. Never in my wildest dreams." http://www.patriots.com/news/2014/11/05/meet-diamond-duchess
Briana Palma Abstract artist Ellen Rolli Bostoniano May 2014 Ellen Rolli and her husband had just returned from a two-week vacation in Italy, where they split their time between the cities of Florence and Venice. It wasn’t intended as a work trip for Rolli, who is a painter, but when she returned to her South End studio, it just happened – images of Italy appeared on her canvases. “As I was working, I would see things that felt like Italy,” Rolli tells me, recalling the period after the vacation in the autumn of 2012. “Maybe there was the shape of a gondola or something that felt like the structures there, the buildings, the water, the shapes.” Rolli says the influence of her time in Italy came through in four paintings in particular, and then it started to dissipate. This is how Rolli has painted, intuitively and emotionally, ever since 2009, when a residency at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center propelled her into the abstract world, a change she had considered making for years. “I think deep down I knew that I was moving toward painting abstractly,” she says. “It was something I had thought about, and I was really attracted and inspired by a lot of the painters from the ’40s and ’50s who were of the New York abstract expressionist school. But, I wasn’t ready; I needed to have all the experience that I had had up to that point before I could make that jump.” Although Rolli’s abstract work is a relatively new phase in her career, she has been involved in art for decades, having worked as a graphic designer after college and always maintaining a home studio in the years when she was a full-time mother. Then, about 15 years ago, she found herself falling in love with painting, due largely to the influence of her aunt, who was also a painter. “I’d go visit with her and she’d have an easel out in her living room and she’d be painting and I’d watch her,” Rolli fondly recalls. The same aunt, at age 86, brought Rolli along on an all-women’s painting trip to Provence, France. It was Rolli’s first time in Europe, and through the experience, she realized that she wanted to focus her artistic energy on painting. “That for me was a moment when I thought, ‘This is just who I am; this is what I have to do,’” she says. “I was so thrilled about being there and experiencing the place and I was painting like a madwomen. I had barely unpacked before I set up my easel up and was painting.” After the trip to France, Rolli continued to paint on location and about eight years ago, she moved out of her home studio and into a space in one of Boston’s greatest artist
communities, the SoWa Artist Guild. It’s here that she now comes to work most days, devoting herself wholeheartedly to her craft, even though her new role as a grandmother keeps her away a couple days a week. “I was a little concerned at first,” she says, candidly. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, two days out of the studio,’ but I’m there every other day pretty much.” Still, Rolli says that becoming a grandmother has influenced her work in another way, as the joy of that new role manifests itself in her paintings. Another recent inspiration is the sense of freedom Rolli has found since she and her husband sold their family home of 20 years and downsized to a condo, as so many empty nesters do these days. “We’re living more simply, more minimally, so even that’s entered into my work,” she explains. Regardless of what’s inspiring her to paint these days, Rolli says she feels very fulfilled in the work she’s doing as an abstract artist, five years after making the change in her style of painting. She emphasizes that it all feels authentic now. “It’s being very true to who I am as an artist and as a painter — not letting other things pull me away from painting the way that I need to paint,” she tells me, adding that, for commercial reasons, some artists may be motivated to paint in a certain style. “I don’t paint for that reason; I paint for me,” Rolli says. “At the end of the day, when I step back from a painting and I look at it, I say, ‘Oh yeah, that works’ — it works for me. If it resonates with people and they purchase a painting, I’m thrilled. If people don’t like it, well, it’s all subjective. I just feel like I’m doing some of my best work right now. It’s so honest.” Ellen Rolli will be participating in the annual SoWa Art Walk event on Sunday, May 4. Her paintings will also be on display at Provincetown’s Hutson Gallery throughout the summer months. http://bostoniano.info/artisticamente/abstract-artist-ellen-rolli/
Briana Palma 7 Myths About Irish Food, Busted Yahoo Food March 13, 2014 At Ballyknocken House, her B&B in Wicklow, Ireland, chef Catherine Fulvio meets lots of visitors from abroad who always seem surprised by one thing: the food. “Everybody says to me that they’re amazed at how good the food is in Ireland,” she says. “They can taste the goodness in the food – that’s really important.” Fulvio says it comes down to the quality ingredients that are produced here, no doubt thanks to the damp, mild climate that allows plants to grow year round. She jokes that Ireland has “grasstronomy,” since the cuisine is so strongly linked to the land, with local foods ranging from locally grown cabbage, parsnips, and other vegetables to cuts of flavorful, grass-fed beef. Top-notch produce and a few other factors—better-trained chefs and greater public interest among them—are responsible for the vibrant food revolution happening in Ireland. The way people cook and eat on the Emerald Isle has been transformed over the last decade, and what constitutes modern Irish food is moving further away from the stereotypical dishes of the past. To inspire your St. Patrick’s Day celebration, here are seven things about the Irish cuisine of today that may surprise you. 1. Nobody eats corned beef and cabbage “Oh my god, I don’t think we’ve made corned beef in Ireland for about 200 years,” JP McMahon, and owner of Michelin-starred restaurant, Aniar, says, chuckling. “We used to make a lot of corned beef out of Cork. I think we supplied the whole British Empire with it.” Still, McMahon insists this old-fashioned dish can be brought into the 21st century by reducing the salt used for the beef and lightly cooking the cabbage. “Corned beef and cabbage, as my granny would have cooked it, would have been really heavy and cooked for a very long time,” he explains. To make a St. Patrick’s Day dinner just as today’s Irish would, though, Fulvio recommends lamb prepared simply with rosemary and garlic, although she may be biased given the herd of sheep that is a permanent fixture at her B&B. Regardless, she says a traditional holiday meal always includes “a big roast in the oven” complete with all the trimmings. 2. It’s not a bland cuisine
While the Irish were once notorious for boiling veggies into tasteless lumps, they now know how to let their ingredients shine. “Cooking cabbage to within an inch of its life is not very pleasant, whereas a fresh savoy cabbage lightly sautéed is something gorgeous,” says Rachel Firth, general manager of Fallon & Byrne, an award-winning food hall, restaurant and wine bar in Dublin. Beyond the newfound respect for vegetables, many Irish food products, such as rich chutneys, smoked fishes and farmhouse cheeses, capture a real taste of the landscape. “For example, the flavor you get in a Durrus cheese is kind of wet and mushroom-y – it’s an Irish flavor,” Firth explains. “The cheese comes from a damp country and you get a taste of that.” 3. There’s plenty more than just meat and potatoes “My father would probably disagree with that,” McMahon says with a laugh, showing that Ireland’s food revolution has come from the younger generations. Yet he knows first hand about the variety of local produce since his restaurant, Aniar, uses only ingredients from within a 150-mile radius. McMahon says today there are more restaurants in Ireland going against the tradition of plain meat and potatoes than there are ones sticking to the old ways. For example, Aniar’s always-changing menu has featured fresh crab and scallops, 40-hour cooked beef cheek and duck heart. 4. Soda bread is a staple – but not as you know it Fulvio, who regularly travels abroad as an ambassador for Irish food, says people often inquire about soda bread. “One man asked me, ‘Why don’t you put caraway seeds in your soda bread? And I looked at him and I asked back, “You do put caraway seeds in your soda bread?” She explains that the international interpretation of Ireland’s most loved bread likely comes from an old recipe carried abroad with emigrants who left in the early 1800s. In Ireland, though, today’s typical brown soda bread is a dense, subtly sweet whole-wheat loaf that is free from caraway seeds and raisins. As Fulvio says, you’ll almost always find a slice or two served—with Irish butter, of course—on the side of a bowl of soup. 5. Heavy dishes are no longer the norm People in Ireland are preparing and eating much lighter dishes, so a good meal no longer comes with a guaranteed food coma. “You’re not feeding people who’ve been working in the fields for hours and hours— that’s a definite change,” Rachel Firth explains. “If people were out working for six hours
before they even had their lunch, they needed a big, heavy Irish stew with a load of potatoes to give them the energy to go on.” She adds that more people are discovering alternatives, with a big focus turning to Ireland’s coast. “There’s nothing nicer than an amazing Irish seafood platter with Dublin Bay prawns, smoked salmon and mackerel, and nice fresh scallops,” Firth says, enthusiastically. “You really wouldn’t want to do very much to them; their simplicity is gorgeous.” 6. Whiskey isn’t a key ingredient “Whiskey? That’s a good one,” Fulvio says, laughing when asked about the spirit. “They better be using Irish whiskey—that’s my first point. None of that Scotch stuff, please!” Jokes aside, whiskey really isn’t a prominent feature in Irish cooking, although it’s sometimes used for special occasions. For example, both Fulvio and McMahon say combining it with cream to make a rich steak sauce is a nice treat. “But I don’t know if whiskey makes food any more Irish,” McMahon adds, advising people to at least “make sure it’s a good Irish whiskey, because there’s a minor revolution going on with artisan whiskey as well.” 7. Green icing doesn’t make a dessert Irish Like the main courses that precede it, dessert also takes inspiration from Ireland’s produce. McMahon says things get particularly interesting in the winter when fresh, locally grown fruit isn’t available. “Then you think, ‘Why do they make carrot cakes in Ireland?’” He explains that they often serve the dessert at Aniar, but with “a few little twists and turns” to defy people’s expectations. Another tried and tested Irish dessert is rhubarb crumble, which is particularly fitting around St. Patrick’s Day, since the jewel-colored main ingredient is just coming into season. Fulvio says she combines the rhubarb with a bit of ginger or orange zest (or both) for added flavor. The crispy topping also makes use of a typical Irish product: porridge oats. “It’s a very traditional dish and very old fashioned,” Fulvio says, “but it’s still one of the most popular desserts in pub food in Ireland.” https://www.yahoo.com/food/7-myths-about-irish-food-busted-79460441676.html
a Greenland adventure Words: Briana Palma Photos: Daragh Muldowney – www.dulra.com Filmmaker Claire Riordan wouldn’t consider herself a hardcore adventurer – at least she didn’t until the summer of 2013 when she packed up her camera and joined Jamie Young of Killary Adventure Centre on the North of Disko expedition to Greenland. The 63-day trip included sailing through the stormy waters of the Atlantic, kayaking amongst icebergs and even an attempt at climbing the Impossible Wall. Briana Palma looks back at the epic adventure through the eyes of a novice.
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Daragh Muldowney, Geo and Shane Young search for shots on Store Glacier.
C
laire Riordan wouldn’t deem herself an expert sailor, but there she was, in the middle of the Atlantic, on watch as dawn approached on a late-June 2013 morning. A pinkish light was coming up over the horizon and the water was calm. Suddenly she heard the noise of a large exhalation and knew there were animals nearby. Turning around, Riordan found herself looking at a pod of about 20 to 30 pilot whales, which sailed alongside the boat for about half an hour. “It was the most incredible feeling – you know that feeling of excitement when you just can’t stop smiling,” Riordan recalls. “It was such a privilege to see those animals in such a natural way. That just gave me goose bumps.” It was only five days into the North of Disko expedition to Greenland. Another 13 days, and two more storms – they’d already gotten through one – would stand between the crew and landfall in the Arctic. Still, the feeling of excitement about the mystery of Greenland prevailed, keeping Riordan and the others going through the most gruelling parts of their 63-day adventure. North of Disko was conceived and organised by Jamie Young, 62, who owns the Killary Adventure Centre and describes himself as a man with “slightly itchy feet”.
Killary Flyer in Uummannaq.
For Young, it was an expedition he had wanted to attempt for many years, having been captivated by the tales of those who had visited Greenland, such as French scientist Jean Malaurie and English explorer William Scoresby. So one year before the departure, in the summer of 2012, Young began to spread the word and see who would be interested in taking part. There was one condition, though: there would be no passengers. Everyone was expected to be part of the team and contribute however they were able. When Riordan heard about the opportunity, she was interested, although she admits she was worried about the challenges she would face, including the lack of sleep and the long-term confinement with a group that included some people she barely knew. “I was saying to some girlfriends before I went that I was worried about being too grumpy if I got woken up after two-andhalf hours of sleep,” she says candidly, noting that she was the only woman on
the boat and one of two taking part in the expedition. (Climber Jane Gallwey and three others met them in Greenland.) Still, despite the prospect of sleep deprivation, Riordan went ahead and proposed to Young the idea of making a documentary about North of Disko, as well as blogging about the trip throughout. “It wasn’t my sailing experience or anything like that,” she says with a laugh. “It was about adding an extra dimension to it – to share the experience with a wider audience.” Young, who has undertaken a number of impressive expeditions over the years, was happy to incorporate Riordan’s skills into his plans for North of Disko, which took its name from Disko Island off the west coast of Greenland. “Moving on from books, which are very nice, I think modern expeditions can be as instantaneous as possible because of the age we live in,” he says. “I think it’s much more interesting for everybody if you can see what’s happening instantly rather than retrospectively.”
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Steve McGowan pulling a move, Uummannaq.
tonnes of food and equipment on departure
days
covered by the sea kayakers
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crew nembers
nautical miles covered
rainy days settlements visited by the Killary Flyer routes attempted by the climbers
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White fronted geese, Upernavik Ice Floe.
Steve McGowan with the tricolour on the tip of the ice berg. Ali Donald, Geo, Shane Young and Dougal Fleming in kayaks, Uummannaq.
Looking back at the single-handed transAtlantic race he completed at age 24 and a second crossing of the Atlantic that he and his wife made on their honeymoon, he adds, “Once you’d sailed over the horizon, that was it. Nobody knew where you were until you got to the other side or didn’t, as the case may be.”
group of nine other people that, in addition to Riordan as a filmmaker, included sea kayakers Ali Donald, Kevin O’Callaghan, Dougal Fleming and Young’s son Shane; climbers Colin Gibbon, Jane Gallwey and Stephen McGowan; and photographer Daragh Muldowney. Over the course of their time in Greenland, everyone had different goals and challenges to overcome. The climbers set out to leave their mark on the relatively untouched landscape and attempted four routes, with a successful first ascent being made on one they aptly named North of Disko. They also set their sights on the Impossible Wall, but as the elder Young says with a hint of irony in his voice, “It turned out to be impossible.” The sea kayakers meanwhile spent their time navigating through fjords and ice fields on a 500km unsupported trip from Upernavik to Uummannaq. In addition to taking time out for interviews with Riordan, the climbers and kayakers also aided Muldowney as he went around photographing ice, gathering material that he plans to feature in a new art exhibition. O’Callaghan, Gibbon and Shane Young even A multi-tasking expedition And while his passion may lie mostly in sailing, accompanied him onto a glacier, where he Young says he likes expeditions which include snapped away, capturing details of the ice in his signature abstract style. “They became “multi-tasking”, so he gathered together a
“Once you’d sailed over the horizon, that was it. Nobody knew where you were until you got to the other side or didn’t, as the case may be.”
Crow’s nest view, Uummannaq.
my entire support group when I was on the glacier,” Muldowney explains, adding that the guys carried the tents and food, and offered general support as he went about his work. It seems, though, that O’Callaghan, Gibbon and Young got something in return for helping Muldowney, which they revealed when discussing the experience with Riordan afterward. “They said if they had gone to the glacier on their own to explore, it would have been ‘walk to one end and camp and walk back’ – just really full on,” Muldowney recalls. “But because I was with them and because there was a lot of stopping and looking, they all had to slow down a little bit, so individually without consulting each other, they all came out with the same comments – that it was a beautiful thing to have to slow down and they appreciated nature a lot more from stopping and looking.” The land and its people
The beauty of both the place and the native people stuck with the North of Disko team, as the locals were like an added support team
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Happy Local in Aasiaat.
throughout. For example, when Muldowney went off on his own to photograph ice on nearby islands which were out of reach of their boat, the Killary Flyer, he got a helping hand from local fishermen. North of Disko’s lead kayaker Ali Donald also had the opportunity to go out kayaking in the harbour with a Greenlandic man
Eight out of 10 of the North of Disko team. Clockwise from back left: Jamie Young, Dougal Fleming, Kevin O’Callaghan, Claire Riordan, Colin Gibbon, Shane Young, Ali Donald Daragh Muldowney. (Jane Gallwey and Stephen McGowan are absent.)
other aspects of the expedition,” he says. But that’s not the half of it, according to Riordan, who describes Young as “a really good leader” and “an amazing storyteller”. As she watched each day of the expedition unfold through the lens of her camera, she was left impressed with his leadership skills and ability to make his Arctic dream into a reality for a whole group of people. As she began to sift through the hours upon hours of footage once the crew returned home to Ireland, the take-away from the trip became clear. “It’s a story of ordinary people doing something named Adam. There in the “freezing cold jackets were handed out to help them keep extraordinary and working together to water,” according to Riordan, Adam taught warm during the gathering. achieve this amazing goal,” she says, her Donald the traditional kayak rolls the region’s passion for the project coming through in hunters would use. “He was absolutely blown The ultimate leader away by that,” Riordan says of Donald. “I Throughout it all, the cultural immersion her voice. “It’s a dream. It’s something that a lot of people, I suppose, would love to try don’t think he stopped smiling for about and physical tests, the group was held and do, but wouldn’t know where to start. I three weeks after that.” together by their leader, Young. “My think that story of how Jamie had the idea The group also experienced the local culture job was really navigating, making sure and hospitality when they were invited to everything worked and moving the boat and then made it a reality, that’s a really attend family confirmation celebrations in interesting story to tell.” around as we desired – to support the Upernavik, where they were treated to the culinary specialities of polar bear, seal and walrus. And on another night, they attended a screening of the 2010 Greenlandic-language film Inuk at a community hall, where sealskin
“It’s a story of ordinary people doing something extraordinary and working together to achieve this amazing goal.”
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