Bringing home the bacon – French style

"Food is about conviviality. That is something so nice about food, to sit at the table, eat and talk with people.” For French woman Isabelle Sheridan of Cork’s legendary On the Pig’s Back, conviviality – that quality of being cheerful and friendly – is essential to her business.

It’s the welcoming atmosphere that brings customers back time and time again to learn about and buy good food at Isabelle’s landmark English Market stall, laden with cheese, charcuterie, all manner of condiments, freshly baked bread and other very good things.

It’s also an important element of Isabelle’s café/deli at St Patrick’s Woollen Mills in the Cork suburb of Douglas, which plays host to tastings and wine nights, plays, concerts and exhibitions. This bustling spot boasts a hospitable air as well as the aroma of fresh coffee and delicious food, drawing you past the cheese counter and towards a menu with a distinctive French touch.

Career change

Cuisine wasn’t Isabelle’s first career choice. Having trained as an engineer, she initially came to Cork for a six-month work stint in 1986. A meeting with Joe Sheridan, the Mayo man who became her husband – the couple have three grown-up children – changed her mind about returning to France and she made her home here.

Looking for French produce in Cork in the late 80s, Isabelle went to the English Market, and there she met Ann Marie [Jamand] and Martin [Guillemot], a couple from France who were making their own cheese.

A unique offering, now long since gone, the couple’s Maucnaclea Farmhouse Cheese, made from a mixture of cow and goat milk, was lauded by John and Sally McKenna in the 1995 Bridgestone Vegetarians’ Guide to Ireland stating that: “...the Maucnaclea cheeses are unified by Martin and Anne-Marie’s staggering skilfulness, their ability to create and mature cheeses to immaculate fullness of taste, precise exposition of flavour and break-heart beauty.”

Isabelle’s encounter with Jamand and Guillemot was serendipitous: she was out of work, had a nine-month-old baby and was looking for something to do: “I didn’t want to be stuck at home, not able to earn money,” she explains.

And she had some background in food having grown up plucking chickens for her grandparents’ poultry business in France. “They used to do markets, they were the first to sell ready-cooked poultry in market, and had a little shop,” she says.

Isabelle never planned to work with food, but she did have a love for and interest in the industry along with her family experience in its production. So she decided to put it to good use.

New business

In 1992, Isabelle started On the Pig’s Back, initially sharing the Maucnaclea Farmhouse Cheese stall in the English Market and importing charcuterie from France.

When Jamand and Guillemot decided to stop cheese production and leave the market, she took over the stall and started expanding her range into French cheese. “Then Jeffa [Gill, one of the first Irish cheesemakers] came along and asked: ‘why is my cheese not there?’” remembers Isabelle. “So I started stocking Irish cheeses: Durrus [Gill’s creation], Milleens, Gubbeen.”

Not content with simply selling delicious food, Isabelle started producing it too.

“When I began to make my own pâtés and terrines, I rang my mother and grandmother for traditional recipes,” she explains.

At the time her grandmother was in her 90s and she came over to Ireland to show her granddaughter how to do things properly.

I’ve been involved with local, local, local all the way through,and Ireland is fabulous. Even in the 90s, we had the most beautiful products

“It was her first time taking a plane! I remember her showing me how to skin a rabbit – we were able to get the rabbit from O’Sullivan’s Poultry in the market – but the rabbit pâté didn’t go well.”

It was one of the few pâtés that didn’t work out. Isabelle’s pâtés and terrines have been consistent winners at the Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards, sweeping the board in 2024 by taking gold, silver and bronze for, respectively, the country terrine, chicken liver pâté with smoked bacon and port and chicken liver pâté with garlic and brandy. These are all small-batch products, made with Isabelle’s distinctive French flair at her production kitchen in Douglas, using the best of Irish ingredients.

“I’ve been involved with local, local, local all the way through,” says Isabelle. “And Ireland is fabulous. Even in the 90s, we had the most beautiful products.”

What set Isabelle apart during her early days in the English Market was how good she and her staff were at selling.

“We were such a speciality stall, trying to do raw milk cheese, local cheese, charcuterie, pâté. You build up a reputation and you have people coming to the stall. They want to buy local but they have traditional tastes,” she says.

“I think maybe sometimes people will have a perception that they should like something rather than they actually liking it so it’s important to find out what they really like.”

After more than 30 years, On the Pig’s Back has become an integral part of the Cork food tradition.

“Cork city is a great place. There’s such a mix of people, young people and students trying things, traditional people who like quality food. It’s a great variety, not too big and not too small,” says Isabelle.

Building a charcuterie board

At this time of the year, with meals happening at irregular hours and intervals, a cheese and charcuterie board is the perfect way to dine.

“It’s very convivial and easy to share. Try to balance flavours and textures and to have a variety,” says Isabelle, who gives Irish Country Living her top tips on how to put the perfect board together.

Three to four cheeses: “Choose a mature cheese, a blue cheese, goat cheese and a smoked or flavoured cheese. For example, mature Templegall or mature Coolea; Wicklow Brie, Gortnamona, Brie de Meaux, Camembeara by Milleens; for the blue, there’s Blues Creamery, Cashel Blue or Crosier Blue.”

Two to three different meats: “Try to have a variety of flavours and consistency: dry cure saucisson, with nuts; chorizo can be mild and sweet or spicy – between Gubbeen and Corndale there are lots of different flavours. My personal favourite charcuterie is Mont Charvin from Savoie in France – they make a really nice coppa and noix de jambon. And the extra bit would be chicken liver pâté – the one with smoked bacon is a favourite – or you could have a luscious duck pâté.”

Accompaniments: “For chutneys and sauces, there’s quince paste, caramelised onion marmalade, spiced peaches, and apricot jam. In France they use black cherry/cerise noir jam with a cheese like manchego.”

Final touches: “Separate the cheeses and meats with fresh and dried fruit and nuts. Some good bread or crackers are also essential.

“We stock Arbutus bread and our own poppy seed and rye crackers, made in west Cork. Foods of Athenry do an excellent gluten-free cracker.”

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