Teen cooks with Laois roots from famous family prepping for Folly Festival
Laois homecoming for Darina Allen’s grandaughters at The Folly festival in Cullohill
The grounds of Cullohill Castle in Laois will come alive once again over the August bank holiday weekend as The Folly Festival returns with two days of live music, artisan food and family entertainment.
Festival goers can look forward to performances from Mack Fleetwood, Robert Grace, Ruaile Buaile and a host of other acts, alongside children's entertainment, artisan food stalls and live cookery demonstrations, making it one of the Midlands' biggest family friendly festivals of the summer.
Among those taking to the cookery stage will be 17-year-old cousins Scarlett and Tamsin Allen, who are already making a name for themselves despite only preparing to begin sixth year at school together.
The pair are the fourth generation of one of Ireland's most celebrated food families. Their great-grandmother is legendary chef Myrtle Allen, while Darina Allen, the driving force behind Ballymaloe Cookery School, is their grandmother.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Scarlett and Tamsin since Darina, whose maiden name is O’Connell, is originally from Cullohill. Darina’s brother Rory O’Connell is also a well-known chef and a regular on RTE television. They both honed their culinary skills in the Sportsman’s Inn pub in Cullohill when it was run by their mother Elizabeth.
Scarlett, whose mother is celebrity chef and teacher Rachel Allen, daughter-in-law of Darina, will be carrying on the family tradition by giving a cookery demonstration at this year's Folly festival.
Although cooking has always surrounded them, Scarlett and Tamsin say their love of food developed naturally.
"We've always loved food and being around food. When we were younger we'd bake together all the time and joke about making recipe books and cookbooks," Scarlett explained.
What started as a childhood pastime took a new direction three years ago when they were given the opportunity to host their first live demonstration at the Ballymaloe Festival of Food.
"When we got on stage we were thinking, 'What are we even going to say first?'" they laughed. "But it was so much fun. We thought this is actually something worth doing."
Since then, the cousins have returned to the Ballymaloe Festival of Food, appeared twice on RTÉ's Today Show and hosted fundraising cookalongs in aid of the Hope Foundation.
The girls also enjoy sharing their journey and love for food through their joint Instagram.
This year's The Folly festival marks another chance to share their passion with a wider audience. For this year's demonstration, the teenagers will prepare two seasonal dishes designed to inspire home cooks.
The savoury course will feature pan fried white fish served with seasonal vegetables such as baby carrots or aubergine, finished with a basil hollandaise and tomato. For dessert, they'll whip up a light chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce and fresh cream.
"It's nice and summery and light and fresh," Tasmin said. "It's very easy for other people to recreate at home."
While the recipes themselves are important, the pair say much of their preparation focuses on working together as a team.
Tasmin said when there’s two of them on stage the most important thing is to work out the timing, and who will take on each task. "It's less practicing the cooking and more working out the timing," she explained.
The girls are also full of praise for The Folly festival itself, describing it as one of their favourite events of the year.
"It's a very family friendly festival. It has everything for every age. There are activities for children, lots of music, amazing food stalls and it's just a really lovely atmosphere. Everybody's really happy and it's beautiful with the castle right beside it," Scarlett said.
Despite their famous family connections, Scarlett and Tamsin agree they never feel under pressure. Instead, they feel lucky to have grown up surrounded by people willing to share their knowledge.
"We have so many people to look up to in different ways," Scarlett explained.
"It's not one person. It's really a whole community around us. Everyone is so supportive and we're always getting advice."
In the future, both hope food will shape their future careers. Scarlett dreams of travelling before eventually returning home, while both cousins say they're determined to grab every opportunity that comes their way.
"We definitely both want to go into food," Scarlett said. "I’d love to travel but I know I’ll always come back to food, just want to get as much experience as possible."
For now, their attention is firmly on Cullohill, where they'll once again step onto The Folly festival stage as the next generation of one of Ireland's most influential culinary families.