Tuesday (10th October 2006) saw Ballymaloe (the home of good food) come alive to the aroma of a new range of tasty, restaurant quality silky smooth soups – Cully and Sully soups to be exact. Yet another culinary masterpiece from the duo!

Cully and Sully have developed five recipes for their new mouth watering soup range including Tomato and Basil, Mushroom, White Winter Vegetable, Pea & Mint and Honey, Carrot and Coriander. With a silky texture the soups are made from all fresh Irish produce where possible, gluten free and suitable for vegetarians. Each soup is packaged in a microwaveable 400g re-usable container.

Besides the great taste and texture of these five works of magic is the fact that there are absolutely no ‘baddies’ included. Cully and Sully pride themselves in producing a range of soups and pies that contain no artificial colourings or flavourings – they are just made with fresh vegetables and herbs so they are low in fat. The carrot & coriander is just 1.6% fat. All ingredients and nutritional information are available on the side of each pack with even more detail available on www.cullyandsully.ie

Colum O’Sullivan (Sully), stated at the launch “One of the early issues for our soups was the texture. The market seemed to be ‘souped’ (pardon the pun!) in chunky soups, which our chef Ivan (Ivan Whelan, Cully’s cousin who owned Grapefruit Moon Restaurant) took exception to and insisted that Cully & Sully soups be fine, velvety soups, which is what we are serving today. In Grapefruit Moon, Ivan sieved all his soups using a really fine sieve to give them a delicate silky texture. Try it some time!”
“Taste is the most important thing to us with all our food. There were many issues getting the pea and mint soup (my favourite) right, which was simply down to the quality of the peas so we’re using Birds Eye peas which all credit to them are simply the best,” Sully continued.

Cullen Allen (Cully) commented “It’s brilliant to have the Tomato and Basil Soup on the shelves as it is my mum’s (Hazel Allen, Ballymaloe House) own recipe and it has always been my favourite. It’s the soup that reminds me of the excitement of coming home from school!”

The Cully and Sully range of soups will retail at €2.49 with a two week introductory price of €1.99 and will be available nationwide in SuperValu, Centra, Superquinn, Spar, Mace, and all good food stores.

Cully and Sully first entered the market when they launched their pies (our new Beef & Stout pie, our hugely popular Shepherd’s Pie, Fish Pie and Chicken & Leek Pie) in September 2004 and it’s been a complete and utter roller coaster ride since then. One of the most difficult things for them has been how to move forward and grow however, they are looking forward to a successful future with their new soups.

The Cully and Sully Soup Range

Tomato and Basil
The sharpness of the tomato is balanced with a little cream to give you that initial sharp tomato hit, followed by a lovely creamy flavour and texture. The basil adds a little complexity and depth you’d only expect from Cully and Sully.

Mushroom Soup
The secret to Cully and Sully’s mushroom soup is the texture and that the mushrooms have plenty of flavour. This soup is not as smooth as the others in the Cully and Sully range as it has been pulsed as apposed to blended. It is also pure mushroom, no madeira or other flavour adulteration.

White Winter Vegetable
A delicate balance of six vegetables – parsnip, potato, onion, leek, cauliflower and celeriac It possess a very clean palette so as you finish you taste the sweetness of the parsnip. Cully and Sully were careful to keep these in balance as the vegetable flavours can vary throughout the year.

Pea and Mint
A bomb of pure pea with slight mint undertones, Not everyone immediately gets the mint flavour but they would know all about it if it was taken out. This soup is also delicious cold as an alternative smoothie!

Honey, Carrot and Coriander
Thick in texture with a strong carrot flavour and carroty. With a smooth texture with no sting in it (bees not included!) Cully and Sully worked really hard to ensure that they didn’t get that dirty carrot skin flavour in the aftertaste.