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Customer Reviews (3)

Great Intro to Irish Cooking
Ireland is a land of comfort food. Every time I've been to Ireland I've been thrilled with the fresh meats, the fresh vegetables, the delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner you find around every corner. I still think back to the guinness lamb pie I had in central Ireland and wish I could have that every week.

Georgina Campbell does a wonderful job not only of providing the traditional recipes for you to enjoy at home, but also in giving you the background information to help you appreciate more the history of these meals. For example, most people might think of a soup as just a "watery meal" with no real social connotation. However, in Ireland, there were riots over soup kitchens, because the locals felt they were being killed off with nutritionless offerings. Also, soup was used to lure in poor people to get them to convert religions.

Other food items are part of the national lore of Ireland. Boxty bread, made with potato, is apparently a romantic charm for women. One saying goes:

Boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan,
If you don't eat boxty, you'll never get a man!

I have my mouth water just reading through this book, never mind making the dishes.

If there's a complaint, it's that it's rather short, and that it is a normal "paperback book". That makes it very hard to actually use while cooking. I suggest xeroxing out the recipe you're interested in making and using that flat piece of paper for reference while you make the recipe. That way you can also add in your own notes, and make the recipe your own!

Highly recommended.

Excellent Value and Great Recipes
I bought this book so I could cook the same foods my Irish-born husband grew up with.It has come through time and again.He swears the Brown Bread I make is exactly like his Mum's but I got it straight out of this book!There's a little bit of everything; from simple sauces to soups, vegetables, main dishes, breads and desserts and more complex recipes (like traditional Christmas cake that takes a couple of days to make!).

My one "complaint" would be that this smallish book likes to close by itself especially when I've got my hands in the flour so remember to weight it open beforehand.

However, I give 5 stars because you get a bunch of really great recipes for a reasonable price.So worth it!

Great Value, Nice Illustrations
I love this book! The price is right and the recipes are delicious. Marlene Ekman has illustrated a number of books for Sterling, and her illustrations are always charming. If you are looking for a special St. Pat's recipe, you'll find it here! Easy-to-follow directions for even the most inexperienced cook. There's something for everyone! I highly recommend it! For those with a little more money to spend, try Celtic Folklore Cooking (great folklore/history background); Irish Heritage Cookbook; and Irish Traditional Cooking. ... Read more

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Product Description
This beautiful book provides an authentic taste of the country's cuisine, with a selection of more than 30 of the very best recipes. Ranging from enticing breakfasts, hearty soups and delicate appetizers to substantial main courses and mouthwatering desserts and cakes, the dishes embody the ethos at the heart of Irish cooking - good-quality seasonal ingredients cooked simply and with care. ... Read more

Product Description
Ireland has hosted a gourmet revolution during the pastdecade, and today Irish cooking is newly glamorous! Gifted chefs aremaking the most of fresh, natural ingredients and creating a new Irishcuisine. Here is a collection of recipes from Irelands mostluxurious castles, manor houses, and country house hotels, all adaptedfor the home kitchen. The beautiful Celtic music sets a gracious moodfor festive and romantic dining. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Sharon O'Connor Always On Point
Purchased for a St. Patrick's Day "Thank you". Great price thru Amazon and great product.

pretty cool
I was looking for a nice gift for someone who really enjoys irish culture.i was first thinking a CD of traditional music, then i thought a cookbook would be fun...what could be better than both together.The gift was extremely well received.definitely recommended.

Excellent Cookbook!
This book is so worth having! Gives a bunch of great dishes & some Inns that theyre from too! I highly recommend this book!

THE IRISH ISLE
WHAT A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY PRESENT I RECEIVED WHEN I OPENED THE IRISH ISLE. THE RECIPES ARE LOVELY AND DIFFERENT, BUT NOT SO DIFFICULT TO DO. I MADE THE CARROT CILANTRO SOUP AND FOUND IT DELICIOUS.(I ADDED A LITTLE FRESH LIME JUICE AS A PERSONAL CHOICE) I ENJOYED THE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC. IT IS RICH AND WARM AND IT GLADENS MY HEART. I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT I MIGHT BE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET ANOTHER SHARON O'CONNOR BOOK FOR MY BIRTHDAY NEXT YEAR. ... Read more

Product Description
In The New Irish Table, author Margaret Johnson’s love of Ireland permeates page after glorious page of mouthwatering Irish dishes. The 75 recipes reflect the traditions of the national cuisine and also showcase the most exciting new tastes from the home cooks and professional chefs who’re part of the culinary renaissance in Ireland today. The time-honored fruits of land and sea, such as fluffy potatoes, plump fish, tender meats, and berries bursting with flavor, are interpreted anew in such dishes as Smoked Salmon Chowder, Filet of Baby Beef with Spinach-Bacon Stuffing and Guinness Mustard Sauce, and Raspberry Buttermilk Tarts. Lavish color photographs of the food, the landscapes, and the people are woven through the text, making The New Irish Table the next best thing to sitting down at a table in Ireland itself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good sampling of new Irish cooking
In The New Irish Table: 70 Contemporary Recipes Margaret M. Johnson provides recipes for what she dubs the "New Irish Cuisine."For her this cuisine is best described as "a style of cooking that uses local ingredients and based on traditional dishes."By this aim Johnson accomplishes her intent.The book is full of interesting and restaurant-quality dishes that use traditional and local Irish ingredients in an interesting way.This isn't to say the recipes are unsusual or unexpected, but they do debunk any notions that Irish food is old fashioned or flavorless.

The cookbook is a good cross section of recipes with small bites, starters, main courses, side dishes, and sweets.It also includes interesting sidebars about pairing wine with Irish cheeses, Irish markets, etc.Basically these sections are great for anyone who wants to understand more of the story behind the ingredients and become more familiar with Ireland's cuisine.

Although the recipes I have tried thus far have all been good (the Lamb Cutlets with Honey, Apricot, and Tarragon Sauce; Potato, Parsnip, and Apple Puree, and Guinness Brownies have been among the most memorable) I have a few quibbles with this cookbook.

The first is that there are many instances in which the introductions to the recipes and instructions themselves could be clearer or more thorough in order to ensure success with the recipes.The guinness brownies were the clearest example for me.Johnson gives no indication of what the final texture will be so when the brownies come out VERY fudgy and almost molten its hard to tell if that is the intent or if they should be baked longer.With the stated baking time these were just too liquidy for my taste (even though I have made brownies with a mousse-like texture before) so I ended up baking them for longer.They ended up turning out well, but I wasn't very confident when serving them to guests.There were also some instances in which Johnson called for things like Cornish hens, split down the center, which could require more explanation for a beginning cook.

I was also disapointed that all of the main courses in this book revolved around meat or seafood.She makes a comment earlier in the book how vegetarian dishes are growing in popularity so to me it was an oversight that none were included in the main course section, especially since elsewhere in the book she includes a recipe from the owner of a vegetarian restaurant.

Despite these criticisms, the book is still enjoyable to cook from.I wouldn't say the recipes included are earthshatteringly unique, but they do taste good.I only wish the main course section was not so "meat and potatoes focused" and that the directions were clearer and more thorough.I recommend previewing the book at the library or book store first to see if it meets your needs.

The New Irish Table
Had company over to dinner and used recipes out of book.They all raved about the food.

Very nice, inexpensive Irish Family restaurnat recipes.
`The New Irish Table' and `Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools' by Irish-American culinary journalist, Margaret M. Johnson who seems to provide low end books covering Irish culinary practice, beginning with her `The Irish Heritage Cookbook', also from Chronicle Books. The middle ground, being the `Julia Child' for Irish cooking is Darina Allen, along with husband, Tim Allen and mother in law, Myrtle Allen, all of the Cork culinary powerhouse, Ballymaloe House and Cooking School. The high end of modern Irish cooking is held by Irish-American culinary academician and chef, Noel C. Cullen. The ethnographic corner of Irish / Celtic foodways is filled out by `Celtic Folklore Cooking' by culinary writer and folklorist, JoAnne Asala of Chicago. There are many more Irish cookbooks to cover between now and St. Patrick's Day, but this pretty much covers most major points on the culinary compass for Irish cooking.

`The New Irish Table' and Cullen's `Elegant Irish Cooking' complement one another pretty well, as they both present recipes from modern Irish hospitality centers. The difference is that where Johnson is covering pubs and `bed and breakfast' style eateries, Cullen is covering dishes from Michelin one and two star restaurants in Ireland, as well as many of his own creations as a working chef, before he took up teaching at Boston University.

Between these two featured books, Johnson's Desserts book is a much more valuable addition to your cookbook collection, as it includes a lot of fancy and holiday desserts which I have not seen in any other good book on Irish cooking. The best thing about this book and its companion is that like a lot of Chronicle Books, it seems to be on a fast track to the Bargain Book table, both real and on-line. That means that at half price, this book is a real bargain for the cookbook collector with a genuine interest in dessert baking.

On the surface, this book seems to feature four basically different kinds of baking. The six chapters are:

1. Puddings
2. Tarts
3. Crumbles and Crisps
4. Fools and Flummeries
5. Tea Breads and Cakes
6. Christmas Treats

Anyone familiar with English cooking will recognize in the first chapter a wide range of desserts which the Anglo-Irish all lump together under the name of `pudding'. Actually, most puddings remind me a lot of French Toast, more properly called `pain perdu' by the French. They are all different ways of combining day old bread, custard, dried fruits and the like into a treat for the sweet tooth. Puddings and tarts, together, form a collection of dishes very familiar to those who know English sweets.

Crumbles and Crisps and Fools and Flummeries all seem remarkably like a style of dessert which is very popular in the United States and commonly associated with both the Pennsylvania Dutch and southeastern and south central styles of cooking. In Ireland, as in the United States, they are all primarily ways of combining stewed or jellied fruit with oats, milk and perhaps some custard. The thing that distinguishes `fools' from other similar desserts is the fact that they are made with gooseberries. A gooseberry, according to my `Berry Bible' illustration, looks a lot like a current, and just a bit like a blueberry, and seem to be common in the United States only in the northern west coast.

The breads and cakes chapter visits the most widely familiar realm of Irish baking, the world of soda breads and scones. This realm is covered much better in Tim Allen's `The Ballymaloe Bread Book', but the last chapter in this book makes the whole book worth the budget price of admission.

This last chapter is a bonanza for those looking for something interesting to bake for Christmas, especially if you are fond of confections which include a bit of stout or Irish whiskey in the ingredients. This chapter brings the tired old fruitcake into a whole New World of cakes, puddings, ice creams, breads, mince pies, and cider sauces.

The second book, `The New Irish Table' has but 70 recipes, all of which seem to be high end bar food, especially since about 75% of the pages are dedicated to appetizers and side dishes. The five chapters on recipes are:

Small Bites with 9 recipes for crackers, tartlets, pates, crostini, cheese bites, and chutneys.
Starters with 15 recipes for soups, salads, souffles, charlottes, sauces, and sabayon.
Main Courses with 16 recipes for fish, duck, chicken, lots of pork, lamb, venison, rabbit, and pheasant.
Side Dishes with 13 recipes of old standards such as colcannon, champ, boxty, cabbage, turnips, and leeks.
Sweets with 17 recipes for puddings, custards, brulees, cakes, tarts, cobblers, and crumbles.

All in all, if you already have one or two books on Irish savoury dishes and you get Johnson's dessert book, this volume becomes largely redundant. A lot of the sidebars between the two books are the same and the `Irish Table' simply confirms everything I already know about the heavy Irish use of apples, pears, berries, dairy, beer, whiskey, pork, and lamb.

Since you can get this cheap, I will recommend it as a small, inexpensive addition to your Irish cookbook collection. It may, however, be the first in line for regifting if you already own a few Irish cookbooks.

Wonderful!
Margaret Johnson has struck gold again.This book is a wonderful journey through the world of New Irish cooking.The pictures are breathtaking.These are recepies you will want to try out in your own home!Thanks again Mrs. Johnson for keeping us close to Ireland.

Welcome to the Irish family!
Margaret Johnson's latest book is a visual and culinary delight!Through her wonderfully ethnic recipes, Margaret invites all readers into her Irish family.My family usually has an italian course during its holiday celebrations, but Margaret's fare has inspired me so much that I am going to recommend that the red-sauced staples are replaced by the the delacacies outlined in this wonderful work (I just hope my mother-in-law agrees).Margaret--thank you for opening my eyes to this cuisine...you are an emerald jewel of Ireland! ... Read more

Product Description
Myrtle Allen's restaurant at Ballymaloe House, a Georgian manor-turned-hotel in South West Ireland, has won awards from Michelin and Egon Ronay's Luca guide. The chef, Allen, established its reputation by reviving traditional Irish dishes, such as Irish stew, dingle pie and Irish apple cake. Devided into chapters on appetizers, soups, fish, meat, vegetables, salads, desserts and breads, this book includes 100 recipes.Amazon.com Review
Myrtle Allen's Cooking at Balymaloe House, first published in 1990and now reissued, is a modern classic. Written by the proprietor and chefof Ireland's most famous guesthouse, the book presents a farm-freshcuisine miles removed from the common notion of Irish cooking as savorlessor indelicate. Most especially, it offers the voice, recollections, andculinary wisdom of a woman who has seen and understood much since she andher husband bought Balymaloe House in 1947. Cooks of all kinds will delightin Allen's observations (of her refusal to put carrots in a traditionalIrish stew: "As this is a folk dish, I feel that the common practicecarries its own authority") and hasten to try such recipes as Lettuce andMint Soup, Baked Rainbow Trout in Spinach Sauce, and Beef with Stout.

Chapters explore soups and starters through breads, desserts, and drinks,and offer 100 or so accessible recipes for everyday and special-occasiondining. Present are traditional Irish favorites, including Dingle pies (aspiced mutton dish), Colcannon (potatoes mashed with cabbage), and brownsoda bread, as well as the likes of Danish Liver Paté, Mussels withMayonnaise, and Turnedos with Mushrooms. Readers with a sweet tooth willwant to try Allen's Almond Meringue Gâteau with Chocolate and Rum Cream and Blackberry Sorbet, and an exemplary trifle featuring almonds, cherries, andangelica. Illustrated with color photos throughout, the bookis a cook's treasure with delightful, sometimes provocativethought. --Arthur Boehm ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Ballymaloe cookbook
This cook book has so many dishes that remind me of my childhood.This is my chance to learn and pass these traditional dishes on to the next generation.I love it!

Awesome--with one quibble
After staying with a friend who used this cookbook exclusively over the weekend, I just had to have it.The one item that definitely decided me was the Tomato Chutney--but it isn't in this revised edition "for American kitchens."I had to email my friend for the recipe out of the 1990 edition.Of course, now I am wondering what else I am missing.The new edition's "100 Recipes" is rather top-heavy on desserts--not something I make or eat very often.

Aside from that, it's a lovely cookbook with great photos and appealing recipes.Most of Myrtle Allen's side chat remains as it was in the original.If the Tomato chutney recipe had been included, I would definitely have given it five stars.

One of my favorite's!
I received this book as a Christmas gift and use it regulary.Not only are the recipes wonderful, but so are the photos.You get a lot of history about the dishes, where they originated, etc.I have made a lot of the recipes in the book and have not had one disappointment.It's Irish cooking at it's best.I would recommend this cook book to anyone who loves to cook and enjoy's a good Irish meal.Two of my favorites are the Dingle Pie (spiced lamb pie) and Beef and Stout.Hearty meals, easy, delicious.Enjoy!

Excellent Irish Memoir and Cookbook. Buy It.
`Myrtle Allen's Cooking at Ballymaloe House' by Myrtle Allen is a really great collection of typically Irish recipes from a very personal point of view. In a sense, this book has as much or more in common with the great Savannah family restaurant book ` Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse Cookbook' than it does with the average collection of Irish recipes. Not only are both books about local restaurant / hotels with a national reputation, they are also both books of incredibly simple recipes.

On the matter of the personal material, Myrtle Allen's book is far superior than the volume done in Mrs. Wilkes' name, since we are certain that all the anecdotes are first person memories, written by Ms. Allen herself.

The appearance of this book may give one the impression that it is not much more than a book length advertisment for the restaurant and Inn created by Ms. Allen and her husband and enhanced with the cooking school started by her daughter-in-law, Darina Allen and son, Tim Allen. Having seen a few such books, I can assure you it is not such a book. The extent to which it invites you to want to visit Ballymaloe House in County Cork is based entirely on a genuine feeling of dedication to hospitality, culinary arts, and natural attraction of the Irish landscape.

Not that Ballymaloe House needs much promotion. It is easily the best known rural hospitality hot spot in Ireland. I have seen Darina Allen on at least two different Food Network shows plus prominent mentions in `Martha Stewart Living'. So, it is the book which benefits from the preexisting reputation of the Inn, restaurant, and cooking school rather than the other way around.

Reading this book gives me the same kind of epithanies I experienced when I visited Germany and discovered that in the land which bred the dachshund dog, it was the long haired variety which was much more common on the streets in the Rhineland than the far more practical short haired variety which would have been more suitable for its original use as a badger hunter. My epithany with this book is the fact that contrary to conventional wisdom in the United States, it is not white flour soda bread which is the traditional Irish bread, but a brown (whole wheat) soda bread which is actually commonly served in Ireland, at least in Cork and at Ballymaloe restaurant(s).

For a book retailing for $27.50 with an advertised 100 recipes, this is an exceptionally well designed and photographed book. Of course, photogenetic Ireland has a lot to do with this, but the book takes full advantage of the Emerald Isle's photo opps.

Returning to the comparison with Mrs. Wilkes' book on her Savannah establishment, the recipes in this book and that are all remarkably simple, but touch some very interesting territory in their simplicity. The first little delight is the recipe for a `tomato ring', moulded from a variation on a tomato juice recipe, by adding gelatin and leaving out water and olive oil. There maybe some recipes which do involve some unfamiliar procedures such as that very French technique of making a garnish of hard boiled egg yolks by pushing them through a strainer. This may strike one as tedious, until you so it once or twice and appreciate the great effect it has on the dish and your diners' appreciation of the dish. So, while everything here is simple, there may be a few things which do not strike you as easy or familiar.

Sometimes, the titles for some recipes may be misleading to our American eyes, as with the recipe for `billy's french dressing' which is much more like a true French vinaigrette than it is like that mysteriously salmon colored preparation we knew so well in the supermarket. And yet, it has its own distinctly Irish touches, including watercress, which is actually the original shamrock, displaced later by clover.

I am impressed with page after page of really simple recipes, most with relatively few ingredients and simple preparation steps. The average American amateur cook may find a few ingredients which are hard to find at the local megamart, such as lovage or nettles. There are also a few vaguely inexact expressions of ingredient types, such as `mild wine vinegar'. This is ambiguous on two counts. First, does it mean a mild taste? Second, does it mean low acidity? If the latter, then the very best may be rice wine vinegar. White wine vinegar would be a clear mistake, as its acidity is higher than red wine vinegar, although it may be misconstrued, by being light in color, as being milder than red wine vinegar.

But, I am happy to say all measurements have been made in U.S. friendly terms. Everything is just as exact as it has to be, but no more.

In my search for the very best Irish cookbook, this one ranks high among those I have seen already. You will not be disappointed if you pick this book to represent Ireland in a working collection of international cookbooks.
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Product Description
Irelandis most famous chef, Darina Allen, owns, manages, and teaches at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork. She is also presenter for the British television series Simply Delicious. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Time to throw out some of the rubbish - this is the real thing!
I spend a lot of money on cookbooks, and a lot of time cooking - usually for my wife and myself but I can cope with up to 10 guests if absolutely necessary. A long time ago, I realised that a lot of so-called professional chefs are little more than confidence tricksters, able to present hugely complex meals generally finished off (by which I mean ruined) with a blow-lamp, but totally lacking in basic skills. For example, I could cite one famous cookery school that presents a recipe for a simple biscuit that literally could never work. Another school advises a method for fried eggs that can only be described as cremation! Yet another Michelin-starred chef fries an egg so slowly that it has no structure and the texture of leather. How do I know? I like to try methods to destruction, and always give the benefit of the doubt.

Darina Allen's book gives excellent methods for both fried eggs and Anzac biscuits, plus hundreds of other recipes that so far have worked equally well! But that's not all. It's also packed with information and advice that can only make you a better cook. Better not only in the sense of presenting more enjoyable food, but more self-confident and better able to think for yourself about what works and what doesn't. If you are at all like me, this will save you a lot of money in useless cookbooks and, at last, give you the courage to throw out the dross you've already accumulated. But it won't all be saving - Darina is still writing!

GREAT BASIC FOR EVERY KITCHEN
PURCHASED AFTER SEEING JAMIE OLIVER FOOD SHOW ON IRELAND. HE SHOWED THE COOKING SCHOOL AND I WAS INSTANTLY INTERESTED. BEING OF IRISH DESCENT BUT WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF IRISH CULINARY SKILLS WHEN THE FIRST THING I MADE WAS FABULOUS I KNEW I HAD HIT IT BIG.

Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cooking School Cookbook
I attended the Ballymaloe Cookery School and thought Darina Allen's recipes and presentation was "spot on!!" I came home and ordered her cookbook immediately. The bread recipes (especially the grainy, wheaty breads) are terrific. Her recipe measurements are perfect. Her ethnic recipes are also wonderful.

ONE OF THE BEST BASIC COOKBOOKS
I am a professional cook and a cookbook collector and have been to the Ballymaloe Cookery School. I got this book for myself because I was so pleased with the school and felt it was a good basic source book. I ended up giving it away at a bridal shower to a young American on her way to Sweden to marry. It was then I realized what a great cookbook this is for beginning cooks/ for Americans living abroad and for Europeans living here in the US because of the measurement equivalents as well as the very global recipes. Great down to earth and humorous writing as well as clear and concise instructions.I'm ordering another for myself.
Marcia Dunsmore

Ballymaloe Cookbook
This cookbook is great and contains a plethora of easy to follow recipes from appetizers to desserts. A must-have for your kitchen library. ... Read more

Product Description
This is truly modern Irish cooking at its best. In this outstanding book, Kevin Dundon, one of Ireland's most highly regarded chefs, presents 80 original modern recipes inspired by traditional Irish themes and ingredients, revealing Dundon's love of fresh, seasonal local produce and traditional cooking. Complete with photographs, these recipes are easy to follow, beautiful to look at, and delicious to eat. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Full on Irish
This product was described as good as new and I found this description to be accurate
I am very happy with it

amazing fresh and contemporary Irish
After eating Kevin's soup in his restaurant, I had to have this book!Local and fresh done so well in Ireland.

And a restaurant, too
After admitting I haven't tried all the recipes, I have eaten at a new restaurant at Downtown Disney, an Irish Pub, Raglan Road, where it's Chef is Dundon. Shepherds pie was wonderful as was the fish chowder, though it's called 'Not fish chowder". They were out of the cookcook so I came to Amazon.
I can't wait to try more... Nice reworkings of Irish cuisine and a beautiful book, too.

Excellent collection of 'new Irish' recipes. Buy It, Cheap!
`Full On Irish' by Irish Michelin starred chef, Kevin Dundon is the third book of Irish `haute cuisine' recipes I have reviewed and it comes the closest to what I would expect from such a book. It is definitely superior to `New Irish Cookery' by Irish / Canadian chef / restauranteur / culinary TV hosts Paul and Jeanne Rankin, but a bit less rich in information than `Elegant Irish Cooking' by culinary scholar, teacher and professional chef, Noel C. Cullen Ed.D, CMC, AAC. But, it is by far the very best cookbook if all you want is modern Irish recipes.

One immensely refreshing fact I have seen with several Irish cookbooks recently is that they typically have a relatively low list price. This book, which, if done by a notable chef from Chicago or Savannah or San Francisco, would easily cost $35 or more, lists for a mere $25. Since this may be construed in part as an advertisement for the author's restaurant, Dundon is following Emeril Lagasse's model by keeping such books with promotional content relatively low. The amazing thing is that there is practically no self-congratulatory material here. It is all about the recipes and the Irish artisinal products, which is largely based on farmhouse cheese production, free-range poultry, and seafood farming.

The heart of the matter, of course is the recipes, and this is what impresses me most about the book. For starters, the book has been edited carefully to adapt all measurements and terms to an American audience. Second, and probably more importantly, these recipes are exactly the kind I look for in such a `modern take on traditional cuisines' book. All the recipes are based on both strong Irish raw materials doing variations on a lot of traditional Irish dish styles and cooking techniques. My favorite is the new take on boxty, the Irish potato pancake, done in the form of a potato salad. Third, almost all recipes, especially the ones for soups, starters, and `light bites' are relatively simple, and virtually all recipes seem to follow a similar style of execution.

My only very minor complaint about the recipes is that either by chance or by a little cultural borrowing, chef Dundon gives us a potato omelet which is virtually identical to the very famous `tortilla a la espanola' or potato frittata of Spanish tapas bar fame. The recipe is given with not a wink or a nod to the fact that this is a very famous Spanish dish, and the fact that Irish potatoes are its main ingredient is simply a coincidence.

In every other way, this is an excellent book for fans ofIrish cooking. I was especially intrigued by the kitchen garden vegetable stock, which is correctly cooked only a short time, but held to infuse for several hours before filtering. This star of the larder chapter may in itself be worth the price of the book for serious foodies.

If all you want is a few traditional Irish recipes for the middle of March, this may be just a bit too much, but even if that is what you want, this book will still stand you in good stead with useful year round recipes, especially for shell fish, cheeses, and vegetables.

Highly recommended.
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Product Description
"The section devoted to 'Edible Presents' is particularly outstanding! No Christmas cuisine collection can be considered complete without the inclusion of A Simply Delicious Irish Christmas."-The Midwest Book Review BookwatchKnown throughout Ireland for her popular Simply Delicious television show and for her best-selling series of cookbooks, the Queen of Irish Cooking turns her attention to preparing simple, stress-free Christmas dishes. By following these recipes, anyone can minimize preparation time and reduce frustration while maximizing results and increasing the quality and flavor of the dishes.A meal of Traditional Roast Goose with Potato Stuffing and Apple Sauce, Champ, and Plum Pudding provides a true taste of the Emerald Isle yet is extremely easy to create. These dishes also are easy to cook ahead of time to avoid hectic last-minute preparation. White Christmas Cake may be kept for at least a week without freezing, while St. Stephen's Day Pie freezes quite well.As simple as these dishes are to prepare, they are even more delightful to present. After serving Old-Fashioned Roast Turkey with Fresh Herb Stuffing and Bread Sauce, hosts may dazzle their guests with a variety of edible presents, including Doreen's Fudge, Marzipan Dates, and even a Chocolate Christmas Tree.Nothing could be simpler-or more delicious.ABOUT THE AUTHORDarina Allen runs the world-renowned cooking school at Ballymaloe, Ireland, with her husband, Tim Allen. Winner of the 2001 Veuve Clicquot Irish Businesswoman of the Year Award, Darina Allen lectures and travels extensively. She is also Ireland's most famous cooking-show host, having presented nine series of her program, Simply Delicious, on television around the world. As a cookbook writer, Darina Allen has won the Langhe Ceretto-SEI Prize and was short-listed for the IACP Julia Child Awards. Other Pelican books that celebrate the cuisine of Ballymaloe are Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cooking School Cookbook, by Darina Allen, which was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for best international cookbook in 2002, and The Ballymaloe Bread Book, by Tim Allen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A look into Irish Cooking
I am of Irish heritage and I love the holidays. I wanted to know about what was served in the Irish culture and this certainly helped me understand. Though not a big book by any stretch there is a variety of information and recipes to make the holidays interesting.

Simple recipes and really delicious
Most recipes in this book are quite simple.They are all delicious and many can be used throughout the year especially for cold climates.
the Chocolate log is so easy and yummy.Can be served as a chocolate roulade any time of year and always be a hit!
Photographs are excellent and encourage you to try the recipes.
I have used mine for years and have suddenly misplaced it.I think somebody pinched it who heard me talk about it!hence, buying another. ... Read more

Product Description
This cookbook captures the essence of what bistro food cooking is all about - informality. Pancakes filled with scrambled eggs, accompanied by Clonakilty black pudding with a cider jus, and Chetwynd blue cheese dip, should arouse the curiosity of those who enjoy cooking and eating. The author provides the reader with straightforward recipes. The foodstuffs he uses are unpretentious, and should be familiar to readers. Michael Clifford is the author of "Cooking with Clifford". ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of 58 mouthwatering and unusual soups from Ireland are nutritious, delicious, and easy to make. It includes such recipes as wild garlic and potato soup, cream of wild salmon soup, Máire Rua soup, made from fresh beetroot, patriot soup, pea and ham soup, and roast plum and red cabbage soup. Interesting morsels of information on associated Irish folklore and tradition enhance the recipes. Also included are recipes for breads such as soda, brown, potato, tomato, and buttermilk. ... Read more

Product Description
Bringing to life the traditions, life-styles and cooking of Ireland, this book has over 100 authentic recipes and detailed descriptions of heritage and myths. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

"Irish Food and Folklore"....ah, the memories of home!
Having read and entertained my guests to the wonderful delights of this truly Irish cookery book, I felt I should share my enthusiasm of it with fellow Amazon readers. It adds a touch of traditional Irish cuisine to ourrather Scottish based diet! Clare Connery really has produced a Gem withthis book and may she continue to do so.

An Irish masterclass of Food and Folklore - delicious!
Clare Connery has never lost touch with her roots in the countryside of the north of Ireland. Not for her the ephemeral fashion food fads which are here today and gone tonight! She chooses to concentrate on all that is goodand wholesome from the land of green and plenty.

Her first major book 'Inan Irish country kitchen' is an outstanding work tracing the culinaryhistory of Ireland set against the colourful social development of theisland.It is Easy to read and beautifully illustrated.If you cannot travelto Ireland then read this book and you'll be transported there.

'IrishFood and Folklore' is her third Irish book (she has other subjects close toher heart and her other books include a beautiful Salad book now alsoavailable in softback, and the very recent 'Vegetable Book').

'Irish Foodand Folklore' is a super introduction to the essence of Irish food. Readabout the myths and legends that have contributed to many people'sfascination with Ireland and try the many easy to follow traditionalrecipes which really do work! ... Read more

Product Description
Kathleen and Ted take us aon a tour of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Galacia, and Cape Breton to introduce us to Celtic food and drink. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Cookbook!
Im not really into cookbooks, but this one is so worth it! Gives numerous ideas for cooking & is easy to follow! Gives wonderful suggestions too! ... Read more

Product Description
In "Irish Soups & Breads", Nuala Cullen delves into the country's past and comes up with a selection of tasty and forgotten soup recipes and the breads that were served with them. Alongside these traditional soups, she includes recipes that reflect current trends in Irish tastes and cooking. ... Read more