No comments about A Taste of Ireland: Discover the essence of Irish cooking with 30 classic recipes shown in 130 stunning color photographs.

No comments about Taste of Ireland.

1 comments about The Art of Irish Cooking (Hippocrene International Cooking Classics).

1. After reading the many cooking tips and recipes, I fell in lovewith this book. The results were exactly like my first generationgrandmothers cooking long ago. If you want authentic this is the book to follow.

2 comments about Ireland's Comfort Food & Touring Attractions.

1. Wonderful selection. Have fun with the recipes as well as reading about cool places.



2. I purchased this book on an impulse. I was a fellow participant at a book festival when this book "walked" past me and I was charmed by the cover illustration.The fact that the word "Ireland" was in the title didn't hurt either, as I am a nut for anything of the Celtic persuasion. Well,not being fond of cooking hasn't kept me from enjoying each and every page of this book, which is so much MORE than a book about food and cooking. Little bits and pieces of traveling advice, interesting observations about the country and people,lovely photos, and tidbits of Irish trivia. And so,even I, the least enthusiastic cook in the world, am anxious to give many of these recipes a try. Who can resist recipes with names like: "Curragh of Kildare Irish Stew" and " Grandma Murphy's Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup"... Yum! The book is beautifully done, of nice quality and certainly deserving of the IPPY Award it received.

3 comments about The Broon's Burns Night.

1. Jings, crivens! Nae wonder this is oot o stock! It's a brilliant cartoon pseudo-notebook of Burnsiana, replete with cracked yellow taped splattered handwritten recipes, notes, poems, etc., from the endearing legendary Broon family. It's unabashedly Scots, and a real gem. I'm seeking a copy to send to my sister. I wouldn't risk letting my own treasured copy out of my sight. Lang may yer lum reek, great chieftain o the puddin race!



2. I purchased this book for the reputation that has been built around "The Broons". It is an easy read with many anecdotes and recipes for celebration of "Burn's Night" which honors not only the Bard, Robert Burns, but the famous Scottish Haggis. Long a favorite of Scots, this book brings to mind many of the sayings, humor, and everyday life of the homeland for those Scots who have emigrated away, but wish to keep their roots intact. Whether it is used as a 'Cook Book' or a 'Coffee Table Book' it is a 'must' for a Scot's Library!



3. Born and raised in Scotland I loved reading the Broon's in my parents Sunday paper and was thrilled to find this amazing book which brought back so many fun memories reading this as a child especially being away from home for so many years after emigrating to the US and missing Scotland. The recipes are great and comments throughout hysterical. They did a great job putting this fun book together.

1 comments about Good Mood Food: Simple Healthy Homecooking.

1. In "Good Mood Food: Simple Healthy Homecooking", Donal Skehan emphasizes the importance the necessity of paying attention to what you eat as a fundamental necessity for having good health. What we eat and in what quantities affects our mood, our sleep, our energy, and our overall mental health. That's why Skehan has created this 288-page compendium dedicated to recipes of dishes for all dining occasions from breakfast to lunch to dinner. There are invaluable chapters of recipes devoted to aiding the body in healing and the removal of toxic substances. Of special note is the chapter showcasing recipes for 'Sweets and Treats'. Profusely illustrated throughout, the thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly', step-by-step recipes range from Oat Pancakes; Sesame Chicken Satay Skewers; Asian Steam Baked Fish Parcels; and Real Baked Beans with Ciabatta; to Prawn and Potato Basil Salad; Red Pepper Soup; Baked Pears with Spiced Honey; and a Bacon, Avocado and Sundried Tomato Sandwich. Of special note is the opening chapter offering basic information on storage and freezer essentials, basic tomato sauce, basic chick stock, growing herbs, and washing salad leaves. "Good Mood Food: Simple Healthy Homecooking" truly lives up to the promise of its title and is highly recommended for personal and community library cookbook collections.

2 comments about Ballymaloe Bread Book, The.

1. If you're looking for a bread cookbook with recipes that are different than the usual bread recipes, this is an excellent choice. My search for an authentic Irish Soda Bread recipe met with success when I found it here. And the Orange Butter Scones are a MUST. They are melt in your mouth delicacies. The instructions are easy to follow, once you look at the glossary and decipher the different types of sugar. (For castor sugar, just use regular granulated sugar.) Enjoy!



2. `The Ballymaloe Bread Book' by the husband of Darina Allen and co-founder of the Ballymaloe cooking school, Tim Allen (no connection to the `Home Improvement' comedian) is a very nice little introduction to bread baking of all types, although it does begin with and feature Irish favorites such as the Irish soda bread, spotted dog, and scones.
   
   The one statement made in this book which immediately gave me a favorable impression of the work was his claim that yeast bread making is actually easier than soda bread baking. It may not be simpler and it may not be faster, but soda bread and other `quick breads' with chemical leaveners are simply more tricky and more subject to environmental conditions than yeast breads. One can easily pound the dickens out of yeast bread dough and it will reward you by an even better result. On the other hand, breads raised with baking soda and buttermilk or baking powder must be brought together very gingerly, very similar to the way one might do a pastry crust. On the other hand, the `quick breads' do deserve their nickname, as they are certainly a lot faster to mix and bake than almost all yeast breads. What you loose with the speed is the great lightness and flavor that comes from yeast fermentation. While I like quickbreads, I get tired of them a lot faster than I do of a good yeast white bread.
   
   But, if you are really fond of quick breads and want to make a splash at your next St. Patrick's day party, this is the book for you. As a bonus, you get an excellent introduction to virtually all different kinds of European breadmaking.
   
   The chapters in this book are:
   
   Soda Bread, An Old Friend including recipes with chocolate, savory seeds, treacle, and potato flour.
   Scones, including sultanas, chocolate, orange, walnut, crumpets, popovers, brownies, and balloons.
   Basic Yeast Bread, including brown bread, bread sticks, rye bread with caraway seeds and Carta Musica.
   Sweet Breads, including croissants, brioche, banana bread, stollen, shortbread, and cinnamon swirl.
   Pizza, including focaccia, gluten-free pizza base, calzone, Pizza Margherita, and garlic pizza bread.
   Sweet Buns, including doughnuts, biscotti, muffins, and `London Buns'.
   Ethnic Breads including black bread, Chinese Wok bread, ciabatta, Pitta (sic) bread, and tortillas
   Flavored and Specialty Breads, including stromboli, fig bread, walnut bread, and zucchini bread.
   Sourdough (natural yeasts), including bigas, potato starter, malted sourdough, and rye sourdough.
   Bread as the Base, including things made from bread such as French Toast and Chicken Casserole.
   Essential Extras such as jams, butters, marzipan, tomato sauce, Roux, and Ice Cream.
   
   This is an extraordinary range for such a small book. Needless to say, the author devotes almost all his space to the recipes and none to the kind of background information on flours and leavenings you may find in Rose Levy Beranbaum's books. I was especially happy and surprised to find so many French, Italian, and American specialities. It is the rare cookbook, even one specializing in breads, to include a recipe for the specialty, Carta Musica, or `music paper', a Sardinian flatbread.
   
   There are at least two very important cautions I must give you before you rush out to get this book.
   
   First, there are many ingredients with unfamiliar names, and the substitutions for some of these are not entirely clear. Treacle, for example, is very close to our Black Strap molasses, but I had a little trouble finding good substitutions for kibbled wheat, castor sugar, muscovado sugar, bread soda, cream flour, strong flour (probably bread flour), and coffee essence (probably instant coffee). Neither David Joachim's `The Food Substitutions Bible', Alan Davidson's `The Oxford Companion to Food', nor the venerable `Larousse Gastronomique' could help out on several of these words. The best source for many of these may be Elizabeth David's great `English Bread and Yeast Cookery'.
   
   Second, all flour measurements are by weight in either grams or ounces and pounds. You must either invest in a good kitchen scale or arrive at some good equivalence between cups and pounds. I strongly vote for getting a good, reliable scale. Several other measurements may also be in not the most convenient units. One real puzzle was a measurement in `dessert spoons'. I seem to recall from some other source that this is roughly equivalent to a teaspoon.
   
   While I strongly caution you away from this book if you are not serious about bread baking, I still recommend it highly to anyone who is especially interested in a broad sampling of good, traditional Irish recipes for bread which appear in the first two chapters. Therefore, while I really love this book, I must give it only four stars as a warning to the casual baker.

5 comments about Elegant Irish Cooking: Hundreds of Recipes from the World's Foremost Irish Chefs.

1. The recipes in this book are terrific! Anyone looking for an escape from "traditional" Irish cookery books will love these unique and tasty recipes. Well worth the price! Clear, consise directions. Even the beginner cook will be able to make these dishes tonight! (All that being said, some related books I'd like to recommend on generations-old Irish recipes are Irish Heritage Cooking, Irish Traditional Cooking, and Celtic Folklore Cooking.)



2. Elegant Irish Cooking is an impressive compendium of 166 classic and progressive recipes in celebration of Irish cuisine and culinary traditions. Relying heavily on indigenous ingredients, these fabulous recipes showcase the techniques, excellence, and variety of Irish dining. From Pan Roasted Quail with Kildare Boxty; Cream of Watercress Soup with Warm Herbal Drop Scones; and Poached Sole Fillets in a Clonmel Cider Sauce; to Warm Salad of Emyvale Duck with Orange and Balsamic Dressing; Roasted Rack of Wicklow Lamb with an Herb Crust and Mint-Butter Sauce; and Moore Street Vegetable Tart, (and enhanced throughout with color photography by Ron Manville), Elegant Irish Cooking will grace any cookbook collection and enhance any family meal or celebratory occasion.



3. The book is beautiful and full of history and depth. The recipes are authentic and delicious. Highly recommended for a beautiful St. Patrick's Day dinner or night of Irish food.



4. `Elegant Irish Cooking' by culinary scholar, teacher and professional chef, Noel C. Cullen Ed.D, CMC, AAC is a great foodie book; however it may not be the first Irish cookbook you want to get if all you want is a good cookbook with traditional Irish recipes. If that is what you need, go for `Irish Traditional Cooking' by leading Irish cooking school owner, Darina Allen or the much more ethnographic `Celtic Folklore Cooking' by culinary writer and folklorist, JoAnne Asala.
   
   If Irish culinary traditions and cooking are major interests for you, this is an excellent second or third Irish cookbook, depending on whether you are more interested in cooking technique, fine dining and entertaining, or culinary lore. If your primary interest is in technique, get `ballymaloe cooking school cookbook' by school co-owner and Irish TV cooking show host, Darina Allen. Otherwise, go with this one.
   
   Due to the author's dual life as both a chef and an academic, the book offers rewards for both interests. While Cullen is currently a professor in culinary and hospitality skills at Boston College, he trained and worked as a serious high end chef in many Irish and French restaurant kitchens and learned first hand the lessons of cooking to local products, at the same time unlearning his French cooking doctrines while he reached the upper levels of Irish `haute cuisine'.
   
   The book begins with an excellent essay on the history of Irish food, including its high point during the Middle Ages monasteries and its low points during the potato famine. My only disappointment with this chapter is that it does not explain the mystery of why agronomists did not import one or more of the hundreds of other New World potatoes into Ireland when the potato blight affected only that one strain on which Irish livelyhood depended. On the other hand, this essay is very revealing about the curious fact that while Ireland is an Island, like the Greek Islands, there is a lot less seafood eaten than one may expect. Most fishing yields are sold to foreign markets or the Irish simply do not have a great taste for the fruits of the ocean, other than salmon and trout.
   
   The title of the book and the author's background are excellent indicators of what we are given with the recipes in this book. We do not get standard recipes for traditional Irish dishes, although all the most traditional Irish produce such as milk, cream, cheese, apples, pears, potatoes, berries, lamb, pork, and game are well represented. Also represented is the one type of ingredient Ireland shares with another major Island nation Japan. This ingredient is seaweed. In fact, seaweed is historically important in that those who lived near the sea escaped the worst of the potato famine, not because they had fish, but because they had seaweed to eat.
   
   While the book is primarily dedicated to Irish `haute cuisine', there is much here for the average cook. Opening the book at random shows me an excellent opening section in the chapter on `Salads, Dressings, & Cold Sauces' which details many variations on the classic French Vinaigrette. This may not be earthshaking for someone with 20 French cookbooks on their shelves, but for someone who only has room for a few good Irish cookbooks, this is great stuff.
   
   I also find Cullen's plan for presenting a recipe very appealing, where each step is numbered, making it very easy to keep one's place in the procedure. It also means that each step is clearly identified, instead of being buried in a dense paragraph of text. This is especially rewarding in that the same gool schema is applied to all recipes, even those many which were contributed by `guest chefs', major chefs at restaurants and schools in Ireland. This also means that the many recipes which do not have a `guest chef' author are the creations of the book's author.
   
   If by some chance, you have only room for a single Irish cookbook and this one appeals to you, I must say that many traditional dishes do find their way into the book; however, I cannot guarantee that the procedure is the same you would find at home in a private house in Dublin.
   
   I especially recommend this book over `The New Irish Table' by Irish-American culinary journalist, Margaret M. Johnson, which also deals with recipes from Irish cooks, but more from the local pub than from the larger restaurants.
   
   Last but not least, I find this an exceptionally well designed book for the average list price of $35. An excellent addition to any cookbook collection, and most especially to an Irish cookbook collection.



5. This book suprised me. It had beautiful pictures of the food you were going to attempt, and Irish scenery. Some of the recipes were well above my level of expertise and ability to aquire ingredients, but a suprising number were very do-able and ended up really pretty good! There is background on the food and lots of photos of the chefs whose recipes are listed. It could make a nice coffee table book except it is too valuable in the kitchen. There are things that I will try to make once a year, some deserts that I will never attempt, and some chicken and lamb recipes that I have made at least once a month if not more. Some friends that have come over for dinner, have commented on on how good Irish cuisine really is. Elegant Irish Cooking is'nt the only cook book that I have used to convince guests that Irish cooking is good, but it is one of my favorites to use when I am trying to impress them with the fact that Irish cooking is more than potatoes, corned beef and cabage.

5 comments about The Cafe Paradiso Cookbook (Atrium Press).

1. I love meat but really you don't miss the meat from these recipes, they are brilliant. Dennis Cotter uses a lot of squash and sweet potatoes, in my opinion overlooked in many cookery books.
   
   The desserts are great too.



2. Cafe Paradiso is unquestionably one of the best restaurants in the whole of Ireland; it should be a priority on the itinerary of anyone planning a visit. Even diehard carnivores have loved this place: I've taken many of them there when they've visited me in Cork, and they always come away from the table singing its praises!
   
   As a result, I can't recommend this cookbook enough for anyone interested in doing more with their veg than just a slab of butter and some garlic. This book is just a preview of what is by far a culinary trip through the best vegetable, fruit and dairy produce in all of the island. Of course, being that the restaurant is a Cork-based institution, some of the ingredients Denis specifies in the book (Gabriel cheese, for example) will only be available locally; however, there is always room for experimentation in the recipes and often times, Denis himself will do so, changing one or two ingredients of what we locals feel is a staple dish to try something new. Denis Cotter uses some interesting combinations (lemon and liquorice with basil, to name one) in his cooking, which is one of the main reasons that the restaurant has become the talk of the vegetarian world. The marriage of flavours found his recipes are so vivid and palatable that it's like eating a rainbow. Of course, the restaurant's wine list is a particular complement to the food! (All the more reason to book those tickets to Cork...)



3. I've eaten often at Cafe Paradiso in Cork. Everytime I go I find something more innovative and more delicious. Even if you're not a vegetarian, and I'm not, you won't miss the meat in these beautifully planned meals. I've got several of Denis's cookbooks; this is the first one I've gotten in the US and having the measurement conversions is GREAT. There's a terrific range from straight forward and simple, to eye-dazzling and complex. Dig in.



4. This book is wonderful -- but I am very confused. It would appear from searching for Mr. Cotter's books that there are two books, The Café Paradiso Cookbook -- Vegetarian Cooking Season-by-Season (named above) and Café Paradiso Seasons -- Vegetarian Cooking Season-by-Season (pictured above). The reason I think that there are two books is that I recall a reference in Café Paradiso Seasons to the Café Paradiso Cookbook ...
   So I give 5 stars to the book pictured. The recipes are delicious and managable. The text and background to the recipes make from charming reading -- and, of course, the photos are lovely ...



5. Having convinced my husband to eat vegetarian meals four times a week, I was determined that they be something special. This book made it easy. The recipes are straightforward and simple, but not simplistic, highlighting the taste of each featured vegetable. My husband was impressed -- and never missed his meat!

4 comments about The Best of Irish Breads and Baking.

1. This book is an excellent choice for the person who is interested in authentic Irish baking. There are many variations on the traditional brown bread and all I have tried taste really good. The recipes are easy to follow and a lot come from top guest houses. The "Irish Apple Cake" is wonderful and freezes beautifully. It also has a few Irish American recipes along side the traditional versions. The scones, sweet breads - in fact everything I have baked from this book has been wonderful.



2. This is NO ripoff. It's the real deal. Straight from the Irish presses and shipped to America. The breads and baked goods are authentic and unbelieveably delicious. I can't praise it enough for its authenticity.



3. I used a friend's copy of this book for a specific recipe (whole wheat banana bread). I've tried many of the other recipes and I've not found one I don't like. I HAD to buy my own copy. The food is tasty, appealing and chock full of healthy ingredients. It's nice to find a cookbook with so much variety and great alternatives to grocrey store premade baked item. This is a keeper!!!



4. `The Best of Irish Breads & Baking' by Georgina Campbell, sponsored by the Irish company, Shamrock Foods, is the third book of Irish baking I have reviewed, and it nicely fits between the areas covered by Tim Allen's `The Ballymaloe Bread Book' and Margaret M. Johnson's `Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools'. Before comparing the three books in detail, I'll survey Ms. Campbell's contents.
   
   This is a very nicely sized, relatively inexpensive book, listing at $15 or 15 euros which concentrates, like Ms. Johnson, on recipes from local Irish baking and hospitality establishments.
   
   The chapters, with virtually no surprises, are:
   
   Soda Breads and Scones, confirming once again that THE classic Irish bread is a brown soda bread and not the familiar Irish-American all white flour soda bread. I was pleased to find, however, a recipe for that familiar Irish-American soda bread with many flavorings added. One of the more unusual sections in this chapter is a method for making buttermilk from skimmed milk and yeast. I find immense irony in this method, as yeast is being used to make an ingredient for a yeastless quick bread. It also gives the yogurt method for making buttermilk, but makes no mention of the quick sour milk method or of powdered `instant buttermilk' products.
   
   Hot Off the Griddle covers things which many people may not consider `baking' as they are recipes to be made from batters on top of the stove, including cakes made from batters with oats, potatoes (for boxty), apples, and flour. If you happen to be a big breakfast fan, this chapter may alone be worth the price of admission.
   
   Tea Breads, Bracks, & Buns cover what in the United States would tend to be lumped together as muffins and their allies such as gingerbread and fruit breads.
   
   Yeast Breads explores baking with packaged yeasts, either fresh brewer's yeast or dried yeast packets. One interesting fact in this chapter is that Irish wheat is soft, much like that from the southern United States such as White Lily flour. The explanation for the Irish love of soda bread is not this, but the fact that few Irish households had the kinds of ovens needed for baking yeasted breads. This may not be complete, as the same could probably be said of Italy, one of the capitals of yeasted bread traditions. While this chapter focuses on native Irish recipes, there are a fair number of imports from the Mediterranean using things like onion and garlic in the breads.
   
   Cakes and Biscuits is the chapter which contains the recipes for the kind of seed cakes and biscuits which Bilbo Baggins probably served to Thorin Oakenshield, his band of dwarfs, and Gandalf the wizard in that magical moment at the beginning of the novel, `The Hobbit'. If you are a Tolkien fan, this chapter alone may be worth the book. Note that biscuits, here, is the English sense of biscuits as `cookies' and not what we recognize as, for example, southern buttermilk biscuits, which are much more similar to Irish scones.
   
   Pastry and Puddings involves another English / Irish usage which may be unfamiliar to Americans, as `puddings' here refers primarily to desserts, primarily those made with custards. Oddly, the lion's share of recipes in this chapter are for cakes, pies, and tarts, rather than custard based desserts. There is another fair share of European influence in recipes for strudel (Austrian) and frangipane (French).
   
   Festive Fare is one of my favorite kinds of chapters, as it gives recipes for occasions where you get an excuse to bake something delicious and fattening. I'm especially fond of these Irish dishes, as they contain the mother lode of inspirations for mincemeat pies and fruitcakes. The emphasis here is on Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, our favorite culinary holidays other than Thanksgiving.
   
   If you have room for only one book on Irish baking, especially if you don't have a lot of books on general baking techniques, this is the best of the three books I cite here. Tim Allen's Ballymaloe book ranges far beyond Ireland, because his focus is what is made at the Ballymaloe restaurants for their guests, not what is traditional in Ireland. Thus, he includes a chapter on sourdough plus chapters on major Italian specialties such as pizza. Ms. Campbell does not touch sourdough (using natural yeasts) at all. Since Campbell covers both desserts and bread baking, it is also more general than Johnson's book on desserts. And, Campbell goes into a bit more detail on general baking technique, although not as much as the great bread baking specialists such as Peter Reinhart.
   
   I am especially happy to say all measurements are in both metric and English systems and for things like flour, both weight (lb or grams) and volumetric (cups) units are given. This is another reason to pick this book if you can only have one. Otherwise, all three books have much to offer.
   
   Highly recommended.