Complete Book of Irish Country Cooking: Traditional and Wholesome Recipes from Ireland

by Darina Allen

Fresh and wholesome, comfortingly nostalgic, Irish food is famous for its heartiness and flavor. Now Darina Allen--the "Queen of Irish Cooking" who cooked breakfast for President Clinton and 150 guests last St. Patrick's Day--presents more than 250 wondrous Irish recipes, from traditional festival food to manor fare.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Ireland

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

Darina Allen established Ballymaloe Cookery School in 1983 with her brother Rory O'Connell. Author of over 10 books and presenter on 6 Television series, her main passion and her daily task is to impart her knowledge to the students at the Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Darina Allen is Ireland’s best known cook and a best-selling author who presented nine series of her cookery programme, *Simply Delicious*, on television in Ireland. She is a passionate and committed teacher, and her awards have included:

Good Food Ireland’s Cookery School of the Year 2012/2013
José Navarro Foundation Award at the Green Awards 2011
IACP Cooking Teacher of theYear 2005.
A tireless ambassador for Irish food both at home and abroad, Darina has been instrumental in setting up the Farmers’ Market Movement in Ireland. Slow Food is a passion for her, and she is the councillor for Ireland in the Slow Food Movement and President of East Cork Convivium of Slow Food. Through the East Cork Educational Fund, she runs a programme for local primary schools to help local children learn about food from garden to plate.

In 2013 she helped launch the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine which plays host to a stellar line up of chefs and writers and has very quickly become an unmissable event on the international culinary calendar.

Dubbed "The Julia Child of Ireland" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Darina has written a number of best-selling, award-winning books including: 30 Years at Ballymaloe (Winner Cookbook of the year for the Irish Book Awards 2013) | Forgotten Skills, winner of the André Simon Food Book of the Year and Listowel Food Fair Book of the Year Award in 2010 | Easy Entertaining, winner of the 2006 Chefs and Restaurants Award from the IACP | Irish Traditional Cooking | Ballymaloe Cookery Course | A Year at Ballymaloe | Healthy Gluten-freeEating* (with Rosemary Kearney) | the Simply Delicious series of books to accompany her TV series of the same name.

She holds many positions in leading food organisations including:
Member of Taste Council of Irish Food Board
Chair of Artisan Food Forum of FoodSafety Authority of Ireland
Trustee of Irish Organic Centre
Patron ofIrish Seedsavers
Member of Eurotoques (European Association of Chefs
Guild of Foodwriters in UK and Ireland
IACP (International Association ofCulinary Professionals).

Reviews

[Marie Silk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books and I have read it many times over. More than just a recipe book, it gives history and amusing stories to accompany each one. At first I was not sure how I felt about many of the recipes, some having ambiguous measurements: a dollop of this, a knob of that...however I have made the buttermilk pancakes about a hundred times and love its taste and simplicity. I value this book more for the stories about the people that contributed the traditional recipes that were nearly lost over time, and am thankful to the author for taking on this project.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with tons of wonderful recipes, I know I plan to try several of them and cannot wait to fill my belly with good old traditional Irish food!

[Mollie *scoutrmom* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd checked this out of the public library last year and craved it, it finally came up on my bookswap site and I grabbed it. When it came today, I immediately looked up a recipe for what I'd planned for dinner, and it was fabulous.

History, humor, and techniques are interlayered with tested recipes.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this last year,and I really liked it.
I would buy this for a friend as a present.