The Irish Heritage Cookbook

By Margaret M. Johnson

The Irish Heritage Cookbook
"... delivers a fresh perspective on Irish cookery with an engaging collection of recipes culled from Irish (and Irish-American) chefs, hoteliers and long-time home cooks who have reinterpreted traditional dishes with earthy panache."...Publishers Weekly

You don't need to travel to the Old Country to explore the new flavors bursting forth on the Irish culinary horizon. Blessed with a wealth of fresh ingredients, modern Irish cooks are creating a sophisticated, contemporary style of cookery. Now you can sample the delicious dishes-both modern and traditional-of Ireland in your very own kitchen.

Just in time for the St. Patrick's Day festivities, Chronicle Books presents The Irish Heritage Cookbook, a comprehensive gourmet cookbook for Irish food. Roughly 44 million Americans of Irish descent, though understandably proud of their heritage, have grown up shockingly deprived of the culinary traditions of their ancestors. For most, Irish cuisine means potatoes, corned beef and cabbage. The Irish Heritage Cookbook moves beyond this perception and provides valuable insight into Ireland's gastronomic heritage.

Prepare your palate for such delectable delicacies as Peppered Rack of Pork, Smoked Salmon on Oatmeal Pancakes with Cucumber-Dill Sauce, Wild Duck with Root Vegetables, and Medallions of Venison with Cumberland Sauce. For a hearty and delicious meal, try Onion and Murphy's Stout Soup followed by Roast Breast of Chicken with Cabbage and Bacon, accompanied by Potato Soufflé, and topped off with a dessert of Lemon-Whiskey Cake. Discover Ireland's culinary roots in classic recipes for Black Pudding Roisin with Pig Blood Sausage; Dublin Coddle, a pork, bacon, and potato casserole; and Quail with Chestnut Stuffing and Burgundy Sauce. and you won't want to skip mouth-watering desserts including Upside-Down Apple and Soda Bread Tart and Oatmeal-Apple Crumble with Whiskey Cream Sauce.

The dishes in The Irish Heritage Cookbook are uncomplicated and can easily be prepared by the novice home cook. Taking the reader on a virtual tour of the magnificent countryside of Ireland, the book is organized by topography-hillside, dale, waters, and orchards and fields. In addition to the succulent recipes, chapters include historic sidebars and anecdotes, giving the reader a true sense of the land from which this food comes.

Offering a much-needed fresh perspective on what Irish cooking is all about, Margaret Johnson tells stories about the foods of Erin and how Irish emigrants and their offspring reinvented these dishes, evolving to include new ingredients and to suit modern circumstances and tastes. With its bountiful collection of both traditional recipes and contemporary innovations, The Irish Heritage Cookbook affirms the place of Irish cooking among the great cuisines of the world-and one to be enjoyed by all who love Ireland.

Margaret Johnson grew up in an Irish Catholic neighborhood in Massachusetts and now teaches high school on Long Island. She has published numerous travel and food articles about Ireland, as well as two previous cookbooks. She takes advantage of summer vacations to travel to Ireland regularly.

The Irish Heritage Cookbook
By Margaret M. Johnson
Chronicle Books
Publication date: March 1999
Paperback, $18.95
288 pages
ISBN: 0-8118-1992-2
Information provided by the publisher.