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International Little Cookbooks
A Little Irish Cook Book
"Small blue illustrated boards, 60 pp., illustrated with full-color drawings, nice illustrated jacket". Chronicle Press 1986 edition.
60 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 14, 2020
Amazing recipes. The Beef in Guinness is a long-time comfort food go-to.
March 20, 2021
I adore this little book of Irish recipes. Some homey; mashed potatoes with green onions, others quite fancy and celebratory. lobster in a rich cream sauce. A little something for everyone.
March 13, 2025
This is one of those cute little books you hope will be good but don't have high hopes for. The artistic quality alone--so cutesy, so beautiful, and so enlivening--already warns against it being anything more than a showpiece.
And, to an extent, that is the case. It is small and delicate, light and airy, with fun descriptions of what the food is like and why.
But, against this grain, these recipes are good.
When looking through the book, I don't think there's a single recipe that's a step above the simple. These aren't the types of concoctions that we'd find in a Julia Child book: they are things you'd make if you knew generally 'how to cook' and wanted to prepare something familiar. It's just that, in this book, those familiar things are Irish things, and may (hence) be unfamiliar to the reader; that's what makes the book special. These recipes are base recipes, using stuff that makes it cohere both along taste and cultural lines, and which can be amended as you go; these are recipes meant to be experimented, in one sense, and kept straight to in another.
It's more of a reference text than a book of recipes in that sense. (E.g., if we want to make flat pancakes or sconces, this little Irish cookbook has a perfectly fine version of those that can be used to measure from.)
It's a beautiful and stand-out look into some food from Ireland, which is simple and easy to use, and--if it won't blow your socks off--will surely be used consistently in a kitchen of amateur or professional alike.
And, to an extent, that is the case. It is small and delicate, light and airy, with fun descriptions of what the food is like and why.
But, against this grain, these recipes are good.
When looking through the book, I don't think there's a single recipe that's a step above the simple. These aren't the types of concoctions that we'd find in a Julia Child book: they are things you'd make if you knew generally 'how to cook' and wanted to prepare something familiar. It's just that, in this book, those familiar things are Irish things, and may (hence) be unfamiliar to the reader; that's what makes the book special. These recipes are base recipes, using stuff that makes it cohere both along taste and cultural lines, and which can be amended as you go; these are recipes meant to be experimented, in one sense, and kept straight to in another.
It's more of a reference text than a book of recipes in that sense. (E.g., if we want to make flat pancakes or sconces, this little Irish cookbook has a perfectly fine version of those that can be used to measure from.)
It's a beautiful and stand-out look into some food from Ireland, which is simple and easy to use, and--if it won't blow your socks off--will surely be used consistently in a kitchen of amateur or professional alike.
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December 5, 2022Found at my grandma’s and read in one sitting. (Yes, read! There’s paragraph or two of info for each dish, alongside the recipe and a cute little illustration)
September 17, 2012
Out of all the International Little Cookbooks, I think the Little Irish Cook Book is in my top three. The recipes are simple and comforting, like the Scones and Apple Jelly. Personally, this is one of my favourite treats.
February 9, 2014
A mini cookbook of Irish recipes. My favorite it the Rhubarb Fool, a simple dessert I had not heard of before.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews