The Festive Food of Ireland

`The Festive Food of Ireland' by noted Cork Ballymaloe Cookery School owner is best suited as a gift to an Irish-American foodie or hungry Notre Dame football fanatic. It is far too short to stand up as a cookbook all by itself, as about half of its 61 pages is devoted to telling us about the major holidays of Ireland, which are: St. Bridget's Day St. Patrick's Day Easter May Day The Stations Hay Making Lughnasa Threshing Michaelmas Halloween St. Martin's Eve Christmas St. Stephen's Day The Twelfth Day of Christmas Only four (4) of these fourteen (14) celebrations really mean much to the average urban American, and that's counting St. Patrick.s Day. Only Easter, Halloween, and Christmas fall within my round of yearly celebrations. One can not even really count this as a good book on Irish cooking, as a few of the dishes are admitedly more `Irish-American' than they are Irish. So, if you are looking for a full-blown Irish cookbook, check out Ms. Allen's larger books or Margaret M. Johnson's `the Irish Heritage Cookbook' which I shall review very shortly, as I plan to remedy my chronic state of being without an Irish cookbook on St. Patrick's Day. I should also warn you that the recipes include some unfamiliar sounding ingredients and many directions assume a bit more kitchen knowledge than may be in the hands of a rank amateur. Therefore, if you plan to give this as a gift, give it to a practiced cook. One very good thing, albeit a bit messy, is the fact that all amounts are given by both metric weight, English weight, and volume (spoons or cups). While this is a very nice thing, it makes reading the amounts a bit clumsy, as the way they are printed, you have to examine the numbers carefully to see which unit is which. Otherwise, this still makes a great gift for a hungary lover of the Emerald Isle.

She's an expert on Ireland and serves up some great, authentic food.