The New Irish Table

January 1, 2017
Irish cooking in the twenty-first century has grown from the homey, staid, insular, and hidebound into a recognized part of world fine cuisine, thanks in no small part to a handful of chefs who have taken lessons learned abroad and married them to superior native meats and vegetables. Organized by region and county, recipes from each chef offer several menus, from casual lunches to formal dinner fare. The book's accessibility for home cooks is enhanced by both metric and American measurements; nevertheless, some ingredients that may lend authenticity, such as seashore greens and seaweed, may be daunting to duplicate this side of the Emerald Isle. Anyone searching for truth-in-cookery photographs will gratefully note that accompanying captions and comments detail how the pictured dishes may vary from the recipes' ingredients. This sort of assiduousness raises this celebration of Irish food a bit beyond mere coffee-table decoration.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)