“Favorite Flavors of Ireland” by Margaret Johnson

Favorite Flavors of Ireland‘>Favorite Flavors of Ireland is a scenic foodie tour of this hypnotic island country.  The pictures are gorgeous, and there are stories to accompany them.  Many of the pages also include histories of the dishes and how they’ve evolved over time or are particularly relevant to a certain region.  I learned a lot just from reading the pages!

I never fully realized just how different the base foods of Ireland are from the ones that I eat every day in the Eastern part of the United States, either.  There were many, many ingredients that I either didn’t recognize or have never eaten.  Some I’ve heard of but are much ‘fancier’ than people typically eat in my native central Pennsylvania, despite our Irish heritage.  Being the case, I was a bit nervous to try a dish that was a complete unknown with all-new ingredients.

So I settled on shepherd’s pie for our first try.  I modified it a bit, of course, as I always do – I used hamburger since I didn’t have lamb and I left out a few herbs that I didn’t have on hand – but I used Irish butter and a luscious Irish cheese to blend with the potatoes.

My family was excited to see shepherd’s pie on the table when they arrived since we’ve eaten it out but rarely attempted to make it at home, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.  It disappeared from plates rapidly, and I can tell this is a recipe we’ll be making again and again.

I like the friendly way that Johnson explained her recipes.  It made the unfamiliar seem doable – easy, even.  That makes some of the other recipes in the book seem more approachable.  My Big Helper has already picked out several recipes that she wants to make, so I’m sure that we’ll be doing more Irish cooking in the days to come.

If you’re in the market for a solid Irish cookbook with a wide variety of food – or a great coffee table book that will share as much information as it will recipes – then Favorite Flavors of Ireland is the book for you.

I received a free copy of this book from Ambassador International in exchange for an honest review.