Cooking With Irish Spirits [Paperback]

Margaret Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Uniting Irish foods and drinks in a unique way, this book puts the excitement back into cooking. It is about forming new alliances, creating new marriages, and joining the best of Irish spirits and brews with the best of Irish cooking.

For centuries, the marriage of wine with food has been a happy one. Chefs, food writers and wine critics continue to extol the virtues of the two for the perfect partnership they create and for the ability to elevate ordinary recipes to extraordinary dishes with a mere splash of red or a dash of white wine.

Readers are invited to forget boiled ham and cabbage and create something far more exciting, such as Lobster in Bunratty Poteen, Avocado with Guinness Mayonnaise, Smithwicks Cheese Soufflé, Fresh Salad with Raspberry Mead Vinaigrette, Mocha Mist Mousse, with Gaelic Truffles to round it all off. Whether you glaze a duck with mead or lace a chocolate roulade with Irish Coffee Cream, the results will astound your senses and tickle your imagination.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her newest Irish cookbook, Johnson (Irish Pub Cookbook; Irish Heritage Cookbook) dares to take the drink from the glass and pour it right into the pot. In doing so, she raises the bar, creating rich and complex flavor combinations while instilling a good dose of Eire drinking history along the way. Chapters are organized by spirit. There are a dozen sweet recipes in the Irish Creams chapter, for example, but rooting out the many other dessert options involves browsing through the index or, better yet, paging through the many wonderful photographs. Black and Tan Brownies in the "Affable Brews" section catch the eye: a cup of Guinness stout darkens half the treat while light brown sugar and pecans make up the tan underside. Savory selections made with beer include Medieval Stew with Stout, and Oysters with Bacon, Cabbage, and Guinness Sabayon; entrees with whiskey include Bushmills Duck au Poivre with a sauce thickened by heavy cream. The resources appendix is a necessity for those seeking the traditional tastes, since Kerrygold Irish butter is used throughout, as is Irish bacon. And for those who would rather sip than chew, there are informative pages on such topics as Irish whiskey history, brewing techniques and the origins of cider. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Margaret Johnson, whose grandparents and great grandparents emigrated to the US from Cork, Dublin, Rathmore, and Ballyvourney is herself an Irish citizen. She has made a dozen trips to Ireland in the last six years pursuing her interest in what she calls "all things Irish." Her visits have resulted in the publication of two cookbooks: Ireland: Grand Places, Glorious Food and Cooking With Irish Spirits and she has contributed articles on Irish cooking and travel to many publications including the Irish Echo newspaper in New York, Irish American Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and British Heritage Magazine. Her third cookbook, The Irish Heritage Cookbook was published by Chronicle Books.She resides in Westhampton Beach, New York, with her husband, Carl, and her children, Mark and Kate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Irish Books & Media; Revised edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863274668
• ISBN-13: 978-0863274664
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,828,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes cooking a pleasure, July 22, 2008

By 

Kathryn Sikorski "montanagam" (Montana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland (Paperback)

This is absolutely an awesome cookbook. Being Irish, wanting to go to Ireland, and loving to cook made this a must have.Highly recommended for anyone who likes to cook. Kathy

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Irish Spirit cookbook, December 22, 2010

By 

Sunbum - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland (Paperback)

The Irish spirit cookbook was recommended by a friend. I bought the book with one recipe in mind, the Gaelic Steak. I was told that it was excellent!.. I must say she was right! Every recipe that I have made since has been equally as satisfying. I have found the ingredients in the recipes easy to find in local stores. The recipes are easy to follow, and each contains a bit of history of the dish. The photograpy is excellent and pictures of the finished recipes (availalable for many of the dishes) make it easy to make your dish attractive as well as tasty. I have found the glossary and the table of equivalents in the back of the book helpful with other cooking as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland, July 15, 2009

By 

Donnie R. Walley (Vanderpool,Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland (Paperback)

If you are a Vegan, this book is not for you. The recipes are of a hearty kind. The presentation is superb as are the photographs. Tradition mixed with new age. A delight for the pallette. Just remember the spirits are for the cooking not the drinking before hand. Highly recommended to any who enjoy food at it's best.