Notes about Recipes in this book

• Beef stew

  • TrishaCP on March 19, 2016

    Flavor-wise, this is one of the best beef stews that I have made. I subbed dried rosemary (1 tsp) thyme (1 1/2 tsps), and bay for the fresh herbs (added to the vegetables when sweating)- and used chicken stock instead of Demi-glacé or beef for a lighter flavor. The cooking time was insufficient to get my meat tender- I should have cut smaller pieces or planned to cook it longer. Anyway, even with that (probably user error) this is a keeper.

• Fried oysters with horseradish and green onion mayonnaise

  • twoyolks on February 17, 2024

    The batter is great on the oysters. It's airy and super crispy. I didn't make the horseradish and green onion mayonnaise and instead just used some homemade mayonnaise for dipping.

• Fish and chips with tartar sauce

  • twoyolks on March 16, 2017

    I only made the fish which was really good. The batter is light and crispy and complements the fish well.

• Boiling bacon with parsley sauce

  • twoyolks on March 20, 2016

    This was much too salty. The pork itself is nice, but the combination of the fattiness and the salt make this hard to eat.

• Corned beef

  • twoyolks on March 20, 2016

    This is a very good homemade corned beef. It's the only recipe I've seen that involves both a brine and a dry rub. The flavor of the corned beef is good. It has the appropriate amount of saltiness.

• Baked cured ham

  • twoyolks on April 17, 2017

    Way too salty.

• Creamed leeks

  • twoyolks on March 20, 2016

    Very good creamed leeks. It goes very well with seared salmon. I would cut down a bit on the salt in the future.

• Colcannon

  • twoyolks on April 17, 2017

    This is a nice riff on traditional mashed potatoes. The kale and sautéed onions really compliment the mashed potatoes without over powering them. I liked the kale even though I usually don't.

  • TrishaCP on November 14, 2017

    I subbed buttermilk for the cream, but otherwise followed the recipe (using lacinato kale). I agree that this was delicious.

• Irish soda bread

  • twoyolks on March 20, 2016

    A good soda bread recipe. The only downside is that it tends to spread out so you get wide but short slices.

• Batch loaf

  • twoyolks on March 28, 2016

    For such a simple recipe with such a short rise (~2.5 hours), this is a very good bread. It has a lot of flavor. It also has a very tight crumb.

• Potato rolls

  • twoyolks on April 17, 2017

    These are good, substantial, sturdy rolls. They'd best be served as a sandwich rolls (and not as dinner rolls). The directions for this recipe are rather confusing. I believe the correct instructions are to boil the potato, save the cooking water, then add 1 cup of the reserved water to the pureed potatoes. Then add the pureed potatoes to the flour and salt and continue mixing. I needed to add more flour so that it wasn't quite so sticky.

  • LomaxHartCreative on September 07, 2021

    I concur with twoyoks, the recipe does seem to be missing a step or two, and I also had to add about an extra 1/2 cup of flour. Even after my rise the dough was VERY sticky! I needed a heavy flour dusted board to mold the shapes. That being said, they are delicious and I would make them again. You're basically making a potato slurry and then adding that to your dough, once boiled down there was no longer 1 cup of water left, so I added in a bit more. 

• Parmesan-black pepper vinaigrette

  • twoyolks on April 14, 2016

    This was somewhat like a Caesar dressing but the flavor of the garlic dominated. Neither the parmesan nor the black pepper were that significant. I actually liked the flavor of the dressing on its own better than on lettuce.

• Dill sauce

  • TrishaCP on January 31, 2016

    This makes a ton, and is very flavorful with fish.

• Basic mayonnaise

  • twoyolks on April 13, 2021

    I've never made mayonnaise in a stand mixer before but it did work. It was lighter and airier than a standard mayonnaise but I didn't really notice any difference in flavor or texture.

• Marie Rose sauce

  • TrishaCP on January 31, 2016

    A great version of the classic sauce- this one is a total crowd pleaser.

• Tartar sauce

  • twoyolks on March 16, 2017

    The tartar sauce was lighter than most but was too lemony.

• Food52

  Q & A with author Cathal Armstrong

  Full review

• Oregonian

  ...he's also gathered recipes from his restaurants, which takes Irish cooking in new directions and challenge home cooks to take their skills to another level.

  Full review