Full on Irish: Creative Contemporary Cooking [Hardcover]

`Full On Irish' by Irish Michelin starred chef, Kevin Dundon is the third book of Irish `haute cuisine' recipes I have reviewed and it comes the closest to what I would expect from such a book. It is definitely superior to `New Irish Cookery' by Irish / Canadian chef / restauranteur / culinary TV hosts Paul and Jeanne Rankin, but a bit less rich in information than `Elegant Irish Cooking' by culinary scholar, teacher and professional chef, Noel C. Cullen Ed.D, CMC, AAC. But, it is by far the very best cookbook if all you want is modern Irish recipes.

One immensely refreshing fact I have seen with several Irish cookbooks recently is that they typically have a relatively low list price. This book, which, if done by a notable chef from Chicago or Savannah or San Francisco, would easily cost $35 or more, lists for a mere $25. Since this may be construed in part as an advertisement for the author's restaurant, Dundon is following Emeril Lagasse's model by keeping such books with promotional content relatively low. The amazing thing is that there is practically no self-congratulatory material here. It is all about the recipes and the Irish artisinal products, which is largely based on farmhouse cheese production, free-range poultry, and seafood farming.

The heart of the matter, of course is the recipes, and this is what impresses me most about the book. For starters, the book has been edited carefully to adapt all measurements and terms to an American audience. Second, and probably more importantly, these recipes are exactly the kind I look for in such a `modern take on traditional cuisines' book. All the recipes are based on both strong Irish raw materials doing variations on a lot of traditional Irish dish styles and cooking techniques. My favorite is the new take on boxty, the Irish potato pancake, done in the form of a potato salad. Third, almost all recipes, especially the ones for soups, starters, and `light bites' are relatively simple, and virtually all recipes seem to follow a similar style of execution.

My only very minor complaint about the recipes is that either by chance or by a little cultural borrowing, chef Dundon gives us a potato omelet which is virtually identical to the very famous `tortilla a la espanola' or potato frittata of Spanish tapas bar fame. The recipe is given with not a wink or a nod to the fact that this is a very famous Spanish dish, and the fact that Irish potatoes are its main ingredient is simply a coincidence.

In every other way, this is an excellent book for fans of Irish cooking. I was especially intrigued by the kitchen garden vegetable stock, which is correctly cooked only a short time, but held to infuse for several hours before filtering. This star of the larder chapter may in itself be worth the price of the book for serious foodies.

If all you want is a few traditional Irish recipes for the middle of March, this may be just a bit too much, but even if that is what you want, this book will still stand you in good stead with useful year round recipes, especially for shell fish, cheeses, and vegetables.

Highly recommended.

After admitting I haven't tried all the recipes, I have eaten at a new restaurant at Downtown Disney, an Irish Pub, Raglan Road, where it's Chef is Dundon. Shepherds pie was wonderful as was the fish chowder, though it's called 'Not fish chowder". They were out of the cookcook so I came to Amazon.
I can't wait to try more... Nice reworkings of Irish cuisine and a beautiful book, too.

This product was described as good as new and I found this description to be accurate
I am very happy with it