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Quick Link – Darina Allen: Forgotten Skills of Cooking cookbook – chicagotribune.com

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Darina Allen’s great Forgotten Skills of Cooking gets a Chicago Tribune review:

The recipes are old-fashioned and mostly Irish. You’ll find a lot of recipes here calling for salting, canning, pickling, smoking and even potting in butter — preferably homemade. Allen is a big do-it-yourselfer. Founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, she’s a born teacher, and her enthusiasm is infectious. Still, be warned: To get the most out of this book, you need to be not only a do-it-yourselfer but also able to handle yourself in the kitchen, the garden and even the slaughtering shed.

via Darina Allen: Forgotten Skills of Cooking cookbook – chicagotribune.com.

2 responses to “Quick Link – Darina Allen: Forgotten Skills of Cooking cookbook – chicagotribune.com”

  1. Thad McIlroy Avatar
    Thad McIlroy

    The last time I was in the Republic of Ireland was nearly 25 years ago. I’d unexpectedly found a one-week break in a busy work schedule, so at the last minute booked a flight for one person, Toronto-Dublin return.

    Dublin could be dreary in the ’80s before the “miracle” so within a day or so I searched my guidebook for an escape. I stumbled upon “Ballymaloe House” which sounded good, and booked for two nights. I took a bus to Cork and another to Ballycotton, asking the driver to let me off at the Ballymaloe farm.

    Ivan and Myrtle Allen were still in charge; Myrtle very much in charge of the kitchen. I remember her introduction to the Sunday dinner: “There’s a misapprehension, particularly in North America, that a buffet cannot provide a fine meal. This is untrue.” Well it is certainly untrue if Myrtle Allen was in the kitchen. I can still taste the Turkey White/Turkey Brown.

    I’ve got two copies of her original Ballymaloe Cookbook, one purchased while visiting (the second edition, published by Gill & Macmillan, with an introduction by Len Deighton), and a later hardcover edition with colour photographs (the third edition, now available only in paperback).

    A search indicates that the first edition was published by “Agri-Books” in 1977 in hardcover. I can’t pin down the details, but would suspect it was self-published.

    There’s a good biography of Myrtle Allen written upon the occasion of her receiving an honourary Doctor of Law from the National University of Ireland.

    Reply
    1. Eoin Purcell Avatar
      Eoin Purcell

      Thad,
      Thanks so much for a wonderful comment! Ballymaloe is still going strong thankfully and a new generation of the Allen family is making a living from cookbooks. Rachel Allen is Myrtle’s Grand-daughter in law and Ireland’s bestselling cookbook author.

      Eoin

      Reply

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Hello,

I’m Eoin,

Co-founder and publisher @fullsetbooks 📚. Expect books and 🍰.

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