What's Old is New: Irish Cuisine Comes of Age

The Country Cooking of Ireland, written by Saveur magazine's co-founder and its second editor in chief, Colman Andrews, sits as comfortably on a coffee table as in the kitchen. Published by Chronicle Books, (c.2009), it is a generous collection of more than 225 recipes and over a hundred photos that capture the vibrancy of the food, the land and the Irish people.

Andrews had his own reasons for investing two years researching and writing about a cuisine that rarely gets much attention beyond St. Patrick's Day. "I saw a really good food story that hadn't been reported in the way it should be," he said. "There was a place for a book to tell that story.

"Look at the trends in America — the artisanal food movement, grass-fed animals, farm to table, traceability — all that's old news in Ireland. That's how food has always been produced and distributed," Andrews said.

He added that today's Irish cooks are recognizing that the country's raw materials and basic cooking traditions are more valuable than imported ideas and foodstuffs. "Good chefs in the city and at country hotels have captured the spirit of Irish cuisine, but in modern dishes," he said.

It starts with the country's natural assets. "The most important thing they grow in Ireland is grass. Ireland probably produces the best dairy products in the world," he explained.

"If I go into a supermarket today — in New York, Connecticut, Florida or Boston — besides the standard butters, they tend to have some imported ones. Of all those butters the Kerrygold is the one I buy unless I have a very specific purpose (that requires a different type)."

For the recipes in his book, Andrews recommends using Kerrygold unsalted butter, explaining, "There is a consistency in Kerrygold Butter — an elastic consistency so rich — it has this great flavor and it's good for baking. The butter seems very, very dense — with low water content."

The quality of butter can make a difference in the outcome of a recipe, Andrews said. "Originally, the classic Italian recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo had no cream — it called for butter and Parmesan cheese, period. Recipes began to add cream because American butter was watery, and the sauce didn't get the nice, thick coating on the pasta. If you make Fettuccine Alfredo with Kerrygold Butter and good Parmigiano, you don't need the cream."

Taste the Kerrygold Butter difference in Andrews' mussels recipe below, a delicious example from The Country Cooking of Ireland.

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