Dec 18,2024
2024 has been a bumper year for cookbook publishing in Ireland (and for Irish chefs in the UK) so here, in no particular order, is a run-down of 20 top Irish cookbooks from 2024. From epic culinary tomes to niche subjects and stocking fillers, there is something for everyone and inspiration aplenty for gift giving this festive season.
Saladology, Theo Kirwan
Mitchell Beazley/Octopus Books, €22
Sprout cafés changed the game where grab-and-go salads in Dublin city are concerned since first opening nearly a decade ago in 2015. Now, Theo Kirwan, alongside brother and co-owner Jack, is giving away all his salad secrets in the long-awaited debut Sprout & Co. book Saladology, which is also, arguably, 2024’s best-titled cookbook. A transformative prism in which to view the humble salad, supercharged by flavour, texture and spice, savour more than 100 exciting recipes, ranging from simple side salads and attention-grabbing vegetables to satisfying noodles, pasta, fish and meat dishes.
Cooking with Anna, Anna Haugh
Bloomsbury Publishing, £26/€32
Anna Haugh has long been flying the flag for Irish cuisine in London with her Chelsea restaurant Myrtle (named in homage to Myrtle Allen) while her star has continued to ascend following regular stints on British TV, from MasterChef to Ready, Steady, Cook. However, back at home her name isn’t quite household level yet but this long-awaited debut from the Tallaght native (who cut her teeth as one of Gordon Ramsay’s right hand chefs) is the perfect, proper introduction to an Irish readership. Expect global flavours and exciting dish ideas frequently punctuated by Irish produce and plenty of tricks of the trade to level up flavour and bring casual elegance to simple home cooking.
Season, Mark Moriarty
Gill Books, €22
The Old Spot Cookbook, Aoife Carrigy
Nine Bean Rows, €35
"A decade at Dublin’s Favourite Gastropub" is the sub-heading of The Old Spot’s book, which is an enticing collection of the all-time classics to celebrate ten years in-situ on Bath Avenue of this award-winning pub with food. Expect dishes like mussels pil pil, pig’s head fritters, short-rib lasagne, Sunday roast with all the trimmings and white chocolate and raspberry crème brûlée. Head Chef Mark Ahessy and GM Denise McBrien lift the lid on The Old Spot’s incredible success with help from award-winning food writer Aoife Carrigy and photographer Ruth Calder-Potts. If you’re in the market for nailing the gastropub classics and serving the best Sunday roast ever, this is the book you need in your hands.
Eat Out at Home, Neven Maguire
Gill Books, €24.99
Neven Maguire, at this point, has sold over a quarter of a million cookbooks, so no better man to keep guiding home cooks with his clever, cheffy twists to very achievable recipes that will dazzle every time. In his latest book Neven shares how to elevate the everyday into the extravagant alongside recipes for effortless entertaining. Expect MacNean House classics, tonnes of international flavours inspired by his own travels and a unique, mix-and-match way to make each recipe your own. Neven takes readers through those extra little bits of flair to enhance your home cooking, whether impressing as you entertain or just spoiling yourself.
Cook, Graham Herterich
Nine Bean Rows, €35
Another sophomore book, this time from baker Graham Herterich of The Bakery in Rialto (also known as 'The Cupcake Bloke’) whose follow-up to widely-acclaimed Bake is, naturally, Cook. Stepping momentarily away exclusively dealing in cakes, breads and bakes and offering more savoury dish recipes based around traditional Irish mealtimes (breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea and supper), Graham’s second book is similar to his debut in that it offers modern twists and inventive suggestions to the more traditional, commonplace recipes we all grew up with, like lamb tagine as a switch for stew and a seafood, black pudding and Old Bay-seasoned ‘spice bag’. There is a wonderful thread throughout as Graham recounts growing up above the family butcher shop in Athy, with a dedicated chapter, too, to pork and bacon.
The Irish Bakery, Cherie Denham
Montgomery Press, £27/€33
Ireland is known for a couple of iconic bakes but rarely has such a comprehensive cookbook of Irish bakes been produced, and so beautifully, richly and evocatively as Cherie Denham’s. Across 80 recipes expect potato bread, Fifteens, potato pies, Irish apple cake with whiskey sultanas and much, much more in this beautiful baking book that’s a comforting love letter to the Irish kitchen. What’s more, find little treasures throughout in the form of captivating food essays by Kitty Corrigan. It’s no surprise this was a multi award-winner at the 2024 Irish Food Writing Awards, including Cookbook of the Year.
Happy Pear 20, Dave & Steve Flynn
Gill Books, €24.99
Steve and Dave Flynn celebrate two decades of success with their latest book, The Happy Pear 20, a hefty tome filled punctuated by their most viral, iconic and most popular veg-powered recipes. A culinary walk down memory lane, in this book the pair reflect on 20 years in business through successes, failures and formative life lessons so expect Flynn family favourites and the most-ordered classics from their Greystones café as well as new dishes and recipes that mark the next chapter in the Happy Pear plant-powered empire.
Bored of Lunch: Six Ingredient Slow Cooker
Penguin Random House, €20
Nathan Anthony does it again. Now counting five million followers on social media and having sold over a million copies of his previous books, this viral content creation sensation from Northern Ireland is back with a bang for his fifth book which is all about the slow cooker and recipes which zone in on six key ingredients that are easy on energy, time and calories but go hard on flavour. Also, expect the unexpected — did you know you can make tartiflette, lamb with balsamic vinegar, queen of puddings or even dark chocolate brownies in the slow cooker? Well now you do. The perfect accompaniment to the evergreen, low cost kitchen gadget.
Dad Food, Dylan McGrath
Gill Books, €24.99
This one took us by surprise. Dylan McGrath is known for being a top chef and restaurateur commanding fast-paced, pressure cooker kitchens and slinging sublime dishes, but - as he explains - once he became a father he evolved his cookery at home pivoting to sold recipes which guaranteed delicious dividends every time. Though this is not necessarily aimed at dads you could do worse than slip this under the tree for dads out there who aren’t too confident in the kitchen. McGrath takes readers through varied recipes for "everyday eating" that are centred around "big, bold flavours", from brunches to barbecues, roasts to pasta, pizza, stews and sides.
Seed To Supper, Michelle Darmody
Nine Bean Rows, €20
We could all do with a crash course in where our food comes from and growing our own, even as adults, but why not start in the early years? This book by food writer Michelle Darmody - with beautiful, colourful illustrations by Ruth Graham - takes kids through every stage of food’s journey, from its start as a seed in the soil to the table via the kitchen and everything in between. Demonstrating how to grow, buy and cook food with helpful tips and easy recipes it also comes packed with activities, anecdotes and fascinating facts about growing and cooking food, not to mention how what we eat affects the planet and how food really does connect us all.
Cafe Cecilia Cookbook, Max Rocha
Phaidon, €35.95
Irish chef in London Max Rocha’s lauded East London neighbourhood restaurant Cafe Cecilia has been distilled into 100 recipes, from breakfast through to dinner. Published by Phaidon with a simple, elegant, forest green cover, the book also begins with a foreword by legendary Northern Ireland-born food writer Diana Henry and features recipes such as sage and anchovy fritti, pork chop with colcannon, Guinness bread plus a host of soups, salads, breads, cakes, and kombuchas, as well as a selection of fish, meat, and vegetable dishes.
Simply Chinese Feasts, Suzie-Lee
Hardie Grant Books, £24/€29
Northern Ireland-based home cook and winner of Best Home Cook in 2022, Suzie Lee returns with her sophomore cookbook, Simply Chinese Feasts. Her latest traces the myriad Chinese celebrations, festivals and traditions: birthday, Chinese New Year, Dai Pai Dong, Dim Sum, Family Feasts and Takeaway, all of which naturally centre on food and family.
With this spread of occasions there’s something to keep coming back to this book for and, once again, Suzie delivers her engaging tone and signature twists to over 60 recipes, from Fish Ball Noodle Soup to Crunchy Sesame Seed Chicken, alongside kid-led and budget-friendly options, too. Don’t miss the menu plans which offer epic entertaining blueprints.
Múnla, Matej Bloksa
Self-published, €25
For those who are interested in wild food, pickling, preserving and foraging, Múnla is a must-have, which blends traditional Irish cuisine with the art of fermentation and seasonal foraging across over 100 recipes. From Matej Bloksa, a chef originally from Czechia who has called Ireland home for many years, his self-published debut also features 80 of his own beautiful photographs that capture Ireland’s stunning forests, meadows, and coastal waters which have inspired him so much in his own culinary journey. Expect recipes for everything from elderflower vinegar and meadowsweet jelly to wild garlic garum and ant pesto, this is one for the proper culinary enthusiast and those who want to go beyond wild garlic picking or sea buckthorn collecting.
A Compendium of Irish Pints, Ali Dunworth
Nine Bean Rows, €15 each
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Guinness appreciation has hit an all-time high with shortages, hype, hysteria and proper pint appreciation (and critique) washing over us all. In the year that ‘Best Pint in..?’ street-side social media interviews continued to take over, 2024 was the perfect time for food writer Ali Dunworth to pen her paean to pints. Fittingly pint-sized itself, this satisfying deep-dive charts the ‘culture, customs and craic’ behind the pint; the ceremony, the spur of the moment, the tilt, the tapas (open bags of different crisps) and runs the gamut from airport pints and wedding pints to funeral pints. Illustrated by Irish artist Hephee (Stephen Heffernan), find it in all good book shops and independents across Ireland or order online.
Blasta Books #8 - #12, Various
Blasta Books/Nine Bean Rows, €15 each
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The third year of the groundbreaking series of little, A5-sized books with big voices, Blasta Books has continued to shake up the Irish cookbook publishing scene with four more debuts in 2024, uniquely this time around all chefs and each dotted around the country: Funky, an ode to all things pickled from Caitlin Ruth, Whole Catch from Aishling Moore, chef-owner of Goldie in Cork City; Agak-Agak from Malaysian chef in Ireland Sham Hanifa who runs The Cottage and My Kitchen in Leitrim; Socafro, from Waterford-based-street food chef Alastair ‘JD’ Jeje which fuses his dual Caribbean and West African heritage. Order one, order them all, or indeed pre-order 2025’s line-up to arrive to your door as they publish quarterly.
The Home Sommelier, Brigid O’Hora
Hachette Books Ireland, €16.99
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Former sommelier Brigid O’Hora found internet fame throughout successive lockdowns running Instagram lives around wine appreciation. Her no-nonsense, relatable, engaging and, most importantly, plain English explanations of grapes, vintages and wine regions set her star to rise and soon her very own wine appreciation courses followed, both virtual and in-person. Now her debut book has landed, which takes the same matter-of-fact approach to wine knowledge, the perfection companion to up-skill as you sip and savour.
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