Cooking is an art. It is also a science. From baking a cake to preparing an exquisite meal, there is a lot of food chemistry involved. Every texture and flavor is because of interacting molecules. Cooking requires creativity and imagination. It also requires hands-on skills and techniques. Great Irish cookbooks will teach you the art and science of preparing Irish foods.
No one is born a great cook. Talent plays a small role in success. You have to practice diligently. To be great in any profession, you have to do your 10,000 hours. Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. To become a great Irish cook, you should not only read great cookbooks. You also need to practice what you have read.
The Art of Cooking
There is ugly art, disorienting art, repulsive art, troubling art, and beautiful art. These classifications also apply to food. Yes, there is ugly food and beautiful food. The chef is an artist. The unskilled chef will produce food that is provocative and distasteful. The rare chef will produce commendable food just as great art is commendable.
Cooking just as the art of war or the art of negotiation is a skill attained by observation, practice, and, study. It is an admirable craft. Escoffier, a famous French chef, once called cooking “the glory art of cookery.”
To prepare haute cuisine, there is the need for a high level of creativity. The first duty of a chef is to make delicious food. The chef must make dishes that will make his patrons happy.
In cooking, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” A chef must not go great extremes to complicate a meal. The cardinal principle of Irish gastronome is simplicity.
Irish Food Is Prepared With Love
Cooking is like love. You should enter into it with abandon or not enter it at all. Cooking is an art but eating is a necessity. There is no sincerer love than the love of food. Technology will only be great if you can download food. Unfortunately, that is not possible. To enjoy amazing food, you have to do the hard work: the cooking.
Irish Food is More Than Mutton and Potatoes
When you read Irish cookbooks, you will discover that there are different types of Irish foods. The cooking of Ireland has a rich history and heritage. There is a wealth of ingredients available from the Irish pasturelands, moors, and the sea.
The Bottom-Line
In the middle ages, cattle played an important part in Irish cuisine. With the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, the potato started featuring in most Irish dishes. Presently, the most popular Irish foods include black pudding, bacon & cabbage, coddle, colcannon, Irish stew, and goody.