Darina Allen's recipes are standing the test of time

Her Simply Delicious books taught a generation of Irish people to cook. Now, in a new book, Darina Allen has compiled 100 recipes from the classic collection for the next generation, writes Joe McNamee

After all these years, they still regularly reveal themselves, randomly popping up like mushrooms, in jumble sales and charity shops, old bookstores and market stalls and, most of all, on the kitchen shelves of literally thousands upon thousands of Irish homes, one or more of those deceptively slight volumes from the Simply Delicious range of cookery books that first taught a generation of Irish people to cook.

Back in 1987, mention of ‘Ballymaloe’ would have instantly triggered images of Myrtle Allen and her nationally, even internationally renowned East Cork country home and restaurant; despite establishing the Ballymaloe Cookery School, in nearby Shanagarry, in 1983, her daughter-in-law, Darina, still remained a largely unknown quantity to the world at large.

That all changed with the arrival of a letter from RTE enquiring if Myrtle and Darina would have any interest in hosting a new cookery show. Myrtle’s schedule immediately ruled her out.

Darina hummed and hawed and then eventually, almost reluctantly, agreed. The programme, Simply Delicious, debuted on March 13, 1989 and her life was never the same again.

There had been a native precursor to Darina, the legendary and irreverent Monica Sheridan who ruled the Irish airwaves during the 60s but was eventually dispensed with for her habit of licking fingers as she cooked on live television.

For several decades, slots were being filled with imported programmes from the likes of Keith Floyd and a Sharwood’s-sponsored programme.

“Apparently what happened,” says Darina, “was the director of programmes happened to be by reception after another episode of the Sharwood’s programme had aired and the switchboard was jammed with people saying, ‘can you not get any Irish person to do a cookery programme rather than all these sponsored foreign programmes?’

“When the letter came, I thought I don’t have a clue what to do. I’d only make an eejit of myself but then I thought wouldn’t it be nice to do and if it was a success then I’d be able to teach more people to cook. In the end, I decided that I’d be happier to live with it not being a huge success rather than not having tried it and always wondering what if, what if — and these are the little moments where the decisions change the rest of your life.

“I rang up Madhur Jaffrey — she was one of the first cooks I had ever invited to the cookery school to do a demo and was on TV quite a bit at that time with her cookery shows — and asked her for advice and she was really helpful about how to rehearse, to weigh things up three times. First, you do a practice run, fluffing it, as the TV people used to call it, going through the moves you’d be making, then the next time you’d cook it completely and then the third lot was in case you made a mess of it. It was really intense work when it is just you and the camera — at least I found it very intense.”

Simply Delicious was an immediate success. RTE 1 initially ran it at the same time as the then hugely popular Coronation Street on RTE2 and were absolutely inundated with protests from disgruntled viewers. They rapidly rescheduled.

“There is no question that the SD series made a difference to a lot of people’s lives. A lot of people who bought the first cookbook, didn’t have a cookbook or didn’t use one and I made sure the recipes were very easy and encouraged people to use fresh herbs and all of that. They were all very well tested recipes so they worked and when people used them, it gave them confidence and so they built on that. So many people said, ‘I felt like jumping out of my seat and going into the kitchen to cook it there and then!’

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“I was talking to Colette Farmer, the producer, also of ‘roll it there, Colette,’ fame and she was talking about putting the recipes in the RTE Guide but I was saying, ‘what if they lose it, I’m already tormented with people ringing up the Cookery School all the time for the recipes, we should do a book,’ and she said, ‘oh, you’ll need much more recipes,’ and I said, ‘I have loads of recipes, that’s not a problem!’

“Obviously, we were hoping for a success but we simply had no idea. I think they printed 30,000 copies and the books just walked off the shelves around the country. RTE, [publishers] Gill & MacMillan, everybody was taken off their guard. It made Irish publishing history, sold more cookbooks than any cookbook in Ireland ever before and I used to do book signings and people would be queuing around the corner. I thought this happened to everyone who wrote a book and I, genuinely, didn’t realise the impact the book was having and of course my life changed because suddenly I was recognised and that takes getting used to, to go from being anonymous to ...”

The programme eventually ran for nine series with a corresponding cookbook released for each one and now Kyle Books have just released an updated Simply Delicious: The Classic Collection, featuring 100 recipes selected from the original books.

While this new production is much more of piece with contemporary cookbook production values — hard cover, art paper and full colour photography of professionally styled dishes — and some dishes have been slightly tweaked, the culinary essence remains much the same, wholesome soups and broths you could trot a mouse on, roast meats and hearty fish dishes, pies and tarts and a smorgasbord of comforting desserts best classed as ‘puddings’.

Simply Delicious focuses on traditional farmhouse fare, made from the finest seasonal, local produce - food Myrtle Allen (centre) first elevated to the status of Irish national cuisine. It’s a torch Darina Allen (right) and Rachel Allen (left) have carried faithfully ever since

Full of both atin’ and drinkin’ it is, generally, the type of traditional farmhouse fare made from the finest local, seasonal produce that her mother-in-law first elevated to the status of an Irish national cuisine, a torch which Darina has carried faithfully ever since, through the fanciful years of fusion and molecular gastronomy, and out the other side to the present day, where honest, homely fare, food of real integrity, is very firmly back in fashion.

“So many people had said to me, ‘oh, I love those books but lent it to my daughter/friend/whomever, I’d love to get another copy’. And when people bring up old copies for me to sign, you can tell they’ve been used and which are the favourite recipes, they fall open at a certain page. For a lot of people, a Simply Delicious Cookbook was the first cookbook they ever bought.

“It was quite tough to pick the 100, I wanted ones that had stood the test of time but they all stood up. The food stylists, studio cooks and photographers who worked on it kept saying, this food is so delicious and relevant. They do books all the time and they couldn’t get over how the recipes had stood the test of time, delicious, simple food, the kind of food you want to eat, instead of so much of the tortured stuff you find on modern plates and they looked forward every day to eating the dishes.

“And — most importantly — these are recipes that work because a lot of recipes in other cookbooks are not properly tested.

“We tweaked some, made them a bit more contemporary, garnishes, that sort of thing but the recipes are largely the same and that’s still a winning formula. It is food you can sit down with family or friends and simply enjoy.

Simply Delicious The Classic Collection: 100 recipes from soups & starters to puddings and pies by Darina Allen is published by Kyle Books on September 27, €25