Orla Drumgoole is a retired Irish teacher who has become a viral sensation as a home cook and author under the social media moniker Irish Mammy Cooks. After a 32-year career teaching English and Music at St Louis Secondary School in Dundalk, she retired in 2025 to focus on her thriving online community, which has grown to over 200,000 followers on Instagram.

What are your family roots?
I am originally from Kildare, but my mum was from West Cork and my dad from Co. Clare. We lived in Kildare because Dad was in the army for 42 years and was mostly stationed in the Curragh, but I have always been reminded of my proud Munster roots.

Where do you currently reside?
I live in Monaghan with my husband Paddy, and we have three daughters all attending college right now. I have lived here for longer than I did in Kildare, but it’s hard to lose the ‘blow in’ status up here!

Why a cookbook, and why now?
The why? I have a very large following on social media, Facebook and Instagram especially. My followers kept asking for a book because they are of an age that it can be hard to navigate back and forth to find favourite recipes. The why now is because I retired from my teaching job last year and finally had the time to commit my recipes to paper.

What were the challenges involved?
I needed to pick the recipes I wanted to use! It was hard to know at first what chapters to include and whether to just share sweet recipes or offer a mixture of everything. Because a blog has both words and video, I needed to rethink the processes involved in recipes to make them manageable in book form. Having been an English teacher, I was lucky because that was the easy part for me.

What were the rewards?

I can’t believe that as a retired teacher I am living a whole new life as a bestselling author, being offered opportunities to meet with people all over the country, and to learn about so many fabulous small Irish businesses making beautiful food. For me the book is a tribute to my parents, my mam especially, so it has been so wonderful to feel her with me on this journey. Although the recipes are not all traditional Irish ones, they are the versions of them that mam and lots of other Irish mams were making for us all in the 70s and 80s.

What has the response been like so far?
The part that pleases me the most is that people are messaging me every day sharing photos of the recipes they have tried. I am especially touched when they share photos of my mam Nancy’s pastry or stuffing – that is really lovely. The book was No 1 in both the Irish and Sunday Times Best Sellers lists and that is unbelievable to me. I seem to have struck a chord with people – there is nothing pretentious or ‘cheffy’ in the book – because I am neither!

How did you go about choosing the recipes?
I wanted to include the most popular recipes from my blog, as well as lots of easy dinner ideas. In Ireland dinner is usually chicken, beef or pork, and the book has 26 dinner ideas, along with lots of vegetarian ideas too. I included two chapters of traybakes, mini ones and large ones, but with instructions on how to adapt them for the size of your party. I also included a section on bread of course, and one deducted to chocolate because who doesn’t love chocolate after all.

Do you have a favourite recipe from the collection?
My favourite and the one I worked the hardest to perfect is the brown scone recipe. It can be made as a loaf as well. I spent a whole summer tweaking it, and it is still one of my favourites to bake. It is really easy to make, you can sub in or out ingredients to suit your own family, and it tastes delicious!

Will there be a sequel or follow-up?
I never thought I would write one book, so it is not beyond the realm of possibility that there’s another one in me.

Is your creative process more “inspirational” or “perspirational”?
Definitely inspirational! I don’t overthink recipes. I love a good rummage in the cupboards to see what’s lurking and needing to be used up – and that is usually where the recipes stem from. I love finding new products and seeing how I can incorporate them into different traditional recipes to elevate them.

What makes a good meal?
The company you keep. The food is merely incidental to the conversation and the love in the room. It does help of course when the food tastes good! I think starting light and ending large is key for me – and if I am prepping, I always make the desserts first – that way I know however badly everything else goes, the night will end well!

What is Irish cuisine, and what makes it so unique?
I think it started out as hearty stews, good bread and easy desserts, but nowadays it is all the flavours of the world, but with an Irish twist. I use smoked paprika in my lasagne – it shouldn’t work, but it does! I think it is a cuisine that borrows from everywhere and incorporates the best flavours with the best products. We are so lucky in the quality of ingredients here.

How has it evolved in recent years?
Ireland is a wonderfully multicultural place nowadays and that is evident in the kitchens of our homes. People are more experimental and as families and cultures blend this will become even more evident in the future. Pistachio cream, lemon myrtle, tonka beans – not standard, but we are using them casually as if they were always part of our cache.

What do you have on tap for the rest of 2026?
I am doing a few demos at food festivals this year, I have found an amazing agent, and I am going to take a month or two to breathe and see what opportunities are in store. I am blessed in having had a job I adored for 35 years, so this new career is a bonus. I can’t wait to see where it takes me next, and I am grateful for every moment.

@irishmammycooks