Welcome
Hi, I’m Emma
I believe some of life’s best moments happen around the table.
The Irishman’s Wife is where I share seasonal recipes, enamel cast iron cooking, and food worth gathering for. Life moves fast, and this little corner of the internet is my reminder to slow down, cook something delicious, and make room for the people you love.
Ps. Please note all recipes on this website are in US measurements. Eg, 1 cup / 240ml, 1 tablespoon/15mls. Oven temperatures refer to a fan-forced oven.
Why you can trust my recipes
Before I started The Irishman’s Wife, I trained and worked as a chef in both Australia and the United Kingdom.
Today I own and operate Martha’s, our family-run food and homewares store, while developing recipes, photographing food, and teaching home cooks how to feel more confident in the kitchen.
Every recipe on The Irishman’s Wife is developed, tested, and photographed by me before it’s published.
My specialty is enamel cast iron cooking—the cookware I reach for almost every day and the foundation of many of the recipes you’ll find here.
Where this all began…
My family doesn’t come with a big food background. Mum was the first of nine kids to be born in Australia to German Immigrants and is a completely self-taught cook. We are a typical Australian family with smatterings of differing cultures all meshed together. There are Aussie BBQs, German Christmas traditions, and when I married my Irishman, potatoes, stew & soda bread entered the mix, together in one, crazy family.
When I was a kid, we moved out of Sydney to a small, rural farming community in the Central West of NSW, where breeding lambs and beef became our everyday. And while I hated it at the time, I now realize it has shaped me into who I am today. Good, seasonal produce is what I cook with day in and day out. While I don’t live by this to the extreme, it’s something I find quite natural.
Early on, I spent a few years training and working as a chef, both in Australia and the UK. And it was in London that I met my Irishman. Somehow, I convinced him to move halfway around the world, and together we built our life back home in Australia.
Today, between The Irishman’s Wife and our family-owned store, Martha’s, I spend my days cooking, writing, recipe testing, photographing food, and helping people feel more confident in their kitchens.
The recipes I share here are inspired by all the places that have shaped me—Australian country kitchens, European influences, Irish family favourites, and the simple belief that good food doesn’t have to be complicated.
The Irishman’s Wife began as a place to share recipes.
Over time, it has become something more.
A place to celebrate cooking, gathering, home, and the small moments that happen around the table.
Want our top 3 slow cook recipes +
how to rehash them to create more than one night’s dinner?
