5 comments about Crazy Water Pickled Lemons: Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa.

1. What a bunch of nonsense, Hostile Reviewer.
   
   This is a beautifully written book with thoughtful, interesting recipes sure to tantalize and delight fellow epicurians. It's easy to follow, the instructions are clear and concise, and the ingredient lists read like a tale from Arabian Nights. I can't see how anyone could complain about this gorgeous book- unless they like the big glaring fonts of a McDonald's menuboard and call the Olive Garden "exotic".



2. I have had this book for years and have made several recipes from it. Yes, some of them are a bit involved, but for a special meal, they make the whole experience of creating the dish special.



3. I bought this book straightaway after thumbing through it. It is what some modern foodies would call pure food porn: there are gorgeous pictures and stories to go with the recipes. One thing I particularly like is that Ms. Henry includes recipes for the condiments such as for preserved lemons and harissa. These items simply aren't available where I live, but I can make them myself for use in the recipes. She also offers reasonable alternatives for many hard-to-find items such as apples or pears for quinces and grape juice/balsamic vinegar mix for grape saba. As another reviewer said, it is not organized in military fashion, but I read cookbooks for fun, so that is no nevermind to me. The comments on the "odd" typeface elude me--I find nothing wrong with it,as it seems no different from other modern cookbook formats. This is a fun overview cookbook for mediterranean cooking that is a good place for new cooks to start exploring these food genres. For the experienced cook it is a fun read and has some off the beaten track recipes.



4. As a former culinary instructor and chef, I found this book amazing. Not laid out in the traditional fashion, the author takes each chapter to feature one or two ingredients from Middle East cookery, then describes them so beautifully. The information given at the beginning of each chapter is as delicious as the recipes!



5. An exciting cook book. It invites you not only to try new recipes, spices and ingredients, but also to use your imagination and create new meals. Fun

1 comments about Tagine Greats: 100 Delicious Tagine Recipes, The Top 100 Moroccan Tajine recipes - Second Edition.

1. The cookbook is really quite fabulous but the Kindle formatting is less than acceptable. Lists of ingredients "interrupt" one another; you can see ingredients should appear across from each other but mesh together and some are cut out. The recipes, the introduction and the instructions are all wonderful and will continue to work around the oddly written recipes.

1 comments about Food fit for Pharaohs: An Ancient Egyptian Cookbook.

1. This is an interesting, short, book of current Egyptian dishes. However, the title is missleading!! Readers would buy the book, excpecting (as the title suggests), real ancient Egyptian recipes (especially that the book is published by the British Museum), but will find that all the dishes in the book are simply contemporary.

2 comments about A Field Of Greens: Gourmet African Slow Cooker Soups And Stews.

1. A very interesting cookbook. Looks like a great bunch of recipes to try although I haven't yet. I am vegetarian, so it is nice to see some vegetarian recipes and some that can be altered to be vegetarian. Tasty unusual spices.



2. I bought this book as a gift for my granddaughter who spent four months living in Kenya as part of her International Studies major. She loves the Kenyans and especially the family with whom she lived, and as she is also a pretty good cook, I know that she will try the recipes.
   
   Were I writing this book I would have formatted it somewhat differently (so what else is new?), but it is an interesting read, and many of the recipes look delicious. I, myself, love Ethiopian cuisine because of the spices. I am always open to new foods that do not include rather too esoteric items (brains, eyeballs, insects and peculiar sea life), so this book really fills the bill. It has excellent vegetarian recipes many of which I will copy before I gift the book to her. In addition, there is quite a lot of interesting information about the various areas of the African continent and the people who live therein. That makes it a double bargain.
   
   I am sure that she will enjoy this, and I will ask her to write a review when she has actually tried some recipes.

2 comments about Addy's Cook Book: A Peek at Dining in the Past With Meals You Can Cook Today (American Girls Pastimes Collection).

1. I love this cookbook! I've tried almost all the recipies and they are all really good! Especially the shortbread wich I have made more times than I can even remember. I love to bake and cook, and this book is one of my favrite books to cook from, thanks Jodi Evert! Keep up the good work!



2. Addy's Kitchen is a wonderful look at the American Girls Past times. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will enjoy sharing it with my neice.

5 comments about A Baker's Odyssey: Celebrating Time-Honored Recipes from America's Rich Immigrant Heritage.

1. "A Baker's Odyssey" is thick with recipes of all kinds---fried sweet pastries and doughs, flatbreads, savory & sweet pastries, yeast breads & pies (both sweet and savory), cookies, cakes, tortes, and more.
   
   There are a few small bundles of color photos in the book. Most of the time I'm happy either way when it comes to the presence of photos---they aren't a must-have for me the way they are for some folks---but given the wide array of unusual (to me, anyway) treats in here, I would have loved more photos. The ones that are here are gorgeous, though.
   
   There are plenty of notes on ingredients, which is incredibly helpful given that, for example, you might not have worked with lard before. Mr. Patent even includes instructions for rendering your own so it'll be of better quality than that found in your average grocery. There are also plenty of notes on equipment; just because these are traditional recipes doesn't mean you have to forgo modern convenience appliances!
   
   A Baker's Odyssey includes recipes from all over the world---Kahk from Iraq; Puff Puff from Nigeria; Casatelli from Italy; Lebanese pita; Norwegian lefse; and on and on. I'd say that hands-down the biggest hit out of the recipes we've made so far was the Kachauri, fried flatbreads stuffed with a spiced split pea mixture. Cheese Sambouseks were quite popular as well---pockets stuffed with an egg-and-cheese mixture. We made a delightful whole wheat oatmeal bread as well as the tasty, crunchy little Kahk nibbles.
   
   The recipes are clear and easy to read. So far I've only found one editing snafu (two slightly different sets of instructions to divide up a dough in one paragraph, such that it took a moment to realize I wasn't supposed to try to divide up the dough multiple times) and it was easily recognized and dealt with. All in all, I expect this will become one of our more treasured bread books. I just love being able to try out the vast wealth of recipes from around the world.



2. `A Baker's Odyssey' by professional Zoologist, Greg Patent is a sequel to his excellent `Baking in America' and is also different from the rich selection of books we have on American desserts from the likes of Nancy Baggett, Wayne Harley Brachman, and Judith Fertig. It is most similar to `A Baker's Tour' by noted baking author and teacher, Nick Malgieri, except that Professor Patent limits himself to baking imported into the United States by Immigrants.
   This book successfully emulates the virtues of `Baking in America' in many ways. First, it is a superior reference on how to recreate authentic recipes for many classic international dishes, plus some great homegrown dishes, especially from my favorite Pennsylvania Dutch corner of the world. Second, its discussion of the fundamentals is far more nuanced than one would expect in a book intended to be a collection of traditional recipes.
   The very first recipe I checked, for the Russian Easter bread, kulich, is a fine example of both how thorough and how `ethnic' Patent's recipes can be. I have found and made similar recipes in both Betsy Oppenneer's `Celebration Breads' and in `The Best of Gourmet, 20th Anniversary Edition', and it is fascinating to see what the three recipes have in common and what is different. The most surprising common feature is that all three recipes call for baking the bread in two pound coffee cans. And, I can testify from experience that one strays from this recommendation at your own risk. I have mad kulich in three quart soufflé dishes and in 1 quart soufflé dishes, and neither one came out quite as good as I expected. There is something about the metal and the tall thin shape of the container which seems to be needed. The problem is that all 2 lb coffee cans today come with easy open tops, with pronounced lips, which make them virtually unusable as baking pans. I found that small metal springform pans are a reasonable substitute to the metal coffee cans. One simply has to carefully follow the directions on how to determine when the baking is done. The primary difference between Patent and the two more `modern' recipes is that Gourmet and Oppenneer both call for two rises of four hours or less while Patent's grandmother's recipe calls for three rises totaling up to eight hours. Less significant differences are that the modern recipes add saffron. I constantly puzzled over how Russian peasants could get or afford saffron. Patent's ethnically accurate recipe achieves the yellow coloring form using plenty of eggs and butter.
   The second recipe I checked was the classic Pennsylvania Dutch shoo fly pie. Not only does Patent include one, he includes two, both from authentic sources, Betty Groff and William Woys Weaver. So, Patent remedies the omissions in practically every other authors' book(s) on `American' baking.
   Another ethnic recipe very important to me are the Hungarian Walnut Torte, classically flourless, with `body' provided by walnuts and bread crumbs and lift provided by egg whites. Patent gives ample instructions on being careful not to over bake, but I'm surprised he gives no special instructions on how to avoid droopy centers. I'm totally amazed that my grandmother was able to make this cake without a droopy center. When my aunt took over the duties of making it for my birthday, her cake always drooped.
   The last recipe near and dear to my heart I found was for Apple Strudel. Like every other recipe, this one comes from an authentic German recipe, relayed by an authentic German! The highlight of the recipe is that it includes instructions for making strudel dough from scratch. There is a family resemblance between strudel dough and the Greek Phyllo dough, but anyone who has improvised strudel with Phyllo knows they are simply not the same thing. German / Austrian strudel dough is a bit easier to make, and has more body to it.
   As I have intimated above, every recipe comes from an authentic source. Patent had a good start for his cosmopolitan sources, as his parents were Iranian and Russian, and he was born in China. And, virtually all the recipes have a basis in home baking. There is not a trace of artisanal baking from ambient wild yeasts, something which can only be done effectively with a commercial bakery which specializes in such breads. Thus, the whole world of artisanal breads is left for other writers. But this is no loss, as this is a very well-tilled field of writing.
   It is just a bit surprising to find no hot cross buns, especially since it did not appear in `Baking in America'. It is not surprising to find no buttermilk biscuits, since that did appear in `Baking in America'. But Irish Soda Bread, even the `Spotted Dick' variety is here.
   The obligatory list of sources at the back of the book is as good or better than I've seen elsewhere. If you love baking `ethnic', this book and its predecessor are a superb pair of references, especially if you don't have lots of room for a dozen baking books.
   The book includes a DVD which, I am happy to say, includes techniques on two of my favorite recipes cited above, the apple strudel and the Hungarian walnut cake.
   There are many, many good baking books these days. If traditional recipes are your thing, there is nothing better than these two.



3. Baking is made easy with the enclosed dvd. I always prefer to bake instead of fry, this gives me more options. I also recommend Finger Licking different.



4. After hearing the author on NPR, I was expecting the book to have a bit more in the way of savory recipes. That being said, this book contains the only recipe I've ever found for the real Russian kulich I had as a child. While time consuming,the recipe is easy enough to follow for an experienced baker. The result was magnificent-the only perfectly scented and textured kulich I've ever managed to make.



5. I love this book. Mr. Patent has devoted a great amount of time to the research of the recipes and it shows. So far I have tried 4 and loved every single one of them. I have had to make adjustments because I live in a high altitude city, that's standard for me. Actually, the only reason I'm not giving this book 5 stars is because Mr. Patent as most authors, does not give too much of his attention to the subject of high-altitude baking.

5 comments about Occasions to Savor.

1. Although you do not have to be to appreciate this wonderful cookbook, I am a Delta. Sorors, if for no other reason than to own a new and glorious piece of sorority history, you have to add this book to your collection. The book is beautifully done and will make you proud.
   
   The fact that it is also filled with great recipes contributed by sorors across the nation is the gravy on top and the reason that this book makes an excellent addition to any cook's library (Delta or not). 5 Stars



2. I love this book. I purchased it in 2004 at our National Convention in Las Vegas. The recipes are priceless and delicious. You don'thave to be a Delta to enjoy it. But I would like to thank my sorors for this wonderful creation. The recipes are fantastic.
   
   Love
   Soror Kameelah Brown
   Omicron Delta Chapter Spr. 98
   Miami Alumnae Chapter



3. This cookbook looks expensive only until you see it. Be assured that it is well worth every penny!
   
   It is gorgeous, with full-color photographs, and large, clear print. There are stories and acknowledgements from famous African Americans (e.g., Camille Cosby) and Delta members. The recipes are all tried-and-true, and most are prefaced by the contributors' comments about why it is so special.
   Everything I've tried to date has been sensational -- the best of its kind I've ever tasted.
   
   This has the advantages of a top-of-the-line community cookbook, but with gorgeous presentation, well-perfected recipes, etc.
   
   You won't be sorry you bought it or gave it as a gift.
   
   (And you most definitely don't have to be African American to appreciate this ... I'm not. This will appeal to anyone with taste buds.)



4. The books had crinkled corners as if they had been dropped, but I guess they were in the condition as advertised; I'm not quite sure. I bought 3 for gifts, but I think I will just give them away to people I know would like them--not as a wedding gift, as I had intended. I was surprised at the condition, because a couple years ago I ordered 5 of the same books that were in absolutely excellent condition, and that I did distribute as Christmas gifts.



5. I'm very please with my purchase from Amazon.com, I've been looking for Occasions To Savior cookbook for some time now and Amazon.com not only located the book for me but this book retailed for $40.00 and I paid 6.00 plus chance for a brand new cook book.
   
   Ronnie O.
   Very Happy Cook

5 comments about Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way: Smokin' Joe Butter Beans, Ol' 'Fuskie Fried Crab Rice, Sticky-Bush Blackberry Dumpling, and Other Sea Island Favorites.

1. One of my favorite episodes of Sara Moulton's cooking show featured the author and included a visit to her childhood home. I was THRILLED that Ms. Robinson washed her green leafy vegetables in warm water. What a shame such wisdom (do Americans even know the term "nightsoil" anymore???) has been disregarded in the wake of carnival barkers who demonstrate their cooking ability by ripping open a bag of greens (prewashed, My Aunt Fanny!) and cooking raw meat straight from their styrofoam and plastic packaging. Ewwwww, you know no amount of cooking heat can clean that up. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
   
   Thank you, Ms. Robinson.



2. I have tried to catch Ms. Robinson's t.v. shows when I was able. Having grown up poor and having to make ends meet by stretching the food, you appreciate any attempt to liven up the meals. Ms. Robinson has done this very well. I enjoy her, and I enjoy the book.



3. I remain fascinated by Gullah and Daufuskie cooking. This book is a welcome addition to my ever-expanding collection. I'm glad I found it.



4. Great history involved with the writing of this book. I live in the Charleston area and I highly respect the Gullah language and ways.



5. If you are not yet blessed with living on South Carolina's Daufuskie Island or even a vacation here, reading and eating from Sallie Ann's recipes is the next best thing. Enjoy!

5 comments about Iraqi Family Cookbook: From Mosul to America.

1. Exellent book ,brings back a lot of childhood memories... I recomend it to all who like to try Iraqi food (made easy)..
   Super service



2. I got this book very quick in canada, the family story was very interesting and pictures are nice to look at you get a good imppression of the food,I did wish they included more inof about the arabic spices and how to get them maybe.. Overall very good book I can cook some traditional dishes that my husband grew up with and my daughter may injoy and cook for her family someday. I really enjoy cooking new foods and making them right, This is the first recipe book for bawlava that I have seen which might be the most acccurate. Thank you from the Kakels



3. I received this book as a gift from the author. Kay's recipes are outstanding and easy to use. I have favorites that i turn to time and time again - always with flavorful results



4. I purchased this so I could cook for my new son-in-law, and so could my daughter!
   You want to eat the pages!
   The directions are clear and easy to follow and there is enough variety to cover all tastes.
   It's also a family history and that was interesting and fun too.



5. 
   
   Exellent book,The directions are clear and easy I recomend it to all who like to try Iraqi food

2 comments about Moro East.

1. This book is a little less focused and some of the recipes are a little less exact but so what? Like the other two Moro books, it's incredibly inspiring. You will head to the kitchen.



2. This book is great - we have all three Moro books (and are big fans of the restaurant), and this is my favourite. The flavour combinations are really intersting: the beet salad with pistacio nut dressing, for instance. as it is structured around their allotment garden, it is also really useful for working out what to do with heaps of garden produce.