5 comments about Gluten-Free Cookery: The Complete Guide for Gluten-Free or Wheat-Free Diets (Beginner's Guides).

1. Obscure ingredients, and odd mixtures could characterise this book. Although the recipes are definately gluten free, they are complicated. Three or four different types of flour are used in many of the recipes, and include bean flour, soya flour, cornflour, teff flour....etc. If you are used to the usual rice, tapioca and potato flours, then this book is not for you. Also, ingredients have to be weighed instead of measured, which is very time consuming. I by far preferred "Special Diet Solutions" by Carol Fenster. It is far more practical.



2. I never cooked for myself before, but this book told me exactly what to do. Now I'm enjoying my food again. My meals had gotten much the same, but now I'm trying all the different things and putting weight back on.



3. When I was told to put my autistic son on a dairy and gluten free diet 6 years ago I did not have a clue, I had never seen the point in baking a cake or a loaf of bread if you could buy it! Although we can get staples on prescription the book has made birthday cakes and treats a pleasure and surprise for all my children and the breads and pancake mixes vary his diet, the recipes are easy to adopt to dairy free if necessary.I have tried other books for variety, one used chickpea flour in everything which tasted wierd, I wonder if the recipes were tested! Others just specify a proprietory GF flour which seems pointless, and expensive if you cannot get them on prescription. Faced with the challenge of putting a family member on this diet, if you can get hold of this book it will be the only one you'll ever need, ours is reinforced with sticky tape and covered in food stains!



4. the rate is 0 stars, but your review doesn't allow for that!
   
   after constant delay and e-mails pushing the date back further and further, I finally cancelled. While I would still like the book, Amazon does not seem able to supply it. I will look elsewhere.



5. My daughter's guests for a Halloween party included a child on the GFCF diet. My challenge was to find an easy, quick gluten-free cake recipe for children that didn't taste like chalk. Ann's Sticky Chocolate Cake became the "vampire cake" (something to sink your fangs into). All of the parents requested the recipe source, and the cake was gobbled up before midnight. Preparation took only 20 minutes. I substituted non-dairy margarine for butter and used an ordinary cake pan. Note: if you want to use measuring cups rather than a kitchen scale, 4 oz = 1/2 cup.

4 comments about Egyptian Cooking: And Other Middle Eastern Recipes.

1. First published twenty years ago, and now in a revised and expanded edition with over eighty new recipes added by author Samia Abdennour, Egyptian Cooking And Other Middle Eastern Recipes is a spiral-bound cookbook featuring classic dishes that perfectly capture the staples of Egyptian cuisine. A handful of color photographs illustrate the simple and practical instructions for creating such Middle Eastern delicacies as Falafels, Duck Pot Roast, Baked Rice With Milk, Hot Yogurt Soup, Pickled Eggplant, and so much more. A glossary, list of common spices and cooking utensils, and index round out this "must-have" cookbook for anyone interested in savoring Egyptian cuisine.



2. Having grown up in Egypt, I had no idea what I took for granted. Delicious stuffed tomatoes, fresh lemony salads, vine leaves, meat stews. It's such a pleasure to find a book that allows me to recreate these meals I had back at home. It's easy to follow and the ingredients are readily available here in the States. I recommend this book for everyone.



3. When even rice pudding doesnt turn out right, after following the directions to the letter....you can safely say that a cookbook was poorly written.
   
   Simply dissolve sugar in milk, then add rice and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes? Hardly. I started out with a low flame....and was still waiting for the rice to soften 45 minutes later. I made rice pudding out of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook, and I'd much sooner make rice pudding their way----you start out with a boil (to cook the inner core of the grain of rice), and THEN reduce to low and simmer. Works every time.
   
   Ms. Abdennour should also mention to the novice, that it is necessary to stir the rice pudding continuously, or it will stick to the pan and BURN. However the word "stir" was not even mentioned in the recipe! This may seem like common sense to most, but cookbooks should be written at the level of a novice.
   
   The rice in my pudding ended up having a hard, uncooked center. And when I went to taste it (aside from the bitterly hard rice) I felt there was way too much sugar.
   
   In addition the cookbook has a strange format...the pages are numbered but the recipes are indexed not by page number but by recipe number (they are actually numbered from 1 on up) I much prefer good old fashioned page numbers---whats wrong with that?
   
   Also, the author seems to be unfamiliar with the names of certain items in the West. When a recipe calls for "gullash" this corresponds to our "phyllo dough" however the author seems to not know that we have a word for this....so she describes it as "fresh, paper thin sheets of dough at your local bakery"....gee thanks, that would help the novice cook! I know that she is describing phyllo dough, but would a novice know?
   
   In addition, I made kuftat ras al asfur. Again, following the instructions to the letter resulted in a bland tomato sauce.
   
   Some recipe instructions amounted to no more than four sentences, when surely they are a bit more complex to make and worth describing in a bit more detail.
   
   There are better Arabic cookbooks out there...I just haven't found them yet. This cookbook is suited to someone who is familiar with making these dishes....maybe then they can fill in the details which Abdennour fails to mention. But then one wonders, why would these people need a cookbook in the first place?



4. Well... first of all DO NOT click on the link to "buy these books together" (referriing to the amazon offer to buy this book and her other book "Egyptian Cooking, a practical guide") as this book contains ALL the recipes in the first edition, along with additional recipes. You will be WASTING your money as i did (I gave the first edition away, no need to keep it, for me I bought them years apart, for you it will be money down the drain or a headache with the return) Amazon should NOT be offering them together.
   
   Being that this book basically consists of the other book and then some, I will go over in a nutshell the comments i made of the other as they also apply here.
   
   Its good for the basics if you're already familiar with the cuisine. The arabic/english spice translations are helpful. Her instructions are thoroughly lacking, so if you are not an experienced cook, or are not familiar with egyptian/middle eastern cooking, you might have a hard time with the recipes as they would have benefited from a little more description. (for more on that see my review of the other book) They are written in a very matter of fact way, just mix, shape, saute..... They don't really sound very appealing. The recipe numbers not corresponding to page numbers is annoying but you get used to i (the recipes are numbered, page 1 might have recipes 1-3, page 2 recipes 4-6, page 3 recipes 7 and 8, and the index refers to the recipe number, not page number so the recipe for falafel could be recipe 6 which would be on page 2), as well as the fact that to make a recipe containing tomato sauce, you've got to refer to the tomato sauce recipe on another page (consisting of tomato sauce, salt and pepper).
   
   The additional recipes are not egyptian and are really not of any value to me as there are tons of other middle eastern recipe books out there that are FAR better than this one.
   
   The only reason I would recommend this book at all is that it is specifically Egyptian, and if you are even reading this review it probably means you want an Egyptian cookbook (rather than a generic Middle eastern cookbook.) If that is the case, then i would consider going with "My Egyptian Grandmother's Kitchen" by Magda Mehdawy, as she has pictures with all her recipes and at least that gets your taste buds going (oh, yeah that was also a problem with Abdennour's books, you could read the whole thing and not be all that impressed by anything). I would pair that with either Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Five Star) or Mary Bsisu's The Arab Table (Also 5 Stars). When you want to cook something, first try to find it in one of the latter books, if you can, read the recipe, then refer to Mehdawy's book and see the Egyptian take on it. Of course Roden and Bsisu books are not going to have all the Egyptian recipes that Abdennour's has, but you will see the difference in the instructions immediately.
   
   I rated the first edition 3 stars because at the time I reviewed I couldn't find other egyptian cookbooks, Abdennour had the whole market. With Mehdaway's cookbook, (and another Egyptian one that i just spotted but havent bought yet, Abdennour has lost the sole claim on the Egyptian cookbook market, thus this second edition isn't as valuable or necessary. So i am rating it 2 stars.

No comments about Food fit for Pharaohs: An Ancient Egyptian Cookbook.

1 comments about Egyptian Food and Drink (Shire Egyptology).

1. The author discusses food production and preparation in Ancient Egypt. She describes what the Ancient Egyptians ate and how the food was possibly cooked; many details are provided on bread, beer, fruits, vegetables, meat, fowl and fish. She also writes about their beverages, and the importance of gardens. With numerous line drawings and illustrations, as well as a short glossary, it is a recommended reference for all.

No comments about Recipes from Around the World Volume II, 505 pages.

1 comments about Egyptian Soups: Hot And Cold.

1. Following a recent sojourn in the Sudan I searched around desperately for a Sudani cookbook. This little book caught my eye though and imagine the thrill when I discovered that despite the title the author's late chef was indeed a gentleman originally from that country! On a hot South African Christmas day I served a cold apricot soup and it brought with it all the delights of the region. Every page bumps with sensual bites of instruction and information. Treat yourself.

5 comments about Memories of a Lost Egypt: A Memoir with Recipes.

1. If you are like me, you enjoy reading cookbooks that are more than just compilations of recipes but also include evocative text that recreates another time and place. "Memories of a Lost Egypt" is such a book. The author's vivid and touching reminiscences of her childhood often center on food and her relationships with her family's cooks, and she skillfully interweaves her narrative with recipes for the delicious dishes she savored and learned to prepare.

   Another Middle Eastern cookbook that I treasure is Sonia Uvezian's "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan." It too evokes a strong sense of time and place, and it is filled with outstanding recipes.




2. This book is not only charming but is beautifully written. I had tears in my eye as I read it. The recipes are mouth watering and I ran to buy some Egyptian ingredients to try the recipes. Colette Rossant gives an evocative picture of the life of a Jewish family during second world war.



3. This is a lovely little memoir with recipes. Colette Rossant is reminiscing about her childhood years growing up with her Jewish Egyptian grandparents in their mansion in Cairo during WWII. This poor little rich girl who was abandoned by her French mother, grew closer to the kitchen, and the cook Ahmed. Colette remembers many of the special recipes prepared by Ahmed and incorporates them into this nostalgic memoir of her childhood days. This is a lovely and sentimental memoir about the Egyptian belle epoque that also includes some savory Egyptian recipes with a gourmet twist.



4. I found this book at a landmark bookstore on Picadilly Street in London, England. It was titled APRICOTS ON THE NILE, A Memoir With Recipes. I just realized via a search on Amazon that the title is different here in the USA. I like the English title better. This book is a 'must get' for anyone who cooks. There will be some recipes that sound "ugh", but many are mouth watering. Personally, I liked the Tomato Salad(s), Roast Chicken on a Bed of Leeks, Meatballs with Apricot Sauce, Angel Hair Pasta with Nuts, Vegetable Salad, Traditional Hummus, Christmas Four-Meat Pate, Lentil Soup, and Roast Leg of Lamb. The book is more than just recipes, though. You will be taken on a cultural trip through Cairo, Egypt and Paris, France through the eyes of a little girl & a woman who has not lost sight of her ancestral heritage. It's a quick and enjoyable read where you'll be thrust into memories of a wonderful childhood...try it, you'll like it. Smiles :)



5. I received the book as a gift for the 2007 Christmas. Rossant was able to skillfuly blend imagery, scents, and sounds into a portrait that rivals any treasured piece of modern art. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but overexpose her glamor. But why not? It's a glamorous picture, after all.
   
   Perhaps it's my Egyptian background that led me to sense some "us versus them" sentiment in her writing as, for example, in the relative positions of French and Egyptian Nuns in the convent where she was boarded as a school-age child, or the marginal portrayal of "upper middle class" Egyptian families vacationing in Switzerland. Perhaps this is the reality of Europeans escaping WWII Europe, circumscribing to themselves as many of us do when living abroad. There is no denying her friendship and love for many Egyptians that crossed path with her. In the final analysis, it's a well-written account of times and places that we all wish we had witnessed.

5 comments about Dining on the Nile: Exploring Egyptian Cooking.

1. I love this book! It is really a book that cooks! I first read the whole thing through -- enjoying all the stories and histories and then started cooking. Several great baklava recipes in great detail. I really recommend this cookbook if you are looking for a comprehensive Middle Eastern/Egyptian cookbook. Great vegetarian recipes too!



2. After collecting Middle Eastern cookbooks for over 30 years, I decided to add to my collection by purchasing Dining on the Nile: Exploring Egyptian Cooking. It's not only a cookbook but an enjoyable book to read as the author has provided some short stories. I have tried numerous recipes and they have turned out perfect! The book is published for the American kitchen so the measurements and ingredients are easily understood. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Middle Eastern cooking, especially Egyptian, which can be difficult to find. As a bonus, there are many vegetarian recipes especially helpful to Orthodox Christians during the fasts of the church year. Great Book!



3. This book is amazing! All the recipes are acurate and they come out perfect. My family loves it and I always use it specially when I have dinner parties.



4. I am very pleased with this cookbook. I am married to a Christian Egyptian. This is the first book I have found to give the true history of the Coptics and offer a wide variety of tasty food. Thank you for making a great cookbook. I recommend it highly.



5. The minute I got this book I made one of my favorite recipes for Koshari. There are many different versions of this dish but this was the only book that had the version that my wonderful husband's mother makes. Mine isn't as good as hers...but...wonderful. Overall, this book is well rounded with recipes of Egypt. And thank you for the apricot pudding recipe...I've had it once when I was in Egypt and the author is right...once you have it you will never forget it and will often dream about it. I hope I can do her recipe justice.

3 comments about My Egyptian Grandmother's Mother Kitchen: Traditional Dishes Sweet and Savory.

1. "My Egyptian Grandmother's Kitchen: Traditional Dishes Sweet & Savory" is one of the nicest cookbooks we've seen, pairing gorgeous, good-size and clear color photos on every page with a range of traditional Egyptian dishes - many not seen in the few competing Egyptian-only cookbooks on the market. Most Egyptian food is tossed into more general Middle Eastern cookbooks, so it's a treat to see a survey of the country's unique cuisine, and one taken from an elder's recipes. Measurements in metric will require American users to convert - but with Catfish Casserole with Cracked Wheat and Grilled Fish With Oil and Lime on the menu, the recipes motivate users to learn. A top pick for any avid cook - and sure to be a hit for any public library with a strong ethnic cookbook section.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. The four star rating I gave this book is for the beautiful colored pictures - they are on each and every page! The range of recipes is quite encompassing but I do have some concerns in regard to the directions and flavoring of the dishes. You will need to have some basic knowledge of Middle Eastern cooking/spice mixes, etc., to have these recipes come out as they should. The pictures are a great help to show the completed product. One example of poor instructions/spices is the recipe for Macaroni Bechamel. It originally is quite a tedious recipe and the recipe contained in the book is not clear. Also, there are problems with translations; tomato juice is listed in numerous recipes when it should probably read "tomato sauce", the recipe for veal sweetbreads is shown as "thyroid glands" instead of thymus glands. Also, it lists ingredients like "gullash", "rugag" and "quata'if". Gullash would be the same as our phyllo (filo) dough. But, rugag is a type of cracker bread and quata'if is a small pancake. It's too bad that she didn't include recipes on how to make these. Fortunately, I have recipes for both these items but the reader new to this cuisine would be confused. I would only give two stars for the recipes themselves. It's a wonderful book to read for the "armchair cook". I am happy with my purchase!



3. I have purchased every Egyptian cookbook I can find to try and find the most authentic recipes to cook for my Egyptian fiance, and this is absolutely the best in terms of the food his Mom cooks. I would definitely recommend this cookbook to anyone who is enjoys or is interested in experiencing Egyptian food at its best.

4 comments about Egyptian Cooking: A Practical Guide.

1. I have had the pleasure of using this book in my kitchen for two years now. I can honestly say that there is not a week that goes by that I don't find use for it! Although it is a bit difficult to ignore the page numbers and concentrate on the numbers assigned to each recipe, the outcome is well worth it! This book supplies an amazing number of recipes from every imaginable region of Egypt and many of the variations for each. I applaud the writer's insightful inclusion of such items as a spice index at the end of the book, and technoiques for handling foods not commonly used by Westerners. I would have liked some illustrations to assist with presentation, but all in all I am very pleased with the outcomes of my endeavors



2. This is a must have cookbook for anyone interested in Egyptian cuisine. Samia Abdelnour selected a variety of recipes that are easy to prepare with ingredients that are available locally. She cleverly included a glossary explaining the different foods, spices, kitchen utensils and also some useful hints. This is a value priced book considering the amount of recipes included in it. I have other Mediterranean cookbooks, but I find myself using this one more often. It's size makes it also very handy to use in the kitchen.



3. This is an authentic cookbook, it's been around for almost 20 years, and I've happily made a variety of recipes. The instructions are brief, and helpful. The Iman Bayaldi is prepared different than the style I'm used to..and still very good. Most dishes have 6 or less ingredients...pretty easy to gather up! If it had pictures, I'd have rated it higher--it's so helpful to have the right "look" for authenticity. There's over 300 recipes. The recipes are for 4-6 persons, easy to adjust.The table of contents is sparse; the index can have you running around a bit through the book. Chicken gizzards are not under "chicken" but are under "gizzards"! Beans are separate from lentils...logical, but not always intuitive...not a big drawback! some ingredients are, of course, hard to find if not near a Middle Eastern market...the internet should take care of ordering mastic grains, molokhiya (fresh or frozen), etc...Most ingredients are easily available in the USA. It has recipes for the classics, and also for brains, pigeon, rabbit, trotters, tripe, sheeps head etc...this is not a frou-frou book!
   If you want a broader taste of Middle Eastern foods, get Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern food.. to get a rich feel for Egytian and other similar cuisines which blend together...



4. I've had this book for a couple of years now. This is a good book that gives a lot of Egyptian recipes made by every-day Egyptian people. I recognize many, many of the recipes as ones that are made by my husband's family. So I feel it is a pretty good source for the basics.
   
   That being said, it leaves much to be desired with the instructions, which would be difficult for someone who doesn't really know how to cook or isn't already familiar with Middle Eastern cooking. For example, the recipe for Ta'maiya, or Falafel instructs you to soak the beans overnight, then drain and "mince" with dill, coriander, etc... Now if I took that literally and attempted to "mince" those items with a kitchen knife, the result would be a disastrous effort in futility and frustration. I know that I need to "mince" them in a food processor, and not your garden variety food processor, you need a good one (i use the cuisinart), to do it, otherwise you will quickly tire out your motor, and will have to process this recipe in about 8 batches, with rest time between each (like I used to do when I had a smaller Oscar food processor). Not to mention that she does not give any indication of how finely the mixture should be minced. This is one example of where some prior knowledge of Egyptian or Middle Eastern cooking (or cooking in general) is necessary to be successful at cooking some of her recipes.
   
   The set up is also a bit annoying, with the recipes numbered, and indexed that way (the index gives the number of the recipe, maybe #198, which just happens to be on page 95.) This is hard to get used to and I can't imagine why it was done this way, unless that is the way cookbooks are written over in Egypt. Not to mention that you may have to do some running around as one recipe's ingredient list may have you running to 3 or 4 other recipes.
   
   She has a good glossary, and list of spices in English and Arabic which is helpful, as well as a list of kitchen utensils that are used in Egypt.
   
   Some of the ingredients are not accurately translated, such as "Tomato Juice" in the recipe for Tomato sauce, stewed. I am pretty sure that she is not referring to Campbell's tomato juice or V-8, instead it should be tomato sauce (like from the can), all the Egyptian people I know that make this dish use the tomato sauce from the can.
   
   I felt that the biggest drawback of this book was, after having read it nearly cover to cover, was that there were hardly any recipes I was "dying" to try out. Usually when I read a cookbook, by the time I get to the end, I have a bunch of scrap papers stuck here and there marking recipes I'd like to try. Not so with this one. Maybe more pictures would have helped, maybe a little more "tasty" of a description, I don't know....something to tickle your taste buds and get you feeling a little hungry.... Perhaps some of the dishes were too mundane (would you want a basic American cookbook with directions for grilled cheese sandwich, scrambled eggs with salt and pepper, or mashed potatoes? This might be helpful if you wanted to know about the basics of everyday American cooking but not so appealing to actually hurry up and try to make)
   
   The directions were too instructive, often 3 or four lines, and not written in a way that made the dishes sound appealing. (no one could guess how delicious ta'maiya is by reading the recipe, and that is unfortunate because there are probably countless delicious recipes in this book that just don't sound that great)
   
   For example, minced meat with vegetables:
   Mince beef with vegetables (in this case beef, onion, tomato, parsley, S & P) twice or pound until smooth. Shape into fingers, skewer, and grill basting 1-2 times with cooking oil, or shape into round cakes and fry.
   
   I don't know about you, but I am not running out to the grocery store to get the ingredients to make this tonight!
   
   This is a good basic Egyptian cookbook. There are few of them out there, so if that is what you are looking for specifically, get it because there is little else to choose from (believe it or not, one month after I bought this on Amazon, my father in law showed up with the exact same book that he had bought in Egypt!), and this does give you the basics of Egyptian cooking. I have ordered her other cookbook to see what's in it, as well as another Egyptian cookbook that I just spotted on Amazon. I am interested to see how both of those turn out to be.
   
   If I was rating this book solely on the fact that it is specifically an Egyptian cookbook, I would have given it five stars based on the fact that it is only one of three I have found (one of the others is written by this author)
   
   If I was rating it as a cookbook in general I would have probably have given it 1 or 2 stars because of the above comments.