No comments about Portuguese Table Wines.

No comments about TASTE OF PORTUGAL.

2 comments about How To Pronounce French, German, and Italian Wine Names (Let's Learn!).

1. Diana Belucci's newest reference title isn't just a another dictionary of pronunciation as might be anticipated: rather, How To Pronounce French, German And Italian Wine Names creates and presents a complete method of learning pronunciation to provide keys to the phonetic pronunciation of over 15,000 wine terms, regions, and grape varieties in five different languages. How To Pronounce French, German And Italian Wine Names could've appeared in our 'Literary' or 'Languages' section but deserves mention here for its in-depth interest to wine buffs.



2. It helped me to pronounce the French wine names like a Frenchmen & Spanish wine like a Spaniard and so on. I am no longer worried about someone in the audience trying to correct my pronunciations. Further it has very comprehensive coverage, I found almost all names that I wanted to pronounce in this book." It real is great value

2 comments about The Food of Spain and Portugal: A Regional Celebration.

1. `the food of spain & portugal' by Elisabeth Luard is subtitled `a regional celebration' which is actually more appropriate than calling it a `cookbook' or a `book of recipes'. This does not mean it contains no recipes. It contains quite a few, which are generally very good, but the primary objective of the book is to decorate a tabletop with a survey of the foods of the various regions of the Iberian Peninsula.
   
   For American culinary book buyers, one may be hard pressed to justify the purchase of this book as we already have two major and four minor excellent books on the food and wine of Spain from Penelope Casas. One of these, `Delicioso!' covers Spanish dishes by region, and her first book, `The Food and Wines of Spain' covers the Spanish wine scene about as well as you can possibly want. Ms. Luard spends no time on wines except an occasional mention, especially of port and sherry.
   
   For Portugal, there is the award winning volume, `The Food of Portugal' from leading cookbook author, Jean Anderson. Ms. Anderson makes the point in her book that there are major differences between the culinary practices of Portugal and Spain. So why do a book covering the two culinary traditions simply because they happen to be neighbors on the same peninsula. This is like doing a small book on the cuisines of (Jewish) Israel and (Christian) Lebanon because they are neighbors on the Levant, disregarding the fact that their cuisines are by necessity different due to religious background.
   
   There are several things which are good about this book, contributing to its winning a `Best Foreign Cookery Book -UK' award from Gourmand World. The first is that in spite of its oversized pages and excellent photography and illustrations, the book lists at $29.95. This book follows my experience that the Europeans are so much better at doing pictures in books than we are on this side of the pond. The photography is gorgeous; the selected scenes are largely decorative, but quite appropriate and generally interesting in their own right. The selection of paintings and drawings is outstanding. And, every illustration has a meaningful caption. Even the double page pictures introducing a new chapter have on overleafed caption.
   
   Spain and Portugal are treated in two different sections, and each country's recipes are presented by region. The number of recipes for Spain falls far short of the count in Ms. Casas' regional cuisines book. Ms. Casas, for example gives 43 recipes for Madrid and La Mancha while Ms. Luard gives only 22. The difference is more dramatic for the recipes from the Canary Islands where Ms. Casas gives us 20 to Ms. Luard's 5. Ms. Luard makes up for this a bit by slicing Spain into a few more regions (12) than Ms. Casas' nine (9). Ms. Luard gives us Andalusia; The Levante; The Balearics; Catalonia; The Basque Country; Galicia, Asturias, & Cantabria; Nararra & La Rioja; Aragon; Castile & Leon; La Mancha & Madrid; Extremadura; and The Canary Islands. In Portugal, Ms. Luard divides things up into Oporto & the Douro; Entre Douro e Minho; Tras-os-Montes & Alto Douro; Ribatejo; The Mountain Beiras & Beira Litoral; Estremadura & Lisbon; Alentejo; Algarve; Madeira & the Azores.
   
   I give extra credit for the author's covering all the major Atlantic and Mediterranean islands belonging to Spain and Portugal, although I give Ms. Casas even more credit for distinguishing what it is about the cuisine of the Canary Islands which sets it off from the rest of Spain.
   
   On recipe selection, I believe Ms. Luard has included all the important ones from both countries. She has even taken the trouble to give a recipe for a naturally yeasted sourdough bread recipe from Castile. On the other hand, there is no attempt to give a comprehensive coverage of any one kind of dish. Every major type of dish gets one exemplar and we are done.
   
   When I read Ms. Luard's introduction, I dispaired when she said her measurements would not be exact. It turns out her instructions are about as complete as you will find in any decently written cookbook done by a non-specialist. All measurements are done by count, by cup, teaspoon, or tablespoon. There are cases, for wine, for example, where the `glass' gives the measurement. I take this to mean the amount is at the discretion of the cook.
   
   For people who may be making a trip to both Spain and Portugal in the near future, this is a very useful book. It is also very nice for people who like to collect attractive cookbooks. It is clearly inferior to the collected works of Ms. Casas and Ms. Anderson in getting a really good picture of Iberian cuisines. The biggest missed opportunity in a book on this subject would was a good description of exactly what the difference is between Spanish and Portuguese cuisines. The only hint I could gather is the difference in former colonies, with Portugal being heavily influenced by Brazil and the spice trade with the east and it's former enclaves in India and Indonesia.
   
   This is an attractive book with sound culinary content, but it does less than less pretty books on the same subjects. And, the author does not take advantage of her dealing with the two different cuisines in a single book.



2. I do not own this book. I was considering buying it so I was researching the book on Amazon, looking at some pages at random. Within a couple of minutes I found one of my pet peeves. The author listed a title for a recipe in Portuguese "Sopa do Poveres." Odd, I thought, I have never heard of this one even though I was born and raised in the Beiras, where the recipe originated. Then I looked at the translation and it said "Poor Man's Broth..." Oh I get it, she meant to say "Sopa dos Pobres." Honestly, if you're going to include recipe titles in a foreign language, you might as well hire someone who knows the language to proof-read your titles; if you're too cheap to do it, consider investing in a good dictionary of Portuguese-English.
   
   I'm not buying this book. I think I'll wait and see what David Leite's book on Portuguese cuisine will look like. He's in Portugal right now researching it. Hopefully, he'll pay more attention to the original titles.

No comments about The Food & Cooking of Portugal (The Food & Cooking of).

3 comments about Una Casa Portuguesa : Portuguese Home Cooking.

1. This cookbook offers traditional portuguese cooking with contemporary methods. The recipes are easy and delicious.



2. I first found out about Carla's book in 1992 when a local newspaper wrote an article about her. Being of portuguese descent and born in Canada I didn't have the time to learn along side my mother to cook our native dishes. The first time I prepared rice pudding.. it brought tears to my eyes as it was identical to my mothers. all the receipes are easy, her introduction is good as it gives you the terms of our spices and
   vegetables. It's a great book and I'm buying one for my oldest daugther as she has requested a copy.



3. I'm a beginner cook, but have been eating portuguese food all my life. This book makes it easy for me to make all my favorites from my childhood! I recommend it to all azorean people or portuguese people. The recipes are distinct from the continental food, and this book will teach you how to cook them properly!!

2 comments about The Food of Spain and Portugal: The Complete Iberian Cuisine.

1. I must admit to being surprised by the rather negative review of this book by Publishers Weekly. I bought this cookbook 15 years ago, and it is still one of the most frequently used in my collection of over 100 cookbooks. Although I have never tried the Portuguese bread recipe mentioned in the review, I have tried dozens of other recipes from this book and never found any to be "vague." The recipes are authentic, easy to follow, and a good introduction to the naturally healthy cuisine of this part of the world. We particularly enjoy the poor people's lobster (monkfish cooked with olive oil, garlic, paprika, and white wine),and the simple yet tasty recipe for chicken with orange juice and fresh mint. After 15 years, I am still discovering delicious new recipes from this book. I went fishing this weekend and caught several brown trout: Navarre style trout was a hit with the whole family! Ignore the Publishers Weekly review and buy this book while it is still available.



2. I agree with the other reviewer. PW has got it all wrong. This is a great cookbook! I have cooked about 7 recipes and have not been disappointed once. I would say that this isn't the best cookbook for a beginner cook, but better for a seasoned cook. The recipes are simple and full of flavor with just a few ingredients. Definitely a must have for any cookbook collection!

1 comments about Portuguese Cooking: The Traditional Cuisine of Portugal.

1. This is an interesting book, but if you have the 1993 edition, don't bother to buy this. It appears to be, word for word, a reprint of that edition. I thought that it might be updated - or that the travel parts of it might contain modern descriptions alongside the original. But no, it seems to be just a reprint.

No comments about The Wines and Vineyards of Portugal (Classic Wine Library).

No comments about Williams-Sonoma New Healthy Kitchen: Main Dishes: Colorful Recipes for Health & Well-Being.