2 comments about Russian, German & Polish Food & Cooking.

1. I spent over two years studying in Russia and Poland. I've spent a couple months in Germany. I've been looking for recipes from this region for quite awhile. This is a great collection. It has many of the dishes that I became familiar with while I was there.
   
   In particular, I recommend:
   Hungarian Gulyas (pg 119)
   Fish baked in Dough (pg 210)
   Pampushki (pg 63)
   Lamb Plov (pg 43)



2. I really love this cookbook! I bought it for the countries mentioned in the title, but it actually covers a wider geographical range that touches on the Greek-ish foods of the Adriatic Sea. The recipes range from simple and easy to very labor-intensive dishes that take hours to prepare. In all cases, the instructions are thorough and easy to follow, and the work-in-process photographs are extremely helpful. I'm no expert in the kitchen, so that level of clarity is important to me. Another thing I like about this book is that, unlike other books in this international series, the recipes do not contain a lot of difficult-to-find ingredients or obscure cuts of meat. With very few exceptions, the components to these dishes can be found at any supermarket. So far I have personally cooked about 30 of the recipes in the book. My favorites are the Torte Varazdin (magnificent!), Bigos (a Polish classic), and Hungarian Goulash (delicious and easy to make). It's particularly strong on stews and desserts. There are also a lot of fish dishes, which I have not tried. Not every dish in the book is a winner, but the masterpieces far outnumber the disasters.

2 comments about Best of Ukrainian Cuisine (Hippocrene International Cookbook Series).

1. Excited to find the best of Ukrainian cuisine won't work with this book unless you're still on a farm in some other decade. Or you like cooking with lard, grinding meat, and of course removing organs and bones from pigs - oh, yum! The author's translations in the back of the book from English to Ukrainian for ordering meals are worth a laugh. However, I think he's serious. Pass this book up.



2. An American with family members who make regular trips to Ukraine, I have some knowledge of the hearty and delicious cuisine of that wonderful country. I love this book because it presents the cuisine as it actually is in the towns of Ukraine. You are not presented with bastardized, Americanized recipes, but with the authentic cookery you would experience during a visit to a normal, middle class home.

   The book starts with a brief foreword on Ukrainian food traditions. In the back there is an 8-page bilingual dictionary of food terms and phrases to use in restaurants. In between, the book is packed with both traditional and contemporary recipes for everything from appetizers to main dishes to sweets and even a substantial section on beverages both alcoholic and not, and recipes for making several different kinds of beer.

   I highly recomment this book.

1 comments about The Polish & Russian Classic Cookbook: 70 traditional dishes from Eastern Europe shown step-by-step in 250 photographs.

1. It has some very good recipes, ranging from easy for a beginner to eastern european cooking to more complicated dishes that can please even the pickiest of palets. The varietys of foods from breads and soups to desserts and main courses were delightful. Other than being a thin paperback I was overall impressed and have actually mentioned it to many friends and associates.

3 comments about Russian Cookbook.

1. Recipes are very easy, you can get all you need at any grocery store. This book is for everyone who likes to eat



2. My husband bought this book for holidays. I didn't make any recipes from this book because they are disgusting. I grow up in Ukraine so I know Russian and Ukraine cooking and this book wouldn't taste like Russian cooking. I would never make any cooking from this book, better buy a "Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook" very good cookbook and great recipes. Don't waste your money on this book.



3. This book was recently discovered by me on a bookshelf in a spare bedroom. "Well, it couldn't be that bad", I thought. I was wrong. It can.
   As far as I remember, I have not cooked a single recipe out of it in the three years that I have owned the book (the fact that my father sent me a cookbook in Russian from Russia must have played a role). The recipes in Petrovskaya's book are NOT authenticly Russian. So if you are indeed a Russian living in America, don't waste your money (and if you are not convinced, should I mention her recipe for plov without meat?)! It is geared towards an American cook not familiar with Russian food in the least.
   On the positive note, it will not send you on a wild goose chase searching for some exotic ingredient (tvorog, for example) to the local supermarket. So if you fit the description above (American, never been to Russia, never tasted Russian food) it might be for you.
   A personal grudge I hold against Kira Petrovskaya is her CONSTANT mention of unsatiable Russian appetite. In fact, from my experience (and from my 20 years of experience living in Russia), Russians don't eat anywhere near as much as Americans (and hence as a nation are not obese).
   Overall, pass this book for a much better (although not perfect) Anya Von Bremzen's "Please to the Table"

1 comments about The Armenian Table: More than 165 Treasured Recipes that Bring Together Ancient Flavors and 21st-Century Style.

1. Ms. Victoria Jenanyan Wise, a highly experienced cookbook author from an Armenian family has successfully blended traditional products of the Armenian terroir with modern California style and market to give us a taste of what Armenian cuisine tastes like in our American setting. As this objective is not the same as a faithful evocation of the native Armenian cuisine, it is important you do not buy this book with the intention of faithfully recreating your own Armenian culinary heritage. Ms. Wise is giving us her Armenian culinary heritage, not an anthropological document.

   She is delightfully successful in evoking the Jenanyan memory of Armenian cuisine with recreations of Armenian recipes, family interpretations of Armenian recipes, and her own deft experiments with Armenian methods and ingredients as interpreted by what is available in the California marketplace.

   Ms Wise scores her first points with me by including a map of the historical Armenia and its surrounding lands which primarily includes Asia Minor (Turkey), the Caucasus, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Armenia today is on the eastern edge of Turkey, with parts of ethnic Armenia being in Azerbaijan. One of the little mysteries of the book is how this terroir can be considered `Mediterranean' since it is a good 500 miles from the Bosporus, where the Black Sea empties into the Mediterranean. Although the author doesn't invoke this justification, she is in good company, as Paula Wolfert has included Georgia, which is north of Armenia and even further from the Mediterranean in a book of Eastern Mediterranean cuisines. Wise rationalizes the importance of Armenian cuisine by pointing out that the Armenian highlands are very fertile, a rich land for growing wheat, and possibly the historical origin of wheat culture.

   Armenia shares some major culinary elements with lands bordering the Mediterranean such as yogurt, wheat, lamb, and eggplant. On the other hand, olives and olive oil, the cornerstone of Mediterranean cuisine is less important than butter, especially clarified butter, in Armenian cooking.

   Since this is neither genuine Armenian nor purely Mediterranean, what is the attraction of this book. In a word, it is variety. If you are especially fond of the cornerstone Armenian ingredients (yogurt, lamb, eggplant, bulgar and legumes, and you are tired of your Italian, Greek, and Levantine sources, this is the book for you. The chapter subjects are a mix of the traditional and the quintessentially Armenian. These are:

   Yogurt - Ms. Wise gives us the whole picture, including a reliable recipe for making homemade yogurt, and yogurt substitutes for staples such as fresh cheese, crème fraiche, and bechamel sauce. She also gives us the important caution that although you can start a yogurt culture from a commercial yogurt, the dry yogurt starter from a health foods store will give you better results. Take that Alton Brown.

   Armenian Mazas - The Armenian take on the Greek and Turkish Meze cuisine. The stars here are eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, pickling cucumbers, and zucchini. One surprise is in the recipe for string cheese.

   Breads and Savory Pastries - The signature product here is `Lavosh', the Armenian Cracker Bread which is dry like matzo, but leavened with yeast like pita, and baked with a covering of sesame seeds. Pita and Armenian `pizzas' are also present, along with several fillo based Greek / Turkish like savory packets.

   Salads - Old World style, but New World ingredients are emphasized here. Legumes and spinach are the stars here, along with the old war-horse Taboulleh.

   Kufta - One of the most distinctly Armenian dishes in the book. This is less a dish than a whole family of dishes, closely related to the Georgian dish, Kibbeh, described in Paula Wolfert's `The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean'. Part of what makes Wolfert's book great while this volume is merely good is the fact that Wolfert gives detailed, diagrammed instructions on techniques for making Kibbeh while Wise simply gives us many different recipes and a small sidebar of tips. Both Kufta and Kibbeh are a style of cooking which puts all sorts of different ingredients, from meats to barley to bulgar to legumes into a stuffed or not stuffed `meatball'.

   Lamb and other Meats - This is how to do Shish Kebab right, and other tales of lamb cookery. An interesting ethnic tidbit here is that while Armenians were Christian, Muslim lands surrounded them, so they had little interest in pork, even if they had no religious inhibitions against it.

   Poultry, Game, and Eggs - This is a chapter that will give relief to a tired inventory of poultry recipes.

   Fish and Seafood - Another Old World style blended with modern techniques and sensibilities. Focus is on fresh water fish and shellfish.

   Vegetables - Eggplant, Eggplant, and more Eggplant. I just wonder how okra got to Armenia from Africa.

   Pilafs - Bulgar, rice, lentils and nuts.

   Sweets - Baklava is the headliner, even though the author admits it is no more Armenian than Pizza. Filo dough, peaches, apricots, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios star here. Great source of nut nutrition here.

   Like many other ethnically oriented cookbooks by skilled culinary authors, this one offers new, nutritious, dishes to Armenians, foodies on the lookout for novelty and vegetarians on the lookout for novelty. This is a very good book that succeeds in its objective, but it is not a great book. The anecdotes of family history are pleasant, but do not have the evocative power of, for example, some of the stories told by Gennaro Contaldo in `Passione'. On the other hand, `Gourmet' magazine has declared Eastern Mediterranean cuisines as one of the next big things in eating. This book is as good a source as many.

   Highly recommended for those with an interest in this cuisine and in Eastern Mediterranean food in general. Relatively easy recipe methods. Very good price for the quality of the content.

2 comments about The Best of Russian Cooking (Hippocrene International Cookbook Classics).

1. Great book with great recipes. But again one can get recipes for free off the internet. Russian cooking videos are the best. There is one that gets sold on EBay which actually demonstrates these techinques.



2. You may have difficulty getting to the recipes, because Alexandra Kropotkin's narrative is so engaging, you'll want to read it through for all of her insight into pre-Soviet Russian life and manners, especially the life and manners of the upper class. It seems as though Ms. Kropotkin had a not-insignificant position at one point (in fact, the man who wrote the forward calls her "Princess"), and she had to flee to England when the revolution came, and she learned to make traditional Russian meals using the ingredients found wherever she happened to be.
   
   If you focus on the narrative, however, you will miss the fabulous food. The food is all very rich, and none of it is made with pre-prepared over-processed food, but good solid ingredients like milk and eggs and flour, and of course, sour cream and dill and turnips. Though some of the recipes are time-consuming (the 'yellow consomme' used to make cabbage soup simmers for three hours, for example), they are all accessible to cooks with even a little bit of experience. Princess Kropotkin talks you through the recipes like a good friend or a mother might, leading you every step of the way.

5 comments about Festive Ukranian Cooking.

1. Looking for a modern version of your grandmother's ethnic meals? This one will help you carry on the tradition of the meals she once made for you. A definite must have.



2. If you enjoy Ukrainian food, this is the book to get. Most repipes use easy-to-get ingridients. The meals pleased many a Ukrainian homesick for native food.



3. Used to drive me crazy when my mother cooked Ukrainian foods and never had a recipe. Well, with this book all that has changed. I use it for those recipes where "a little of this and a little of that and then you mix it together" mean little to me. Also has excellent explanations of the different holidays and foods appropriate for the holiday.



4. For any Ukrainian food/holiday tradition enthusiast tired of struggling through encoded recipes from "babtsia," this is the book for you!!! It provides simple recipes and introductions to the mysterious art of Ukrainian cooking -- "borshcht kvas," "pravdyviy hryby," et. al. -- as well as modern versions of the old traditions. Makes a traditional Ukrainian Christmas a reality.



5. Festive Ukrainian Cooking has easy to follow recipes. While all of our grandmothers had their own variations, this is a good starting point to get back to our beginnings.

5 comments about Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' "A Gift to Young Housewives".

1. So far I did not have a chance to see an American version of Madame Molokhovet's, only the Russian one. But since probably nobody knows about this book in US, and I turned out to be the first one to review it, I have to "break the ground" and drop a couple of lines.

   The original version, first published at the end of the XIXth century, had a goal to help young middle-class housewives covering a wide range of issues from hiring servants to shopping for the house. The recipes were only a part of what can be called an "encyclopedia on running the house".

   During the Soviet times there was almost no opportunity to use it because it was almost impossible to buy the ingredients. However, the book was still fun to read. It gives a good picture of the Russian culture of the time.

   The recipe part (of the original version) is very thorough and understandable. However, most of the dishes require considerable time, exquisite ingredients and, in many cases, help of another person. However, trying them pays off, for they help you to discover REAL Russian cuisine, very different from "chicken-Kiev" and other tourist traps.

   I would recommend this book to those who love Russia, are interested in Russian culture and like to cook something very unconventional. Very curious to see the American version.




2. I'm really just beginning with this book, but it is already frustrating. Some reasons: Measurements are given oddly, like 1/2 pound flour, 2 glasses water. There will be an instruction to "bake" without mention of temperature or time. There will often be ingredients in the list which are not mentioned in the instructions. It seems to me that it was written as a technical reference for someone that already knew what they were doing in this cuisine. I strongly recommend that in future editions there be some editing and clarification done along with translation.



3. My grandmother immigrated to Canada from Russia well over a century ago and lived to the age of 104. With her she brought many authentic Russian recipes, but alas, they remained in her head and not on paper. This cookbook comes very close to the recipes I, as a child, can remember her preparing. Yes, it is true, that some aspects of the recipes found here are lost in the translation, particularly when it comes to measurements; however, in reality, that is how my grandmother, and many Russian homemakers in her time, prepared a meal. There was no such thing as a teaspoon of this or a cup of that. Accurate meansurements would have meant nothing to my grandmother, for like many immigrants in the 1800's she had little scholastic education. Her education came from the "school of hard knocks" and life's experiences. Measurements included "a little of this a small handful of that." I can remember her placing three fingers in a small cup and when the liquid reached the top, that was how much one used. Confusing? Yes, for the traditional chef, it would be. However, as one becomes experienced with Russian cooking, the delicious recipes found here will not seem like such a challenge to prepare - trial and error is often the best way of learning.



4. This is such a classic that it was intended, in the past, to be given to young housewives to be a much-used reference. As such, in addition to the predictable recipes for coulibiac (fish in pastry crust), sturgeon, borscht, kasha and Russian sweets, there is a wide variety of household food preservation and preparation you just don't find in today's cookbooks. Such as--butchering a pig and then portioning out, preserving and preparing the resulting meats. NOT for vegans or the fainthearted, believe me. Also, there are recipes for improving the flavor of homemade vodka (including how to make birch charcoal for the purpose.) And how to make imitation butter from mutton fat, how to get rid of the off-flavor in butter that is going rancid.

   If you are a home-brewer, this is a surprisingly good book for making such things as mead and fruit wines and liquers. One caveat for the whole book; measurements are either baffling, in Russian terminology that has no English referent, or "two wineglasses" , etc. And for brewers, it requires some basic knowledge of the process.

   For cooking, there are a lot of beef and fish recipes but the borscht recipes were disappointing as there were only of few of these and there are LOTS of ways to make borscht. However, for interesting reading on food history and technique, and for some authentic Russian cooking, this book is absolutely fascinating reading.




5. I found this book recommended to me by my Russian professor, and after eating at a Russian dinner hosted by my university's Russian club, I decided I really had to have this book. It has an excellent introduction which covers a large variety of topics on Russian cooking through the years. Another thing I like about it is that it uses mainly ingredients that are commonly available today. Although a few of the ingredients used are highly unusual today (like dried backbone of a fish), they appear in relatively few of the recipies. I am anticipating cooking recipies from it!

5 comments about The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia.

1. I gave this book to a Georgian and she loved it. It had all the dishes she had eatten as a child. If your looking for a book to fill in any missing recipes this is the book for you.



2. As someone who was born and grew up in Tbilisi, I was very happy to find this book -- it captures all of my favorite recipes, and when I prepare them according to this book, they taste just like my grandma's cooking.
   
   More than just a recipe book, this is also an exploration into the rich history and culture of Georgia, and how the history shaped the cuisine. I suggest this book to everyone who would like to add some interesting preparations to their cooking. For vegetarians, Georgians have plenty of healthful and filling ways to prepare veggies and beans, and also some mouth watering sauces that will enliven any dish (veg or not).
   
   I enjoy this book both as a cook book, and as a historical book!



3. I've already written a review of this great book. I have only one suggestion: the basic khmeli suneli recipe can be augmented further to reach the authentic smell and taste. The wikipedia article on khmeli suneli has additional ingredients that can be added to the recipe. I tried that, about 2 teaspoons of each ingredient that's not already in Darra's recipe (less for black and chili pepper), and it came closer to the authentic smell and taste. I think the author of the wikipedia article might have meant safflower (marigold) instead of saffron though, so I didn't add that.



4. This is a marvelous, utterly authentic encyclopedia of Georgian cooking. I tried some of the recipes before leaving for Georgia in summer 2006, and they were great, and gave me a good idea of what to expect. Once in Georgia, the book was an invaluable reference that I constantly turned to whenever I tried something new. Just about *everything* I had is in here, along with many things I didn't get around to sampling.
   
   This book also helped me learn the correct Georgian names for the dishes and many of the ingredients. A significant portion of the book is devoted to providing cultural background on Georgia and Georgian food, such the elaborate rules for a _tamada_, or Georgian toastmaster. With its charming photos of representative paintings scattered generously throughout its pages, it also made me a Pirosmani fan, and better able to appreciate the originals when I saw them for myself.
   
   Most importantly, as the other reviewers say, the recipes *work*. We just made the potato salad with walnut paste (p. 172), and it was delectable. Other dishes we have tried and like include tomato soup with walnuts and vermicelli (p. 73) and green beans with egg (p. 130). Pkhali was one of my favorite dishes in Georgia, and I'm glad to have the recipe for when I get around to making it myself. There is a recipe for beets with cherry sauce, a dish a travel companion had tried but that even some of our Georgian hosts weren't familiar with. For the few recipes that seem to be missing from this book, like eggplant with walnut paste, try Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook, another excellent collection of delicious recipes from all the former Soviet republics.
   
   _The Georgian Feast_ is well worth having even if you don't eat meat - many of the recipes are completely vegetarian. This book is a real treasure.



5. This is an ok effort by Ms. Goldstein but unfortunately the recipes don't quite result in the amazing flavors that Georgian cuisine is known for. Perhaps it is Ms. Goldstein's substitutions of less authentic ingredients as some ingredients in the "real" dish are hard to find. Perhaps it is something else. (Her "adjika" is REALLY bad/wrong for instance....)
   
   OK book if you want an idea of what Georgian cuisine is like. Not good if you REALLY want the real thing...

5 comments about Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook.

1. This is THE cookbook for spoiled, Americanized Russians who never paid any attention to what went on in the kitchen because their mothers were such great cooks. Turns out we didn't need to...



2. This is a book that I really really wanted to like, but which has some irritating quirks of format, editing, and omission that could have been avoided with some better editing.
   
   STRENGTHS:
   * Unlike all too many books out there, the author(s) went to the commendable effort of discussing the regional differences in cuisine amongst the many countries that used to comprise the USSR, and they provide recipes for each in separate chapters. Major kudos for that. I wish that other all-in-one type books on Chinese, Italian, Indian, and (to a lesser degree) American cuisine were as diligent. Such nuances add clarity and focus to one's comprehension of foreign cuisines.
   
   WEAKNESSES:
   
   * First of all, the title is a little off. This is a book about SOVIET cooking, because it covers many regions within what (at the time it first came out) was still the USSR (of which Russia is was only one country among many).
   
   * FORMAT/LAYOUT: I think the publisher went a bit overboard in trying to stretch the page count to make the book appear far more encyclopedic than it actually is. Through a combination of recipe headings printed in oversize fonts, wasteful margins, a plethora of useless sidepanels that add little of value, and overly generous line spacing, the publisher managed to stretch this book to 659 pages. If they'd used the same layout and font size used by Julia Child, this book would probably be well under 250. A page count of 659, in order to cover 400 recipes, most of them fairly modest in length and complexity, represents a lot of needlessly wasted paper, and it reduces the book's readability. The New Joy of Cooking, for instance, has almost 4x as many recipes in roughly the same page count. In this book, a recipe that SHOULD be less than 1 page is stretched out to 2 or 3.
   
   * TABLE OF CONTENTS: There doesn't seem to be a convenient list of recipes anywhere in the book - there's only the table of contents (which merely overviews each chapter in general terms), and the index (which is arranged by searchable ingredients).
   
   * GAPS: Despite the commendable efforts by the authors to cover many of the provinces of the old USSR, there are still some gaps - some small, some gaping. Some of the smaller gaps involve having dedicated too little space to pickled dishes (only 17 pages), and dressed cold salads (19 pages), both of which are FAR more prominent and commonplace in working-class Soviet cuisine that the book would have you believe. A particularly glaring gap is a total void regarding caviar. All that you'll find in this book is 3-4 call outs for cooked or smoked sturgeon meat, and 2 recipes that call for salmon roe, even though the caspian is the virtual culinary homeland of sturgeon caviar. A book on russian cuisine that omits caviar is lie a book on American cuisine that omits apple pie. At least the authors covered borsht and infused vodka.
   
   In my opinion, this book would benefit from some fairly substantial re-editing and layout optimization to refine its focus, eliminate wasted space, improve indexing, and fill in some culinary gaps.



3. As a family of emigrants from Russia living in the US, we've been exposed to Soviet cooking all of our lives. This book has a pleasant collection of recipes coming from all over the former USSR, and it is indeed a great reference for someone who enjoys cooking and has a lot of free time to do it. However, we find that most of the recipes are over-complicated. We make "kotlety" and "bortsch" quite often, and we have tried the recipes listed in this cookbook for testing. The results were good enough, but not much better than the usual, if at all. The recipes also required much more time and attention to detail than we are used to in making these dishes, and that extra effort didn't seem to pay off. Not a good reference for someone who's into Russian cooking on a day-to-day basis.



4. You can really tell the effort that the authors of this cookbook took to research thoroughly all the various cuisines of Russia. They spent three years researching and traveled halfway around the world, interviewing, tasting, cooking. It really shows.
   
   I wish everyone else gave that kind of effort in writing every book written. The quality of world literature would skyrocket.
   
   If you have even a passing interest in Russia, or food, or cooking, or even history, look no farther. This book will entertain you.
   
   As a cookbook, though, be advised: This isn't "Russian Cooking for Dummies". Russian dishes frequently require hard to find ingredients, specialized hardware, lots of time, and a great deal of culinary skill. I consider myself a good amateur chef, and I dare not try the more complex recipes provided. Russian women evidently have lots of time to prepare meals and have a great deal of experience and skill.
   
   If you have never read a cookbook just for fun, that's about to change. You won't regret it.



5. As 1st generation Russian I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Variety of dishes is delightful. There is something for every occasion, from deserts to dinner dishes and breakfasts. Some of the favorites like pelmeni and sirniki I remember from my childhood.
   
   However, I do have 3 Big problems with this book:
   1 - most of the recipies here are NOT for traditional Russian dishes. Former Soviet Union nations like Georgia and Armenia have really tasty food but it is very different from the type of things ethnic Russians eat. If you're looking specifically for Russian dishes, this book doesn't give that many options.
   
   2 - this book is for cooks with A LOT OF TIME ON THEIR HANDS! Busy Russian women just don't spend all day to make borscht from two dozen ingredients. If you don't have all day to cook, you will get pretty frustrated with huge ingredient lists.
   
   3 - many recipies require ingredients that aren't easily found in grocery stores. If you don't live in a major city where there many ethnic and specialty grocery stores, be aware, you may have to improvise or order things on-line