1 comments about The Armen 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.

1 comments about The Russian Tea Room Cookbook.

1. This book has scaled down versions of the recipes from the Russian Tea Room. The book is filled with anecdotes, and recipes, and may bring back memories of The Russian Tea Room. Care was taken by Faith Stewart-Gorden to assure that the recipes were just large recipes that were scaled back, rather they were recipes that were adjusted for cooking times, seasoning, and other changes to get version close to the restaurant.
   
   This book provides you with a good primer on Russian food. Recipes are made with ingredients that can be found at your grocery store. Most recipes are made with inexpensive ingredients. Some recipes to contain caviar, and fish that is more expensive, but overall the recipes do not take much effort in obtaining the ingredients.
   
   Also, it should be noted that the recipes are easy to follow. Instructions are not complicated, and even a beginner cook should be able to prepare these recipes successfully. I think this is a great addition to anyone's cooking library if you are looking to make Russian recipes.

5 comments about The Art of Uzbek Cooking (Hippocrene International Cookbooks).

1. Uzbek cooking may be unfamiliar to many Americans, but it is simple to prepare, exotically spicy, and healthy to boot. This cookbook gives an excellent introduction to Uzbek cuisine through recipes that emphasize basic techniques of Uzbek cooking, such as pilafs, soups, dumplings, etc. I have not been disappointed with one recipe from this book. My only complaint is that the cookbook was too short!



2. Growing up Bukharan in 1970's North America, I have had a difficult time explaining to people where I'm from etc. Thank goodness someone has finally taken an interest in and published a book about my favourite aspect of my culture . . . Food!
   
   In terms of the actual recipes, this is a very good book. They all turn out as they should and are fairly authentic (which is rare in any cookbook). My only caveats have to do with the book iself:
   
   1) It is poorly bound. My copy fell apart after about 2 months.
   2) There are no photographs accompanying any of the recipes. This is a shame considering that most people are unfamiliar with this cuisine and wouldn't know how it's supposed to turn out or what the ideal presentation should be.
   3) The index (is bad).
   
   However, after all this I still urge you to buy this book. Why? Because the recipes are easy to follow, nutritious, filling and delicious. (And of course, exotic.) Also, if you're interested in the history of this fabled land of the Silk Road, you'll find this a well written & researched book that you could curl up with as well as cook from.
   Solomat!
   Thank you, Lynn Visson.



3. Due to the course of world events, Central Asia has been in the news a great deal lately, but the cuisine and culture of this region remains a mystery to most people in North America. This book makes the food of this region accessible to the English speaking world. Uzbek cooking bears an intriguing mixture of influences: The Middle East, Russia, India, and China have all influenced the cuisine. The recipes in this book are excellent and easy to prepare. We enjoyed the Lamb Plov, served with flatbread and the pomegranate and white radish salad. One negative, though: I must agree with Djonn from Toronto that the binding of this book is of very poor quality: ours fell apart on the first use!



4. I found this book wonderful for two reasons - exotic yet undaunting recipes (delicious!); plus the fascinating background cultural information. I agree with the other readers - Hippocrene did a terrible job with the binding - cheap and falling apart! Nevertheless I strongly recommend this book - it is a culinary and cultural masterpiece regarding a cuisine little known in North America. Lynn Visson - Great Job!



5. I think the authors captured the essence of the region well. There are however some russian recipies mixed in, but that understandable as Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union and the mix of cultures occured.

2 comments about Restaurant Service Basics.

1. The book explains how a restaurant is operated thoroughly. The book has pictures to allow easy comprehension. The roles of the entire team from Owner to buss, they're all in there. Explains everyone's task and gives projects to practice on to get a first hand experience. I recommend this book to all business owners and managers. Great book even for waiter/waitress wanting to improve their service.



2. I bought this book based on the editorial and customer review. Service basics is an overstatement. Do not buy this book unless you have never dined in a restaurant. It will not help you at all if you know anything about the business. The book is filled with helpful gems like "The course that is usually served first is the appetizer. The appetizer is a food item served before the meal..." Wow thanks! What's a Napkin? The computerized service system is at least 10 years behind industry standards and serving from the left with the left hand is not the way it is always done. Stick with the Culinary Arts Institutes "Remarkable Service" It is by far the best there is.

1 comments about Cooking the Russian Way: Revised and Expanded to Include New Low-Fat and Vegetarian Recipes (Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks).

1. This is a good little book for children or a beginning cook looking for Russian flavour. But honestly, the price was a bit much for a book with less than 50 pages and less than 2 dozen recipes. You can find the same recipes in the larger books.....plus many others, for less money.

   The one plus this book gets over the others is that it has pictures. Lots of pictures. If you aren't hungry when you get the book you will be after you open it!

1 comments about Food in Russian History and Culture (Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian & East European Studies).

1. These essays -- by a roster of accomplished contemporary scholars of Russian Studies -- are wonderfully accesible and informative. Readers with interests in folk culture and history, Russian studies (history, literature, whatever) and/or culinary history will feel like they've struck gold. The thirteen scholarly pieces, some with a few illustrations, cover a wealth of topics (see table of contents above)-- consistently well. It's anything but dry; Pamela Chester's article on the relationship between (state-) tormented poets Marina Tsvetaeva and Osip Mandelstam (and their uses of food as symbol and, tragically, their deprivation of it, later) is heartbreaking. Peasantry, the gentry, and the Eastern Orthodox church; brilliant fussbudget Tolstoy's vegetarianism is in here; the uses of food in the writing of Dostoyevsky; fasting and food fashions; Catherine the Great (hardly any tastebuds; hearty interest in 'presentation'); the new Soviet state with its ambitious dreams for the citizenry, and the ultimate cynical mess that resulted. Food as power, class marker, moral symbol, and solace. The roots of asceticism (Orthodox church).Unfortunately, Jewish life and gulag life has been omitted, and a careful list of the prices of foodstuffs in St. Petersburg in Catherine's time is all rubles and kopeks... so I couldn't tell what I might have been able to afford.. What's here, though, is very good. I'll look for Volume 2.

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.

No comments about The Food & Cooking of Russia: Discover the rich and varied character of Russian cuising, in 60 authentic recipes and 300 glorious photographs (The Food and Cooking of).

3 comments about A Taste of Russia: A Cookbook of Russian Hospitality.

1. This is a great book on the food of Russia and the culture also. All to many times we seem to channel Russian cuisine into a few simple dishes. Granted the few simple dishes we view as "Russian" are grand and quite tasty, we tend to shove aside the rich culinary history this country has and the peoples grand capacity to share and truly enjoy food and life. Many times it has been written of the sharing and emphasis of food and being together to enjoy it in other european cuisines, however Russia tends to be overlooked in the cloud of past paranoia of the political state of the land. Ms. Goldstein gets beyond that and makes it clear that food is the binding stuff of a country and of people just as it is in this country and all around this globe.



2. Having spent a lot of time working in the former Soviet Union, and trying to reconstruct many of the wonderful and interesting dishes from various republics, I was delighted to find a book that "translated", "a pinch of this and a gram of that" into something I could understand and make with products available to me here in the US. I recommend this cookbook to anyone who has tried food from Eastern Europe, enjoyed it and wants to bring it up to our standards. The book is so popular with my friends that I keep giving it as a gift. However, I do feel the title "A Taste of Russia" is not "politically correct", since the dishes are from many of the 17 former republics of the Soviet Union, Russia being only one of them.



3. This is a great cookbook. A lot of time & work was put into it. However, some of my favorite Russian recipies are missing from this book. I would recommend "The Art of Russian Cuisine" for those of you who are interested in food that Russians cook daily or for holidays.

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"