5 comments about Classic Turkish Cooking.

1. I am Turkish and (so I am told) a very good cook for 30+ years. I found some recipes in this book (Klasik kofte, salepli dondurma) that I could not find anywhere else and worked wonderfully.

   If you are having diificulty finding ingredients, try online sites like penzeys.com or tasteofturkey.com.




2. I was having so much trouble finding Turkish cookbooks in Australia I finally decided to cough up the postage from the States, and I'm really glad I did! I now have three books but this one is far and away my favourite. The photos are mouth wateringly beautiful, the information is clear and easy to follow and there are recipes for totally basic yet vital parts of Turkish cuisine, like how to make from scratch your own yoghurt and some of the different breads that I used to eat when I was living in Turkey. Also, as we use the metric system in Australia I really appreciated the weights and measures being written both ways. The introductory chapters succinctly outline basic elements of Turkish cuisine and elements of the culture that help you to understand the importance of food to the Turks (as in all Mediterranean cultures)helping you to recreate the experience at home. My son and I can now enjoy the home cooked food we miss from his Turkish relatives in Turkey. Afiyet olsun!!



3. This book has an interesting choice of dishes and many mouth watering photographs. Most traditional widely known recipes and some local recipes I have never heard of before have been provided. However this book would not be my first choice of Turkish cookbook, there are more accurate ones. Some ingredients used in recipes are almost impossible to find and certain techniques are not explained well. So if you haven't seen someone cooking that dish before it is quite difficult to figure out how. If you have a few books on this topic already this book can be an interesting addition otherwise go for Ozcan Ozan's book.



4. I had only tried a couple of Turkish recipes before buying this book, but this book made me absolutely fall in love with Turkish cuisine. The beautiful photos and descriptive narrative backgrounds accompanying the recipes make the food come alive even before you've bought the ingredients. As with any ethnic cuisine, one has to be prepared to make substitutions for hard to find ingredients, but with a little creativity there isn't a single recipe that is off-limis. The Imam bayildi recipe is just to die for and it's become a household favourite. I've got a slew of cookbooks gathering dust on my kitchen shelves, but this is one I keep coming back time and time again, especially when I want to serve something really flavourful and visually impressive. But it's great for one-dish everyday meals, too. I couldn't recommend this book more highly!



5. Don't skip over the wonderful "Introduction" and "Essential Elements of Turkish Cuisine" before you start to use this book. Classic Turkish Cooking presents a wide variety of Turkish dishes, with generally good directions and clear photos of finished products. Don't let the "aubergine," "minced lamb" and "sponge" hold you back - we can all figure out what those are - right? But I must admit I'm not exactly sure what "beef scraps" are - or "strong unbleached flour." No matter. Just plunge in and try these excellent recipes. Most of the more unusual ingredients can be found in a Middle Eastern market or Indian market. An excellent book for those who like Turkish cooking - and who doesn't?

No comments about Turquoise: A Chef's Travels in Turkey.

3 comments about Vegetarian Turkish Cooking: Over 100 of Turkey's Classic Recipes for the Vegetarian Cook.

1. I find this book disappointing. Firstly, one fourth of the book is taken up by the author's travel accounts. It's a different story when an author gives some background to each recipe. But it is not the case here and I find the result of those two books rolled into one very awkward. Second, and more annoyingly, many recipes rely on meat substitutes. I have always found it sad and the sign of a certain lack of imagination when vegetarian cooking tries to mimick meat-based dishes. It is particularly regrettable in a book on Turkish cooking which has a rich tradition of NATURALLY vegetarian dishes. Which is why I ordered the book in the first place !



2. We just got back from a wonderful trip to Istanbul and Greece and I must say upon returning I was looking for some more of those wonderful meze and the Turkish Delights (yum). So I took a chance on this cookbook since there aren't many (any others) out there that are vegetarian never mind vegan! I'm really enjoying this cookbook - the first 76 pages (out of 249 so that's not a big deal) are indeed history/travelogue but its kind of fun to flip through and the pictures were of some of the same places we visited so that was neat. Just before the recipes there's a section on subsitites and here the author gives you the info you need to find certain ingedients that might not be in the local supermarket - e.g. there's discussion of egg substitites and where to find them, non-dairy butter substitites and where to find them, meat/fish substitites and where to find them etc. In the recipes there are some ingredients like non-meat chicken broth that is called for. Why not just go with a vegetable broth? I did. Anyway, the recipes have all been great so far. I've tried mostly mezes so far - the fried carrots, the fried eggplant with two sauces, stuffed grapeleaves (mine never turn out looking like they should - need more practice...). There are wonderful soups in here - the only one I've made so far was the hot and spicy soup, but others like the lentil look good too. I definitely recommend this cookbook. I had a *really* hard time finding vegetarian dishes in restarants in Istanbul which is why I enjoyed a lot of mezes, so I can see why there are recipes in here (like Sultan's delight) that use meat substitutes. I think this is quite authentic and the author did a terrific job at trying to bring the Turkish flavors to the vegetarian table!



3. This cookbook is easy to understand and does not require a lot of cooking skill. The recipies are easy and delicious, and a lot of them use the same basic ingredients so you can mix and match with appetizers and dinners. I am very happy with my purchase.

4 comments about The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook.

1. I'm not a major chef, so things like Joy of Cooking and James Beard glaze my eyes over unless I know exactly what I'm looking for. This book has pictures of all/most of the dishes so it's fun to page through and find things to cook when you are looking for new and different. I've cooked about 8 things out of here so far and all have been outstanding.

   The conversions from metric to english leave something to be desired. For canolli shells she says to roll to 5mm or 1/4 inch thick, an 1/8 would be more appropriate. Some things are in weight instead of measure, 300g of flour instead of 2 cups, so be prepared with scale or something.




2. First off to be fair. I don't know a whole lot about mediterranean cooking. I find southern food and mexican food to be my favorites however i am looking to expand my knowledge of food. I purchased this book knowing from another review that it included alot of pictures. I was hoping to be able to learn something about mediterranean cooking that i didn't know.
   
   As i started to leaf through this book i was impressed by the clarity of all the color photo's of gorgeous food throughout the book. Every few pages, in the margin of the page there is a picture and an explination or a little comment on an ingrediant used. I think this is great however the flaws show up when the picture doesn't match the item that is listed. For instance when giving a little history on "aioli" (garlic mayo) there is a picture of some asparagus. When talking about "Salad Nicoise" (named Nicoise because of the olive's) there is a picture of bell peppers. "Tuna" you get a picture of lemons. "Anchovies" you get a picture of garlic. It's a little irritating at most.
   
   The other problem i have with this book is that alot of the recipe's also show up in "The Essential Seafood Cookbook" so now i have duplicates of certain recipe's.
   
   Now don't let my complaining scare you away from this book. It's still a good book despite it's flaws. the pictures really are awesome. (you can see the little eyes clearly on the picture of fried baitfish). As for the authenticity of the food presented here? From what i know any book that includes a recipe for Miala Tiganita (fried lamb brains) has probably got to be pretty authentic even if i know nothing about the cuisine of Greece.



3. 
   The wonderful trend of "coffee-table cookbooks" was probably inspired by people like me who sometimes cook vicariously...who enjoy seeing a photo with every recipe, for all the times when we're just looking. Yes, almost every recipe has a top-quality color photo!
   
   Getting to the point.....I'm almost drooling over the photos and recipes in this beautiful book that's divided into chapters of different Mediterranean countries...Greece, Turkey, Italy, France, Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East. Also included are chapters of "special features"...meze, antipasto, making pasta, making pizza, olive oil, dressings and sauces, tapas, and preparing olives.
   
   This book is well planned and well executed. The food stylists and photographers did an outstanding job, and the assortment of recipes is organized, balanced and appealing. The instructions are carefully written and are suited to any level of cooking ability.
   
   The "Honey and Pine Nut Tart" looks like a Mediterranean version of Southern Pecan Pie. I see a beautiful pistachio biscotti..... artichokes in aromatic vinaigrette..... Tunisian brik..... gnocchi Romana (from scratch!)..... kalamaria yemista (stuffed squid)..... flatbread with za'atar (huh?)..... pollo a la chilindron..... caponata with tuna.....orange and date salad.....oh, my!



4. My wife, kids and myself enjoy trying different foods and we also enjoy a healthy diet. After a taking a few business trips to various Mediterranean countries I took a keen interest in the cuisine. My wife gave me this book for xmas a few years ago and it is now one of my favorite cookbooks. It's simple to understand, the recipe's are easy, delicious and fun to make. We have prepared most the recipes in the book for family and friends and a few of them have become staples of our diet. I highly recommend this book.

No comments about Contemporary Turkish Cooking.

No comments about Binnur's Turkish Cookbook: Olive Oil Dishes & Vegetable Recipes.

5 comments about Eat Smart in Turkey: How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure, Second Edition (Eat Smart, 3).

1. Like armies, tourists travel on their stomachs, and nowhere are the prospects for culinary delight better than in Turkey. So don't leave home without this compact but very complete guide to what's on the menu, what's in the market, what's on your plate and what you can ask for as you travel. The book starts with a short summary of the history of Turkish cuisine, then embarks on a food-tour of the country's seven regions. There are recipes to cook at home before departure, useful foodie phrases ("Where can I see this being made?"), and an extensive listing of translated menu entries.

   Robert Arndt, editor, Aramco World




2. The authors have written a series of Eat Smart books that no traveler to foreign countries should be without. Each book covers a separate country--Eat Smart in Turkey, Eat Smart in Brazil, Eat Smart in Indonesia and Eat Smart in Mexico--and is chock full of information that you won't find elsewhere within the covers of one easy-to-carry paperback. Individual chapters cover such topics as the history of the country's cuisine, regional foods, how to shop in the local markets, mail-order sources for suppliers of ingredients, and a collection of recipes for typical dishes found in that country. Especially useful is each book's extensive menu guide, listing menu terms alphabetically in the language of the foreign country, with a description of the dish in English. That section is followed by a chapter titled "Foods & Flavors"--listing the foreign terms for foods, spices, kitchen utensils and cooking techniques, with an English translation/description. These books are well researched, accurate and very informative. Highly recommended. --Sharon Hudgins, editor, Chile Pepper magazine



3. I bought this book partly because I know that Turkish food features a lot of meat, and I'll be visiting with my wife who is a vegetarian. Can you believe that a book that is *ALL* about food, does not even mention vegetarianism, nor when they list "handy phrases for restaurants" do they list any phrases that deal with the topic? For that matter, they don't deal with any topic having to deal with food allergies, being on a diet, etc. Essentially this is a book about helping people make smart choices when eating in Turkey, but the only people they want to help are people who will eat anything. I should have saved my money.



4. The long title of this book does not even say it all. It's undoubtedly the best guide to Turkish cuisine *by far*.
   
   I've written best-selling guidebooks on Turkey for nearly 40 years (first for Frommer's, then for Lonely Planet for 20 years), traveled (and eaten) in Turkey almost every year since 1967, and Peterson's book still taught me lots of new and interesting things about Turkish cuisine. I'm still learning from it.
   
   This was not a contract job done on assignment for a big publisher in a hurry. The authors are obviously heart-and-soul foodies who started publishing their own culinary guides because they couldn't help but do it. It shows.
   
   And they're not gourmands, but gourmets: they are truly fascinated by the subtleties in the art of delighting the palate. To most writers, food is necessary and fun. To the authors of this guide, food is tradition, art, innovation, achievement, delight.
   
   And Turkey is a great place to be a foodie. Once the center of a vast, agriculturally rich empire home to hundreds of peoples and cultures, it developed an elaborate and subtle cuisine based on careful preparation of fresh ingredients. It's the perfect country to travel through with a food guide, and this is the guide to take.



5. This is a fine look at turkish cuisine and culture. It goes into the history and the different regions and includes a selection of recipes that can be tried at home. The turkish language section is particularly useful as an aid to learning appropriate words and phrases to be able to order food and drinks in restaurants, bars and markets.
   
   I find when I travel that trying local and regional food is one of the highlights of the trip. This book will be an invaluable aid to my next trip. Strongly recommended

5 comments about Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen.

1. This is certainly one of the best cookbooks on Turkish Cuisine. In addition to the wonderful recipes, the book details the history and background of Turkish dishes. The recipes are simple, yet elegant. While I certainly haven't examined the entire gamut of available cookbooks, this certainly was the best I have run across.



2. Really a very good primer on Turkish cooking, utilizing ingreadients that are generally available in the US. There is, of course, an exception which is the famous red Turkish pepper that is hard to find in American markets. There are many recipes from different parts of teh country, although there are a few exceptions toits completeness. One of these is the lack of a recpie for the famous Turkish bulgur that is so ubquitous in that country. Another is a recipe for some of the basic salads, such as sheperd's salad or "seasonal" salad popular on so many restaurant menus. Also missing are recipes for some of the many mezes that are a staple of Turkish eating. Finally, I missed a recipe for thefamous Adana kebap (ground lamb kabob). This all being said, if you are going to have one Turkish cookbook, this would be a good one.



3. 
   I would like to give a great wow for her work , super cooker friendly way to get uniqe recipies and technics, the Book covers almost all of the main Original Turkish daily HEALTY home and restaurant kitchen examples and uniqe Ottoman Palace dishes
   
   Suggest that to try make your own Turkish Sesami Bagels < called by Turks as Simit>!!! u`ll love it
   
   Its realy one of a kind kitchen and her rarest way to get into it



4. I am American and my husband is from Turkey, so I wanted to get some good books on how to cook him the foods from his childhood. These had to be authentic...no mediocre recipes would suffice. I reach for this book all the time and have marked a great number of recipes because I turn to them time and again. There hasn't been a single one I've tried that my husband hasn't loved, which is all the proof I need! Some criticisms are that the book has no pictures, which would help to visualize how the finished dish should look, and there are some recipe omissions that even I as a layperson would have liked to see. All in all though, one of the best Turkish cookbooks around.



5. Turkish cuisine is appreciated all the over world. I know our friends the Americans like Shish Kebab bd Shish Tawook. In this book, you will find many recipes about our traditional Turkish cuisine. If you have a restaurant in America and you want very much to add to your meny some good Turkish dishes, this book will help you. And don't forget to visit our country. You are always welcome.

5 comments about Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook.

1. Wife loves it and I love the results. Very interesting reading and excellent photography make this a real deal. Worth more...we're looking forward to visiting his restaurant, as we live next to Boston.



2. An excellent book for lovers of traditional Turkish food-easy to understand and beautifully illustrated.I have travelled many times to Turkey and have never found an English language Turkish cookbook like this.



3. This is a wonderful cookbook for beginners or more experienced cooks of Turkish food. The ingredients are all in customary American style (no liters, ounces, or "Turkish coffee spoonfuls"). Instructions are clear and concise. Best of all there are closeup photos of many of the finished products - very helpful for those who don't know how the dish should look when served up. I like the Turkish serving utensils and other kitchenware (pepper grinder, wooden spoon) that add to the local scene. I also like the way the book gives the Turkish name of the food and then the American version in each recipe heading. Ozan has done an excellent job of giving all the information one needs to make these delicious dishes.



4. An excellent cookbook that is as wonderful to browse as it is to create from. Recipes from this book will delight the senses.



5. This is a wonderful book! I have tried three or four recipes from it now and got rave reviews from my guests. It is a beautiful book as well, the photos and printing are gorgeous and the background info on Turkey is very interesting as well. Definitely a new favorite in my cookbook library!

5 comments about Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon.

1. "Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon" shares a delightful collection of recipes, each of which makes you feel as if you are experiencing a vibrant part of another culture. From Tala_ Börei, which takes you into the kitchens of Turkey, to Moroccan Briwat Bi Tamr (Dates Rolls in Honey Syrup), spending time with this book is akin to taking a culinary trip around the Middle East. Each chapter includes an introduction to the cuisine & history of the part of the world it seeks to represent. It is in sections like these that we learn, for example, about Lebanon's history as a feudal state and how interactions between Sunni Muslim, Greek Orthodox and Ottoman culture influenced the cooking we recognize as Lebanese today. Such socio-historical tidbits are sprinkled throughout the book, while chapters are organized into sections about "starters & meze," "main courses," and "desserts." Many recipes are accompanied by mouth-watering color photographs, so that this well-bound, artistically presented book would make a lovely coffee table book when you're not using it in the kitchen. Most of the dishes I tried were truly delicious, opening my eyes to new spice combinations and flavors. It was not until this book, for instance, that I would have thought to add cinnamon, pine nuts and currants to a meat dish (vegetarian meat dish in our kitchen, but the principle is the same), nor would I have thought to add pomegranate molasses and cumin to a salad. On one or two occasions I wasn't thrilled by the final result, but one cannot expect to fall in love with every recipe in a cookbook, especially one that is composed of meals so dissimilar from what you eat on an everyday basis. Recipes do assume that you have a firm grasp of basic cooking principles but at no point is this a hindrance. With internet access just a step away it is an easy thing, after all, to verify what "stiff egg whites" look like (Alton Brown did an entire show about this) or what greek-style yogurt is. Overall this book is a worthy addition to any collection - if you buy it and want my advice, make the Briwat Bi Loz (Almond Pastries in Honey Syrup) first. Not only are they easy to make, but the combination of crispy fillo, crunchy almonds and sweet syrup is hard to resist. Variations with confectioners sugar & orange blossom water are included for even more delightful exploration of this Moroccan dessert.



2. What a beautiful, well laid out, and enjoyable read this cooking book is.
   It brings the feel and culture of the countries into the recipe sections. The meals that I have tried are excellent, very easy to follow.



3. This is a beautiful book full of gorgeous photos and tasty dishes. However, I bought it expecting to find recipes with directions and techniques and it is lacking in this area. When a dish requires "2 eggplants," please specify: large, small, maybe a weight? There are a lot of different ideas of what the "average" eggplant looks like. Especially when there's no photo of the dish, and I've never cooked or eaten it before. Then there were some rather impractical dishes; I usually don't cook two whole chickens or several pounds of fish at a time, for example. I understand that some recipes are better for entertaining, but I bought this cookbook (as I buy all my cookbooks) as a way to try EVERYDAY recipes for my family, and I feel it failed in that respect. I am by no means a bad or inexperienced cook, and I've eaten some authentic (home-cooked) versions of these foods while traveling in areas mentioned in the book, but I still need more direction. Even after reading through the entire book (all the info about ingredients, history), I still felt lost at times. Say what you will, I am disappointed.



4. Such a joy to read and pure pleasure to prepare the dishes. While the recipes are grouped by country, an American will likely mix across cuisines to produce a meal.
   
   The mezza recipes are incredible. Perfect party food.
   
   Well researched and written. Beautiful photographs. Cinnamon and spice and everything nice!



5. Extremely impressed with this book, after I received my own copy I purchased a copy for my son who is a foodie. The recipes are exotic enough to make them interesting and I loved the history presented for each region.