Official Review: Recipes from the World's Great Kitchens

[kismoody]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Recipes from the World's Great Kitchens" by Norma Pallavi.]

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Norma Pallavi’s Recipes From the World’s Great Kitchens has a wide-range of recipes from all over the world. In addition to recipes such as gnocchi, Gaspacho, Feijoda, Pork Tenederloin and other delicious foods, it also has an introduction at the beginning of each country that introduces the culture, it’s cuisine, history, and some of its legends. For most recipes, there is a picture of what the dish should look like when it’s done as well as comprehensive instructions for the cooking illiterate like myself.

The layout of this cookbook is wonderful. Not only does it have easy to follow cooking instructions, but it’s presented in a way that’s near impossible to mess up while cooking. In addition, the cultural significance and legends of the different recipes was intriguing and fun to read. I also like the variety of recipes. Between my picky eating habits and my family’s many allergies, I was still able to find some recipes to try.

In addition to the layout, the optional modifications were nice as well. For someone like me who isn’t a big seafood fan, having additional substitutions for certain recipes was nice. An additional substitution chart in the back for the different wines would be nice as well, however.

Now to the most important part of a cookbook: how easy the recipes are to use and how well they taste. I have always felt that a good cookbook is only worth its weight if it’s not only easy to use, but tasteds good, too. The less I have to “doctor” up a recipe the better. I didn’t try every recipe, but I picked out a few from different section that sounded tasty. To make a long story short, boy were they good. The serving sizes were accurate and the recipes expertly included the 5 different parts a chef told me once are important to a recipe: Sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and savory. I loved the liberal use of spices. Although the recipes were simple in their appearance, they played with my taste buds the way food should.

The main problem I saw was that I wasn’t familiar with some of the ingredients like bulgur and other people may not be as familiar with more exotic spices like I am. I know there’s always the internet, but I think a glossary at the back would be helpful for this as well as a section on how to pick out the freshest vegetables and ingredients as well as a substitution guide (as mentioned above) for creating the best flavors.

Overall, I’d give it 3 out of 4 stars. I’d go so far as to give it 3.5 stars if I could, because I enjoyed the recipes, the ease of use, and the stories to go with it made this a fairly accessible cookbook for everyone. It just needed a few additions to make it more dummy-friendly. I would recommend it for amateur chefs and people who want to try more exotic foods.

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[kio]

I do like to cook international maybe I'll try this one

[kismoody]

Hope you get a chance too. Enjoy

[kio]

Thanks!