Customer Reviews

The Balkan cookbook (International cook book series)

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"More than 700 of the best recipes from Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Greece and Albania - translated and adapted to the American Kitchen."

She specially notes her regional advisors, so I will list her Bulgarian aides here for posterity: Mrs R. Kazandjieff of Los Angeles and Mrs V. Yankova of Sofia.

A superior, dense cookbook. Firstly, it is heavy on the distinct vegetable dishes/salads/spreads/relishes we all know and love. This in itself is exciting since equal time is not usually given to them in western cookbooks. Recipes are subtitled in the original languages, which is also helpful. Also good is that she is not afraid to list variants of recipes, which, as you may know, are common in the cooking of the Balkan Peninsula.

Also, there is no attempt to westernize the desserts which is often the case in similar cookbooks. A nice representation of fruits and syrups.

Unfortunately, though not altered, ingredients are sometimes called rather peculiar things. If you have a good grasp of Southern European cooking you should have no problem deciding what should be used. (Such as one kind of pepper over another.)If you don't? Buyer beware. Not a beginner's cookbook but definitely worth having on your shelf.

If you love food of the Balkans buy this book now, it's out of print and you won't be disappointed. They just don't make books like this in English.