Customer Reviews

Classic Turkish Cooking

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Classic Turkish cooking is, in my opinion, the quintessential guide to Turkish cuisine. The writing is descriptive and the sections on Turkish history and culture give the reader tremendous insite in the way in which Turkish cooking has developed over the centuries. The recipes are clear and concise and run the gamut from palace cuisine to village fare. There are recipes for making everything from pickles and cheese, as they are made in most homes throughout Turkey, to the classic imam bayildi and an elegant courgette and apple salad in hazelnut sauce. The recipes are authentic. Jonathon Basar's photographs which grace the pages of this book are artistic and inviting.

I have enjoyed eating Turkish food for the five years that I have worked here and am convinced that no book could cover the subject more thoroughly or present it more beautifully. This is not a reference book it is the kind of book which is read from cover to cover and then read again purely for pleasure.

This book was obviously a work of love.

We returned from Turkey in love with the food, with a suitcase full of Turkish spices and the first thing we did was look for a cookbook. Classic Turkish Cooking had been recommended by a friend while we were in Turkey and the recommendation paid off.

This is a wonderful cookbook. The instructions are well laid out and are easy to follow. There are good expatiations of the dishs, even for a non-Turkish audience. The pictures are helpful in choosing the dishes. We made our first dish a week after we got back for some Middle Eastern friends and it was a success. This is a great cookbook that does justice to a fine cuisine.

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.

Basan used colorful and attractive pictures to get the users excited about "Classic Turkish Cooking." As a Turk who has grown up eating traditional and delightful feasts without any experience in cooking myself, I found Ms. Basan's book a breeze to follow. I strongly recommend CRACKED WHEAT WITH SPICY LAMB, it will wake up all your taste buds.

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.

This is a beautiful book which contains so MANY great recipies and great photos. I wish I had a turkish grandmother to make these dishes!!! I've traveled in Turkey and miss the food, and from what I have found so far, this is the book to buy if you are looking for one good book on Turkish food. Now if I could only find Raki on the west coast of the US....

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!!

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!

For those who have sampled it, Turkish food deservedly ranks highly amoung the kitchens of the world. This book is a marvelous introduction to the world of Turkish food.

The book takes you from meze to sweets with all the stops in between. The recipes have the sureness that comes of tradition and trial. The results are tantalizing. This is a cookbook to treasure.

I would highly reccomend this cookbook to anyone wanting to learn about Turkish cooking. I was in Istanbul recently and the local book store wanted over $100.00 USD for it. My girlfriend and I took a cooking class our last night there and when asked about a good cookbook the owner/chef pulled this one off the shelf. It's a beautiful cookbook with great recipes and beautiful photographs. You won't be dissapointed.