Customer Reviews

The Complete South African Cookbook

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

 

 

This is my bible of cookbooks. I have had a copy for 25 years and have never had a recipe flop or prove to be a diaster. The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients tend to be easily available. The book has an excellent section on cuts of meats and how to best cook them. It also has a conversion section that is concise and extremely useful.

For those wanting South African recipes this book offers many. From koeksisters to bobotie to biltong to boerewors the recipes are excellent.

I have often found that the baking sections of many general cookbooks tend to be less then great. This is not true of "The Complete" cookbook. My husband has managed to make scones using the basic recipe! My daughters have both learnt to cook using this book and have rarely had any failures.

This is a cookbook that allows cooks from basic to advanced the opportunity to find good recipes that offer a variety of choices and many new recipes that will become family favourites.

I was given this delightful book in 1982. The recipes are easy to follow and friends often ask me for the recipes .The Bobotie pie is a real favourite.
I have used this book so much it is falling apart, but to my delight I have found new copies on the internet using [...]
For any newly weds this would be a must as often a recipe I cant find in other books I see it in Magdaleens book.
Thora Angell

This book doesn't have a lot of traditional South African food. It was simply a cookbook created for use in the South African kitchen with recipes from all over the world. I've found the book to be helpful since there are wonderful recipes that are easily explained. If you're looking for a traditional South African cookbook, look for Van Wyk's other cookbook called "Traditional South African Cooking." I still recommend this book for the reasons stated previously.

The recipes are great. Being very visual, I would have enjoyed to see color pictures showing the steps used, or at least the end result.

I always believe cookbooks look better in color, because you want to entice the reader to try the recipe.

I found this book very basic, and for beginner cooks!!! nothing very interesting, as South African cooking is really very good, comeing from an ex-South African living abroad.....
I am sorry I bought it.

After meeting a couple from South Africa, I wanted to learn more about their foods and traditions of foods. This cookbook was not about the foods of South Africa, but about how to cook foods in South Africa. It was a very basic format, with absolutely no personality of the culture or region. Very disappointing, so much so that I returned to the cookbook.