Customer Reviews

The Exotic Kitchens of Peru: The Land of the Inca

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

 

 

I eagerly ordered this book, having lived in Peru and wanting to fine tune some of the recipies I had put together from various sources. What a disappointment! While the author touches upon most of the major "platillos Peruanos" he misses the essence and soul of Peruvian cooking. He forgets to sauce the lomito with vinegar or lemon juice the causa--and his seco which should be revoltingly sea green with cilantro boasts a paltry 20 sprigs. Lambert Ortiz is a better bet by far if you want the real thing in my opinion.

I love Peruvian food, and have been to nearly every Peruvian restaurant in NYC. So, when this book came out, I was ecstatic. However, the cookbook is no good. I made several recipes several times, and they never came out tasting very good. For example Chupe de Camarones. I've had some awesome Peruvian shrimp soup in the restaurant. However, even though I got to know my local fishstore well in the process of making my own stock for the three attempts at this soup, and even though I tried the different version, the result was consistently dissappointing. I asked Peruvian friends I knew what they would recommend, and their spice suggestions were much better, plus they had more detailed advice about how long to cook the shrimp than the book. The book leaves out too much. Perhaps it is best seen as the first rough draft for a Peruvian cookbook in English. In the process of revising it, maybe it could get much better.

I have to say that my parents are from Peru and so is my husband. I already did two dishes from this book and my husband loved them. The book is easy to read and follow. It gives you a brief history of Peru's food. Where the dishes came from - the Coast, Jungle or the Mountain regions. I have cookbooks in Spanish that are from Peru, but you can't find the ingredients or you don't know what they are. I highly recommend this book. In addition, the book is in English and it gives you equivalents of the ingredients, which may not come from the US so you know what you can use if you do not have a certain product.

My father is from Lima, Peru and I grew up with a number of these dishes.... now I can make them! This book contains a faithful representation of classic Peruvian recipes, including a very useful explanation of ingredients and American equivalents or substitutions. You'll find your jaw dropping once or twice when you read about Pirannah Broth and Sting Ray stir fry... overall the food is wonderful, diverse, and tasty as anything! Interesting historical notes and illustrations, as well!

Restaurant Critic Eric Asimov recommended highly this book as one of the first English-language introductions to Peruvian cuisine, which he calls "one of the great cuisines of the world." He writes, "It is the original fusion food, having absorbed influences from almost every continent over the last 500 years, and melded them with ingredients and dishes that provide a direct link to the Incas." He also says that Mark Copeland did the research in Peru. I am passing this on to the rest of you for your information. It convinced me to buy the book!

This cookbook was a christmas gift from my peruvian husband. He has been pleasantly surprised by many of the regional recipes that can be found in this book. However, the author does leave elements of some recipes out..and he does have some ingredient amounts wrong. If you have a peruvian in the house or are familiar with peruvian cuisine I would recommend this book, we have thoroughly enjoyed many of the recipes..but only because we can catch many of the author's mistakes.

Aside from some difficulty in translating recipe names, which read in Spanish make the mouth water, the book offers many delicious recipes among the many more that the Peruvian cuisine offers. Missing from soup recipes from southern Perú is the touch of rocotto (dipped and then taken out)and the splash of lemon. For the best pisco sour try the Biondi pisco from Moquegua, and try to get the South American limes.

A lot of Mark Copeland's measurements are incorrect! The sauces are runny, and most recipes do not taste authentic. Don't waste your time or money with this book.

I have been looking for a good Peruvian Cook book I went to Nobles and also to waldenbooks,I was disapointed to see that they have a place for international food.showing only European Cousine....NOTHING for South America I am very happy to find out that i could find such a good book here in amazon.Thanks!

I'm no expert on Peruvian cuisine and will admit I have only made a few of the recipes in this book, mostly because of the difficulty in finding some of the more exotic ingredients.

However, I think this is a very exciting cookbook to own, with recipes like "Crisp Fried Guinea Pigs" and "Quail Egg and Chicken Stir Fry." I don't even want to make some of these things, which sound like PETA's worst nightmare, but I enjoy reading about them all the same. I'm constantly showing this cookbook to friends and family, who agree its one of the most interesting cookbooks they have seen.

The graphics are pretty limited in this book, so you are on your own in trying to figure out how these dishes should look on the plate. There is some nice description of the history of Peruvian cooking and Peruvian ingredients in general. Also, I enjoyed the anecdotal style in which the recipes are presented; you get the feeling of the author really exploring Peru and hunting down some of these recipes like one would a rare flower.

The recipes I have made include Lomo Saltado (a beef stir fry with french fries), Ahi de Gallena (chicken in walnut sauce), and Sopa de Maiz (a simple corn soup with cubes of queso fresco). Admittedly, not the most adventurous choices. The Lomo came out fairly well, but was definitely not as good what I get at the local Peruvian restaurant in Ventucky.

The other two recipes came out excellent. The soup, in fact, has become a regular on the home menu.