Customer Reviews

Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible: India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, Great Britain, Trinidad, Guyana, Japan, U

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

 

 

Madhur Jaffrey is a legend. Her books have helped cooks in the UK recreate the taste of Indian cookery for around 30 years now.

This book starts off with a comprehensive and very interesting discussion on the history of curries and how Indian cookery spread across the globe through the spice trade and emmigration.

In fact it covers more than just curries. The sections are split into:
1. Lamb, Pork, beef, veal and goat
2. Poultry and eggs
3. Fish and seafood
4. Vegetables
5. Dals, beans and split peas
6. Kebabs and soup
7. Rice, noodles and breads
8. Relishes and Accompaniments
9. Special ingredients and techniques

Each chapter is prefaced with a page or two of introductory notes on the topic. Also, what I really like about the book is that interspersed throughout, are notes on topics such as "The Anglo Indian Influence", "The British 19th century curry", "In search of the perfect kebab" "The origins of the Bhuna", "The Japanese love of curry", "The origins of the Korma" and "The story of the goat curry". This stuff is great to read if you are a curry enthusiast like I am!

Recipies are represented from India, Pakistan, Trinidad, Hong Kong, USA, South Africa, Japan, Guyana, UK, Kenya, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia - so it's truely an eclectic mix. Yet this strength in diversity is also the weakness of the book, as Madhur Jaffrey is an expert in Indian cookery. In her quest to write a "Curry Bible" she steps out of her comfort zone and into more unfamiliar territory - international cookery.

It doesn't quite meet the heights of her earlier works such as "An invitation to Indian cooking" where she is really cooking from the heart, and teaching something she knows and loves. On the whole, the recipies in that book are probably better. All the same, if you are a curry lover like I am, and want to step out of your own "curry comfort zone" and want to try a few non Indian curries, then this book is worth the money. 4 stars.

I love Madhur Jaffrey's cooking, I love her recipes and I find them fairly easy to negotiate. Really I have nothing bad to say about her or her cookbooks, but a word of warning to people who have already bought her cookbook "from Curries to Kebabs" these books are identical. Now whether this was a repackage deal by the publishers I cannot be sure, but was most amazed that I could buy two completely different looking books (from different stores) of exactly the same cookbook. Very sneaking!

This book is both my current favorite cookbook and the most frustrating one I own. I have tried at least 20 recipes in it, and of those easily 5 are dishes that are already household favorites. We are especially delighted by the recipes for places we are unlikely to visit soon, such as Pakistan. That said, this book is NOT for beginning cooks. It is plagued by Ms. Jaffrey's well-known reluctance to adequately explain Indian cooking techniques; worse, in my mind, are the numerous errors--I have already found two recipes in which she neglects to tell us what to do with some of the ingredients! It is characteristic of her books in other ways, too: heavy on the meat, skimpy on dals and rice dishes, a preponderance of fried vegetables. Still, I am grateful for the recipes, especially the lamb dishes--some of which I dream about, they are so good.

I have worked my way through most of the book and each recipe, when followed with fresh ingredients then carefully cooked, has great depth and flavour. There is a nice variety of curries from different countries which are not seen elsewhere and most recipes produce an authentic flavour.
Having an extensive collection of cook book library and especially curry / Indian cooking books, adding more books is never an easy choice as I then need to cook my way though them. This book is in my top five favoured books to cook from. Although not a massive tome with thousands of recipes, Jaffrey's 'Ultimate Curry Bible' is a must have which would please true curry lovers everywhere.

TITLE: Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Cookbook £25
AUTHOR: Madhur Jaffrey
RECIPES: This has recipes from all over Asia and former British colonies in Africa and the new world. Extensively covered thoroughly researched and worth exploring.
LAYOUT: Excellent if not slightly overwhelming with the amount of information it contains
READABILITY: This is not a book that you use for any meal, this book warrants its usage for feasting. You can also give your guests a fair bit of background on the dish.
AUTHENTICITY: Authentic? Yes; Too much? Maybe! Worth buying? Yes!
OVERALL: Thorough informative educational well written comprehensive need we say more

I was lucky enough to have a friend from the UK host a curry dinner using the recipes from this book. I was blown away by the authenticity of the curries and the ease with which she was able to make them. I was that taken with the quality of recipes I bought my own copy. I haven't been disappointed.

Seriously, if you want to taste authentic curries without having to travel to Asia, try this book. Just make sure you buy fresh herbs and spices. I recommend buying smaller amounts, so that you only use what you need. That way the spices don't go stale on you.

As the wonderful people in Indonesia and Malaysia say...

Selamat Makan!

(Good eating!)

Firstly I should say that I have really enjoyed making the recipes from this book. My cooking has previously been European style and it's been interesting to produce things which look and smell so different. I was entranced at the smells the first time I cooked from it. I do, however, have two gripes about this book. The first is that lots of the recipes taste similar to each other. Cinnamon, ginger, and coriander dominate most. The variety I've experienced eating at the homes of my Indian friends seems to be lacking here. Secondly, the editing is really shoddy: there are lots of errors in the recipes. The most common problem is that there are items in the ingredients list which are never mentioned in the instructions for that recipe. In at least one recipe the instructions or quantities are wrong because there is no way one could, say, obtain a thick sauce by following her instructions. The number of errors is such that I no longer trust anything and always have to ask myself if what I'm reading makes sense before I do it. This is a real pity.

Also slightly irritating is that the recipes are littered with "black magic", where you're told to, say, add ingredient X then immediately add Y; or perhaps to wait 30 seconds before adding A to B. Frankly it makes no difference which way around you do these things or what the delay is, this rubbish just wastes space which would be better spent explaining the recipe correctly. This here cook doesn't appreciate the time wasted in working around irrelevant instructions.