Customer Reviews

The New Greek Cuisine

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4 star:		(3)
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The trouble with cooking the more exotic foreigh foods is getting the appropriate ingredients. In fact in the introduction to this book, the author talks about the effort he had to go through to get the fresh spices for his large New York City restaurant. This included getting local farmers to grow special spices, chese importers to bring in some of the more obscure Greek cheeses, others to bring in Greek wines and brandies.

But after that he recognizes that those of us that live out in the hinterlands have a very difficult time getting those ingredients so he has found substitutes. Example: 'Horta - The Greek name for wild greens, most of which are unknown in America. I substitute bitter greens such as mustard, chard, kale with, I believe, great success.' Another area where I've been very successful in getting strange and wonderful foods is Amazon's Gourmet Foods section.

Having said all that, you get into the recipe part of the book and you find some truly wonderful dishes. As Mr. Botsacos says, even the local Greeks like his rendition of the traditional recipies. So do I.

This cook book is a great addition to my cook book collection. I am Greek and have many of the same receipes but this book gives a little twist to some of the old favorites that is refreshing. Easy to follow recipes for the Greek and non-Greek alike.

The recipes are truly Greek, with really no "Americanizations." They were easy to follow and although some took time to prepare, the results were outstanding. We made some of the dips for New Years and they were incredible and HEALTHY!!!!!!!!!!!

I have hundreds of cook books that I both read for enjoyment and use for -obviously- the joy of cooking (and eating). This one ranks high. The author's commentary is interesting and gives a richer flavor to the individual recipes as well as to the entire book. The recipes are a step beyond the basic and traditional Greek offerings, but not overly complex or intimidating.
I was drawn to the book after seeing the author on Martha Stewart's program and am very glad I followed up with the purchase.
If you have been to Greece and /or enjoy Greek flavors and foods, this is a worthwhile purchase to help recall and relive and reconstruct the experiences.

I had to write a review when I noticed that only one other reviewer commented on how long it takes to prepare the recipes in this book. Many are very labor-intensive. Have you ever made a recipe for another recipe for another recipe? Yes, that's what I'm referring to. That being said, the food that's presented here is wonderful. They are creative spins on the old, traditional Greek foods that you are used to. They would be perfect if you wanted to host a dinner party to impress. And actually, many recipes within other recipes are staples (bechamel sauce, for example) that can be used for several dishes. In this sense, you don't have to have an excuse such as a dinner party to cook from this book, but you should know that the recipes do still take some time.

A side note: I loved reading about the history of this book, including the relationship between Jim Botsacos and the Livanos family, the Molyvos restaurant, and the exploration of Greek food. If the author is reading this, thank you for including such a passionate and detailed explanation. It really personalizes the book and makes it unique from all the other Greek cookbooks out there that just present recipes and not much more.

We bought this as a present so we didn't try any of the recipes. We did look though it however and saw that the recipes did look authentic. There was a wide range of food and if you are the type of person that likes to experiment (I'm not), this would be a good book for you.