Customer Reviews

Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine and Culture: Ancient Festivals, Significant Ceremonies, and Modern Celebrations (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)

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I've been married to an Egyptian guy for 8 years--and ever since, I've been searching out Egyptian and Middle Eastern cookbooks. I have all of the main Egyptian ones, including Claudia Roden's "New Book of Middle Eastern Food", Samia Abdennour's "Egyptian Cooking", Sally Elias Hanna's "Dining on the Nile", Collette Rossant's "Memories of a Lost Egypt," and Magda Medhwany's "My Egyptian Grandmother's Kitchen."

The recipes in "Nile Style" are easy and accessible to the average American--yet they are pretty much authentic. I wondered from the description if I'd be receiving ancient, but unpalatable, recipes--but that's not the case. All of the recipes here are used by Modern Egyptians--and are still very much a part of every day Egyptian cuisine. What I liked about Amy's book in particular was that she offers some things I haven't seen in others--such as the drink recipes (basically layering different fruit nectars) as well as the restaurant recommendations for not only Cairo, but also Alexandria and Luxor. She also includes recipes from Southern Egypt which is typically ignored in most other cookbooks which focus on mainly Cairo, with some fish recipes from Alexandria. I also learned about the dessert truffles, which I had never heard about.

Her recipe for aish baladi is the best I've found. I couldn't find the unprocessed bran in my local stores, so I substituted toasted wheat germ (cereal aisle) and it worked very well. She includes the Egyptian-home style favorite "macarona bechamel"--which is similar to Greek pastito. The Egyptians I know use a typical French bechamel when making it, but I liked learning Amy's approach which mixes chicken/beef stock with the milk. It makes a very rich meal, slightly lighter. Her hawashi dough is excellent--very close to the stuff one finds on the street, but her filing was not traditional for me. I think "My Egyptian Grandmother.." does a better job with her mixture of ground meat, allspice, chopped carrot, green pepper, and garlic. Her fuul is a bit boring--I think I would have preferred to see some more variations--such as cooking/mashing the fuul with garlic, onion, tomatoes, and tahini, etc. Heating up a can of fuul isn't really a recipe to me. :) See Claudia Roden for how to actually cook the dried beans. The chicken shwarma was very good and one of the best I've found for doing it at home. Nothing is going to compare to something roasted on a vertical roaster--but this is good. I recommend squeezing some fresh lemon juice on it as you take it out of the oven. The masa'a was good--and I tried the unorthodox suggestion of adding cheese on top which my family loved. I also loved her serving suggestion for fattah in using the ramekins.

The book contains lots of dessert recipes--and the few I've tried have been good. I like how she including the baklava with cream recipe--as it's a wonderful variation that many Americans have never had. I'm also eager to try the double chocolate baklava.

Although not mentioned (or perhaps I missed it), you can always use ground beef for any recipe calling for ground lamb. It won't be exactly the same--but it works well and nearly every recipe that calls for ground lamb is made with both in Egypt.

The book has some nice pictures and is a good, if small, size. If you are at all interested in Egyptian cooking, I highly recommend adding it to your library. I'd also recommend Claudia Roden's and Sally Elias Hanna's books as well. Those are the ones I keep coming back to.

I'm an American that has been married to an Egyptian/Armenian for 30 years, and I can tell you these recipes are the Real McCoy. If you've never tried Middle Eastern cooking, this is an excellent starting point. Different and delicious, I make them all the time in rotation along with meat loaf and mac and cheese. And the recipes are fairly simple with almost everything available at your local market. Give it a try!

This book provides a wealth of culinary history along with tantalizing recipes, allowing the reader to understand the context of each dish. The author, Amy Riolo, has traveled extensively in Egypt, and she includes excerpts of her experiences in the book. As a result, Nile Style is fun to read as travel literature as well as a cookbook. With the home cook in mind, Amy has a adapted the recipes for easy after-work cooking. I especially enjoyed learning about and cooking with exotic ingredients like orange blossom water, molokhiya, and baby okra.

Egypt is an ancient land of monuments and artifacts. It's also a country rich in distinctive culinary traditions that encompass food and dining as a fundamental element of both ancient and modern festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations. An internationally recognized culinary authority, food historian, and cooking instructor, Amy Riolo brings her many years of experience and expertise to bear when she compiled the recipes comprising "Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine And Culture", a illustrated, 220-page compendium of superbly presented recipes that range from such exotic fare as Nubian Bread ad Hibiscus Punch; to traditional dishes like Lentils, Rice, and Pasta with Spicy Tomato Sauce; to classics like Egyptian Rice, Apricot, and Pistachio Pudding. The Egyptian names for each of the presented recipes is given along with the English translations of their names. Enhanced with the inclusion of a glossary of ingredients commonly used in Egyptian cooking, a 'Where to Buy' guide (including specific contact information for vendors of specialty ingredients not otherwise readily available), a tour-guide listing of superb Egyptian restaurants, an extensive bibliography, and a handy index, "Nile Style" is an enthusiastically recommended addition for personal and community library ethnic cookbook collections.

"Nile Style" is much more than a cookbook. Packed with deep research and excellent reporting of Middle Eastern cultures, celebrations and rituals, "Nile Style" is also a history book. Amy Riolo writes from her soul, pulling the reader into understanding lifestyles from all countries in the Mid-East and Northern Africa. As a marketing professional in the global coffee and tea industries, this book provides an historic education from ancient customs to modern day cuisine. Recipes are easy to prepare and open a new world of flavors to enjoy.

I didn't expect much, since the download was free, but boy was I surprised. I'm a culture addict anyway, but reading this book not only gave me a different view of Islam's influence, but a good history lesson. Some of the foods, as expected in the Middle East, are fairly similar, but there are dishes that stand out on their own.

The ingredients are easy to find locally (I say that, because I live in a small town), and the instructions are wordy, but simple to follow. Try the Circassian Chicken, or the Meat and Bulgur Fingers... they're worth a shot if you like taking your time in the kitchen.

I like the way this book is organizaed with the recipes related to holidays and special events. This makes them so much more interesting.

I've always had a love affair with middle eastern food. This book besides reading like a wonderful history book gives some terrific recipes that sound tres yummy! This book has almost as many "bookmarks" in my kindle as pages.