Customer Reviews

Persian Cuisine: Traditional, Regional, And Modern Foods

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Persian food aficionado, I'm very pleased with the content and presentation of this book. Color photographs for many of the recipes allow me to flip through the book and narrow down recipes to choose without needing to read every one. For recipes which traditionally use ingredients that are hard to find in the U.S., appropriate substitutions are suggested, which is quite helpful.

Perhaps most importantly, the recipes are relatively easy to follow (even for me, who doesn't have tons of cooking experience) and are delicious! I've introduced friends to Persian cuisine using recipes in this book, with rave reviews! People unfamiliar with Persian food are often pleasantly surprised by the mouth-watering combinations of flavors found in these Persian dishes.

The index is helpful, with dish types, ingredients and names of dishes catalogued. Menu suggestions are also useful. I also enjoyed the section on foods served for special occasions, along with other explanations, photographs, and illustrations sprinkled throughout the book, which help give the dishes a cultural context.

In addition to the quality of the recipes, I'm also pleased with the quantity: this is the most comprehensive collection of recipes on Iranian cuisine that I have seen, combining traditional recipes along with regional and modern recipes. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Persian cuisine, whether it's something you're already lucky enough to enjoy, or it's something new for you to try! "Nush-e jan!"

I was excited to find that the author M.R. Ghanoonparvar had published another Persian Cuisine Cookbook. I purchased my first Persian Cuisine cookbook published in 1982 as a newlywed in 1985. My husband is Persian and was surprised and delighted that I was able to make him delicious home cooked persian dishes. 25 years later the cookbooks (tradition and regional cooking) are so well used that I have been wanting to replace them. The recipes are simple compared to more traditional cookbook yet have repeatedly passed the taste test when I've cooked for my husband's family. Most importantly I have been able to include traditional Persian foods for my children to appreciate their heritage. I am excited to include this cookbook into my kitchen.

This is a big, wonderful book. The author teaches Persian cooking, and the book is written so that even the novice can make wonderful, authentic food. It covers everything, from the most basic dishes, to ones that will dazzle anyone who comes over for dinner. It is filled with photographs from the kitchens of many different people, not professional chefs, but just regular people who are using these well-written recipes.

Unlike earlier versions of this book, it is entirely in English. That was a bit disappointing, but due to the sheer size of the book, it's understandable.

The only thing I found a bit odd about this cookbook is an interesting, but not necessarily relevant, article about the history of wine drinking in Persian history. It's the kind of article that you'd read once, but doesn't necessarily belong in a book that will be so frequently-used as this cookbook. The article doesn't, as I would have expected, provide any advice for wine pairings, or really have much to do with cooking at all.

Other than that, this book is entirely useful. I expect it won't be long at all before many of the pages in my copy are covered in stains of saffron and cinnamon!

My inlaws are Iranians and they're all excellent cooks. I bought the original "Persian Cuisine" years ago and found the recipes very similar to the food my inlaws cook. They were surprised that I could cook so well! My cookbook suffered a mishap--I left it on top of my Showtime rotisserie and it burned!! I was delighted to find this new edition, which is far better than the old original as it is a compilation of both of the author's previous books. The photos are amazing, too. And it helps non-Farsi speakers like myself, as unlike the originals that were in Farsi and English, this is all in English.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is married to a Persian, or who simply want to try some of the very best cuisine in the world. Also, if there are any Persian girls who can't cook (and I've only met one in my life), this is the way to go.

I am an Iranian girl who moved to California when I was 13yrs. old. I learned how to cook Persian cooking through my lovely mother who's cooking was quiet famous among our friends. The only problem was that my mother was such a perfectionist that she always kick me out of the kitchen fearing I will ruin her cooking. I was smart enough to watch her and observed the process. When I got married and started my own family I was interested to cooked Persian dishes trying to mimic from what I have remembered from my mom; But there was always something missing and it did not taste perfect like my mom's. Unfortunately I lived far away from my mother and I would call her and ask for recipes on the phone and my old fashioned mother never was about measuring things. She always told me a little of this and handful of that and when I ask how much exactly it was very confusing. Until I spotted this book and I was so anxious to try out the recipes and I was really happy with the results. the recipes are very authentic and great tasting so now I producing much better tasting Persian dishes than before and family is impressed. My food actually taste as good as my mom's if not better. I like the pictures on the cover those are all my favorite foods. The recipes are very accurate and easy to follow. this is perfect and a must have cook book for any Iranian girl who enjoys cooking Persian food for their family and friends.

I was pleased with the entire process from purchasing to recieving.The book was shipped when stated and recieved soon after in a well protected box. The book itself was more than I expected. I have many Persian recipe books and this one includes recipes that I have been looking for. The recipes themselves, at least the ones I tried were right on. Thank you.

Good easy to makerecipes. The whole book is filled with tasty Iranian food. Pictures thruout the book is a big plus. Easy to follow directions.

As someone who has eaten Persian food, but never cooked it, I'd say this is a great book. I'd rank it suitable for the beginning to intermediate level cook, with tons of recipes and clear instructions.

The photographs are generally good and though I like photographs on every page, with every recipe, I can see that this would be impossible, given that sheer number of recipes in this book.

A pleasant surprise which this book reveals is that Persian cooking usually requires only a few ingredients for each recipe. If you've ever tried your hand at Indian cooking, only to be overwhelmed by a long list of ingredients, you'll be pleased by these Persian recipes. I'd say 98% of the recipes make use of commonly available ingredients at any supermarket, and I imagine the rest would be available if you happen to live close to a Middle Eastern grocer.

I thought of buying Food of Life as well, given that books high ratings, but I got the feeling that book was for the more advanced cook, a tour de force of Persian cooking, while this book is more suitable for the home cook. In any case, I'm not intimidated by this book and these recipes and I'm confident I'll find it useful.

I love this Persian cookbook. Yes, Persian cuisine can be very elaborate and labor-intensive. Who doesn't like the bells and whistles? But for everyday cooking, I needed to create something tasty while being able to do it quickly. This book lets me enjoy the flavor without the hoopla when I just want a simple meal at home. For the fancier feats, I'll leave that to special occasions. I highly recommend this book for those who want a taste of homecooking.

This book covers a nice variety of food categories. I like that it provides several regional variations for some of the dishes. It also has many recipes that are less common and have always been hard to find. I have enjoyed cooking from it thus far. A very nice resource for all the basics and more.