Customer Reviews

Regional Greek Cooking

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This book takes a proud place alongside my many stained, well-worn cookbooks. Through it, I made my first foray into Greek cooking and I now find myself using it at least twice a week since it arrived. Prior to this, Italian syle cooking would be my go-to cuisine of choice but through its great combo of logical recipes, cultural background and - something I don't see a lot of - active encouragement to go "off road" and experiment with the recipes - I feel like a better cook than a probably am! Haha.

My first attempt was the Beef with Garlic Sauce which I prepared for a dining room full of people: Raves.

I followed up with Meatballs and Rice in Avgolemo Soup (Youvarlakia).

What really helps me as a novice cook is the perspective the regional specifics give me; how and why things evolved a certain way -- and coupled with the author's advice to "Expreiment like a Greek" - I found myself more confident in the kitchen than I have with other books that presuppose more culinary knowledge.

I highly recommend this title. If you're used to Italian cooking -- give this a shot as an exciting alternative to dishes from the Mediteranian.

Great stuff!

For most Americans, Greek cuisine is pretty much limited to gyros and baklava. But "Regional Greek Cooking", a compilation of authentic Greek recipes by the husband and wife team of Dean and Catherine Karayanis clearly demonstrates that Greek cuisine has a breadth, depth, and diversity that reflects centuries of culinary influences from around the Mediterranean, including key regions of mainland Greece; the Saronic, Ionian, Cyclades, Dodecanese, Aegean, and Sporades islands; Asia Minor, and Cypress. Of special note are the individual chapters composed of Greek beverage recipes. The recipes themselves range from Saragli ti Alexandroupoli (Walnut Phyllo Roll Alexandroupolis); to Patates me Dendrolivano e Thimari (Potatoes with Rosemary or Thyme); to Keftedes sto Furno meh Domates ke Vasiliko (Baked Meatballs with Tomato and Basil); to &Yia Yia's Koulourakia (Grandma's Easter Cookies). Enhanced with a glossary of Greek cooking terms and ingredients, 'Wrapping Dolmades', and a comprehensive Index, "Regional Greek Cooking" is a welcome, thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly', and highly recommended addition to personal, family, and community library multi-cultural and ethnic cookbook collections.

For anyone who loves Greek food, Regional Greek Cooking is a must cookbook to purchase! The authors don't give you just a cookbook, but a cultural, historical and culinary tour of Greece. Every recipe, and there are over 200, has an introduction that tells you about the dish, the key ingredients, why it is popular, and many other tidbits about the region of Greece that it comes from. Regional Greek Cooking is filled with not only the authors' family recipes (apparently this family is filled with great cooks), but also recipes from restaurants, tavernas, hotels and resorts all over Greece! I personally love getting a recipe from a great restaurant!

This book is truly stuffed with information. Not only are there over 200 recipes, but there are chapters on Ouzo, Wine, Coffee, Greek Beer and other drinks. You could sit down and read it cover to cover as a book and enjoy it even if you didn't cook at all!

I have books on my shelf that are useless compared to this because they have so few recipes and they don't have anything that stands out. I tried out a recipe last night for dinner - Prawns Saganaki Flambe in Ouzo. I chose this one because I had the ingredients all pretty much on hand. The book says that this particular recipe actually came from a Greek restaurant in Australia. It was simple to make, and delicious!

I highly recommend this book! Can't wait to try another recipe! Yum!

I haven't owned this book for very long but I've made a handful of the recipes so far- all simple and wonderful! The Cod with Feta is to die for. Living in a part of the world where trout is the local fish, I often find myself frustrated with an inability to find ingredients listed or they are extremely limited, I've found it very helpful they've given suggestions for substitutes. My only complaint about this book is it's not really one of those cookbooks you can browse through the poultry section and pick something out. You need to know what you want to cook. I enjoy that the book is set up regionally, and learning a little about the culture your dinner is coming from is nice. But, if your in a rush to find dinner, this book can feel a little daunting. Maybe it'll get better as I own it longer? Lots of great recipes.

I made the "Roast Lamb from Rhodes" for a family dinner and it was an instant hit. Everyone thought that I was an amazing cook... when all I did was followed the recipe!

I love this book! I'm originally from Australia where there is a large Greek community; many of the dishes from the book bring back happy memories of dining with friends in great Greek restaurants.

I particularly like the way meals are presented in relation to their region of origin, as it really adds to the obvious history and heritage of each dish. Restaurants in the regions are also listed, so this is a great book to take if you're ever lucky enough to travel through Greece.

The Ground meat Rolls in Tomato Sauce ( Soutsoukakia Smyrrneika ) is sensational. Finding dishes that incorporate anisette (one of my favorite flavors) such as the New Year's bread from Sparta is a real bonus. I'm gradually working my way through the list of meals incorporating Ouzo as the flavor is just amazing. (Chicken with Seafood and Sweet Calabash Sauce, Coconut-Ouzo Syrup Cake... can't beat that!)

Beautifully written and presented, this is a highly recommended buy that I know I'll keep referring to over and over.

I received this book a few days ago and already love it. It's so much more than a cookbook. Along with several recipes that I can't wait to try, there's also a lot of fascinating info on the history of the food.

The first meal I made, "Soutzoukakia Smyrnaki" on pg. 216, was fantastic. They're elongated meatballs that can be made with beef or lamb (I tried it with lamb) in a delicious tomato sauce. It's a great choice if you're not sure where to start.

I picked up this book in search of foolproof instructions for making my own dolmades, a longtime aspiration of mine. I found my instructions-- complete with diagrams on rolling the grape leaves!-- along with a wealth of delicious, well-written recipes for everything from well-known favorites to dishes I'd never even heard of before. The artichoke souffles are my favorite thus far (aside from the dolmades, of course), though I'm dying to try the aphrodite stuffed squid. This isn't a cookbook with glossy color photos on every page, but frankly, I can cook without a glamour shot of every dish I make, and the clean and simple layout is easy on the eyes.

My husband and I have traveled to Greece on several occasions, and after the last trip I wanted to learn to prepare more of a Greek cuisine for our everyday life, as I think the food is delicious and very healthy. This cookbook took me back to many of the places we have been and gave me the recipes and know-how to prepare them. One interesting feature is that the same recipes are prepared in different ways in different regions, moussaka being a good example, and so there are different recipes for the same dish. There are also good photos accompanying the recipes, and a thorough section on preparing fresh dolmades. The one thing I have found frustrating is that it can be hard to find a recipe if you just look up something like moussaka, as recipes are listed by the names they have given them, which often start with the regional or place name. I have added several entries into the index to solve this problem.

By the time I realized all the pages were out of numerical order it was too late to return the book. No quality control at Amazon or the publisher.

The recipes are fine but the index and table of contents are useless with the pages all jumbled up.