Customer Reviews

Secrets of Cooking: Armenian/Lebanese/Persian

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...this is the one to get! I've had the real Persian food and the pleasure of those exotic spices and combinations lingered in my memory for many years. I searched and searched for a good cookery book that I, as an American, could understand. And I found it in this book by Linda Chirinian. The variety is excellent, recipes are easy to read and follow, the colour photos (a must for me as I'm a visual person) show the food at it's sumptious best. Some of my Favourites are Morgh Polow (Chicken with Dried Fruits and rice), Kuft Sabzi (Herbed Meatballs), Shawerma (Spiced meat), Khoreshta Loobia-sabz (String bean with meat stew), Kharn Pancharaghen (mixed vegetable bake), Khoreshta Bademjan (Eggplant/aubergine stew), Bagali Shevid Polow (Lima Beans in Dill rice), Sfeha/ Lahm-bil-ajin (Yogurt meat pies). There's just a sampling, are you getting hungry? I have now given this cookbook to a few of my friends who also enjoy the sensual flavours of this type of cooking and they love theirs, too. I have not been disappointed in one thing I've made from this book yet, nor will you be. I definitely recommend this to you if you are serious about Middle Eastern cooking. I'd choose it over several others I've gotten in the past.

Having grown up in the Mid-East, I cook this kind of food often. I have about two dozen ME cookbooks, but must say this one ranks as one of the best.

The recipes are easy to follow with salivating pictures that remind me of my childhood days in Lebanon. The breadth of recipes is incredible. The book contains recipes that I have been unable to find in other cookbooks - the kind my Mom tells me "a little of this, a little of that..." but I know I'll never master without a "real" recipe. Try it - it won't disappoint you.

My wife is Armenian from Lebanon but it is her mom who is the cook. In turn her mom was from Aleppo, Syria, which Patricia Wells describes as a culinary mecca in the Middle East in one of her travel food writings. This cookbook is the most authentic one for the traditional Armenian recipes of the Middle East diaspora: my mother-in-law has tested a number of them and confirms that they can be trusted.

Of course there are as many variations of these recipes as cooks (more, since when I get her to dictate recipes for posterity more than once, they always change), but these simple straightforward ones work and are good. Some of my food tales are at drbobenterprises.com.

I have bought about 15 copies of this book to give to relatives and friends over the years. Among all cookbooks in this area (and I have many as an amateur cook with a heavy cookbook habit), it stands out. So if you are interested in this cuisine, buy the book.

This is one of the best cookbooks I own. I've made nearly all the desserts and many of the other dishes. I just love this book. I use it frequently. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. She even gives tips on where to find some of the more unusual ingredients. I have at least 30 cookbooks, this is the one I turn to most often. I only know Middle Eastern cooking from restaurants but these recipes are ususally better than any I've have had from a restaurant.

If you crave your grandmother's cooking and want to try to reproduce those wonderful flavors, then this cookbook is written for you. The old Armenian/Lebanese/Persian recipes that all our grandmothers cooked without any measuring are preserved in this book. Linda Chirinian manages to present even the most complicated recipes with such clarity that I know you will be able to cook any recipe showcased in this book. The pictures are accurate and mouth-watering. This is a cookbook worthy of passing down to your children.

I am married to an Armenian and can now finally hold my own against my mother-in-law's cooking! No small matter, as she is a fabulous cook. I have tried lots of the recipes in this book and have yet to find one that was not superb. They are all step by step which really helps to break down what can be done ahead and shows which recipes are hands-off vs those that require constant attention. I really like the variation suggestions at the end of each recipe, which have encouraged me to try my own substitutions with great success. Some of the recipes that call for baking I have cooked on the stovetop successfully so I don't have to heat up the house so much.
A lot of the recipes are VERY heavy on butter but I find I can easily cut back on that (often by 50%) and still have wonderful results. If you like middle eastern food at all you'll love these recipes.

I have loved this type of food for many years. This book has some wonderfully delicious meals in the region's distinctive flavor. I haven't been disappointed in any of the recipes I've tried from it and that's been a few. The recipes give clear instructions and there are wonderful color photos to go with all the recipes, which I consider the most helpful aid a cookery book can give, esp. when in unfamiliar territory as it will be for some people. Some recipes are traditional, some are nouveau but all are very tasty. I've recommended it to several friends already.

I have loved this type of food for many years. This book has some wonderfully delicious meals in the region's distinctive flavor. I haven't been disappointed in any of the recipes I've tried from it and that's been more than a few. The recipes give clear instructions and there are wonderful color photos to go with all the recipes, which I consider the most helpful aid a cookery book can give, esp. when in unfamiliar territory as it will be for some people. Some recipes are traditional, some are nouveau but all are very tasty. I've recommended it to several friends already.

I lent my first copy of this book to a co-worker and oddly, never got it back. :) Had to order a second one because I use this so often. I have owned it for close to 20 years and always seem to find something new to cook. The recipes always turn out well and are always exceptional. Some of the dessert recipes and traditional Armenian dishes like Topig and Sou Boureg are labor-intensive but these are the exceptions; a lot of the recipes are good for everyday cooking. Ingredients are not hard to find. I live overseas a lot in sometimes remote places and with a few spices, basmati rice, tahini and bulgur in my pantry, I can cook almost anything from here. Meat and dough-based recipes are the standouts in this collection.

Recipes are very similar to my grandma's traditional middle eastern recipes. The grape leaf recipe is especially good.