Sheila Lukins All Around the World Cookbook [Paperback]

Sheila Lukins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 1994

A culinary genius who helped change the way America eats, Sheila Lukins is the cook behind the phenomenal success of The Silver Palate Cookbooks and The New Basics Cookbook, with over 5 million copies in print. Now Sheila embarks on her first solo journey, visiting 33 countries on a cooks tour of cuisines, ingredients, and tastes. The result is pure alchemy--a new kind of American cookbook that reinterprets the best of the worlds food in 450 dazzling, original recipes. In addition, there are new wines to discover, menus to experiment with, ingredients to learn, spice cabinets to raid--and travelogues to savor. Main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club's HomeStyle Books and Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service; and selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club. 444,000 copies in print.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Turn the more than 500 pages of this latest cookbook by Lukins ( The Silver Palate Cookbook ), and one grows almost giddy. From Argentinian barbecue to Mexican zarzuela, she includes nearly every incarnation of the international and edible. True, many cookbook writers are well-traveled, but few set out, as Lukins did, to create a cookbook with the feel of a travel album: illustrations and sidebars along make the volume a fascinating jaunt. Through conversations with home cooks and professional chefs in 33 countries, Lukins researched the ways that people cook and eat abroad, adapting cross-cultural recipes to American kitchens with flair. The table of contents clues us in to the breezy, chatty style of its author: breakfast foods are clustered under "Room Service," while appetizers and aperitifs fall under "Wish You Were Here." No attempt is made to cluster all the recipes from a region together, which helps to give the text its considerable charms. Chicken soup, for example, is presented in a chart, tabulating 22 countries' versions of this classic. 350,000 first printing ; BOMC Home Style main selection, QPB alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

ONE OF AMERCA'S BEST-LOVED COOKS COOKS THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS

Introducing global cuisine, one-world cuisine, fusion cuisine-Sheila cuisine. In a work of pure alchemy, Sheila Lukins helps set a dazzling new course for American cooking in 450 recipes that marry the best of the world's tastes, techniques, and ingredients.

"In my mind, Sheila Lukins is one of the most important people in the food world. She's passionate...she's caring...she's dynamic...and she's made an enormous contribution to the way we eat today." -Paula Wolfert author of The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean

"Sheila Lukins is one of the most delightful and generous people, and creative and discerning cooks. I would follow her anywhere, as well as through a recipes." -Barbara Kafka author of Party Food

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 591 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 5, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563052377
• ISBN-13: 978-1563052378
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sheila Lukins, one of America's best-known and best-loved food writers, was the co-founder of the legendary Silver Palate take-out shop. Her celebrated cookbooks, written alone and with her Silver Palate partner, Julee Rosso, helped change the way America's eats. For the past 23 years, she was also the Food editor of Parade Magazine.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Watered down originals October 30, 2001

By LBB

Format:Paperback

Being a great fan of the Silver Palate cookbooks, I lunged for the lone copy at my local bookstore. It is truly a might volume of international culinary delights and chock full of information.

However, as I am Asian and have traveled to several of the countries written about in the book, I find most of the recipes watered down versions of the originals. These recipes are also lengthy and call for ingredients that you'd have to make a special trip to the market or deli for.

No offense meant to anyone, but I find that the recipes here have also been tailored for American tastes. I've always thought that the point in trying out new cuisines was to appreciate and understand the uniqueness of them, and not try to make localized copycat versions.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat of a disappointment January 7, 2000

By Anita Burroughs

Format:Paperback

Following the success of the New Basics and her other books with Julie Rosso, I was frankly disappointed by this book. Many of the recipes are pretty anemic, watered down versions of the real McCoys. I would have liked to see more intense spices and flavors, and less "Americanized" versions of what should have been intriguing international cuisine. I expected more from Sheila Luckens.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great results every time October 9, 2002

By John Whitworth

Format:Paperback

Oh come on! This is in no way a terrible book, i agree that the way it is layed out can be a little confusing but cook books should be merited on their recipies and not really on the design aspect. Every meal I have cooked out of this book has been absolutely gorgeous and my wife and I keep returning to it again and again. Every time we entertain and cook from this book all our guests comment on the quality of the food and several have bought this book after sampling one of its recipies. As a previous reviewer remarked you could (probably) pick a recipie at random and use it to entertain with knowing it would be a great meal. To 'a reader from Eugene' please get past the layout and try the coq au vin, chicken and date tagine or the velvety curried shrimp and then tell us you paid too much.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, but title is misleading September 25, 2005

By KH1 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I have always found Sheila Lukins' cookbooks to be excellent. While not always completely practical (but one could get around this by learning to substitute canned chicken stock for her homemade, etc.), the recipes always work, and 99% of the time they taste good.

I have tried many recipes in this cookbook since I first got it 8 or so years ago, and I have been pleased with all of them (especially her soup recipes, which are always delicious). I have made many of them for company, and my guests have always enjoyed them. (The Summer tomato risotto is a favorite recipe when the temperature here begins to rise).

That said, these are not all "authentic" recipes - this cookbook, I'm sure, was a Herculean effort in and of itself to put together, and tracking down truly authentic recipes would probably have been more work. This cookbook should really have been called "Restaurant Recipes from All Around the World and Recipes inspired by International Dishes" (or something to that effect.) If you are looking for truly authentic dishes, this is not the book to go to - I would simply pay for cookbooks by native chefs from the countries that you are interested in - but if you are interested in easy, delicious recipes by Sheila Lukins and her friends, a sort of continuation of the Silver Palate cookbook, then this is for you.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Food for From Every Country! January 5, 2004

By Marc D. Bingham

Format:Paperback

Everytime I get a hankering for something special to cook, something exotic and different, I turn to this book. EVERY time I make something from this book it turns out great....you have to follow the instructions, and these are specialty dishes, so no skimping on ingredients. The little 'history' sections in the book make it fun to read! Highly recommend....loosen up and go to another country in your kitchen

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Still one of my favorites! February 12, 2001

By R. Long

Format:Paperback

I think the premise of this cookbook is great fun, and as someone who often plans vacations around culinary events and regions, I have enjoyed it very much. The recipes are creative and easy to follow, and as with all of Lukins' books the results are always delicious. Hers are the only cookbooks that I trust enough to try new dishes for guests, and I have never been disappointed.

Those who find the cookbook not spicy or authentic enough should remember that cooking is a learning process and a recipe is a guide, meant to inspire and be a starting point. I routinely increase garlic, peppers, and other spices because I know that is what I like. Others may decrease them. This in no way makes the guide less valuable. Ultimately what you create is a combination of your experiences. Many thanks to Sheila Lukins for sharing hers!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars around the world via my kitchen September 9, 2010

By Amy Eucare

Format:Hardcover

I have to say, this is my favorite cookbook, and I have many, many cookbooks. Other reviewers have said the recipes are "Americanized", and perhaps there is some of that going on. However, Lukins said that she was putting her own spin on these things, so I don't feel that there was any attempt at deception.

What is there, instead, are many delicious recipes that are neither overly intimidating nor so exotic as to be difficult to produce in an American kitchen. My favorites include the pasta arrabiata (incredible), the caribbean fish pot (wow), the soto banjar (Indonesian chicken noodles), and the tortillas de patatas (Spanish egg/potato cake, similar to a frittata). Those are just off the top of my head-- I don't even have the book handy at the moment. I've never made anything from this book that I marked as so-so or "don't make again".

My copy is battered, splattered, and the binding is separating. Perhaps it's time to get a new copy...