Customer Reviews

Traditional South African Cookery (Hippocrene International Cookbook Series)

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I was very dissapointed by the negative reviews of this book and thought it might help prospective buyers to provide some background on the author and her book which was a classic for many years. I quote from 'The South African Culinary Tradition' by Renata Coetzee: 'Hilda's Where is it?' was first published in 1891. This cookery book, however, differs considerably from the Dijkman cookery book (published in 1890)on account of its ambiguous nature. Hilda arranged all the old recipes gathered from family members - among whom where members from quite prominent Cape families - alphabetically, but interspersed among them she added all kinds of other recipes for English, foreign and Eastern dishes that she had obtained from strangers or collected herself on her travels. She did indeed represent the typical tastes of the well-to-do burghers at the Cape when she included items such as tomato bredie, curry, bobtie, bread dumplings, koeksisters, fritters, fricadels, fish kedgeree, yellow rice and pickled fish, Van der Hum liquer, quince sambal, chutney, sour fig jam and abalone and even Malay dishes such as kebabs and sosaties.' Considering the fact thus that this book represents a very personal collection made by a woman who lived more than 100 years ago I have to take issue with the reviewer who was surprised at the instruction to 'leave standing on a shelf for 2 - 3 days'! That is the way things were done in those days! The book may not be relevant any longer but it certainly is a very important piece of Africana and any serious cook, interested in the South African culinary tradition, must find this an informative and interesting book.

I cant believe the negative reviews about this book. those reviewers clearly dont have a clue why this book is interesting - it is a book on history of SA cooking, written in 1891 and acknowledged favorably by for example historian louis leipoldt, one of the greatest authorities on SA cooking. It is a glimpse into the family kitchen of a typical old SA household, not a glitzy Charley Trotter or Bon Appetit cook by numbers. Try some of the recipes in their context; ie good friends, good wines, and they may surprise you.

This book must have been written around 1900. Recipes still call for one to 'cook over the fire', quantities for many ingredients are approximate. Detailed instructions for tricky methods are not included. Many standard South African recipes are not to be found.

Recipes are listed alphabetically, not in categories. There is no table of contents at the front, however there is an alphabetical index at the back and a category index.

There are no photos or pictures. For someone unfamiliar with South African cooking, this is not a good book. If you're looking for a good laugh, get this book. If you're looking for a good book on South African cooking, try and find Cook and Enjoy it by SJA de Villiers.

My husband is South African and I thought this would be a great "basic." It was very disappointing... not to mention potentially hazardous as it includes directions to leave ingredients out on the counter for 2-3 days... I won't be using this book! The most positive result of this book was a good laugh at the recipes!

The book is a collection of old recipes in alphabetical order, which include such traditional South African recipes like Risotto a la Milanaise, which turns out to be a recipe for baked rice with tongue. The recipes go on in a similar fashion, there is very little of this book that is South African. I am really surprised how a publisher like Hippocrene bother to publish a book like this one. Ther is no introduction, no background on the author, this the worst cookery book in my collection of 300+