Customer Reviews

Turkish Cookery

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

 

 

My Turkish sister-in-law searched the bookstores of Istanbul for this specific cookbook to give to me as a reminder of my first trip to Turkey. A gourmet cook, she says that this is the most authentic of the available Turkish cookbooks. The recipes are simple, easy to follow and bring back memories of wonderful meals with family and friends in Istanbul.

Ever been to Turkey and wonder how to make all that great food? with this book you'll gain access to one of the world's greatest and tastiest cuisines. The recipes are clear, precise and ...tasety Great investment of money!

My mother is Turkish and I've been eating Turkish food forever---as well as many a trip to Turkey and my Turkish family and friend's homemade meals. This book truly captures the traditional flavors and dishes that you will find in any Turkish household and restaurant, without the complication that should not exist. As one reviewer stated, you may not find loads of spices and difficult recipes, but that is NOT Turkish cooking anyhow. They like to make many dishes at once and you want to taste the true flavors of the food, and this book will help you do that. Beautifully illustrated as well.

I bought this book to add to my collection; my hobby is Turkish cooking and I thought from the reviews it sounded rather worthwhile. My overall verdict is 'it is & it isn't'. There are some useful & interesting desert recipes in here, and a few vegetable ones as well. I found the rice, main dish & fish recipes rather disappointing - rather of the meat & 2 veg. style of British cooking I guess.

I think if you're a beginner, interested in simple dishes that are easy to make & with no hard-to-find ingredients, this could be an interesting the book for you. It reminds me very much of the Turkish working-people's cafe-style food which is simple & no-nonsense. The book is certainly authentic; there are lots of typo's & the photography is a little lacking. The writer explains things simply & in an easy to follow way. I have made many of the dishes before & the recipes have very little capacity for things to go wrong! However, they are a little bland for my taste - most recipes use only salt & pepper as seasonings & I prefer at least a few herbs here & there.

If you're looking for a book which is beautiful as well as functional, I'd go for Ozan Ozcan's 'Sultan's Kitchen'. If you want a basic 'how-to' book of authentic dishes to get started, Inci Kut's book might be a good option. However, I'd actually recommend the best cookbook of any style of cooking I have ever bought, one from which I have made almost everything and which I've used almost every week for years; 'Turkish Cooking' by Gulseren Sancakli & Margaret Oliphant. This is a small, cheap book, maybe a little hard to find now, but every recipe in it (apart from the Wedding & Yoghourt soups) are absolutely infallible. I'd definitely give that one a 5.

I'm at a military base and just married a Turkish woman. Since Turkish people live at home until they marry (her mother does most of the cooking), we've been looking for good recepies of Turkish food. I found this book in the base library.

It's a great book and the recepies seem authentic - even the Adana Kebab (we're near Adana). Instead of copying half the book that my wife wanted the recepies, I'm just buying it instead.

I would recommend this book to a friend.