Russian, German & Polish Food & Cooking: With Over 185 Traditional Recipes From The Baltic To The Black Sea, Shown Step By Step In Over 750 Clear And Tempting Photographs

WOW! The book is so beautiful!Russian cuisine is part of my life and, apparently, I found a number of things that bothered me. Like the Olivier salad is given in the form, presumably established a few centuries back, but it is completely different nowadays, it would not be even recognized as Olivier salad today. Borshch recipe is making things unnessecary complicated. Beetroot kvas? Juice of canned beetroot? Come on! All is needed is to steam the fresh beetroot with skins, separate from the soup. Or boil it with a little vinnegar in the water, also in skins. Or sautee it in the oil or butter, in small pieces. All the trick is, you add beets, fully prepared, in the very end of cooking, and turn the heat off. Done. This way it will not loose the vibrant color and will be yummy! The beet is not to be cooked for more than an hour and the whole dish is neither. I was surprised not to find a layered herring salad, I thought it was well known, worthy and unique. And the piroshki look a bit.. strange, the way they are shaped with the seam on a side. I have seen them only with the seam on either top or bottom, but on a side - some variation exists in the south/middle east, like Azerbaidjan or near, but it is not a classical Russian piroshki shape then. Plov looks as if the rice is too moist and guey. Russian plov, and the southern plovs (pilafs), such as Uzbec, operate in terms if very fluffy rice, more often than not of a long grain variety. As opposed to piroshki, here I go to the sothern vertions as primary sourse, because there lie the origins to this family of dishes. My mom, although Russian, was herself raised in Azerbaijan throughout her childhood. She has told me that if a pilaf would come out as sticky, it would be considered a shame on whoever cooked it, and so it would never be presented to guests in that region. The way it is shown in the book, it is definitely too moist and sticky. Finally, French Fries is clearly not an example of Russian food, and last place for it to be is accompanying beef stroganov. There should be mashd potatoes, or baked potatoes or similar.I assume if that level of inaccuracy existed in Russian cuisine, other content may be not fully accurate as well.However,- lots of dishes look so delisious, I almost don't mind if they were a bit off, although I have no way of telling, when it comes to German or Polish cuisine.- the pictures are so stunning! Every single dish comes with a picture, and a few more pics for individual steps! Finally the author, who recognizes that we are not going to cook something, we have no idea what. With picture, you know if it is worth your effort, and what your goal should look like.- The variety of countries covered is a winner! It is unusual enough combination.- I can imagine how much work was put in getting each dish in a nice picture - as opposed to those books showing pictures of spices, nuts, fruits, glassware,people, anything but dishes.The book came with a liitle tear in the core back, but I still love it. I will still make it a gift to my friend, as planned, but I am probably getting one more for myself.Despite my criticism, I rate it 5 stars. It brings joy to the one peeking to its pages, immediately.

Book provided many recipes, but still a bit of a disappointment. Had hoped it to be a bit better, but would still recommend it to others! Arrived quickly and in good shape!

Arrived promptly, nice, clean copy.

Nice!

Full of receips that remind me of dishes made when growing up in our ethic neighborhood. Great photos that describe the dishes befor you make them.

super fast delivered, I'm now curious to try cooking one of the many options.

I have a Russian family member, so I am interested in their traditional cuisine. The best thing about this book is the color presentation picture for each dish. Love it!

I ordered this cookbook for someone else because I had one and she really wanted one also. Not only did you have it in stock, but it coast less than the one I had originally purchased. The delivery time was very good too.

I can't comment on how true these recipes are to the real thing, but having made a few myself now I can say that they make for some very interesting and delicious food. Delivered quickly.

An excellent book with attractive recipes to try. Even better than expected.

Great variety of European recipes.

Great recipes and easy

Gift for my granddaughter - she was very happy with it.