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Summary: If you can only have one Russian cookbook, have this one.
Review: Open this book to find that combination of good recipes, travel writing and memoir that is the hallmark of the very best regional cookbooks.Von Bremzen and Welchman not only give their readers easy-to-follow directions for the preparation of a wide range of authentic dishes, but also an understanding of the occassions on which the food would be eaten and an often humorous insight into the cultures the dishes come from. Read, eat, laugh and travel. Is there anything better in life?
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Summary: Paprika?
Review: Paprika is not an ingredient which is traditionally used in Russian cooking. It is the spice of Central Europe (Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, etc.), not the eastern end of the continent. Most other Russian cookbook authors (Anne Volokh, Elena Molokhovets, Leslie Chamberlain) barely mention it, but it appears in quantity in almost every savory recipe in this book. This may represent a personal taste of the author (some American cooks use soy sauce in Cajun-Creole recipes), or a very recent trend in Russia, but if you are a stickler for authenticity, this may not be the book for you.
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Summary: Another Target Audience
Review: This book and similar others are targeting pretty sophisticated audience. My girl-friend (which is not a Russian heritage) doesn't have a plenty of time to make a gorgeous dishes. I would greatly appreciate if there existed a book titled somehow "A Russian Cookbook for a Bachelor".
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Summary: 1st generation Russian, and I love it!
Review: This book contains great recipes for the foods that my grandmother fed me as a kid (she left Russia in 1922), as well as the foods that I ate there as an exchange student (in 1995). This book covers a wide variety of foods and regions. I noticed that there were some reviewers complaining that this book calls for ingredients that aren't used in Russia. Not so. The Russian Empire has incredibly varied regional cuisine. In an empire covering more than 6 million square miles, not everybody is going to make the exact same dishes, nor make similar ones the exact same way. Heck, they don't even all speak the same language. When visiting the south-east, you'll find a heavy "asian/oriental" influence, the use of soy and ginger; In the north-west, more of a European influence; and in the south-west, more of a "middle eastern" influence. This book has a nice sampling of all three of these, as well as many others. 'Pomegranate Grilled Lamb Chops' shows the middle eastern influence of Azerbaijan, 'Roast Pork Paprikash' shows the influence of Eastern European Moldavia... and the preponderance of rice throughout the book shows the influence of the Southern Asian countries. I have bought every Russian cookbook I have been able to lay my hands on over the years, and this is the first one I reach for when I want to look something up. It's logically arranged, has a comprehensive index, and some great anecdotes. A wonderful addition to any international food lovers' library.
Rating:
Summary: Good cookbook
Review: This is a wonderful cookbook. However I have 2 points of criticism.
One: it should not be called "the Russian Cookbook". I am Russian & most of the recipies in the book I have never heard of or definitely never tried. It seems that most of them are from the Southeastern republics of the former USSR (Georgia, Armenia, etc). And their food is very different from Russian.
Two: most of the recipies in the book will take you a while to make & will require certain level of experience & equipment availability.
So if you like Middle Eastern cuisine & have a lot of time for cooking you will love this book! The recipies are good.
Rating:
Summary: Good cookbook
Review: This is a wonderful cookbook. However I have 2 points of criticism.
One: it should not be called "the Russian Cookbook". I am Russian & most of the recipies in the book I have never heard of or definitely never tried. It seems that most of them are from the Southeastern republics of the former USSR (Georgia, Armenia, etc). And their food is very different from Russian.
Two: most of the recipies in the book will take you a while to make & will require certain level of experience & equipment availability.
So if you like Middle Eastern cuisine & have a lot of time for cooking you will love this book! The recipies are good.
Rating:
Summary: A great book from the end of a peculiar period in history
Review: This is not a Russian cookbook, first of all. It is, I believe, one of the very few Soviet cookbooks ever written in the English language, and it's a gem.
It dates to the late 80s, the era of Glasnost and Perestroika, and while it presents the highlights of Russian cuisine, it also shows the resourcefulness of day-to-day life in the dying days of the Soviet Union, with dishes like Moscow Cod (with mayo, cheese and onions) and kotleti (Russian hamburgers) that could be made into haute cuisine easily but would lose something in the translation from simple working-class food.
It also shows the culinary heritage of the former Soviet Union -- Middle Eastern and Persian influences from the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as the down-home Central/Eastern European food of Ukraine and Belarus and what was apparently a much loved variant of rye bread from Riga, Latvia. Beef Stroganoff and Borscht are presented in the most glorious forms possible, so lavish that they might not even be recognizeable in the poverty of modern Russia; conversely, the old haute cuisine fish pie kulebiaka is brought down to earth in a form that tries to split the difference between modern bastardizations and tsar-era glory.
Like any good ethnic cookbook it also presents slices of life from those days -- from a cramped apartment in downtown St. Petersburg (or should I be calling it Leningrad?) or Moscow to the open land of Soviet Central Asia to the party-loving Georgians. (Armenia is somewhat short-shrifted, but it is represented.) The stars of the show are rib-sticking Ukrainian Borscht and the many-splendored forms of Pilaf, often made in the central Asian republics with aromatic basmati rice, with its own rituals surrounding it. Von Bremzen's particular experience as a Soviet emigre to the United States, as well as a native Russian in a country of widely varied ethnicities, plays into the richness of the book, allowing her to describe the experience of Soviet cuisine as both insider and outsider.
If you want to know about Russian food, and want to appreciate life as it was in the last days of the Soviet Union and the cultural heritage that Communism squandered, check out this book.
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Summary: Fantastic cookbook - just one flaw
Review: This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever bought. It contains not only wonderful Russian recipes, but numerous fantastic recipes from the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaidjan. I have tried many of the recipes, and have found only one flaw so far - in the Medivik (Honey Cake), you need to add at least two more eggs, or the batter will be too thick. With two additional eggs, the honey cake is an absolutely delicious desert!
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Summary: Outstanding. The tastes of Russia without all the hassle!
Review: This is one of the best cookbooks I own. Almost all the recipes are outstanding, and relatively simple to prepare. I have lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and this cookbook allows me to reproduce all of my favorite recipes using Western ingredients. Truly an excellent addition to any cookbook library.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Cookbook
Review: This is one of the finest cookbooks I've seen. The authors combine easy-to-follow recipes with cultural and historical perspectives which are well-written and interesting. I have given many as gifts -- both to people with Slavic heritages and those whose backgrounds come from other parts of the globe. To a person, they have all loved the book and use it regularly. Go ahead, buy it. You'll love it.
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