Rating: 
Summary: Good book
Review: Although I found this to be a good cookbook, it seemed to address the mainland Portuguese style of cooking and I guess I was looking to see more of the Azorian type of cooking also know as the "poor mans" cooking.
Rating: 
Summary: FABULOUS!
Review: Having traveled to Portugal two times and enjoyed its undiscovered culinary treasures, I am thrilled to have such an exquisite and authentic book to awaken my memories.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I am Portuguese and this was my first Portuguese cookbook. My family was amazed with our Sunday dinners. Even my mother-inlaw was impressed. The recipes were easily prepared and even the wine section helped me to pair the right dish with the right wine. I know my vavo would be proud.
Rating:
Summary: Most used
Review: I am Portuguese and this was my first Portuguese cookbook. My family was amazed with our Sunday dinners. Even my mother-inlaw was impressed. The recipes were easily prepared and even the wine section helped me to pair the right dish with the right wine. I know my vavo would be proud.
Rating:
Summary: the aroma of old portugal
Review: I long for the days when I could smell the aroma of my mother cooking her portuguese food in the kitchen. The smell of portuguese food brings back memories of my Parents,Portugal, and Traditional values long gone.Finally I have found a portuguese book in english that rekindled that aroma so well. If anyone out there needs to rekindle memories of Portugal, "The Food of Portugal" will bring that great aroma back into your kitchen again.
Rating:
Summary: The best Portuguese Cookbook I have found so far.
Review: I was born in Portugal and came to the United States at the age of 6. Being able to speak and write the language fluently is something that I am very grateful to my parents for. However my one fault is the inability to convert the European to American measurements. Well my mother has a wonderful cookbook on traditional Portuguese cuisine but it is all in Portuguese. Therefor I decided to use the WEB to find a Portuguese cookbook with the recipes in English to avoid the conversion issue. Well, I found "Food Of Portugal" and figured why not order it and see. After all if I didn't like I would and could return it. That was months ago. I love this cookbook. It is the best Portuguese cookbook, with recipes in English, I have found so far. It has all of the traditinal dishes which I grew up eating and many more. I would recommend this book to anyone Portuguese or not. My sincere congratulations to the author for a job very well done.
Rating: 
Summary: My love affair with all things Portuguese.
Review: If I were Shirley Maclaine, I'd say that I'd been Portuguese in an earlier life. Because for me it was love at first sight (or should I say love at first bite?). I made my first trip to Portugal in 1964, having been sent by an American travel magazine to profile Lisbon. I immediately felt at home, not only in Lisbon but wherever I traveled in this colorful little country. I have since made 87 return trips to Portugal and I never fail to discover something new-- a new walled town, a new Roman ruin, a new recipe. After some 20 trips to Portugal, I decided that too few people knew the delicious Portuguese food, which is distinctly different from the Spanish. An editor finally agreed and I set to work, criss-crossing Portugal from North to South, interviewing good home cooks, bakers, butchers, chefs, hotel school professors and Portuguese friends. I spent two years researching the book, testing all the recipes in terms of American equipment and ingredients, and another year writing the book. My efforts were rewarded, for THE FOOD OF PORTUGAL was named "Best Foreign Cookbook of the Year" in the Tastemaker Cookbook Awards. What pleases me even more are the letters of praise I've received from Portuguese men and women now living in this country who use the book because "it reminds them of home." I would urge everyone who does not know this wonderful little country to go there and see (taste) for themselves. Sample the exquisite cheeses, the fine wines, the air-cured hams,the stone-oven breads and fish so fresh it practically swims onto your plate. You won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: The best Portuguese Cookbook I have found so far.
Review: Jean Anderson has a love affair with Portugal and the Portuguese, and this has translated into an extremely well researched and written book about a relatively unknown cuisine and culture. She not only provides clear, concise recipes, but even better, she explains the history of the cuisine, wine and culture of the country as well. This book would also be useful for the prospective visitor to Portugal, since Ms. Anderson intersperses her discussions with lodging and travel tips based on years of travel to the country.
Rating:
Summary: Enthusiastic and extremely well-written
Review: Jean Anderson has a love affair with Portugal and the Portuguese, and this has translated into an extremely well researched and written book about a relatively unknown cuisine and culture. She not only provides clear, concise recipes, but even better, she explains the history of the cuisine, wine and culture of the country as well. This book would also be useful for the prospective visitor to Portugal, since Ms. Anderson intersperses her discussions with lodging and travel tips based on years of travel to the country.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended Addition to English Literature on World Foods
Review: Jean Anderson is a member of 'old school' cookbook authors and culinary educators such as Barbara Kafka, Marion Cunningham, Sheila Lukins, and Sara Moulton who edit major cookbooks such as the 'American Century Cookbook' and the 'Fanny Farmer Cookbook' and who edit major newspaper columns, all addressed to the average American family member who needs to cook and who doesn't have a lot of time to go out of their way to find culinary advice.On what seems to be the strength of an exceptionally strong personal love for Portugal and its food, Ms. Anderson has also joined the ranks of interpreters of important national cuisines such as Diane Kochilas (Greece), Penelope Casas (Spain), Lydia Bastianich (Italy) and Nancy Harmon Jenkins (Mediterranean). While Ms. Anderson has written about both Portuguese and German cooking, the interest in the latter seems to be simply another job, while the interest in the former is based on a lifetime of affection for this cuisine. Each of the four other interpreters of selected regional cuisines take a somewhat different approach to interpreting their subject. For example, Ms. Kochilas deals with Greece by region, as there are major variations in cuisine from Macedonia to the Dodecanese Islands. Ms. Jenkins and other writers dissect Italy and the Mediterranean by major food resource such as salt, olives, grapes, and wheat. Ms. Anderson's approach is most similar to that of Lydia Bastianich, with the difference that Ms. Anderson has no stories of a childhood growing up in Portugal. Both Ms. Bastianich and Ms. Anderson focus on the characteristic recipe methods of their subject. Portugal should probably be considered an honorary Mediterranean country. It has no coastline on the Mediterranean, however, it's all of its principle foods were identified by Nancy Harmon Jenkins in 'The Essential Mediterranean'. These are olives, grapes, pork, salt, seafood, milk, and beans. Only wheat appears to be missing from the major staples, as Portugal seems to not have the land for wheat fields like Apulia or Egypt. The very first thing Ms. Anderson points out is that Portuguese cuisine is not the same as Spanish cuisine. The differences can easily be traced to the differences in exploration and colonization in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. While Spain was playing catch-up with the daring westerly trip of Columbus, Portugal was well on its way to establishing trade with India, China, and the'Spice Islands' by way of the route around the bottom of Africa. Ms. Anderson cements the notion of these differences by opening with a truly daunting dictionary of Portuguese culinary terms. The highlights of this catalogue are 'Acordas' and 'Migas' (Dry soups and stews); 'Bacalhau' (Dried Salt Cod); cheeses (lots of these), coffees (note that former Portuguese colonies, Brazil, Angola, and Timor are all important coffee producers); egg sweets; fish and shellfish; herbs, spices, and flavorings (almonds, paprika, and pimento are distinctly important); olive oils; sausages and hams (with analogues to many of the famous Spanish and Italian Charcuterie); and beer. Possibly the two most distinctive Portuguese culinary products are the fortified wines, Port and Madeira. Portugal has many other important wines, but these two have been made and have been popular for thousands of years. The production of Port can be traced back to Roman times, and it is a great favorite with the English and a major competitor for aperitif use to Spain's sherries. While Port and Madeira are famous Portuguese exports, there are many important Portuguese products such as its cheeses that you simply cannot get outside of the country. The author slyly suggests this is a very good thing, intimating that a trip to Portugal will bring much culinary novelty to your life. The recipe chapters are organized in a very conventional manner, giving us Appetizers and Condiments; Soups; Meats; Poultry; Fish and Shellfish; Vegetables, Rice and Salads; Breads; and Sweets. There is a recipe for Portuguese empanadas, but the author gives no hint of an important 'tapas' culture. Most appetizers are variations on familiar themes seen in Provence and Italy. Portugal seems to take the thick Tuscan style of soup to a new level with their 'dry' soups. A soup, 'caldo verde' is also the national dish of Portugal, as we have seen Emeril Lagasse make on several occasions. One thing that stands out with Portuguese soup recipes is that very few seem to use prepared stocks. Rather, many of the soups seem to rely on including starchy potatoes to lend body to the soup. Wine is used as much or more frequently as a flavoring than are stocks. It seems like wine is in practically every soup recipe. Many other recipes seem to have distinctive twists, such as the roasted turkey recipe that calls for no basting, but rubbing the skin with salt and roasting at a constant temperature. All the bread recipes use the very familiar active dry yeast for leavening, so if you are the least adept at blooming those little foil packets of yeast, there should be no challenges here at all. Several bread recipes include eggs and scalded milk, products common in rustic Greek breads as well. In place of Italy's sabayon and France's custards, Portugal revels in variations on sweet soft eggs or 'ovos moles'. The author describes Portuguese egg pastries as 'achingly sweet'. I suspect you may want to try one or two of these as a substitute for your crème brulee, but don't make too much if you are watching your waistline. National and regional cookbooks can be done badly, especially when for locales such as Rumania and the Philippines, there is no competition. Ms. Anderson has done us foodies a great service with this book. It is not as deep as Paula Wolfert's Morocco or as analytical as Erica De Mane's southern Italy, but it is very good. The fact that there are no sources given at the back of the book says a lot for what you may need to do to taste some of this food.
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