Famous Dishes from around the World by Stephanie Maze @moonstonepress ‏

Posted April 27, 2019 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 11 Comments

Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Famous Dishes from around the World by Stephanie Maze @moonstonepress ‏Famous Dishes from Around the World by Stephanie Maze
on May 13, 2019
Genres: Non Fiction
Pages: 85
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
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English/Spanish. With well-known ethnic recipes that are both tasty and healthy, this book seeks to pay homage to immigrants through their culinary contributions to the United States. Compiled by lovers of good ethnic food who have lived all around the world, it features 30 well-known dishes that are identified with specific countries worldwide, such as Colombian Sancocho, French Ratatouille, Indian Vegetable Korma, Mexican Fajitas, Moroccan Tagine with Chicken, Greek Moussaka (with Turkey), Polish Lentil Stew, Indonesian Satay with Peanut Sauce, and Spanish Paella.

The book includes background information about each dish, calorie and nutrition breakdowns of each recipe, and sections called “Cooking Tips and Tricks” and "Healthy Hints for the Home Cook." Famous Dishes is timely given our country’s current political state of affairs, and that it provides an engaging blend of both good food, ethnicity and health.

When I was asked to review, Famous Dishes I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I love cooking and have owned over 600 cookbooks.  I liked how it is written in both English and Spanish. The color photographs are gorgeous.

The 30 recipes are from various ethnic and cultural groups around the world. Each recipe is on a separate page with a color photograph. I appreciate the fact it doesn’t get broken up onto different pages.  So on the left is the Spanish recipe and on the right is the English version of the same recipe. There are two boxes with one containing a description and history of sorts about the dish. The second box is all the nutritional statistics which I prefer to have.

The ingredients should be easy to find, not wildly exotic, and the techniques are straightforward.  The recipes are not gluten-free but it would be easy enough for me to substitute as needed, since mostly fresh ingredients, which are already gluten-free, are used.

The table of contents and index are a nice organization. There are brief pages on Cooking Tips and Healthy Hints  While these are uncomplicated, and mostly known to me, they are excellent information.  At first glance, it appears  simplistic because they are well-known dishes. And, the well-organized pages are uncluttered and lovely, which has an effortless look which is actually difficult to achieve.

I found a few recipes I wanted to try and did manage to try one before the review. We had the Uzbek Plov with Chicken.  It is a prized national dish of Uzbekistan. Plov is pilaf. It is a layered rice dish with chicken, carrots, onions, garlic and raisins.  I automatically double or triple the garlic in anything I am cooking. The other spices used were salt, pepper and cumin. They had a couple others we didn’t use.  I chose to eyeball rather than measure but we felt I could have used more of them. Of course, the ones we left out would have bumped up the flavor. Salt and pepper we added to taste at the table.  It was tasty and easy to make; most of the ingredients were things we normally have on hand.

There are other recipes I intend to try. The various international options are just a little different which is fun. I’m sure we will be trying more over the next few months.

 

*The links say Kindle and Nook, but currently this is offered only in a paperback version.

 

Anne - Books of My Heart
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2019 Releases

Posted April 27, 2019 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 11 Comments


11 responses to “Famous Dishes from around the World by Stephanie Maze

  1. I usually eyeball or wing it with spices and whatnot too. I like to fly by the seat of my pants lol! The cover of this book is making me hungry, by the way!!!

    • You seem to enjoy food and grilling. I am experienced enough I often adjust things or eyeball them based on what I know we like. I like cilantro but it makes my daughter sick. So the recipe which had that I changed. The photos in this cookbook are gorgeous so it’s not surprising they make you or me hungry.

      • I like cilantro too and like to add it to a few things. And grilling… mmm love it, although going vegetarian has been a challenge for me. 🙂

  2. Melanie

    I’m not very good at eyeballing any measurements. Glad it worked out okay for you. I need to try some new recipes. Hubs doesn’t make it easy because he’s extremely picky.

    Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart

  3. I love a good cookbook and especially like that this one’s bilingual too. Your review has reminded me of a round-the-world cookbook my Mum got for me probably thirty years ago now and which is one of my faves. I’m inspired to consult it again 🙂

    Stephanie Jane (Literary Flits) recently posted: What's in my wardrobe?
  4. I received this one, too, Anne, and I was really impressed with it also. Loved your review, too. Now I want to make sure I make the plov, minus the chicken (vegetarian). I made the Hungarian stew so far and really enjoyed it!

    • Well you would need to modify some of the dishes then. You might be able to use tofu. My daughter likes that bu I’m allergic to soy. Yes, we are all kinds of fun. Really other than soy and cucumbers I can eat anything. Neither of us eats gluten. She is GF and doesn’t eat red meat.

      Anyway, I really appreciated the page layout and gorgeous photos.

      Anne recently posted: Time by Penny Reid