Wonderful Introduction to Portuguese Cooking
352090
Buy this book for the stewed chicken and rice recipe alone... this one was a huge favorite at our house.  This book is a great introduction to a wonderful but little-known cuisine, and should provide you with hours of cooking fun.  One small caveat: the wine chapter has next to nothing about Port, Portugal's most famous contribution to the world of wine.  I'm not sure how the author missed this... she did a fine and thorough job on everything else.  But overall a fine book and one which even Emeril's mother Hilda could enjoy :)
2676734
It is wonderfully illustrated with creative approaches to some traditional recipes. The prep instructions were clear and the background stories on some of the authors favorite dishes were interesting.
1559067
This cookbook has been a wonderful addition to my cooking library. Originally a European book, some US readers might find a few things confusing, and some of the ingredients a bit hard to find, but with a little looking beyond the normal grocery store was able to find things a-ok.

The pictures are beautiful and helpful, displaying not only the dishes for the recipes (though sadly not -all- have photographs), but also showing helpful directions on how to prepare the dishes and handle the food. It also includes some interesting side notes to make you familiar with what some of the ingredients are, what they are used for, how they are made, etc.

I highly suggest this to anyone who wants to go beyond the normal and put a bit of extra into their cooking but are not familiar with dealing with things in the kitchen. Does wonders to make one feel more comfortable.
1911248
Having heard so much about Tex Mex and the love Americans have for this style of cooking but not knowing much about it living abroad I just had to purchase this book to have a go and see for myself. I must admit the combination of Mexican, one of my favourite cuisines, and I assume that extra zing to the meals are the Texan flavours coming through are delicious. I might be a novice at this style of cooking however I know good food when I taste it and Ms Richards did an amazing job putting this cookbook together. Being a beginner, I found the recipes extremely easy to follow, and as a visual person who prefers illustrations of the product I didn't find it much of a hindrance, which was a bonus and based on the simplicity of Ms. Richards descriptions

I would very much recommend this cookbook to all that like to vary the flavours, tastes, cuisines in their daily lives that like me like to test and taste new and interesting recipes.

I plan to purchase others in the Tex-Mex series as I was so pleased with these recipes and want to explore beyond breakfastnot that I leave these recipes just for breakfastYummy!
415014
I gave this as a gift to an American family with Portuguese heritage, and they thoroughly enjoy it, including the narrative in the introduction.  Good source of authentic recipes, also.
1551588
I am a Gibraltarian living far away from home so this was something I was looking forward to. The cookbook is nicely presented with a good selection of classic Gibraltar dishes like calentita and torta de acelga and many other recipes both traditional and modern. It is a good book for sharing with people from other countries who want to know more about our cuisine, too.
4087700
A most interesting combination of Portuguese Colonial History and the recipes that history brought to Portugal.
4126055
I snagged this book after seeing it for free on the Kindle.  After receiving it and trying a few of the recipes, I would gladly have paid for it.

My family and I love Mexican food and have travelled extensively throughout Mexico over many years, so we know what is good.

I love the layout of this book and that it gives you an informative introduction into Mexican cooking and some of the most basic ingredients you need in your pantry and fridge to turn out a wonderful Mexican meal.

We have tried several recipes in this book and already have a few favorites.  I love the fish tacos and the Salsa Verde (green salsa) has always been one of my most favorite salas to enjoy.  I'm excited to have a great recipe now of my own to make.

Mexican food is filled with layers and layers of flavor, but this book breaks down and how to cook most authentic Mexican dishes and lives up to the title of "Easy".

I highly recommend this for anyone who loves a good Mexican meal.  My family was not disappointed.
3174337
A great variety of unique recipes.  I became a fan of Portuguese cuisine during the ten years I lived in south coastal Massachusetts and am glad I found this item.
4003798
I never really learned to cook, so Ms. Anderson's book was a welcome find at my local library. I liked it so much that I checked it out twice, and I  am now purchasing it. Our favorites are the Strombolis and the Beef stew.  Although many of the recipes were quite high in fat, we don't eat these  dishes every night, mabey once a week. I found the research Pam did very  interesting and informative. She really gave me a starting point. I will  refine her recipes to make our new favorites!!
948073
`Tapas, the Little Dishes of Spain' by noted Spanish cookbook specialist Penelope Casas is one of my very favorite types of books which Ms. Casas has brought off with great success. It is part of his great influence on American culinary writing that even this recent book written after the death of Craig Claiborne, still shows his fingerprints as a major influence on Ms. Casas actually producing the book.

This is only the second book on Spanish cuisine I have reviewed, and it is clearly more valuable than the first, `My Kitchen in Spain' by Janet Mendel. While both Casas and Mendel know Spanish cuisine as well as anyone writing in English, Casas is a bit more of the scholar which shows in her deeper background information on the nature and origins of `Tapas' and the great variety of Spanish tapas bars in Spain. This variety should be no surprise to someone familiar with the Italian food scene, as it closely parallels the variety of `restaurante', `trattoria', `osteria', and `enoteca' in Italy. The book also benefits, I'm sure, from the firm hand of the `El Suprimo' of cookbook editors, Janet Jones.

A quick look at the book gives one the sense that it is a no nonsense collection of recipes with few frills and an emphasis on number of recipes rather than on the quality of recipe writing. This is a mistaken impression. The very first thing I did was to compare Ms. Casas' recipe for the tapas poster child, `Tortilla a la Espanola' with that in Ms. Mendel's book (which I have just finished making) and find that Ms. Casas' description is virtually identical to Ms. Mendel's with the added touch of suggesting to interleave sliced onions with the potatoes rather than just sprinkling in chopped onions. This simple change is eminently in keeping with the consistency you want, where you don't want the potato slices to stick together to create an undifferentiated mass of potato. Ms. Casas also adds a mini-recipe for a tomato sauce to the Tortilla, something I have seen with no other recipe for this dish. But then, I give credit back to Ms. Mendel for largely duplicating a recipe from a book that specializes in Tapas recipes.

Aside from the quality of the recipes, the large number of recipes, and the very informative introduction to the subject, the next best thing about the book is the organization of recipes into chapters that most easily distinguish styles of preparation and presentation. The chapters are:

Tapas in sauce

Marinades, Pates, Salads, and Other Cold Tapas

Tapas with Bread or Pastry

Tapas with Some Last Minute Preparation

I'm tempted to say that this organization could be have been taken one or two steps further. It would not have been hard to imagine all the frittata styled dishes to be in a separate chapter. The author warns us to not serve too many similar tapas at one party. For example, don't do too many bread based tapas at one time. This (and tapas in general) remind me of Thomas Keller's rationale behind small servings. He argues that the first bite impresses, the second bite verifies that the first was not a fluke, and with the third bite, boredom starts to set in. One could easily apply the same logic to using tapas as the basis for an entire meal. Otherwise, even if tapas are served in their usual role as a supplement to sipping sherry or other afternoon drink, they should still be kept small so as to not blunt the appetite for supper.

This book is an excellent supplement to Clifford A. Wright's `Little Foods of the Mediterranean', Joyce Goldstein's book `Enoteca', Anissa Helou's `Mediterranean Street Food', Diane Kochilas' `Meze' and Carol Field's `Italy in Small Bites'.

Highly recommended.
3313213
This is hands-down the best cookbook I've ever used, let alone Brazilian cookbook (of which I've used four or five). The recipes are eclectic, the ingredients are easy to find in the US (unlike many Brazilian cookbooks in English that forget that most of their readers live outside of Brazil), and none of the recipes are over-the-top difficult. I've made probably about 20 out of the 100 in here and they've all given me great saudades (~nostalgia) for my time in Brazil: po de queijo, brigadeiros, moqueca, feijoada, etc. Muito bom mesmo. Another cool part was that the author was easily reachable by email for a few additional questions and thanks. 10/10, muito obrigado Leticia!
3710365
This is the first cookbook that I have stayed up reading in bed.  I am not a student in chef school - this book is a gem for anyone interested in people.  I loved finding out about other people's family history and heritage, and my own.  The introductions to each ethnic group are short and informative.  What makes this cookbook really special, though, is its style.  The introduction is full of comments about good cooking practices that made me laugh out loud for their truth and wit.  I also liked the sensetive comments and suggestions about food substitutions for people with religious and other dietary restrictions.  Finally, the recipe directions are simple and clear, never omitting possible adjustments that sometimes are necessary, which experienced chefs would know, but that novices like myself would miss.  There are clear illustrations and as always in this book, gentle humour that makes reading and cooking a joy. I look forward to the author's next book.
875343
Marco Canora and Catherine Young's new cookbook is beautiful to look at, and a pleasure to cook from.  The recipes are clear, direct and understand how people cook at home.  I have just started cooking from it and I am having trouble deciding what to prepare next because everything looks so good.  I have already bought three copies as Christmas gifts. I think it's a must for anyone interested in fresh delicious food.
4107442
This cookbook does a great job of presenting Northern Mexican cooking -- until I came across this book, I'd found the choice was between cookbooks that concentrated on the more exotic South (e.g. Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the Yucatan), the Mexican American experience (e.g. Cocina de la Familia), or Tex Mex ... not a whole lot on Sonora, Chihuahua and Coahuila.
The book is attractively laid out, with well written recipes that make me want to fire up the grill and get cooking each time I leaf through it. Also, the book starts with a very handy no nonsense introduction to chiles and other essential ingredients which should appeal to folks who've had no luck securing a steady supply of epazote or huitlacoche.
This book now sits on my kitchen bookshelf alongside books by Diana Kennedy and Zarela Martinez ... unlike a few others by better know writers, that have gone the way of garage sales ;-)
390042
A wonderful addition to my collection.  Country Cooking of Greece is not just a cookbook but also an ode to an entire school of cooking with little stories, anecdotes and pictures spread throughout.  I've tried a number of the recipes and so far none of them have let me down.  I love that she took the time to explain various ingredients as well, such as the difference between Greek and Mexican oregano.  The entire volume is very well done.

The book does have two minor drawbacks.  The first is once in a while some of the ingredients aren't quite made clear or there are no suggested substitutes for things not available in this country (or hard to find).  One recipe calls for "sausage, preferably seasoned with fennel" and that's it.  There are so many types of sausage it would have been nice to have more clarification (and sweet italian sausage works well in the recipe).  While not a problem for experienced cooks, this might cause problems for people just starting out.
1520365
This book is a fantastic introduction to making authentic mexican food. I myself have been looking for an excuse to learn more authentic techniques, and this book has me satisfied. Fantastic addition to anyone's cooking collection.