Nice Collection of Traditional Foods
593509
I wasn't born and raised in Iceland - but my dad was and all of his side of the family still lives in Iceland.  Because he didn't cook, much of my food growing up was not traditional Icelandic foods and he had no recipes from his mother or sisters to have my mom cook, so I was thrilled to be able to find a collection of recipes that were specific to Icelandic cooking because while some dishes are very similar to other Scandinavian dishes, there are some that are totally Icelandic and you can't find anywhere else.  I looked through this book with my dad and he recalled foods and tastes and holidays.

The recipes themselves are relatively simple to follow although there are occasionally difficult ingredients to find.  I particularly enjoyed the history provided with the dishes and that the names of the foods were written in both Icelandic and English.  Overall, my only complaint is that I wish there were photos of the finished products, but I can live without it.  The book is smaller than most my other cookbooks (about 6x8in?) and hard cover - I had no problems getting it to sit open on the pages I wanted to follow.
834162
I think this is a nice collection of recipes.  Many for steak, chicken and pork.  I cannot eat the marinades with soy in it though.  My selection  is less.  I don't think it will be a problem finding something good in each category.
4625696
Worthwhile book with decent collection of recipes though clearly many are shared with other collections by the author.  For example (oops) one of the soups has chicken stock as an ingredient!  I expect most vegetarians will be able to use common sense and sub vegetable stock, but it gives the idea. I will admit I was hoping for something a bit less generic but I did learn some new things and will try some of the recipes.
860859
The Essential NYT Cookbook is a wonderful catalogue of recipes collected over decades. It conveys an enormous variety of ways to cook a main ingredient: I can't even count the number of recipes for things like beef or chicken.

It is commendable that the author has taken the time to research and collect all these recipes and has done a wonderful job in selecting those that are either truly original or with a touch of creativity and uniqueness.

My only negative critique is that sometimes the recipes are too schematical and give way for error or the need to interpret. This is mostly due to the fact that these recipes were published on the newspapers and therefore had to be edited for efficiency of space. Something understandable but, nevertheless, it is what limits this book from being a culinary legend.
2963838
Having traveled to South Africa twice, eaten marvelous food while there and wanting to share that food with my family back home, I was looking for a cookbook that was constructed with metric conversions, with background for the foods and with pictures.  This book fit the bill.  For each area of South Africa the reader gets some history and culture as well as what foods are rather important to each area.  At times I find it's oddly organized as it's partly sections of territory and partly types of food, but I'm adjusting and really liking the book.
4358675
This is a great collection of quick, inexpensive and easy to cook meals.  The author has included anecdotes from her family life that make this book interesting to read.  Most of the ingredients are basic panty items and are frequently on sale.  The meals are large and may provide enough to be able to freeze for another meal, depending on your family size. There is also a selection that includes basic recipes for holiday meals.  This book would be great for new cooks as well as a fun book for more seasoned ones.
892826
Who knew Philadelphia was more than cheesesteaks and soft pretzels with mustard?  This recipe book is a mix of some useful recipes and some pretty quirky dishes from colonial times.  Many of the recipes are from the menu of old Philadelphia society hotels, and are pretty fancy fare.  For someone into cooking, this is a unique collection.  For me, there were enough tasty things that were not too much work, to make it worth purchasing this book, which is out of print.  I got it used, in great condition.
2396420
Visually, this is a very lovely book.  There are not a lot of recipes, but the ones that are included have nice photos, and seem easy and delicious. This is a perfect book for someone such as myself who wasn't raised in a Polish household but is interested in the culture, including cuisine. I'm very pleased to have it!
4712618
Covers classic Maine foods: lobsters, mussels, blueberries, and baked beans with some old style recipes and modern variations.

More interesting are numerous sidebars touching on various aspects of the growing Maine "foodie" scene. New restaurants, growers, stores, and farms are highlighted.

A few maps would have been nice,and some of the recipes might be too far from convention for traditionalists.

A must have for any "Maine-o-phile"-native or those who wished they were.  I found it simply "pleasant" to read. Do yourself a favor: get some mud from the seashore, throw some sea-salt in the air, turn your TV to "Scenes of the North Atlantic,"  and read this book.
380582
Good cookbook; very gourmet. I don't use the recipes using grains, but I like the author's emphasis on ancestral foods.
4412623
This is a nice cookbook to add to your collection.  Each recipe has photographs of the finished product, and many photographs of the steps involved in making each recipe.  The recipes are fairly healthy, and kid approved! This book offers some unique recipes, as well as some tried and true recipes.  The book also covers nutrition based on the food pyramid, which was the only negative for me.  I firmly believe past and present food pyramids focus way too heavily on carbohydrates and low fat diets.  Nevertheless, if parents supervise the recipes and make sure their children are choosing recipes that contain whole grains and healthy fats like butter and olive oil, then this cookbook will help their child to eat closer to the earth.  I can't emphasize enough to cut-out all high fructose corn syrup and trans fats from your diet.  I highly recommend Michael Pollan's books, esp. "In Defense of Food."
823837
I had purchased this book for my sister as a birthday gift.  Since then she has made quite a number of the recipes.  I remember trying the coconut type pudding, the espresso cookies and some other recipes that I don't quite remember the names of.  They have all been pretty good.  It has a nice collection of recipes.  If you are a visual person, then you might be dissapointing as the pictures are so old fashioned looking and kind of arranged/decorated in a cheesy fashion.  But then again, you aren't eating the pictures so.....
2660161
The photos are lovely. Some recipes were missing that I expected to find in the 100; others surprised me.
I made the Skillet Lasagna and the Baked Manicotti thus far so I still have further exploration of the contents.
The results were fine.
1550725
It's nice to have a great collection of hearty Irish dishes in one book.  There's a good variety, categorized by course, and the ingredients are readily available.  It's also helpful that measurements are not metric.  Yay!

I have a few nitpicks:

For at least one dish, the picture shows ingredients that aren't listed in the recipe.  It's easy enough to add carrots, but why not list them?

I can't recall one recipe that includes garlic.  Again, easy enough to add, but a cheese fondue without garlic?

At the end of the book, there are some pretty annoying pleas both to buy others of the author's books and to leave favorable Amazon reviews.  Please.

The worst transgression is that most, if not all, of the photographs are from Creative Commons (thus explaining the carrotless recipe, and the picture of the matchstick parsnips when the recipe calls for quartered).  This means the dishes were not photographed for this book.
4564730
This cookbook is perfect for down home comfort food that your country mom used to make. There are some treasures here!
903697
I don't usually review cook books because I have so many, and so many are meh quality. But this one stands out from the crowd. It has a nice mix of different cuisines, and nice explanations of some of the cultural differences. It talks about, and has nice color pictures of, the markets, the ingredients, the cultures. The ingredients are not too exotic, and should be available from any good Asian market. Fresh galangal and fresh tumeric root can be hard to find, but larger Asian markets will have them. Vine ripened pineapple is almost impossible to find in the continental USA, the stores here only have pineapples picked green. Green pineapples will ripen on the shelf, but will never develop the sugar content they would have had if ripened on the plant, but other than that, these recipes are easy to make in most US kitchens.
4543268
As a British ex-pat, I have been collecting these lovely little books every time I go back home to visit, and especially when I travel to places in Britain other than my home town.  Each book is a selection of traditional recipes accompanied by lovely old pictures of country life in past times.  I have used recipes from these books probably more than any other cookbooks I own, as they are so easy to use and bring back memories of my grandmothers cooking.  I have about 20 of these tiny books at the present time, and am still collecting them.