MSNative Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) My middle son loves cooking-especially as a way to learn about different cultures. He is a fairly advanced cook and loves different spices and ingredients. What are your favorite books or sites for authentic recipes from different countries or cultures? Edited March 31, 2016 by MSNative Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Eat Your Way Around the World? http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Your-Way-Around-World/dp/1931397368 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSNative Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 We loved that book! He has cooked his way through that and passport on my plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 It depends on what you mean by authentic. It's actually quite difficult to find truly authentic international cookbooks with recipes that are doable by your typical US food lover. The ones I like best are cookbooks that are practical and tell you where they change things to make them work in another place but that don't really dumb things down or try to be too trendy. Even with an amazing Vietnamese grocery store next to my house, I still have to make some compromises on Vietnamese food, for example. Mexican- anything by Diana Kennedy, Yucatan by David Sterling, and Authentic Mexican by Bayless. Or go online and get recipes in Spanish. If your son likes to bake, My Sweet Mexico is good. Tacopedia is wonderful too, although it's not so much about the recipes and it probably helps if you have some taco experience. Middle East and Mediterranean- I've never found anything I like better than Paula Wolfert's or Claudia Roden's books. Pok Pok is amazing. Please to the Table is a great book about mostly Russian Soviet cooking. The salads are the best part. Uzbekcooking.blogspot.com is the place to go for Uzbek food. I don't have another good, usable suggestion for Central Asia. I love anything by Naomi Duguid and/or Jeffrey Alford. Their earlier books are a little more limited because you couldn't get as many different ingredients in the 90s as you can today. I think Beyond the Great Wall is their best, most authentic, and most unique book. Most of their cookbooks have some very good flatbread recipes. A new, really good flatbread book is The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook. Imagine that all of the cookbook titles are italicized. :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) greek cooking in an american kitchen. put out by a local greek orthodox church, using family recipes of their greek immigrant members. the frugal gourmet has one on immigrant ancestors. the recipes come from immigrants he knew. has page descriptions of various groups to get an idea of some of the history. the 'big' immigrant groups (e.g. Chinese, French) - that will have their own very large cookbook genre - are generally not represented. I'd love to find a copy of (something like) the mothers and fathers associate of the Chinese community. from seattle, it was a fund raiser. I got some recipes out of one that belonged to a friend - and boy were they good. Edited March 31, 2016 by gardenmom5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 He might enjoy the american heritage cookbook. it has some200+ yo recipes, including actual menus of the period. some from immigrants. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSNative Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 It depends on what you mean by authentic. It's actually quite difficult to find truly authentic international cookbooks with recipes that are doable by your typical US food lover. The ones I like best are cookbooks that are practical and tell you where they change things to make them work in another place but that don't really dumb things down or try to be too trendy. Even with an amazing Vietnamese grocery store next to my house, I still have to make some compromises on Vietnamese food, for example. Mexican- anything by Diana Kennedy, Yucatan by David Sterling, and Authentic Mexican by Bayless. Or go online and get recipes in Spanish. If your son likes to bake, My Sweet Mexico is good. Tacopedia is wonderful too, although it's not so much about the recipes and it probably helps if you have some taco experience. Middle East and Mediterranean- I've never found anything I like better than Paula Wolfert's or Claudia Roden's books. Pok Pok is amazing. Please to the Table is a great book about mostly Russian Soviet cooking. The salads are the best part. Uzbekcooking.blogspot.com is the place to go for Uzbek food. I don't have another good, usable suggestion for Central Asia. I love anything by Naomi Duguid and/or Jeffrey Alford. Their earlier books are a little more limited because you couldn't get as many different ingredients in the 90s as you can today. I think Beyond the Great Wall is their best, most authentic, and most unique book. Most of their cookbooks have some very good flatbread recipes. A new, really good flatbread book is The Hot Bread Imagine that all of the cookbook titles are italicized. :) That is an excellent point. We have several international grocery stores but even then we have been making substitutions too. Thank you for your recs and the laugh. Please imagine all of my posts punctuated perfectly! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSNative Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 greek cooking in an american kitchen. put out by a local greek orthodox church, using family recipes of their greek immigrant members. the frugal gourmet has one on immigrant ancestors. the recipes come from immigrants he knew. has page descriptions of various groups to get an idea of some of the history. the 'big' immigrant groups (e.g. Chinese, French) - that will have their own very large cookbook genre - are generally not represented. I'd love to find a copy of (something like) the mothers and fathers associate of the Chinese community. from seattle, it was a fund raiser. I got some recipes out of one that belonged to a friend - and boy were they good. That is a great idea. I will check these out. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSNative Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 He might enjoy the american heritage cookbook. it has some200+ yo recipes, including actual menus of the period. some from immigrants. Thanks! And I like the price point too. $2.50 works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 We are focusing on geography this year and have used quite a few of these recipes. They are grouped by country. We have loved it! Globaltableadventure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSNative Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 We are focusing on geography this year and have used quite a few of these recipes. They are grouped by country. We have loved it! Globaltableadventure That looks great! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) I agree with Amira on Claudia Roden and Middle Eastern food. Yum. This is my favorite. I also love Yotam Ottolenghi's stuff... Jerusalem is a favorite, too. For Iranian/Persian food, I love Najmieh Batmanglij's books. We have her festivals/celebration book, "Food of Life." Emeril has a book for kids called "There's a Chef in my World" Rick Bayless also had a kids' cookbook out that he did with his daughter. "Rick and Lanie's Excellent Adventure" There are so many good blogs out there, for every cuisine. For Turkish, Binnur can't be beat. Edited April 1, 2016 by umsami 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I tend to just use Google when looking for foreign recipes. I usually want to make something I've read about or seen on TV rather than something I've seen in a recipe book. CNN readers vote rendang No 1 of the worlds most delicious food? I head to Wikipedia for an overview, then compare a range of recipes to see what's essential and what's optional, then pick one that sounds authentic but fits any specific requirements I might have about ingredients or equipment. Rendang, by the way, earned its ranking fairly, based on my experiment, and is worth the hours it takes to cook! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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