African Books - Page 3

The South African Illustrated Cookbook

Lehla Eldridge

Amazon Price: $9.31 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Struik Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $5.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

south african gem. 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Lehla eldridge's 'The South African Illustrated Cookbook' is a slim paperback volume that a friend sent me as a gift.
It nestles modestly between Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver on my kitchen shelf, those two enormous volumes (so difficult to read in bed) are not consulted as often or as lovingly.
I love South African food, the warmth of the colours of it, the melting sunshine taste of it in the mouth, and this book captures perfectly the bright informality of the African table.
Beautifully and humorously illustrated with watercolour impressions of people, markets, dogs and dishes, this is a must for anyone who enjoys the complete cooking experience from the first word of a carefully collected recipe to the last mouthful with friends and wine.
And you can read it in bed. Lehla Eldridge has produced a gem.

Editorial Review:

This illustrated cookbook makes a wonderful gift and a memento for both locals and tourists. The illustrator has captured various landmarks around South Africa to accompany the many local recipes she has garnered from cooks around the country. Recipes include traditional Xhosa, Zulu, English, Afrikaans, Cape Malay, Indian, Portuguese and contemporary South African dishes.

Brown Sugar: Soul Food Desserts from Family and Friends

Joyce White

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $6.84

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Spiced with stories of family and friends, sweetened by memories of holidays and celebratory meals, Brown Sugar is a slice of life from African American communities across the country. In this collection of recipes and tales, Joyce White passes along generations of kitchen wisdom and dessert favorites, as well as fresh and creative variations on classic sweets.

From the wedding reception-ready Coconut Peach lake to the simple joy of Gingered Tropical Fruits, these are desserts for any occasion. The flavors are comforting and festive, as are the many poignant stories that White shares. A sublime Sweet Potato Cheesecake is passed along from a hardworking mother in California, while Three Sisters Coconut Pie is White's composite of three good friends' favorite pie recipes, each reflecting their unique backgrounds. The results are at once innovative and familiar.

Whether you are looking to make the perfect Lemon Meringue Pie or to preserve summer fruit, these recipes will satisfy your sweet tooth and add heirloom-quality recipes to your collection. The complex flavors of Star Anise Peach Ice Cream and West Indian Christmas Cake are within reach of any home cook, thanks to White's masterful guidance and the tips and cook's secrets that she provides. White's recipes encourage creativity, offering suggestions for variations as well as a solid foundation for your own soul-inspired sweets.

Brown Sugar is warm, memorable, and universal, and you will be eager to share its recipes and stories, to create your own sweet memories.

A Kitchen Safari: Stories & Recipes From the African Wilderness

Yvonne Short, Dumi Ndlovu

Amazon Price: $21.86 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Struik Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $17.90

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Editorial Review:

Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa) has a commitment to African hospitality that has resulted in the establishment of some of the finest lodges and safaris on the continent. This stunning cookbook showcases the heart, soul and very essence of CC Africa's passion for pampering its guests. Part of this hospitality is its unique way of creating Pan-African cuisine, which includes the bite of South East Asia and Portuguese-African-influenced peri-peris, to West African grains and pulses. Dozens of recipes are illustrated with photos of the food and the landscapes, people and animals of the African safari camps. This book serves not only as a cookbook it is also fantasy travel experience.

Couscous: Fresh and Flavorful Contemporary Recipes

Kitty Morse

List Price: $16.95 By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $1.75

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Food, Poor Editing 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

My first attempt was "Couscous Fritters with Fresh Corn and Tomato Salsa". Delicious! Every recipe tried was well seasoned and was what I'd call an "eager to repeat winner", if you don't mind fighting past all the errors.

In "Couscous Fritters", the instructions you're supposed to turn to page 20 for her technique on how to peel and seed tomatoes. There is nothing about tomatoes on page 20. It's really page 22. The recipe calls for 2/3 cup broth, but what kind? Step 1 puts all the ingredients for the salsa together while in step 2 you are asked to prepare the fritters. Among the ingredients you're supposed to mix together is the "remaining salt". What remaining salt? You used it all in step 1 for the salsa. I think she meant the cumin.

Recipes are well thought up but somehow, either the test kitchen or the editors goofed. If you are someone who really needs recipes to be right, skip this book. You'll pull your hair out trying to figure out what's wrong. If you can work around the mistakes and really want to try couscous, you'll find some really tasty meals in here. My copy has lots of notes and cross-outs. I'm sure yours will too.

Editorial Review:

Bored with spaghetti? Tired of rice? Discover the exotic world of couscous! Fluffy and foolproof, couscous cooks in in less than five minutes and makes aperfect accompaniment to any dish! North African cusiine, couscous is a hot trend in contemporary cooking—and author Kitty Morse is here with the most exciting and inventive ways to get couscous beyond the land of Casablanca and straight into your kitchen. From Couscous Paella to Couscous Mango Mousse, Couscous will revolutionize your culinary repertoire. You may wonder what you ate before discovering this versatile and delectable staple.

Great Book of Couscous: Classic Cuisines of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia

Copeland Marks

List Price: $24.95 By: Donald I. Fine Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $1.78

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Copeland Marks has written prolifically about authentic ethnic food, covering every place from Guatemala to the Himalayas. In The Great Book of Couscous Marks presents the history and culinary brilliance of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia; the region of North Africa also know as the Maghreb. Couscous is a common cooking ingredient, along spices--particularly cinnamon, cumin, coriander and paprika, in all these countries. Each of these areas was also originally populated by the Berbers, occupied by the Ottoman Turks and the Arabs, then colonized by the French. These cultures heavily influenced the local cooking, with some differences in each.

Moroccan food is the most complex and sophisticated, Marks explains. Dishes may blend half a dozen spices, along with dried fruit and salt preserved lemons or olives. Tunisian food is relatively simple and hot, though many cooks will still find it amply robust and intriguing. Algerian food, Marks claims, is the most creative, as well as the most marked by French influences. Armchair chefs will enjoy the colorful descriptions of the markets, visits with home cooks, and experiences in restaurants. The recipes for the many tagines or stews, roasted chickens, and other dishes are easy to follow. Their ingredients are mostly available at supermarkets. The inclusion of Jewish dishes from the Maghreb make this a particularly interesting book for many people not familiar with the garlic-rich Moroccan Chickpea Stew or Algerian Merguez Juive, a sausage made with lamb or beef, cumin, coriander, and fiery chile powder. Though it takes some work to prepare the clear, precisely written recipes Marks provides, the aromatic, succulent results are worth the effort. --Dana Jacobi

The African Kitchen: A day in the life of a Safari Chef

Josie Stow, Jan Baldwin

Amazon Price: $15.60 List Price: $20.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Interlink Publishing Group Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $10.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

From a South African 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

As a South African and having spent time in the USA, I tried to think of ingredients etc that one would need if you were living outside of Africa, most seem easy to obtain. It's a beautiful book both in recipes and photos.Being a professional photographer it's a fun book to look at for the photos as well as different style of cooking. Most recipe books are static and don't motivate me into purchasing it, but this one caught me. It has a great African feel. Worth buying.

Editorial Review:

Africa is synonymous with adventure-a land of wild animals, colorful traditions and natural splendor. The African Kitchen is a culinary and visual feast, a food lover's tour of this fascinating continent. The guide is leading safari chef Josie Stow, who takes us through a day in the life of her bush kitchen. Today's most popular ingredients are used in exciting combinations with recipes for all occasions. Whether you are looking for a quick lunch or leisurely supper, breakfast or snack dishes, new ideas for the barbecue or recipes for a lavish dinner party, The African Kitchen will provide inspiration and enjoyment.

North African Cooking

Tess Mallos

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Editorial Review:

North African Cooking is an exciting collection of regional recipes encompassing Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. Unique specialties such as Moroccan Chicken with Apricots and Honey and Algerian Fish Tagine with Charmoula and Tomato are joined by better-known recipes such as Spiced Roast Lamb and Nut Shortbread Cookies.

With a sumptuous range of dishes from simple street fare to elaborate banquet food, this book is a wonderful introduction to North African cooking.

The Africa News Cookbook: 2African Cooking for Western Kitchens (Penguin Handbooks)

Inc. Africa News Service

List Price: $17.95 By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $6.25

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Don't pay attention to the editorial review! Buy this book!! 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I've had this book for years and can truly testify that it's one of the best cook books in my collection which includes classics like the Joy of Cooking by the Rombauer mother and daughter, and Cookwise by Shirley Corriher.
"The AFrica News Cookbook" has delicious recipes, including curry chicken, fish stew, that come from all over the continent. The book illustrates the various cultural mixes that distinguish each region and country.
Plus, the recipes are easy to make.
More ingredients are available since the book was published in 1986. I can buy palm oil at my local grocery store and I live in Cleveland.
This book is worth the money, whether you're a novice (like I was when I bought it) or experienced with African cooking.

You've got to add this to your collection! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

If only for one recipe, Doro Wat (my spelling may be off, I loaned out my copy and have never seen it again!) Chicken Stew, it is AMAZING!!!! Don't be put off by the ingredients (lots of cayenne pepper!) And making the aromatic Berbere, and Ghee yourself is a bit time consuming, but worth the experience and effort. (You can use your old coffee grinder) I made Doro Wat chicken for a party, after having some at a food festival and prying the recipe source from the chef, and it was the most well received dish I EVER served,(to a room of critics!) and I'm a great cook! Plus there are loads of other authentic African recipes,(from various countries) a cusine that gets over-looked too often!

Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way: Smokin' Joe Butter Beans, Ol' 'Fuskie Fried Crab Rice, Sticky-Bush Blackberry Dumpling, and Other Sea Island Favorites

Sallie Ann Robinson

Amazon Price: $19.96 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The University of North Carolina Press Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $5.30

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"If there's one thing we learned coming up on Daufuskie," remembers Sallie Ann Robinson, "it's the importance of good, home-cooked food." In this enchanting book, Robinson presents the delicious, robust dishes of her native Sea Islands and offers readers a taste of the unique, West African-influenced Gullah culture still found there.

Living on a South Carolina island accessible only by boat, Daufuskie folk have traditionally relied on the bounty of fresh ingredients found on the land and in the waters that surround them. The one hundred home-style dishes presented here include salads and side dishes, seafood, meat and game, rice, quick meals, breads, and desserts. Gregory Wrenn Smith's photographs evoke the sights and tastes of Daufuskie.

"Here are my family's recipes," writes Robinson, weaving warm memories of the people who made and loved these dishes and clear instructions for preparing them. She invites readers to share in the joys of Gullah home cooking the Daufuskie way, to make her family's recipes their own.

Taste of Eritrea: Recipes from One of East Africa's Most Interesting Little Countries (New Hippocrene Original Cookbooks)

Olivia Warren

List Price: $22.50 By: Hippocrene Books Amazon Marketplace: 10 new & used starting at $13.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Taste of Eritrea provides 100 recipes and a substantial amount of background on this little-known country on the eastern coast of Africa. The cooking of Eritrea shows strong influences from such diverse regions as neighboring Ethiopia, former ruler Italy, Turkey, and England. From Ethiopia comes the use of berberé, a fiery blend of red chilies, garlic, ginger and other aromatic spices; ghee, a kind of clarified butter seasoned with ginger and a distinctive blend of other ingredients, including celery seed and fenugreek; and ingera, a sourdough flatbread made from wheat flour or teff, a local grain. This dish of towel-size, spongy bread is used as both plate and eating utensil by Eritreans. Like the Ethiopians, they eat with their hands, tearing off pieces of this moist bread and using it to convey every bite of food to their mouth.

It may seem odd to find pizza and lasagna in an African cookbook, but while few Italians remain in their country, Eritreans still eat spaghetti, drink espresso, and love Macedonia di Frutta, a mixed fruit salad served everywhere. Easy dishes likely to please include Alicha, a mixed vegetable curry; spiced Eritrean Doughnuts; and Doro Zigni, a spicy chicken stew akin to the incendiary wats of Ethiopia. Author Olivia Warren opens Taste of Eritrea with a good description of the country, its history, and culture. Anyone planning a trip there will also find it somewhat useful as a travel guide. --Dana Jacobi