Turkish Books

Turquoise: A Chef's Travels in Turkey

Greg Malouf, Lucy Malouf

Amazon Price: $40.00 List Price: $50.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $27.28

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Editorial Review:

With terrain from rugged mountains to idyllic coastline Turkey has become a sought-after travel destination enjoyed not only for its beauty but its culinary wonders. In Turquoise Greg and Lucy Malouf visit spice markets and soup kitchens enjoy fish sandwiches on the Bosphorus and drink in ancient teahouses. The recipes inspired by their travels capture the enticing flavors that define Turkish cuisine from the ancient ruins of Pergamum to modern day Istanbul. Some are traditional favorites such as Little Kefta Dumplings in Minted Yogurt Sauce while many more—from Roast Chicken with Pine Nut and Barberry Pilav Stuffing to Pistachio Halva Ice Cream—are Greg's own flavored with his years of experience cooking Middle Eastern food. With its hundreds of luscious photographs Turquoise is a chance to share in this unforgettable Turkish journey.

Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook

Ozcan Ozan

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Periplus Editions Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $8.98

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Turkish Delight 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful cookbook for beginners or more experienced cooks of Turkish food. The ingredients are all in customary American style (no liters, ounces, or "Turkish coffee spoonfuls"). Instructions are clear and concise. Best of all there are closeup photos of many of the finished products - very helpful for those who don't know how the dish should look when served up. I like the Turkish serving utensils and other kitchenware (pepper grinder, wooden spoon) that add to the local scene. I also like the way the book gives the Turkish name of the food and then the American version in each recipe heading. Ozan has done an excellent job of giving all the information one needs to make these delicious dishes.

Editorial Review:

Enticing, exotic recipes fit for a Sultan's table - and your own discerning palates * Offers over 130 recipes, complete menu suggestions, and stunning full-colour photography throughout * Includes recipes for tangy egg-lemon soup, vegetable stuffed aubergines sauteed in fragrant olive oil, and richly stewed lamb on a bed of pllaf With an amazing array of recipes from exotic egg-lemon soup to stewed lamb, Turkish style, The Sultan's Kitchen offers over 130 tantalizing recipes, complete menu suggestions and wonderful photography. Both recipes and imagery will inspire any cook to create dishes fit for a sultan.

Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen

Ayla E. Algar

Amazon Price: $12.41 List Price: $17.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $6.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very Good With Exceptions 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Really a very good primer on Turkish cooking, utilizing ingreadients that are generally available in the US. There is, of course, an exception which is the famous red Turkish pepper that is hard to find in American markets. There are many recipes from different parts of teh country, although there are a few exceptions toits completeness. One of these is the lack of a recpie for the famous Turkish bulgur that is so ubquitous in that country. Another is a recipe for some of the basic salads, such as sheperd's salad or "seasonal" salad popular on so many restaurant menus. Also missing are recipes for some of the many mezes that are a staple of Turkish eating. Finally, I missed a recipe for thefamous Adana kebap (ground lamb kabob). This all being said, if you are going to have one Turkish cookbook, this would be a good one.

Editorial Review:

Turkish food is one of the world's great cuisines.Its taste and depth place it with French and Chinese; its simplicity and healthfulness rank it number one. Turkish-born Ayla Algar offers 175 recipes for this vibrant and tasty food, presented against the rich and fascinating backdrop of Turkish history and culture. Tempting recipes for kebabs, pilafs, meze (appetizers), dolmas (those delicious stuffed vegetables or vine leaves), soups, fish, manti and other pasta dishes, lamb, poultry, yogurt, bread, and traditional sweets such as baklava are introduced here to American cooks in accessible form. With its emphasis on grains, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, and other healthful foods, Turkish cooking puts a new spin on familiar ingredients and offers culinary adventure coupled with satisfying and delicious meals.

Eat Smart in Turkey: How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure, Second Edition (Eat Smart, 3)

Joan Peterson

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $11.16 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ginkgo Press Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $7.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

No traveler should be without an EAT SMART guide. 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 30 people found this review helpful.

The authors have written a series of Eat Smart books that no traveler to foreign countries should be without. Each book covers a separate country--Eat Smart in Turkey, Eat Smart in Brazil, Eat Smart in Indonesia and Eat Smart in Mexico--and is chock full of information that you won't find elsewhere within the covers of one easy-to-carry paperback. Individual chapters cover such topics as the history of the country's cuisine, regional foods, how to shop in the local markets, mail-order sources for suppliers of ingredients, and a collection of recipes for typical dishes found in that country. Especially useful is each book's extensive menu guide, listing menu terms alphabetically in the language of the foreign country, with a description of the dish in English. That section is followed by a chapter titled "Foods & Flavors"--listing the foreign terms for foods, spices, kitchen utensils and cooking techniques, with an English translation/description. These books are well researched, accurate and very informative. Highly recommended. --Sharon Hudgins, editor, Chile Pepper magazine

Editorial Review:

Joan and David Peterson have their priorities straight: in Turkey as in most places, it's food that comes first. A dictionary of menus and market foods of Turkey, this book is also a paean to Turkish cuisine. The history and culture involved in kebabs and yogurt is fascinating and the food glossary is a great help. Finally, the recipes are a delightful bonus because it's impossible to take an eating tour of Turkey without wanting to sample the goods again and again without having to fly half way around the world every time you crave sirkeli patlican.

The Cafe Paradiso Cookbook (Atrium Press) (Atrium Press)

Denis Cotter, Denis Cottev

Amazon Price: $27.69 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Attic Press Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $24.21

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The best vegetarian cookbook, from the greatest vegetarian chef .

"This is not only the best vegetarian restaurant in Ireland, but one of the best restaurants of any kind." So states Frommers in their 2003 Guide to Ireland. Café Paradiso is an unassuming little restaurant in the heart of Cork City in Ireland yet it has been hailed far and wide as "the best vegetarian restaurant in Europe" and so is a contender for best vegetarian restaurant in the world. Fodors claims it "serves Mediterranean-style food, which is so tasty that even dedicated meat-eaters forget it's vegetarian". The reason for all this praise is the owner and chef, Denis Cotter, a quiet unassuming man, not unlike his restaurant, who, like all great chefs, is an obsessive. His obsession is to create the most exciting vegetarian dishes possible with the freshest possible produce, an ambition he has realized with remarkable success. In this book he serves up 140 recipes that make the very best of whatever vegetables are freshest at any given time of the year. Cotter's The Café Paradiso Cookbook has been hailed, in the Bridgestone Guide to Ireland, as "the best cookbook ever written by a working chef."

Winner of the Gourmand World Cookbooks Award for Best Vegetarian Cookbook

Lonely Planet World Food Turkey (Lonely Planet World Food Guides)

Dani Valent, Jim Masters, Perihan Masters

List Price: $11.99 By: Lonely Planet Publications Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $0.38

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The writing gets very old very quickly. 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This guide disappointed me on our trip to Istanbul. the pictures are good and it does provide a lot of useful information about the kinds of food available and the cultural food habits of the Turks. However, the writing is bad. If you don't mind bad writing, then buy the book. Here's a sample sentence:
"The Turkish version of the pizza parlour is a slice of heaven if you're after quick and tasty belly fuel".
On the next page, there is a reference to "a between meal carbo tweak" and then later, "McWhoppers", These phrases and made-up words get old quickly when you are trying to read more than a page or two at a time.

If this doesn't bother you, then by all means, buy this book. If it does, read up by checking out a Turkish cookbook and your guidebook (like LP's Istanbul guide).
I think the author was trying to have fun but it gets old quickly. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it is better to keep to words that are in the dictionary.

Editorial Review:

For the traveller, Turkey is a feast even when you're not eating; a banquet of plenty expressed in colours, smells and customs. In this unique guide to the culture of food and drink in Turkey, you'll discover that with every scoop of pilav, or swig of raki, you learn more about the essence of Turkish culture. Afiyet olsun!

• an exploration of the regional influences which make up Turkish cuisine
• an intimate guide to home cooking, traditions and celebrating with food
• the definitive culinary dictionary, a quick reference glossary and useful phrases for every food & drink occasion
• tantalising photography & recipes

Turkish Cooking: Classic traditions, Fresh ingredients, Authentic flavours, Aromatic recipes

Ghillie Basan

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Aquamarine Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $13.10

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

mixed feelings. 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book because I already have the other one written by both Ghillie and Jonathan Basan, and I (mistakenly) thought that the recipes would be different. In fairness, some of them are, and some of them are a very slight variation on the ones found in their previous work. However, this book has stunning photography, if that's what you like, whereas their previous book, while being beautifully illustrated, does not focus so much on this aspect. This book does have some interesting and exciting recipes however (rose-petal sorbet for example) that I don't have anywhere else in my collection and do make me very glad I bought this book. If one had to choose between the two I personally would choose the other volume, because it is more for the serious practical cook. This book, well, I kind've move it away from the stove so it doesn't get anything spilled on it. There are a lot (lot) more recipes in their other work, but, saying that, the few I've made from this one are delicious and interesting, and the beautiful photography really makes you want to try them. In neither of the books written by these authors is there anything particularly unobtainable, except for things like mastic, salep and sumac. I live in Mexico and I know where to draw the line. But I think I'd have issues with those in UK too. I'd definitely reccomend this book, as an introduction to Turkish cooking for example, and maybe, if you're a more serious Turkish food afficionado, buy their earlier book afterwards.

Editorial Review:

Discover the mouthwateringly senual flavors of a classic cuisine with a blend of 75 authentic and contemporary recipes.

The Bazaars of Istanbul

Isabel Bocking, Laura Salm-reifferscheidt

Amazon Price: $37.80 List Price: $60.00 Not yet published By: Thames & Hudson Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $37.80

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Editorial Review:

The bazaar quarter of Istanbul is like a mirror of the city itself: many-faceted and hectic, extraordinarily beautiful and chaotic at the same time. On the historic peninsula, centuries-old market halls, mosques and stores share space with new concrete buildings and street kiosks. Spacious stores with brightly lit window displays compete with tiny cluttered shops in dark alleyways. This is place where the Thousand and One Nights and global chic come together, a meeting place of opposites: traditional craftsmanship and mass production, east and west, past and present, romance and practicality, kitsch and style. This book, brimful of photographs, guides the reader through a colourful world packed with fascinating history and people.

Cooking the Turkish Way: Including Low-Fat and Vegetarian Recipes (Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks)

Kari A. Cornell, Nurcay Turkoglu

Amazon Price: $25.26 List Price: $25.26 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Lerner Publications Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $17.47

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> People & Places -> Social Science -> Customs, Traditions, Anthropology

The Food and Cooking of Turkey: All the traditions, techniques and ingredients, including over 150 authentic recipes shown in 700 step-by-step photographs--discover ... the modern table (The Food and Cooking of)

Ghillie Basan

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.99 Usually ships in 3 to 4 weeks By: Lorenz Books Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $19.79

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Editorial Review:

In this exciting and comprehensive new book, Ghillie Basan explores the rich culinary history, culture and traditions of the Turkish people, the evolution of their cuisine, and the classic dishes that are known and loved all over the world.