Reviews

Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking by Bonnie Frumkin Morales, Deena Prichep

voya_k's review

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5.0

Absolutely gorgeous and friendly guide to Russian cooking. 5 stars for explaining the flavors of those beautiful wrapped candies that I buy every Xmas at the Serbian grocery.

bob_muller's review

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5.0

This is the best "Russian" cookbook I've seen, and I'm seriously considering scheduling a trip to Portland to eat at the restaurant! The best part of the cookbook is of course the food, but the narrative and notes run a very close second. The index makes for heavy reading, but everything else in the book is so well written and coherent that I read straight through it in a few days. The recipes are detailed and thoughtful and include weights as well as volume, and the details on constructing a meal (and the zakuski table in particular) are wonderful. I love the graphics that wipe away the complexities of the myriad variations on things like all the dumplings. I love the flavored vodkas and the recipe for kvas. I immediately went online and bought a pelmenitsa, which was new to me. I would have liked a more thorough grounding in soups, but that's probably a book by itself (hint, hint). And another book on an even bigger array of zakuski!

anyanka's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

5.0

jenniedee's review

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5.0

I was torn a bit between four and five stars, but this book is such a joy to read I had to go with five. The recipes I've tried have been amazing. I highly recommend the recipe for Georgian Lobio, if you make nothing else. If you like beets and pickles, the Vinegret Salad is amazing; if you don't... well, more for those of us who do, right? Some of the dishes seem a little impractical but it is, after all, a chef's cookbook. I'd love to make hundreds of pelmeni. Maybe someday I'll have a few free hours to do so.
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