The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: The Recipe Club of St. Paul's Orthodox Cathedral

The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: The Recipe Club of St. Paul's Orthodox Cathedral
by St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church

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Book Summary Information

Author: St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-06-05
ISBN: 0060921293
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks

Book Reviews of The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: The Recipe Club of St. Paul's Orthodox Cathedral

Book Review: Not "complete" but a pretty good start
Summary: 5 Stars

I bought this cookbook in an attempt to replace my mother's Greek cookbook put out by the ladies of our local Greek Orthodox church (titled "Our Kouzina") that someone actually stole from me over 20 years ago! It doesn't quite work as a replacement, the stolen cookbook was twice as thick, and more thorough, offering many variations on the same recipe, depending upon what part of Greece the recipe writer may have came from. Having said that, this is the closest I have found to my mom's St. Andrew's version. I actually lost my first copy of this book as well and bought it again on Amazon. My father, who is from the Kyklathes group of Greek islands, taught me to cook Greek food and cook in general and would think it preposterous for me to even buy a Greek cookbook (sorry Dad!) My aunts and uncles all have their own specialties and I've learned those as well, but I can only keep so many recipes/measurements in my head, hence the need for a basic cookbook to use as reference.

Not every Greek recipe I grew up with or make on a regular basis, is in this book, but the recipes that are in the book are fairly standard and taste pretty authentic. One exception I've found so far, is the recipe for pastitsio, and that could be a regional difference or just the way MY uncle makes it, so if you like your pastitsio in a square block (I do not), you won't mind. If you are using this as a reference book, you'll know how to tweak the recipes so they are like your yia yia's, I'm sure. The lack of pictures isn't an issue for me, but I realize it may be an issue for the novice to Greek food. To those of you who feel you need pictures, I would say you really don't, make the recipe once and you'll know what it looks like. Ok, I'm teasing there, but honestly Greek food is comfort food and is not so complex that you will be lost without a glossy picture of the completed recipe, trust me. There ARE illustrations for recipes that need them. On the negative side, it would be nice to be able to look up all the recipes by their Greek names in a straightforward manner, though. For example if you want to make Loukamathes, you won't find it in the index, unless you look up fritters, or Diples unless you look up honey rolls. That may not be an issue for some people, but I've never heard of these foods referred to in English and it's just a wee bit annoying to have to figure out what a recipe might possibly be called in English in order to find it quickly. Also on the negative, the section on working with phyllo dough is incomplete, but that may be because I was taught differently, either way I go with how I was taught. If there were 1/2 stars, I'd probably rate this 4 1/2 stars for those two things, but I'm giving it 5 rather than 4 stars, because I know I'm a tiny bit on the picky side.

I do think that if you are new to Greek cooking, this is a good primer, the recipes are uncomplicated, as they should be. If you are a complete novice to cooking period, you will be happy to find many simple recipes that you can make and be edible at the same time. Most of the ingredients, with the exception of some of the cheeses will be found in any supermarket. Greek oregano can sometimes be hard to find, I don't know why, a lot of stores only carry regular oregano and not both. Make sure you buy the Greek variety, or even better, grow some in a hanging basket in your kitchen window, it smells and looks great and is very easy to grow. If you are vegetarian, lactose intolerant or health/heart conscious, there are a lot of lenten (without meat or dairy) recipes for you to enjoy, two of my favorites are fasoulatha (navy bean soup) and faki (extremely tasty lentil soup.) If you are cooking on a tight budget, there are lots of inexpensive, yet flavorful recipes in this book (you can eat cheaply AND eat healthy unprocessed food.) Every year ravani (farina cake) was my go-to recipe for my daughter's school bake sales/class parties, everyone loved it, and it will feed 30+ people on the cheap. Lastly, If you grew up eating Greek food or are an old hand at cooking Greek food, but have just forgotten a few things here and there, I think you'll be happy with this collection of recipes as well.

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Summary of The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: The Recipe Club of St. Paul's Orthodox Cathedral

More than 200 unique and intriguing recipes for all kinds of Greek dishes.

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