Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook

I think this is my first time ever writing a review on Amazon... that’s how much I love this book!I rarely buy or use cookbooks anymore, but I’m a bit of a slavophile and love to cook, and wanted to delve into Russian cuisine. I’ve made 9 different recipes from this book so far, and they’ve all turned out exceptionally well. You can tell the authors put a lot of time into testing the recipes, because each thing I’ve made has had such a perfect balance and depth of flavors. I’m that person who usually feels the need to tweak most recipes (add way more garlic, less sugar, etc) but I wouldn’t change a single thing about any of these recipes so far.I disagree that the recipes are complicated or call for hard-to-find ingredients: they all seem quite simple, in fact, which is why I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how flavorful and complex they all taste!My favorite so far has been the pork and prune stew... but on the other side of the spectrum, the bulgar pilaf with garlic tahini sauce was also superb.I also appreciate the lack of photos- it shows that it can stand on the merit of its recipes, rather than the allure of overly-romanticized, digitally altered food pics.

I bought this book decades ago, and have made numerous recipes over the years. Not a dud in the bunch. Bought it recently for my daughter, who made half a dozen recipes for a Slavic dinner she was hosting--all terrific. As far as I'm concerned, this is an under-appreciated cuisine, and this wonderful book does it justice.

My wife is Russian. She started going through this book putting sticky notes on pages where there was a recipe that she remembered. Soon every page had a sticky note. I said let's just make everything, and so we are. The recipes are very good. It is very easy to have authentic recipes because in the Soviet Union there was a certain sameness in ingredients. For example, in the US cooks can use white sugar, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, agave syrup, and a host of others. In the Soviet Union there was sugar. We can use russet potatoes, red, gold, fingerling, purple. In the Soviet Union there was potato. Variations were provided by techniques or maybe some variation in herbs. So a good cook was someone who could take the same ingredients that everyone else used and make them somehow special. This book actually achieves that.

Every recipe I have made from this has been wonderful! And given the broad range of cultures represented in this single, stunning book, it is a great go-to for a variety of different cuisines. I have spent time in Russia and the Baltics, so a lot of the dishes from there bring me right back. The ones from the Caucasus and Central Asia just look so delicious and tasty! I haven't had time to tackle some of those.In recent years I have gotten away from buying cook books because I don't use them enough. They seem to have only one style of food. This one still hasn't even made it to my shelf because I keep using it because it is great for everyday cooking and weekend cooking when I have more time and fits so many different moods.

Normally I refuse to buy cookbooks without photos, but I had to have this one because there are so few Russian cookbooks, especially that venture beyond the Ukraine and the north of continent. My husband is also Russian, has traveled all over the continent and is always telling me about food his grandmother cooked, food he ate in Uzbekistan and Georgia, etc. The recipes are not difficult, in fact, quiet simple. They are delicious and, especially the Georgian and southern Russian recipes, have an exotic character (to me who cooks japanese, vietnamese and latin american dishes). The book also has lovely antidotes about the food and recipes and in the end, I feel like it has dispensed with all the art-photography of old pots and pans, flowered doorways, etc. to give a straight forward cookbook of 400 recipes (instead of 25 with 20 pretty pictures that costs $35)! Other than the awesome recipes, this book has taught me to stop buying cookbooks for their pretty covers and see how many recipes there really are inside.

I've had this book for more than 7 years now, and it's moved around the world with me - twice. The recipes I've tried have been authentic enough to pass muster with the Moscow natives I've made them for. A few recipes are more complex than the ones my Russian friends make, and my book is now covered in notes, but for the most part, the instructions are simple and easy to follow. I love the historical notes and stories scattered throughout the book. They make for fun reading while I'm waiting for dough to rise or choosing a menu item. I love this book so much that if I had to narrow my (extensive) cookbook collection down to 2, I would choose this book and my old-school (1960's) Betty Crocker Cookbook.

This is an amazing, huge cook book. It has recipes not only from Russia but from all over the Soviet Union; so there are a wide variety of regional cooking styles represented. All the recipes we have tried have been excellent. We particularly like the Moldavian potato and scallion salad. We have made it several times to take to parties and everyone likes it. The baked cabbage with feta is also Moldavian and to die for! We have not tried any of the meat recipes, but look forward to doing so. This book is an enjoyable travel guide in the sense of what one might expect to find in the markets and where a tourist could get a decent meal. For instance, museum cafeterias are mentioned as being available and pretty good. Informative personal stories accompany the recipes. The price of a new book is high but there are used ones available.

I love this book and refer to it often. I especially love the historical tidbits. The flavor profiles are unique but the dishes don't actually have any flavor. 1/8 tsp of spice for a massive pot of soup??? That is insane. Clearly, these recipes have not been tested. I make a recipe once and then adjust as needed. Every single recipe I have tried needs to be adjusted for more spices. It's not the end of the world but it is really annoying.