[.ca] The Czechoslovak Cookbook: Czechoslovakia's best-selling ... (ISBN 0517505479)

The beauty of the Czech Kitchen!:
Czech COOKING is new, its hip, and it IS here to stay! Comparable to English cooking, in its (some would call) BLANDNESS, the way it relies on lots of POTATOES to fill you up, Czech cooking is the new WAY! And I have found that way! My grandma always offers me seconds, thirds, fourths, on fried cheese and potatoes, until I am so full I am ready to BURST right open! But never, never ever forget to quaff your meal with several flagons of Good Czech Beer!! Otherwise you will not be able to get out of your seat after such a hearty meal!!

when they say authentic....:
This book is neat, but I'm not sure how much cooking I'll be doing. Brains, tounge and other such body parts are included. :) Maybe the dessert section is a little safer. Still it's a great book with the names of food in czech.

This book is not practical for todays cook.:
I am of 100% Czech heritage and have many authentic recipes. This book uses ingredients not readily found. Especially the pastry recipes do not use flours, etc. found in most kitchens. There are better recipes geared to todays methods and ingredients. Mace and nutmeg were commonly used and are not in these recipes. I was generally disappointed in the content and referances to basic mixtures and adaptations. There were a few appealing recipes, but the majority were not for todays cook.

Pretty good Czech cookbook:
I have to disagree with Rita's review - I am Czech (I came here from Prague with my parents when I was very young), and grew up with Czech cooking. I don't remember my family ever using mace & nutmeg in recipes (although we did use a little bit of allspice in our goulash)... Also, as for the flours used in the desserts, I don't find them hard to find. The local grocery store carries the grainier-type flour, Wondra, which works perfectly well in the recipes. I do admit, though, that there are a few recipes in this book that I find strange & wouldn't try them... But overall, the book has some good recipes. As for adapting these for 'today's cook' - I think the recipes lose a LOT if you "Americanize" them. The reason it is Czech food is just that - it's Czech, not American. It may use some different ingredients, but that is what makes it inherently Czech. Otherwise, you'll just get American. And why buy the book? Some things you just can't substitute.

Great traditional Czech meals, although strange recipes:
Every Czech meal you can think of is described in this easy to follow cookbook, alhough many of the recipes are untraditional versions of old Czech food. Nevertheless, an easy cookbook for those who would like to venture into Czech cooking.