[.ca] Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook (ISBN 0894807536)

From Amazon.com:
Is there more to Russian cookery than beets, cabbage, and sour cream? Please to the Table, a comprehensive guide that takes readers and cooks from the Baltics to Uzbekistan, should absolutely bury that question. Russia alone is bigger than the U.S. and Canada combined; its people claim more than 100 different nationalities and languages. Throw in the other 14 former Soviet republics, cook a feast, and you'll sample everything from Moldavian marinated peppers to cold yogurt and cucumber soup to Uzbek lamb stew to crawfish boiled in beer to open cheese tartlets, Russian tea, and, yes, beef stroganoff--nearly every major culinary style is represented here. Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman capture the soul of Mother Russia in 400 recipes joined together with a literate overview of each culinary piece in this magnificent jigsaw puzzle of a nation. The cook will be amply rewarded, and readers will travel far and wide through flavors and feasts only dimly imagined in the West.

The Best:
This is quite simply the best cookbook I have ever used.

Please to the Table - PLEASE!!!:
I came across this cookbook on my list of Amazon purchases from years ago and decided to add to the 5-star rating - because I love this book. It is so comprehensive, educational, and it's a joy to read. And, of course, the recipes are incredible. It's fascinating to see the influences of ingredients from China and eastern Europe in the recipes - all a function of regional cuisine. Who would have thought that there was cilantro in russian food???!!! It's hard enough just writing about the cuisines of France, let alone all of "Russia." I am very impressed with the book, and just gave a lightly used copy (purchased through Amazon.com) to a friend who adopted a little girl from Russia. I hope they can add some authentic Russian recipes to their family meals!

One of my favorite cookbooks:
This is one of my favorite cookbooks. The recipes nearly always turn out well, and the book is pretty comprehensive on the foods of the former USSR. I bought (and started using) this book when I had no access to a Russian restaurant. Years later, when I moved to a city with Russian restaurants (and Russian takeout!) I found that the recipes I'd been cooking were at least as good as what the restaurants were serving--very gratifying. Preparing some of these recipes (Ukrainian Borscht, beet caviar) taught me to appreciate beets, which I had never cared for. Other posters have noted that many of the recipes are complex. This is true in the sense that many dishes call for a lot of ingredients, so they take a while. However, most are not difficult, and they also tend to keep well, so you can make a lot and have delicious leftovers. Highly recommend this book if you are interested in Eastern European cuisine.

Fantastic cookbook - just one flaw:
This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever bought. It contains not only wonderful Russian recipes, but numerous fantastic recipes from the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaidjan. I have tried many of the recipes, and have found only one flaw so far - in the Medivik (Honey Cake), you need to add at least two more eggs, or the batter will be too thick. With two additional eggs, the honey cake is an absolutely delicious desert!

1st generation Russian, and I love it!:
This book contains great recipes for the foods that my grandmother fed me as a kid (she left Russia in 1922), as well as the foods that I ate there as an exchange student (in 1995). This book covers a wide variety of foods and regions. I noticed that there were some reviewers complaining that this book calls for ingredients that aren't used in Russia. Not so. The Russian Empire has incredibly varied regional cuisine. In an empire covering more than 6 million square miles, not everybody is going to make the exact same dishes, nor make similar ones the exact same way. Heck, they don't even all speak the same language. When visiting the south-east, you'll find a heavy "asian/oriental" influence, the use of soy and ginger; In the north-west, more of a European influence; and in the south-west, more of a "middle eastern" influence. This book has a nice sampling of all three of these, as well as many others. 'Pomegranate Grilled Lamb Chops' shows the middle eastern influence of Azerbaijan, 'Roast Pork Paprikash' shows the influence of Eastern European Moldavia... and the preponderance of rice throughout the book shows the influence of the Southern Asian countries. I have bought every Russian cookbook I have been able to lay my hands on over the years, and this is the first one I reach for when I want to look something up. It's logically arranged, has a comprehensive index, and some great anecdotes. A wonderful addition to any international food lovers' library.