[.ca] Sheila Lukins All Around the World Cookbook (ISBN 1563052377)

Untested recipes sink this book:
I finally tossed this book out after making several disastrous recipes from it. They were obviously untested or poorly tested. I got tired of screwing things up from following her recipes.

Super Food for From Every Country!:
Everytime I get a hankering for something special to cook, something exotic and different, I turn to this book. EVERY time I make something from this book it turns out great....you have to follow the instructions, and these are specialty dishes, so no skimping on ingredients. The little 'history' sections in the book make it fun to read! Highly recommend....loosen up and go to another country in your kitchen

Great results every time:
Oh come on! This is in no way a terrible book, i agree that the way it is layed out can be a little confusing but cook books should be merited on their recipies and not really on the design aspect. Every meal I have cooked out of this book has been absolutely gorgeous and my wife and I keep returning to it again and again. Every time we entertain and cook from this book all our guests comment on the quality of the food and several have bought this book after sampling one of its recipies. As a previous reviewer remarked you could (probably) pick a recipie at random and use it to entertain with knowing it would be a great meal. To 'a reader from Eugene' please get past the layout and try the coq au vin, chicken and date tagine or the velvety curried shrimp and then tell us you paid too much.

A Cook's Tour--wonderful stuff:
More than a few folks seem to be dissing this book and I'm wondering why. I've tried many of these recipes and have been pleased with the results. In fact, this book contains my favorite bread recipe ever--the Pao Dolce, or Portuguese sweet bread. As Lukins notes, this is one bread that is superb at every meal. So far, the only recipe that hasn't turned out for me was the Pad Thai, but then I have some odd problem with Pad Thai. I'm a good cook, but ...PT never, never turns out. It must be a karmic thing. The notes about Lukins' travels and her postcards add to the charm of the book, I think; this is a cookbook for those of us who love to read cookbooks, and not just cook out of them. One can see Lukins' ability as a food writer in these pages. In particular, I appreciate the special sections: on Irish beers, Scandinavian cheeses, British pubs, breakfasts across the culinary world. This book is a great gift and a delight to receive. The USA cookbook is terrific as well. I probably cook out of that one more often, simply because I have shelves of cookbooks on world cuisines.

A Cook's Tour--wonderful stuff:
More than a few folks seem to be dissing this book and I'm wondering why. I've tried many of these recipes and have been pleased with the results. In fact, this book contains my favorite bread recipe ever--the Pao Dolce, or Portuguese sweet bread. As Lukens notes, this is one bread that is superb at every meal. The only recipe that didn't turn out for me was the Pad Thai, but then I have some odd problem with Pad Thai. I'm a good cook, but ...PT never, never turns out. It must be a karmic thing. The notes about Lukens' travels and her postcards add to the charm of the book, I think; this is a cookbook for those of us who love to read cookbooks, and not just cook out of them. One can see Lukens' ability as a food writer in these pages. In particular, I appreciate the special sections: on Irish beers, Scandinavian cheeses, British pubs, breakfasts across the culinary world. This book is a great gift and a delight to receive.