The Complete Middle East Cookbook Paperback – March 15, 2007

My knowledge of Middle East food is limited to the occasional Greek restaurant and a few falafel stands. Nevertheless, I found the flavors to be authentic and totally different from my usual Western, American, European, haute cuisine, Christian flavors. I really liked the flavors and recipes in this book. I enjoy making recipes from this cookbook; it is educational, and always good food. It has many interesting recipes, such as: curing fresh olives, raw lamb tartare, baba ghannouj, rose water syrup, and how to bake a whole lamb.All of the recipes that use rice, suspiciously, use the same cooking method regardless of country, something I am sure is not correct. Due to ethnic and religious reasons, there are no recipes for beef or pork, but plenty that use poultry, seafood, and especially lamb. The author often lists in recipes that rightfully use lamb that beef is an acceptable substitute, but I am rather suspicious of this advice.The recipes are simple, honest cooking of the street vendors and the home. There are no complicated procedures or sophisticated techniques that are born out of European haute cuisine. Too many ethnic cookbooks these days are by famous authors; the author spends a few days with the European-trained executive chef of an American hotel chain in the capitol city of the foreign country, and goes home to write a cookbook. The result usually has nothing to do with the country, but largely reflects the culinary prejudices of the usually English speaking executive chef. Not here: the author has clearly invaded the home kitchens and food stalls of each respective country. The recipes are easy to do and, in most cases, do not have weird ingredients, strange cooking utensils, or unusual cooking techniques. You should be able to do most of the recipes without much trouble. This alone makes it unique among ethnic cookbooks, and for this reason, deserves some sort of award.It has: Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Armenia, (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan), Iraq, Gulf States (Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman), Yemen, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan. Sadly, the author usually does a lousy job of describing to the Westerner what distinguishes the food of each country. A few homey, personal anecdotes are not a substitute for solid, culinary exposition.

I must admit that I have bought this book because I have never, before this book, found any other book in English that has included Gulf cuisine. Most books that boast Middle Easter cuisine are mostly Lavantian (i.e. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine), Iranian, or Mediterranean! But never an accurate attempt to explore Arabic Gulf food!Upon receiving the book, I immediately went to the Gulf section and I have to say that I am impressed with how well the author has researched the region and cuisine! Given that I live here, I know and appreciate how difficult it is to get a hold of these recipes. Therefore, despite some flaws in some of the recipes, I take my hat off to the author and for her extremely wide spectrum of ME dishes! Just to prove my point, even my mom who knows all these recipes was surprised at how the author got her hands on some many Gulf recipes and she got most of them right! There you have it!!!The Arabs in the Gulf still to this very day have a very deep and complex understanding of spices and I can totally appreciate some reviewers comments where they complain that it is hard to source some spices and ingredients! I completely understand that and that is why I think some of the recipes have somewhat been watered down for the Western reader... for example, you will notice that there is a recipe for mixed spice powder. In the book the recipe calls for about 7 or 8 spice ingredients, actually the mix used in the Gulf calls for a minimum of 12 different spices! Some of the spices are hard to come by over here... let alone in the West! There are some other inaccuracies which I cannot recall off the top of my head but they really do not take away greatly from the wide spectrum of the book!!!Take it from a Middle Easterner, this books has all the goodies from the Gulf! Anyone who wishes to cook authentic ME recipes, this book is got what it takes!

So many Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cookbooks know only about ingredients. Mallow knows the history and has the actual recipes from that area.

I like this cookbook for the authentic falafel recipe alone. I finally know the secret to making falafel correctly!!! There are a ton of meat-based recipes, so not really my thing. So many recipes, and small nuances between recipes for each country; makes it very interesting. Note: there are no Israeli recipes in this book. Politics and religion aside, Israel is Middle Eastern so I thought that was a bit of a let-down.

Authentic and accurate. I'm Greek and Lebanese so I know the recipes are perfect. I love discovering how many familiar recipes I grew up eating are also made in many other countries with differences from country to country. My Greek and Lebanese relatives all agree the recipes from Greece and Lebanon are perfect so I can only assume the recipes from the other countries are authentic as well! I have bought this cookbook countless times as gifts for very appreciative recipients!!!

All htat you want to know about this regions cusine - you will love the use of herbs and spices.

I've owned this cookbook for over 20 years but during a recent move I lost it. I was very excited to find it again on Amazon and I ordered it right away. I am a serious cook and my husband is from the Middle East, so I found this book absolutely invaluable. I'm especially happy with the glossary in the back of the book which explains specialized foods along with their Arabic names. Anyone with an interest in ethnic cooking will truly enjoy this well researched and beautifully presented cookbook. Hats off to Tess Mallos!

This is a great book if you live in a large city and have access to the many spices and ingredients that the recipes call for. Most of the recipes I would probably not make. Too complicated and time consuming. I was looking for the recipes for appetizers and meals that are common to the restaurants I go to. Nothing fancy just good basic Middle East food.