The Lebanese Kitchen

The Lebanese Kitchen by Salma Hage (author) and Toby Glanville (photographer) is the best Lebanese cookbook EVER! I have several on my bookshelf, but this one is like being in my dear Mother's kitchen, throughout my childhood, right at her elbow, helping to cook dinner, and then, eating her fabulous Lebanese food. The recipes are simple, uncluttered, and authentic, and are accompanied by photographs which do the food justice. I am only realizing now, with this book, that what I always thought were recipes my Mother made up OR culled from The Los Angeles Times, are, in fact, traditional Lebanese recipes (for example, pickled turnips). I have an eight year old grandnephew who loves to cook, and this book is going to be one of his presents at this holiday season. His mother, my niece and goddaughter, learned to cook Lebanese food from both her sittos (one of them, my Mother), and from her mother, and keeps the tradition alive. So this book will be well used in both of our kitchens. When I left home, decades ago, I sat with my Mother for several hours, writing out in long hand with pencil, a handful of my favorites of her recipes. I have them to this day, but this cookbook makes my Mother's legacy to me, permanent. Even tho Lebanon is small, there may still be some regional variations, so sometimes, Lebanese recipes don't ring true for me when I see them in various newspapers, but these recipes are exactly how my Mother cooked. I am overjoyed at discovering this book, thanks to Maureen Abood's lovely review. As always, food is one of the main instruments by which culture is carried through time, so this book, in addition to being a valuable culinary tool, also preserves our culture for second and third generation Lebanese-Americans and their children and grandchildren.

My husband's background is Lebanese, so this book is great for someone like me (a straight-up American country girl) who doesn't even know WHERE to begin with this type of flavor profile. As with any cookbook, you'll have to tweak the recipes according to your personal taste. My husband says that the Chicken Shwarma recipe has the right taste (even though this recipe is for the stove and not a vertical rotisserie), and the fish Tahini Breaded Fish recipe was a big hit, even with my 6-yr-old kid (who is also a straight-up country girl). Also, the book itself is beautiful and looks great on my counter...not that you can eat the book, but it does make for a nice display.

This book is sensational and is the ONLY Lebanese cookbook you'll ever need. This book contains "mild to wild" recipes for Lebanese cuisine - including the spice mixtures necessary to create the complex flavors. The 'deckle' edge appears to have been cut with a 'pinking shear' so the pages 'stick' together until the book has been used and the pages are fanned. This is not a drawback, merely an observation that makes this cookbook unique from the 500+ other cookbooks I own.

I bought this book after 6 weeks in Lebanon so I could cook some of the food I had there when I was home. It's an incredibly detailed book with tons of recipes covering a wide spectrum of food and culture. All of the recipes I've tried far have been excellent, authentic and aren't complicated. I highly recommend it for both yourself and friends.

Middle Eastern food has been my favorite for a long time, but there are no good restaurants in my area, so I finally bit the bullet and asked for this book last Pascha. (Okay, I also ordered and paid for it, but I promised to give my husband credit.) I just opened it last week in preparation for the Dormition Fast, when we eat vegan for two weeks. I've tried 5 recipes so far, and as far as I'm concerned just those 5 are worth the cover price! It is difficult to convey the scope of this cookbook: there are over 500 recipes, including many variations on a theme (half a dozen varieties of hummus, for example.) It's easy to be overwhelmed, so I recommend starting with a few of the basics. Last week I cooked Hummus (38), Baba Ganoush (46), Fattoush (40), Walnut and Cayenne Dip (49), and Pickled Turnips (484). Every recipe was a gem: full of bright, healthy flavors, simple to prepare and -- best of all -- tasting exactly the way it does in good Middle Eastern restaurants. There is a fair amount of prep work, since you're working with such fresh produce, but most things can be chopped and blended in bulk ahead of time: I did that and after one afternoon of cooking, I ate delicious leftovers all week. The flavors really develop after a few days in the refrigerator, and the food is even better. I'm already planning a birthday party for my mom next week, including those 5 and a few others (Falafel, Fried Cauliflower, Tabbouli, Semolina & Almond Cake. Hungry yet?) Someday I hope to be able to try every recipe in this book! I know it's ambitious, but God willing, I have many years to work toward that goal. :)

This cookbook does not disappoint. It has packed with magnificent photos, interesting facts, and tantalizing recipes. I'm going to buy another to give as a gift. The zig-zag cut on the edge of the pages is a unique touch. My wiife's family is Lebanese and they were very impressed with the recipes in this book.

My husband is Lebanese American, and the son of Lebanese immigrant parents. His mom was an amazing cook of Lebanese foods, and my husband is equally a great cook! He keeps say that his mom would have loved this cookbook, and he is using it on a regular basis! We can't say enough wonderful things about this wonderful cookbook!

I was extremely pleased with the binding and organization of this book by Phaidon press. The cookbook has serrated pages for easy turning and also, 2 ribbon bookmarks. I have never seen serrated pages from American publishers. There are a wide variety of recipes, several for kibbeh and also a recipe for pecan baklava. This is just the beginning of wonderful recipes to prepare. I probably will never travel to Beirut or Lebanon but I can certainly experience the culture by preparing the food. Many thanks to both the author and the publisher!.

I believe this book can be ranked alongside - perhaps higher than? - Robert Carrier's "Great Dishes of the World", my bible from some 50 years back. Carrier opened English eyes to the wonderful cuisines beyond English shores. Salma Hage, who has similar professional and personal cooking experience, is doing the same in reverse; she brings the Lebanese cuisine to the world, in a classically easy-to-follow way. This is significant because Lebanese food - as per these recipes - is much healthier than Western food. In particular, it uses far less cooking fat, and far less animal protein. The recipes are delicious. The book itself is beautiful, including the photographs. For the above reasons, I give it five stars. As other reviewers have noted - K Ofiesh Aug 29 2013, E L Wisty Nov 9 2012 -, there do seem to be shortcomings in the editing and proof-reading, but one can deal with this, as I do, by reading the recipe carefully beforehand and adjusting actions as needed. Phaidon needs to improve its act for the next edition.

The book is in english and is plentiful of nice lebanese cooking recipes most of them traditional, and all of them keeping the real method and ingredients.

Sans aucun doute le meilleur livre de recettes libanaises. En suivant les instructions, on mange mieux à la maison qu'au restaurant ! Les proportions sont justes, les explications claires.

中東からの旅行後は、この本を頼りにレバノン料理をあれこれ作っています。 レシピに忠実に作ると、やさしい味の素晴らしい家庭料理が完成するので感激しました。 味は繊細でありながらも素朴な家庭料理の趣ですが、装幀や料理写真はとてもスタイリッシュ。 米アマゾンのレビューには「レバノン出身の母の味が再現できた！」というコメントが多数あるので、 このレシピはたぶんオーセンティックなレバノン家庭料理の味ではないかなあと想像しています。 500ページ以上ある大著ですが、コーヒーテーブルブックとして手許においても楽しいはずです。

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