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Rating: 
Summary: A little Bulgarian treasure.
Review: Atanas Slavov is a prominent Bulgarian-American writer. He has written many books on many subjects for many years. His commentary alone is worth the price of the book. The little essay on tomatoes was excellent and very true. (If you're Bulgarian, you'll understand how important tomatoes are!) Very Bulgarian in thought and sense of humor throughout, not to mention for the appropriate cultural notes.But are the recipes any good? Largely, yes. However, this is still not a complete cookbook. There are many recipes missing, such as some pepper spreads/pastes, recipes calling for cheese, oh gosh, so many more. But this is a very good start for anyone who wants to learn more about Bulgarian cooking or who needs a favorite old recipe. The recipes are Americanized well (meaning appropriate spices were substituted for ones you can't get in the US, etc.). There is a little bit of everything from Bulgarian cuisine. Fish, which gets little coverage in most western Balkan cookbooks is covered here. The dessert section is also very nice, and the wine notes are a plus. Again though, it should have been so much more. I have to speak to the review ahead of mine. 90% of cookbooks have recipes that yield 4-6 servings. Cookbooks that cater to meals of two servings are rare, specialty items. This cookbook has clear yields of 4-6 servings for entrees, 8 servings for desserts and more for things such as drinks and jams. It's just the way cookbooks are. Bulgarian cookbooks are still too hard to find in the US. This is a good one. I only wish that the cuisine had been given the exhaustive attention it needs.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent - easy to use and fun
Review: Excelent authentic easy to use recipes. Many amusing thoughts by the author. We had the pleasure of the authentic Bulgarian recipes in Sofia, and this book is a close as we can match them in the US. Here we can't get such fresh vegatables, fruits and good wine.
Rating:
Summary: Traditional Cooking for the Bulgarian Army
Review: While Slavov does an excellent job of covering the wide variety of Bulgarian dishes, his recipes all call for large quantities. I have found that cooking a Bulgarian meal for 2 requires only about 1/5 of the proportions Slavov gives. Otherwise, the book is concise, without pictures, with a complete list of ingredients but light on description or explanation. In my opinion, one would need a Bulgarian consultant to know if the dishes turned out correctly.
Rating:
Summary: Traditional Cooking for the Bulgarian Army
Review: While Slavov does an excellent job of covering the wide variety of Bulgarian dishes, his recipes all call for large quantities. I have found that cooking a Bulgarian meal for 2 requires only about 1/5 of the proportions Slavov gives. Otherwise, the book is concise, without pictures, with a complete list of ingredients but light on description or explanation. In my opinion, one would need a Bulgarian consultant to know if the dishes turned out correctly.
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