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Rating: 
Summary: Watered down originals
Review: Being a great fan of the Silver Palate cookbooks, I lunged for the lone copy at my local bookstore. It is truly a might volume of international culinary delights and chock full of information.However, as I am Asian and have traveled to several of the countries written about in the book, I find most of the recipes watered down versions of the originals. These recipes are also lengthy and call for ingredients that you'd have to make a special trip to the market or deli for. No offense meant to anyone, but I find that the recipes here have also been tailored for American tastes. I've always thought that the point in trying out new cuisines was to appreciate and understand the uniqueness of them, and not try to make localized copycat versions.
Rating: 
Summary: Untested recipes sink this book
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Untested recipes sink this book
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: terrible book
Review: I frequently refer to my Silver Palate cookbooks for interesting & tasty recipes & was very excited about purchasing this compendium of world cuisines, but thus far I am extremely disappointed- something I didn't expect. It is full of, instead of informative(if sometimes embarassingly whimsical)tidbits like those in the Silver Palate books, truly insipid, fluffy commentary and "postcards" of her travels to various countries. Most importantly, the recipes are absolutely uninspiring, while being perverted from their original forms, which leaves the hopeful cook with no real insight to international cooking, and with no redemptive alternative, either. Fusion cooking at its worst, basically. Sorry, didn't want it to be true, but it is.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed Silver Palate Fan
Review: I have to disagree with other reviews of this cookbook. After trying 10+ recipes, I'm disappointed. The recipes I've tried have lacked flavor and originality. I'm a huge fan of The New Basics and the Silver Palate Cookbooks, but Sheila Lukins solo effort just does not compare.
Rating: 
Summary: Variety and variations
Review: Lukins satisfies any number of hankerings with a mix of modern and traditional, capped with her own American flair.
Organized by course (appetizer, soup, meat, etc) rather than by cuisine, Lukins, of "Silver Palate" fame, adapts a Chilean cooking marathon to a refreshing fresh corn and chicken chowder, journeys to the hills of Martinique for a rich curried pork, cajoles a Seville chef for the secret of dorade baked in salt.
Although she offers plenty of traditional recipes, from Magyar Goulash to Swedish Roast Goose, she's just as likely to sample something and be inspired to embellish - or simplify. Chapters are interrupted with short essays on regional wines or teas or markets. The variety is endless, variations are encouraged and every dish is guaranteed to make your mouth water.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cook's Tour--wonderful stuff
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Cook's Tour--wonderful stuff
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great results every time
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: interesting read...
Review: This book is a light-hearted trip around the world (well, somewhat limited) w/ various anecdotes about such things as afternoons teas in England and France, ice cream in Cuba, Argentinian grilled meats, breakfast in Turkey... I haven't tried the recipes and they do look a little watered down, but my interest in the book is for reading pleasure only. It's not authoritative about what everyone else in the world *really* eats or how to authentically cook such dishes, but it does give you a glimpse into some of the special fare and experiences Sheila Lukins had on her travels.
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