Best of Austrian Cuisine

Rating:
Summary: Poorly edited
Review: Although the list of recipes is varied, the actual recipes are poorly written, inaccurate in measurements, and confusing. Many sentences are cut-off and end abruptly. The book badly needs an editor who actually reads the contents of the work.

Rating:
Summary: Could be the best book of its kind
Review: Hmmm... My copy of this book doesn't have the problems mentioned below, but then it's a 2001 reprinting and is perhaps corrected.

In the late 1990s I rented a room in Vienna from an 80-year woman who cooked for me every Saturday. Since then, I've longed to replicate the delicious, savory, and often quite filling meals that we ate together. I've read dozens of Austrian cookbooks, and this is the best by far. Most others are either hopelessly out of date, written for non-American audiences (like Gretel Beer's famous but useless volume), or concentrate on what I'd call "restaurant food"--special, elaborate, time-consuming dishes that don't exemplify what a typical home-cooked Austrian meal is like. This book takes Austrian "Hausmannskost"--everyday food, the sort of thing you'd eat for Tuesday dinner--and translates it to the American kitchen. The recipes are perhaps a little vague here and there and assume previous experience in the kitchen, but the author's point usually is clear. And is it ever authentic; the kohlrabi recipe on pg. 79 is *exactly* my landlady's, and it's delicious.

The book includes chapters on meat dishes, 'Mehlspeisen,' organ meats (beloved in Austria if not in the US), fish, poultry, sauces, starches, vegetables (more varied than one might expect), and then of course the full range of desserts and "Süßigkeiten." The range is encyclopedic and varied. Special sections include menu planning, a description of Austrian wines, and a chapter on munchies for that afternoon 'Jause.'

A gourmet book this is not; if you want splash and glam, it will disappoint. But if, like me, you long to recover how your old Austrian host made cabbage taste so yummy, this book is the answer. Through it, you can recreate an Austrian kitchen in your home, which is a very nice thought!

Rating:
Summary: But it's pretty good
Review: Some photos would have been nice, but then I'm sure the book would have cost much much more, and the price is one nice thing about it. I also didn't have any of the problems of the first reviewer- it was all clear in my edition. I found some Austrian wines to go with the dishes at www.winemonger.com and had a great party!