Illustrated Food and Cooking of Greece Hardcover – Illustrated, 1 Jun. 2009

This is a terrific book. I have had a copy for a long time and have just bought a copy for a friend as a present.The book opens with a look at the culture of cooking in Greece and the Islands. It then has an extremely useful section, The Greek Kitchen, which goes through all the main ingredients that you are likely to tackle. This is particularly useful when you may be unfamiliar with a particular ingredient.Pages 65 to 251 are the recipes. The recipes are divided into sections: Mezedes and Appetizers, Soups, Fish and Shellfish, Poultry and Game, Meat Dishes, Vegetarian Meals, Side Dishes and Salads, Desserts Tarts and Cakes, and Sweets, Pastries, Cookies and Breads.Following the title of the recipe, in English except where a dish is very specific to Greece (like Kleftiko), there is a short comment about the recipe, sometimes with serving instructions or recommended ingredients. Next the servings are shown (usually 4-6 for a main course) and this is followed by a list of ingredients. Numbered instructions are shown beneath. At the bottom of the recipe are the vital statistics: energy, protein, carbohydrate, Fat, Cholesterol, calcium, Fibre and Sodium.The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. If you follow them precisely you shouldn't go wrong.Each recipe is accompanied by a colour photograph of the finished product and many are also illustrated with photographs showing various stages during the making of the recipe. The photographs are of enormous use to me as I very much like to see what it is that I am working towards.Recipes range from dishes familiar from Greek restaurant menus like Kleftiko, Avgolemono soup, stuffed vine leaves, Greek salad, and Halloumi to more unusual items like cuttlefish with potatoes, octopus and pasta bake, roast lamb with figs and baked chicken with okra. There are also some good vegetarian dishes like cheese and leek pie and Spinach filo pie, a range of side dishes and side salads and some really good breads. I haven't tried any of the desserts (too sweet by far for me) but they look wonderful, and include baklava, nectarines baked with nuts and cheese and honey tart.Most of the ingredients are easy to source. On occasion you may need to find substitutes, for example using tinned artichokes for fresh - and you may find octopus (which I love) difficult to find. There are some more examples of this sort but remarkably few.I have worked my way through more than half of the recipes in this book and I have yet to have one fail. The flavours always work well together and they cooking times are spot on.A very enjoyable book, both to browse through and use.

I purchased this book as I wanted a greek cookery book to add to my extensive library, I have tried the olive bread which is to die for and so easy to make. The book is beautifully illustrated and shows various stages of the recipies. The ingrediants for most of the recipies are available at your supermarket and local aisian shops. My best friend has been going to Samos for years and during the course has made several greek friends she has read this book and says that it is just what you have in greece all in all excellent

Very colourful

Some nice recipes in this book, but to be honest, most I will never use. That's the case with most cookbooks though, so this one is no different!

..it is the same book as The Complete Book of Greek Cooking. I naively thought they were separate works but Amazon has credited me for the duplication so all praise to them for that.The Complete Book is a large format paperback and the type is substantially larger - which at my age is helpful. This is more compact, has the benefit of being hardback but I thought the type was a little small and the layout a little crowded. Of the two I would choose for everyday use The Complete....The texts and pictures appear identical.Given the authors you would expect it to be excellent - and it is. My copy is much used.

Like very much the recipes and very well illustrated. Recipes also done in an easy way. Also pictures showing how to do the recipes sre very useful.

I bought this book shortly before going to Crete on holiday. The book is rapidly becoming a favorite particularly when I can now identify things that I ate on holiday and cook them. The spinach pie is a must!

I was very please with this book, it's well penned, very well illustrated, a pleasure to read and use with simple to follow recipe's.

The book arrived in very quick time and was well package, the price was also very good. The book was bought as a present for an enthusiastic cook. having sample a few dishes I can say there are some excellent recipes and more I want to try.

I was disappointed with this book, so much so that I returned it. To me it lacked variety and did not give any personality to the limitied number of Greek recipes. I feel it was more of a beginner volume.