Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine & beyond

This is a lovely book and some of the recipes are real gems! Great discovery…

It is a beautiful book to begin with; there is at least one picture to accompany each recipe plus pictures of Olia Hercules and her family in Ukraine. I like cookbooks with pictures but it was especially important here, as I am not used to Ukrainian food so it is nice to see what the food looks like. I have only tried two recipes at the moment: sour aubergines and Azerbaijani chicken. Both of them turned out great. The explanations are detailed and clear. I read some comments saying that the food was bland, having only tried two recipes, I cannot talk about the others but they were far from bland, especially the chicken as it contains spices, citrus and walnuts. I also read that some people find the ingredients hard to find. I live in France so I cannot talk about the rest of the world but most ingredients are pretty common and quite easy to find. And you can always order online if needed. Olia Hercules also suggests replacement. If you are curious and want to discover something new and learn more about Ukraine, I highly recommend this book. For my part, I am eager to try the dumpling recipes; they look delicious!

Olushka, thank you so much for such a wonderful, full of childhood memories book! I can't express how happy it makes me to witness our country's food finally being done justice! It literally makes me cry to see all the dishes that we eat in Ukraine spring to life on the pages of your book. Wonderful, warm, homey recipes that everyone can make and enjoy and, most importantly, realize that Ukrainian food has not much in common with the Russian one. That we are different people with our own vibrant culture and no less colorful food. I also wanted to say a few words on the images provided in the book. Everything looks so authentic, just as i remember it. Markets, places, even cutlery and wine-making devices. And especially your remarks on how you picture Ukraine - all golden sunflowers and sunshine. Because this is the real Ukraine - the warmth of homecoming and a good old hours-long eating and drinking for the health of all those gathered around the table. Thank you again and Slava Ukraini!

I really enjoyed this cookbook. The recipes are a solid combination of bright and fresh, as well as home-y and warm, with a good variety of complexities levels as well. One thing I will say is that the entire book seems to have a number of errors, with entire steps just blatantly missing from recipes. For example, the chicken broth and dumplings recipe suggest a whole chicken, sectioned into 8 chunks, is boiled as part of the broth. It does not have a step suggesting you pull out the chicken parts, de-bone and shred, despite the accompanying picture showing just that. I would recommend it in spite of the issues - read your recipe before and consider where you may need to do some googling to fill the gaps in some of the doughes, etc - but subsequent releases need a serious review and edit.

Bought as a gift for my nieces. They both said it was good.

A beautiful big book, well made and excellent quality. I was using this to cook with the day after I got it and within a week I had used it five out of seven days. The recipes are fantastic and easy to follow even for a beginner in the kitchen. The first thing I made was (obviously) Borshch and pompushky and it was amazing, it fed three people for two days an there was enough left to blend up into a wonderful thick soup afterwards. So very filling and unbelievably tasty. I dont think there is a single thing in this book I dont want to cook, everything looks so delicious. This is the best cookbook ive read/used in a long time and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good hearty meal with family and friends. You will not be disapointed.

Beautiful photography, lovely looking food with great anecdotal input, this book is an absolute steal at this price. Having spent time in Eastern Europe/ Balkans, the influences are easy to spot - in which direction might be putting my head above the parapet.... But there are also flavours from the East coming in from the other side. A really engaging style and an obvious passion for food and family add to the attractiveness of the offerings in this lovely book. You could buy it, enjoy it and discuss the contents without putting your foot in the kitchen. However, you would be missing out on some delicious food - Lamb and Prunes are perfection. People who don't like fruit and savoury won't appreciate some of the amazing combinations. Chicken BBQ'ed with apricot jam -Inspired! Lovely soups and stews. The kids love the desserts and pastry. The drinks section is really nice. As I said above some of these recipes aren't new to me but many are, and I'll try them all. If Olia set out to paint a cultural and historical picture through food and family she succeeded admirably. Another volume...... Ah! 'Kaukasis' - Welcome to my basket. Treat yourself.

Even though I bought it second-hand, I expected it to be in better condition. The jacket was in poor condition. The book itself is very good, the recipes are very doable and the ones I have cooked so far have been delicious.

Recomendo

eBook acquistato in offerta a pochi cent. Ricette ucraine e non solo!

The book is nice and the recipes are authentic, but the corners are damaged

Recipes and photos are great. Baking ingredients need to be adapted for North American kitchens.

This book is a fine presentation of the most wonderful and distinctively delicate and flavourful (unfortunately lesser known) cuisine of Ukraine and beyond. Mouthwatering resipes, authentic original flavours with a most creative way of cooking. I love the superb and delicate combination of herbs, spices and a wonderful range of fresh and local ingredients used in the recipes of this book. Also, world famous pickles from Ukraine and its neighbour regions are well presented in this wonderful book. I love the mouthwatering original recipe for a delicious 'borshch', the famous beetroot & beef soup, actually orginating from the Ukraine. It is served with a special fresh Ukrainian garlic bread called 'pampushky' (basted with a garlic-parsley sauce)... I am also overwhelmed by the huge variety of veg, meat&fish dishes, pastry, bread, sweets and deserts... I highly recommend this fabulous book to any food lover, food traveller or cook - absolutely inspiring!