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Balaboosta (2013)

by Einat Admony(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1579655009 (ISBN13: 9781579655006)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Artisan

review 1: I have to admit, I'm a sucker for a well-done cover. If a book LOOKS boring, I won't even pick it up, no matter how many best-seller lists it may be on. And, of course, creating an attractive cover for a cookbook is an essential strategy for selling. This one definitely caught my eye whilst aimlessly perusing the aisles of my local super bookstore. I enjoy a spunky chef, so I actually found Einat Admony's anecdotes in every chapter entertaining. My only beef with cookbooks (haha) is twofold, really: 1) I don't like shelling out $30 or more for what I essentially consider a kitchen appliance -and we all know what happens to an often-used cookbook!-, and 2) I hate the way pages flip on their own while I'm trying to follow directions. Well, e-book to the rescue! A dear friend... more gave me a giftcard for above mentioned super bookstore, so I went ahead and purchased the NOOK version of Balaboosta. Voila, many problems solved!The digital version has only a few minor flaws, mostly in the way the print edit didn't exactly translate, but I'm not bothered by that. The recipes are mouth-watering (loving Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food helps, I'm sure), and I cannot wait to get my amateur fingers into some of them. The recipes are sorted by chapters like Slow-Cooked, Comfort Foods, Kid-Friendly and similar headings. Someone in their review was piqued by the fact that Admony cautions against kids eating raw dough but not raw meat, to which I'd like to reply that the meat used in the recipe is beef, which generally doesn't present a problem. Furthermore, you can see why children would be tempted to taste something they know will be turned into bread or cookies shortly, but I really don't know any children who have an equal fascination with any other raw foods, especially meat.
review 2: Yes, I'm reviewing another cookbook. But I didn't buy this one. I actually won it in a cookbook giveaway, of all things. Can you imagine? I never win anything!Of course, I was very excited about this and tempted to give the cookbook a higher rating just to reflect that. But integrity won out, and I can really only give it three stars. Here's why.First of all, although organizing the recipes by themes rather than courses is arguably cute and original (romantic dishes, kid-friendly food, food for barbecues, etc.), it's really not as useful for me. I don't usually open a cookbook thinking, hmm, let me see if I can find something romantic. I'm far more likely to open a cookbook thinking, let's see if I can find an appetizer or dessert that I haven't already cooked ten times. A quest like that would require me to look through each section of this book individually or thumb through the long index, a far less efficient way of finding what I'm looking for than simply having a section devoted to my specific need.Second, wow, does this woman ever like salt. I thought I was bad, but she heaps it on by the tablespoon. It got to the point where I wondered whether she had made some consistent typos of substituting tablespoon for teaspoon when it came to writing the amount of salt. Sometimes I added the amount of salt in the recipe and found myself gasping and looking for ways to water things down. Other times I was smart enough to reduce the salt and still felt it might be a bit too much.Finally, although many of the recipe were for dishes I've enjoyed in Israeli restaurants and was excited to prepare at home (kibbeh soup, turkey patties with okra, etc.), I was unpleasantly surprised by how labor-intensive many of them were. I don't know if Einat's love for cooking completely outstrips mine (which is entirely possible), or if as the owner of several restaurants she's used to having a team of sous-chefs and has forgotten what it's like when you have to chop all those vegetables yourself. The food was decent for the most part (as long as I managed to successfully adjust the amount of salt), but I think I know now why I've seen those dishes more often on restaurant tables than at the homes of my Israeli friends. Ironically, Einat claims that most of the dishes in the books are for home cooks rather than restaurant style. Although the results are homey and unpretentious, the amount of hands-on time was really more than I want to spend preparing dinner.I'll still give the book three stars because the recipes did come out okay for the most part, if a little anticlimactic after the labor I invested. But unfortunately I don't think it's going to turn into one of my go-to cookbooks. less

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