Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Exactly what I expected

Customer Rating:

America's Test Kitchen is one of the most consistent publishers in the business. You know exactly what to expect with every one of their books. Christopher Kimball and the folks at Cook's Illustrated do an excellent job analyzing recipes. They explain both the why and the what behind the recipes in clear and concise terms. They define what they are after and meticulously set out to achieve that result. The recipes work, whether you read the prelude or not. But their great gift is for helping the home cook to understand the underpinnings of cooking. The Best International Recipe is a great overview of many classics of world cuisine organized geographically. It provides a single book introduction to many dishes and I have been wanting to purchase it for some time. I am not disappointed. It is the 8th book I have purchased from their line. So why only 4 stars? Because Amazon doesn't offer 4.5. This is a great cookbook and extremely functional. But their formula has two shortcomings. The first thing you must pay close attention to in any of their books is their stated goal. Not everyone has the same taste preferences. I've known some cooks who get bent when the end result isn't what they were hoping for because they have different tastes. I always read the recipe first and make sure that I want the same thing they set out to create. The second downside to their formula is the visual element. They do a great job of including functional drawings and a few pictures, but this is not a "pretty" cookbook. One of the reasons that I purchase cookbooks is for inspiration. This is particularly true of ethnic cooking. I want to to be transported and reminded of travel. Usually this issue wouldn't cost them a star in my rating. I didn't expect anything different. But this is an International Recipe cookbook and the issue matters to me. Still, I highly recommend the book and am enjoying it in my kitchen.

Reliable Source for International Flavor

Customer Rating:

I have wasted so much time, money, and ingredients on failed ethnic recipes from glossy-pictured, bargain-priced, or celebrity chef books; but no longer! This is a must-have volume for your collection. Basic fare from all continents are fairly represented. The recipes are reliable, and a true testament to the region of origin (the Riboletto took me back to Northern Italy.) You will find some recipes duplicated from The New Best Recipe, however this volume has additional recipes that are worth the purchase.

I just love this recipe book!	Customer Rating:
I just love how the authors experiment with every ingredient and give the pros and cons. It's teaching me the chemistry behind the ingredients in cooking and baking. They also review many products that helps when purchasing ingredients. Thanks guys!

Best Intenational Recipe: A Home Cook' Guide to the Best International Recipes in the World	Customer Rating:
Got the book on a whim. It was so good that I gave it away as a gift and am purchasing another!

Its fatal flaw: it's only one book

Customer Rating:

I find myself giving a weak rating to a Cook's Illustrated book. That's unusual -- I've only done it once before, for the wobbly but likeable Restaurant Favorites at Home, which was pretty good but severely blurred in its concept. For The Best International Recipe, my issue is different -- as intensive as this project was, there simply isn't enough substance in here for such an ambitious book. Look, I bought it. It's a good book for what it has in it, and I'm not disrecommending it by any stretch of the imagination -- what is in here is worth having. But it's a shot of tequila when you wanted a 20 oz beer, a backrub in lieu of a hot night of lovemaking, a couple of cold chicken wings when you wanted the half-dark plate at Boston Market. Buy it now, and it will be worth it. But given that they did such a good job with Italian Classics and American Classics, something tells me it might be a good idea to drop a line to Brookline to see if they can come up with The Best Asian Recipe, The Best Central European Recipe, The Best French Recipe, etc. This one will do the trick in the meantime. It is a Cooks Illustrated book. On its own, it's a good one. But it does rate a steep deduction in stars for just not being enough.