Cookbooks

The Arab Table: Recipes & Culinary Traditions

by May S. Bsisu

Morrow, 369 pp., $34.95

Cookbooks dealing with a broad range of Arabian cuisine from Middle Eastern countries that are available in the English language are rare. The Arab Table is not only one of the few, but one of the best. Author May Bsisu is a professional chef and cooking instructor of Palestinian heritage, born in Jordan, and raised in Lebanon. With this title, she has crafted a seminal work on authentic foods of the Middle East, reinforced with the necessary cultural background that brings the foods into sharp ethnic focus.

The introductory chapters reveal the historical basis for the cuisine, the secrets of Arab ingredients (all available locally at Phoenicia deli when you're ready to cook), as well as the regional nuances of an area that covers almost one-fourth of the globe. Each of the 175 recipes features extensive background information and personal tips, and each is tested, logically written, and easy to follow.

A Tripoli fish and shrimp soup (Shorabat al Samak) was simple to prepare yet amazingly complex in flavor, seasoned as it was with orange, saffron, and cardamom, and thickened with tahini. Fatet Lamice is a dish so tantalizing in flavor and texture that it demands to be cooked by all. Picture crispy croutons topped with lemon sauce, fragrant rice, and garlicky yogurt, with spiced beef and richly-seasoned unctuous lamb shanks resting at the summit, garnished with pine nuts and almonds. It's a dish fit for an Arab potentate (or your favorite friends).

Bsisu's Arab Table is an incredible compilation of the culinary wealth of the Middle East, done in an easily approachable style that perfectly fits the American kitchen.