Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Modern Middle Eastern Made Easy, 2 Nov 2002
Melbourne chef Greg Malouf has been enormously influential in the development of the fusion style of cooking that uses North African and Middle Eastern ingredients without confining itself to the traditional dishes. I used to say that if you took me blindfolded into the restaurant I could identify his cooking, but nowadays as his disciples have established their own restaurants I'm not so sure.Moorish has a particular emphasis on North African flavours. Purchasing it is worth it just for the first section giving recipes for spice mixes and condiments, though personally I buy my chermoula and ras al hanout already made up. Nowadays it is not difficult (in Melbourne anyway) to get hold of such things as couscous, orange flower water or pomegranate molasses. The recipes are not generally technically difficult, although some of them may begin with a rather intimidating list of ingredients. And some require a bit of forward planning, like the chocolate bread and butter pudding with turkish delight. This fabulous concoction has to be made two days before serving, using bread that is already stale - but the result is fit for a dinner party!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Modern Middle Eastern Made Easy, 2 Nov 2002
Melbourne chef Greg Malouf has been enormously influential in the development of the fusion style of cooking that uses North African and Middle Eastern ingredients without confining itself to the traditional dishes. I used to say that if you took me blindfolded into the restaurant I could identify his cooking, but nowadays as his disciples have established their own restaurants I'm not so sure.Purchasing Moorish is worth it just for the first section giving recipes for spice mixes and condiments, though personally I buy my chermoula and ras al hanout already made up. Nowadays it is not difficult (in Melbourne anyway) to get hold of such things as couscous, orange flower water or pomegranate molasses. The recipes are not generally technically difficult, although some of them may begin with a rather intimidating list of ingredients. And some require a bit of forward planning, like the chocolate bread and butter pudding with turkish delight. This fabulous concoction has to be made two days before serving, using bread that is already stale - but the result is fit for a dinner party!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Not really 'Moorish', but a decent book nevertheless, 12 May 2009
This book, like another book by the Maloufs, Arabesque is mistitled. You might think that you are getting a book of north African cuisine, but it actually also (in fact mostly) covers the wider Mediterranean, Europe, middle East and beyond, involving an almost excessive amount of 'fusion', a modern culinary obsession especially among Australian chefs it seems.
So, you get such recipes as cock-a-leekie with dates and croque monsieur, gazpacho, Hungarian mushroom soup, mussel mulligatawny with preserved lemon risotto, Greek rocket salad, French onion pizza with Turkish sausage, Spanish omelette, taramasalata, tzatziki and middle Eastern tiramisu; and ingredients such as halloumi, kataifi, chorizo, parmesan, mozarella, gruyere, juniper and sumac.
However, I think that they successfully get away with the fusion aspect on the whole - the recipes are generally not overly chi-chi nor ill-conceived (though flavouring something with a combination of cardamom and thyme as in one recipe herein sounds extremely odd indeed if not downright grim, but I haven't tried it). The book is simply and traditionally laid out and well presented - one recipe to a page with the occasional photograph of a recipe on the opposite page - certainly no padding with lots of arty photos of middle eastern locations. In these respects it serves as a cookbook much better than the Maloufs' Arabesque and Turquoise. The section at the front with various spice mixes, relishes, dressings, dips and preserves indicating which recipes in the book they can be used with is an excellent addition.
As long as you appreciate that it's not "Moorish", this is actually a quite decent cookbook.
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by Greg Malouf
by Greg & Lucy Malouf
by Arto Der Haroutunian
by Yotam Ottolenghi
by Ghillie Basan
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