Zuza ZakPolska: New Polish Cooking

I always look for new Polish cookbooks. I feel there are only few good ones out there. This one definey falls in the "I like it a lot" category. There is a bit of historical, geographical and cultural background given to the food and recipes in the book. There is a combination of traditional colorful peasant food and updated, more contemporary dishes. There might be not necessarily familiar ingredients used in some recipes, but they can be easily found in most grocery stores. The recipes are divided into chapters - Breakfast and Bread, Soups, Meat, Vegetables, Beans and Kaska, Dumplings, Party Food, Cakes and Desserts and Cocktails. Added bonus - throughout the book the food is beautifully photographed.The book made me feel a bit nostalgic, brought back memories of dishes I have forgotten and made me want to cook some Polish food. Highly recommend this book.

This book is absolutely stunning! The author is fantastic at writing and cooking! Photographs are beautiful and the Polish cutting detail across the hardcover is lovely! The book is dense with unique recipes, many which are or can be made vegetarian. You can tell a lot of heart and soul went into this book!I'm a third generation Polish woman living in America, unfortunately very disconnected from my roots. Looking forward to delving into more of my culture via cuisine and dreaming of someday visiting the land my great-grandparents once left behind like so many other immigrants escaping the war.Bought another copy for my babcia who lives out of state. Though she does not cook much these days, she is going to love this surprise!

This book is very elegantly put together. Even the covers are intricate and embossed. The color photographs are beautiful and illustrative, and the brief historical introductions are informative. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, and, unlike many Polish cookbooks, the recipes include animals (e.g.,chickens, fish) that are easily obtainable in the modern world (although quail eggs, venison, and wild boar make an appearance here). The soups are very different from those encountered in other European cookbooks. The only problem, and it's a minor one, is that the terminology is British--e.g, "rashers" versus the American "slices of bacon."

The overall presentation of this cook book is beautiful. A lot of recipes that are well known and others that have an unexpected twist. I love the personal touch that the author put in the book with childhood memories.

I gave this book to my father as a gift and he absolutely loved it! There are many great recipes that he can now make from his Polish heritage.

I purchased it as a Christmas gift for my Polish brother in law, and he loved it. I also thought the design of the book cover was very beautiful!

Solid book with many great pictures and explanations. Great as a gift for the not Polish people. It is just 20 USD, worth to buy.

Being Polish I was very pleased with this cook book. It doesn't have old recipes that have been long forgotten in Poland but rather shows the food that Poles eat nowadays and explains how to prepare it with the ingredients that can be found in most US grocery stores. Very good recipes and well written book overall.

i bought this book as polish cook book as actually it is not IT has a few polish recipes but most if them are russian and ukrainian recipes the author should revise her polish history as in her book is not accurate !!!!!! and bigos she calls polish kimchi ??? she probably doesn't know what kimchi is any way not impressed

This book was bought as a present for a colleague and I'm absolutely thrilled with it!.It's beautifully printed and the recipes come with notes about Polish history, culture and traditions.Really nice hardcover and proper binding will keep this recipe book for many years in good condition. The cover graphic is also very eye catching and refers to popular folk pattern. Trust me - its very popular and really pretty especially as embroidery.I was also pleasantly surprised with the pierogi folding technique graphics - topic that my colleague was always very interested in but never could get the technique. Now I hope he'll find it more understandable.I didn't try any of the recipes but I browsed through the index and I can tell that you'll find most of the traditional polish recipes and some new additions as well. For those unfamiliar with our cuisine - there's also a technique section and ingredients section where you can find descriptions on some of typical polish ingredients that might be unknown for foreigners.From my perspective this is a very good recipe book for those who would like to know our culture a bit and to know our cuisine. The book shows you a variety of recipes from different regions (I might even try few!) and it's beautifully printed.

Love this book. Polish cooking is evolving very quickly and although there are books full of the traditional Polish cooking this is a more modern take on this wonderful cuisine. What surprises me are the regional dishes that are explored in this book, in fact I think this author could easily write another book based on regional Polish dishes as, like everywhere else in the world geography and topography dictate the kind of plants and animals that thrive, which in turn influences the cook to be inventive. Very enjoyable and I look forward to Zuza's next book with great anticipation.

Not cheap but beautifully published. Worth it.

Very interesting book. Not only giving recioes and detailed instructions on how to cook the dishes, but also the history and background of polish cuisine and culinary traditions.