SC - IMPERIAL MONGOLIAN COOKING

[Stefan li Rous]

Greetings,

I saw this review in the recent Jessica's Biscuits flyer and was wondering
if anyone knew anything about it. Reading this it looks like it is not,
unfortunately, based on actual recipes from the Mongol time period so I'm
cautious. However I thought some of you might be interested even if it
is not based on actual recipes.

Stefan

> IMPERIAL MONGOLIAN COOKING: RECIPES FROM THE KINGDOMS OF GENGHIS KHAN, by 
> Marc Cramer 
> Hippocrene Books, Inc., New York 
> http://www.ecookbooks.com/products.html?item=01521 
> Jessica's Biscuit Price:$19.96 
> Retail Price:$24.95 
> An important collection for anyone interested in diverse and historical 
> culinary culture. This book is the first to explore the ancient culture of an 
> amazing empire. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, Genghis Khan ruled 
> one of history's largest land empires, dominating two dozen countries and 
> stretching from the Black Sea in Russia to the South China Sea. With this 
> splendid book, Marc Cramer opens a window into the fascinating culture and 
> diverse culinary traditions virtually unknown in the West, offering an 
> original and exciting cooking adventure. This first-ever collection of 
> recipes provides easy-to-follow dishes that are taken from each of the four 
> khanates (kingdoms) that comprised the greatest empire the world has ever 
> seen--an empire that spanned two continents and four hundred years. Mongolian 
> Imperial cuisine is rich, sophisticated and exotic. Its complexity is in its 
> unique array of tastes and textures, while its preparation is rather 
> straightforward and practical. Virtually all dishes can be made quickly and 
> easily from ingredients available in most supermarkets or Asian groceries. 
> Entries are accompanied by fascinating narratives describing the history of 
> the dish and its particular kingdom of descent. The origin of this entire 
> collection is utterly fascinating as told in th intorduction by author Marc 
> Cramer. Its genesis is in fantastic twists and turns of his Grandfather's 
> life, a "tempestuous Russian of Mongolian ancestry" growing bored of the 
> restaurant trade, searching for adventure, taking up with the Czar's Imperial 
> Army, befriending a former lama and chef in the service of the man who would 
> become the last khan of Mongolia, fleeing Russia bound up in a sack of export 
> grain on a train bound for Poland, turning up a restaurateur in London where 
> he spent out his days sharing bountiful meals, recipes and tales of his 
> Mongolia days with his family and friends. It is in this way that many of the 
> recipes in this glorious book were handed to his grandson, Marc Cramer, who 
> thankfully compiled this intriguing and significant book which savors the 
> tradition, taste and history of a bygone empire. 

- -- 
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****