The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
by Beatrice Ojakangas
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Book Reviews of The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
Book Review: Finnish, with a bit of the other Scandinavians thrown in...
Summary: 3 Stars
As the other reviewers write, this is a good and thorough cookbook. I am of Swedish heritage, my husband is of Norwegian descent. I ordered this book eager to see some more recipes from our heritage. However, the majority of the recipes are from FINLAND. The author is Finnish (she has another completely Finnish cookbook), so naturally the recipes come from her background. I would guess that 90% of the recipes are from Finland, and only about 10% are from other Scandinavian countries. The up side is that I tried some Finnish recipes that I liked that I otherwise would never have known about (and they were good). The down side is that, well, I wasn't looking for Finnish recipes. Granted, much of the cooking in Scandinavia is so similar the country of origin doesn't often matter, but still...
I would give this book five stars if it were truly representative of SCANDINAVIAN cooking. Or, five stars if it said "Finnish Baking Book". My expectations was that it would have more from the other countries; doubt I would have bought it had I known it was mostly FINNISH.
Book Review: Fabulous recipes, great stories and background that go with them
Summary: 5 Stars
So many recipe books to choose from; where do you start? Well, I started with reading the reviews here at Amazon, and this book got such high marks I ended up ordering it - and I have not been disappointed. I'm reading my way through the book right now - yes, it's a recipe book you can read (as opposed to many others which are fun to browse but can get a little repetitive) because of all the snippets of backstory and custom woven throughout. It adds so much for me to be able to find out not only how things were prepared, but when, and why. I also LOVE that there are recipes from all over Scandinavia - I, for one, have never made recipes from Iceland before - and if there are regional variations, we are told about them.
In short - the reviewers here are not wrong, this is a wonderful book! The only thing that could have improved it would have been a few more pictures and/or diagrams - I like knowing how it's supposed to turn out - but this is not a flaw, just a 'wouldn't it be nice'.
Highly recommended.
Book Review: Nana's Recipes Made Better
Summary: 5 Stars
I was another one who bought this on its first release, only my copy was lost to me during a move. While I regret the loss of the hardcover, I bought this paperback as soon as it was again available (only to give it away and buy it again - yes, it really is THAT good!)
Beatrice Ojakangas has never steared me wrong in a recipe - ever. While I've tweaked and changed, I have never landed a complete dud following her suggestions. She sticks to the real ingredients (that means butter - not margarine, etc)and her recipes are always clear to follow.
This book allowed my family to recreate the baking of my childhood and in most cases go a step better, and as a result of it all my older children learned an appreciation for fine Christmas Cookies where the recipe mattered more than the artificially colored "decoration cookies" so common to our modern culture. I can't thank the author enough!
Book Review: Great baking book
Summary: 5 Stars
I just picked this book up a few weeks ago and have already made several of the recipes in it. I'm impressed with everything. Clearly written, and I haven't had any recipe problems at all. Like other reviewers, I also enjoy and appreciate the short background she provides with the recipes - it's so enjoyable to think of these baked goods in context.
I love the organization of the book - breads, sweet roll/coffee breads, cookies, savory things (filled pockets and pies, etc). It's a long, full book, with lots of recipes - it feels like a basic and yet comprehensive survey. There must be huge numbers of recipes and variations for all of these things, but at the same time, you feel that she hasn't probably left out anything that's important or commonly eaten. At any rate, I'm thrilled with the things I've made so far and look forward to trying even more of them.
Book Review: the Bible of Nordic baking
Summary: 5 Stars
In my Norwegian-American family, baking well is considered a high art form. Christimas wouldn't be Christmas without the seven kinds of fresh-baked cookies, and the whole point of our Sankta Lucia celebration is the Lucia buns, fragrant with cardamon and saffron. And where would we be without home-baked rye bread?
Although most of these recipes came down through the family, I now always double-check with Ojakangas' book. She's accurate, clear, easy-to-understand, and everything we've ever baked from this book has turned out just as well, if not even better than when we use the family recipes.
I always measure the quality of my cookbooes by how grungy they get from spilled incredients, etc. Well, this one's a winner, with the pages automatically falling open to all our family favorites.