Why I Created a Basics Chapter

As a youngster, I never wondered why my Sitto could seemingly find good things for us to eat whenever any of us wanted a snack. When I got older, married, and started a family, I was in awe of her abilities.

When I started to tackle that first cookbook, I did a mental inventory of her kitchen. I started to bring up those old memories which brought up a lot of emotion, but that's a whole other story.

Drained yogurt cheese pg 17.JPG — Drained yogurt cheese

Her pantry was always full. And in her day, when I was very young, she'd have these big pottery jars in her basement cold pantry. They'd be full of Jibneh, String cheese in brine, Grape Leaves in brine, Lift Mekhalel, Pickled Turnips, Dibis Riman, Tamarind Syrup, Tahina, Labneh, Yogurt Cheese, Zahtar spice, Datah, Syrian Spice Blend, Nanat, dried mint, Smede, Semolina grain, Shumrah, Fennel Seed, Milh Laimun, Lemon Salt, Halaweh, Halvah, Mahzahad, Orange Blossom Water, Zibdi M' Dataha, Semneh, Clarified Butter. All of that would be her preparations for any number of meals which could be created at her fingertips! Can you believe it!

Thus, you can now understand why I did a Basics chapter as well as a Glossary. I was trying to think like an experienced immigrant Syrian grandmother! It was a monumental task. That first book took me about two years to put together.

Back to the point of this story. I wanted to have the young or inexperienced Syrian cook learn to have a kitchen pantry like Sitto's. In fact, after the cookbook was first published, one of my earliest critiques on Amazon was by someone who said that the cookbook was "very basic…for someone who was new to Syrian cooking.” She meant it in a derogatory way, but I took it as a great compliment because that was my aim!

Why not have your own Sitto's Kitchen! If you read the Basics chapter and refer to the Glossary, you'll have a great start. Nowadays, with the internet, the ingredients can all be delivered to your door!