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Emily-Jane Hills Orford
for Readers' Favorite

We tend to take for granted what we enjoyed in our youth: time spent with grandparents, learning Grandma’s traditional recipes, and pottering about together in the kitchen. There is love involved in the making of food, the serving of it, and the enjoyment of eating it. There are also lots of stories: where the recipe originated, why the food was a staple in a specific traditional, cultural dish. The recipes, the memories, and the stories are well worth sharing, not just for future generations within one’s family, but for others to enjoy as well. Janice Jweid Reed’s book, Sitto’s Kitchen: A Treasury of Syrian Family Recipes Taught from Mother to Daughter for Over 100 Years, is more than a cookbook. It’s a collection of family memories soaked in the creation of traditional Syrian foods. I love the way the author introduces Sitto, Arabic for grandmother, and her origins in Aleppo, Syria, a thriving community now devastated and left in ruins by the ongoing strife in Syria. The author continues with a short biography of her grandmother, who moved to the United States as a young teenager. Later, the author explains how she, as a teenager and later a mother living across the country, far from her family, would listen and learn about traditional Syrian foods, jotting things down in a spiral notebook. Her jottings developed into this cookbook/memoir, a treasury of good food and family times. After the insightful introduction, the author has arranged the recipes into the usual categories one would expect in a cookbook. Each recipe has the ingredients clearly listed, and the method of preparation presented in an organized fashion. Most recipes are accompanied by a photograph of the finished food, along with the author's side note about the food, its origin, and the times she enjoyed preparing the food alongside her grandmother in Sitto’s kitchen. A wonderful treasure full of recipes and stories.

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Amazon Customer
Like going to (Sito's) Grandma's house!!
This cookbook is the best middle eastern cookbook I've ever purchased!! The recipes are tried and true and end in a great result unlike others I've tried. I've purchased for other family members as well as it is difficult to find one as good as this one. And, their Facebook page is great; good tips, good stories, good support.

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Eddie Coyle
like the cookbook's author

Finally, the book I've been looking for. I grew up in a Syrian family originally from Aleppo and these recipes are as genuine as they can be. By coincidence, like the cookbook's author, I also grew up in Paterson NJ and I know firsthand the middle eastern grocers she recommends. I was glad to see she gives the Arabic names for all the dishes--it brought back many memories and reminded me of how much Arabic I understood as a child. I can still vividly picture helping my grandma grind the lamb and fix the casings for the "sahseejaw's" we all loved. And I always enjoyed picking the grape leaves in our Paterson back yard for her very tasty "yebret." . But it's very hard now to find this food in the so-called Middle Eastern restaurants. When I ask for "yebret" they don't know what I'm talking about. Same with "Kibbe Labiniya," my favorite childhood dish. There used to be a great restaurant in midtown Manhattan called Cedars of Lebanon where they knew how to prepare authentic Syrian cuisine, but it's no longer there. I am on a quest to find restaurants that still serve the real thing but in the meantime this wonderful cookbook--with highly detailed recipes that also reads like a memoir--is the closet I've come yet to my childhood meals. One dish I found missing--my Mom on Fridays always made a meatless lentil dish as a main course that I loved but my brother hated (so I ate his portion as well)--I dimly recall she called it "jededah" (that's as close as I can come to spelling it). It's not in this book and I've never seen or eaten it again since I left home as a young man. Maybe my Mom "invented" it but I don't think so. To sum this up: If you love Syrian food, this is the best book you can buy!

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Marsha
Sitto’s Kitchen takes us back to our youth!

This Syrian cookbook is so unique, especially for anyone whose relatives came from Aleppo. I’m embarrassed to say that, until purchasing this book, I had done very little cooking in my life. HOWEVER, I grew up on Syrian food prepared in the Aleppo style and have missed it so much that now, I’m cooking up a variety of recipes and enjoying it so much. The most beautiful aspect is that the author tells stories of her childhood and how her grandmother “sitto” prepared dishes for various occasions. It’s all so lovingly nostalgic for me and I hope it will be for you too. FYI Syrian food and Lebanese are very similar but Syrian is better! 😉

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fisherman3
Some excellent family recipes that do truly reflect the delicious food…

Some excellent family recipes that do truly reflect the delicious foods of the Middle East in general and more precisely Syria. Having lived in that region, these recipes are authentic and easy to make even in the states. There are many stores with ethnic sections that sell various spices often required for some of these meals. A must have for your cookbook library.

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razar516
A "must-have" addition to your middle-eastern cookbook collection!

These are recipes exactly like my mom use to make them. Many dishes I haven't thought about in years. I can't wait to get started exploring culinary memories. This is an extremely well-written and photographed Middle Eastern cookbook. I highly recommend it to your collection.

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Janice Peterson
Authentic, traditional, from the heart

Love this book. The author puts a lot of traditions into making this and shares beautiful stories of her childhood. Being Middle Eastern I enjoyed this. A great book to have even if you change your spices to match what you were brought up eating.

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Amazon Customer
Our reference for Syrian recipes

As the grandchildren of Syrian immigrants, we have struggled to reproduce our grandmother’s cooking. This cookbook has worked out all the proportions and added hints and shortcuts for modern cooks. We have explored additional recipes through the excellent instructions.

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BP
Just like Sitto made and with great stories
Great recipes authentic and pictures are great!

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Samuel G.
Authentic
Very authentic recipe book.

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Ed R.
Perfect book for Aleppian cooking

The recipes are almost identical or are identical to the recipes my family uses. Many of them I know by heart as I grew up with them. My grandparents came from Aleppo and my mother taught us how to cook. There were five of us kids who used to sit around the table hollowing out squash or rolling grape leaves. Because of this, I have been able to teach my own children how to make some of these recipes. My mother gave one of my sons a copy of this book, so I got one for myself and I will be getting copies for my other kids. This is a book that should be in every Aleppian household in America. The information in the book, along with the recipes, will help to keep Syrian traditions alive for generations to came. My thanks to the author. Also, I have a way to hollow squash that saves a lot of time, if the author is interested.

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Art Sapperstein
The recipes are delicious and easy to follow.

I so appreciate this cookbook, my grandmother also came from Aleppo, Syria and Jan Reed’s recipes are similar to my grandmother’s cooking. Her stories growing up and relationship with her grandmother are touching.
 Unfortunately, I never thought of getting my grandmother’s recipes; therefore, this cookbook is a godsend to me.
 Btw, I’m not a good cook and I was able to easily follow the recipes.

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Amazon Customer

As the grandchildren of Syrian immigrants, we have struggled to reproduce our grandmother’s cooking. This cookbook has worked out all the proportions and added hints and shortcuts for modern cooks. We have explored additional recipes through the excellent instructions.


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Albert Farraye of Wayne, NJ
Just FABULOUS

Your knowledge of all these foods is someone’s fantastic memory. Showing all of us your great talents and presenting pictures as beautifully set up, you are blessed with all this. Also, showing all of us real good foods and talents from you, FABULOUS mafee mitlaek mutubarah. Thanks for mentioning Zakeya, my mother. Appreciating this—wishing she could have seen all this along with your granny as they were very close together.