Hacker News Books

Really interesting read which very eloquently describes the experience I had when searching for an Iranian cookbook. We ended up settling on the Batmanglij, which really is as much a textbook as it is a cookbook. It reminds me of something like Chocolates and Confections (Greweling & Culinary Institute of America), which focuses on fundamentals in addition to recipes.

I found that Batmanglij exhaustively covered the meals we had as a first-generation immigrant family (my brother and I were the second generation). There were some notable differences in her recipes - she adds rosewater to many dishes whereas my family did not. I assume that's partly due to regional differences, and partly just family tradition, akin to how different American families might cook something like lasagna. She also sometimes recommends different meats, but this is something I'd already come to expect when meals were cooked by different family members.

I also really appreciated her ingredient glossary because some of the ingredients that I remember by Farsi name aren't really available in the west, or have more generic names. For example, we always used chives in place of 'tareh', which it turns out is actually a Persian leek. But it's nothing like the leeks you find in western supermarkets.

Persiana was a little disappointing, as I imagine most of the more Anglophone cookbooks would be if you're looking for Iranian home style cooking instead of elevated, somewhat generic Middle Eastern cuisine. But to be fair, it does have some delicious recipes nonetheless.

The author's comments about the lack of southern cuisine are interesting. I suspect part of that is simply due to the fact that the north of Iran is far more populated, but I'd be interested in seeing more recipes because of the different cultural and culinary influences in the south.