In Salt & Time, Alissa Timoshkina writes with passion and nostalgia about the dishes of her home country of Russia, food "tinted with the stereotypes of the Cold War and obscured by the complexities of contemporary Russian politics."
Thoughtful introductions lead into each recipe, giving Timoshkina's updated versions of classic Russian dishes both historical and personal context. She describes her recipe for borscht as "taking a bit (okay, a lot) of creative license" and "iconoclastic." She offers three alternative fillings for the signature Siberian dumpling pelmeni and updates a "mundane Soviet creation" of a cookie into something sophisticated in her recipe for glazed sandwich cookies with plum jam. With stunning photographs of both the dishes as well as the Siberian landscape scattered throughout, Salt & Time is a testament to a time-honored cuisine that is often overlooked in the world of modern cooking. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm