Forever Beirut: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Lebanon

Amid memories of struggle and sacrifice, Massaad (Soup for Syria) celebrates her homeland with family recipes that have “survive[d] across generations and help protect... our identity as a people.” Small plates of hot and cold mezze offered by the tableful convey a generous spirit, with fava beans dressed in fresh herbs, chicken wings cooked in a garlic-cilantro sauce, and snails bathed in tahini. Regional forms of kibbeh—a spiced dish widely adored throughout the Middle East and composed of the typical ground meat and vegetables, such as pureed squash—are baked, fried, and grilled. For mains, whole fish is wrapped in fig leaves and grilled, while the more labor-intensive upside-down rice dish maqloubeh, a flavorful item from neighboring Palestine, offers home cooks the ideal opportunity to flex their “wit and skills in the kitchen.” Vegetables are stuffed, and sweets are decidedly decadent—notably a long-cooked turmeric rice pudding that Massaad reports is one of the oldest recipes favored by the Sunni community in West Beirut. To round things out, Massaad offers an excellent selection of preserved and fermented staples (pickled turnips, pumpkin in syrup, red pepper paste) for one’s pantry that reduces waste and provides a hedge against times of instability. A delicious dive into Lebanese cooking and history, this is sure to be an instant classic. (Aug.)