Product Description

For centuries Jewish communities around the world forged dynamic cuisines from ancient traditions combined with the bounties -- and limitations -- of their adopted homelands. In this important new collection, Matthew Goodman has assembled more than 170 recipes from twenty-nine countries, handed down through the generations and now preserved in this historic volume.

Customer Reviews (5)

Easy Home Improvement by Stewart Walton
-Whether you work from home on a daily basis or simply want somewhere to put your home computer, you will need an efficient space where you can work. In 12 stylish projects, described and illustreated in simple step-by-step sequences, Easy Home Improvement: Your Home Office shows you how to organize your space--from clever storage silutions to desk and printer units designed to suit your own requirements. All projects graded for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels and contain full materials lists and measurements, combined with expert advice.

`Food Maven' Saves Endangered Recipes
Author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family

from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
April 15, 2005

When the El-Ghriba synagogue in Tunisia was bombed by Al Qaeda in 2002, the fragile remnant of a once thriving Jewish community was even further shattered.

"The Tunisian Jewish community is one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world," said Matthew Goodman, author of "Jewish Food: The World at Table," from his home in Brooklyn, "and the site of El-Ghriba was one of the most ancient, going back, I believe, to the fifth century B.C.E. As of 1948 there were 100,000 Jews in Tunisia. Today there are fewer than 2,000."

As the "Food Maven" columnist at The Forward, Goodman used his reporting skills to search out diverse cuisines of far-flung, once vital centers of Jewish life, some now on the brink of extinction.

"What I tried to do with this book was to locate and preserve food traditions from communities around the world that are today endangered because the communities themselves are endangered," he said. "So many of them weren't able to survive the 20th century or survive only in the most attenuated form."

More than 170 recipes, some of which have never before been written down, document the rich and varied Jewish culture of 29 countries, linked by law and ritual, yet distinguished by unique customs, traditions and celebrations, the history of a people told through its food.

But what is Jewish food? Can it even be defined?

"There are very few dishes that are shared by all Jewish communities around the world," Goodman noted, "only two or three, and only one shared ingredient, matzah. You couldn't define a cuisine based entirely on matzah. Jewish food is food that has been made by Jewish communities through the centuries and sustained by them, wherever they happened to be."

Both Ashkenazic and Sephardic cuisines and cultures are celebrated, so you see the Sabbath stew, one of the few dishes shared by all Jewish communities -- charoset is another -- in the Solet of Hungary and the Moroccan Dafina.

"Jewish Food" is an exciting read, filled with fascinating history. Did you know the mother of King Ferdinand of Spain was a converso, that Yemenites were the only people on earth who used Hebrew for communication before it became the official language of Israel and that the earliest borscht was made not from beets but from parsnips?

Nestled among the recipes are essays on selected ingredients, dishes and communities, deepening our understanding of their historical context.

"Food is kind of a repository of a community's history," Goodman observed. "You can see the wanderings of people over time. You can see the influence of conquest, of poverty, of travel. Food becomes a history lesson on a plate."

As an example, he cited the use of pine nuts and raisins in Roman Jewish cooking, as in the Italian Matzo Fritters with Honey Syrup.

"These ingredients were brought to Sicily by the Arabs where the Jews learned how to use them. Then when they got kicked out of Sicily during the Spanish Inquisition, they brought them when they moved up to Rome. The cinnamon and honey sauce, giulebbe, you find in a lot of Roman Jewish desserts. You can see the history of these people in this dish."

And what would Passover be without macaroons? But, if you've tasted only the store-bought variety, you're in for a treat.

"The same way that gefilte fish has gotten a bad name because most people think it comes out of a jar, macaroons got a bad name because they think they come in those metal tins," noted Goodman. "Macaroons you make yourself are so much better and just phenomenally simple to make."

The Pistachio Macaroons are made with rosewater, "a very common ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking, as are pistachios, and used a lot by Syrians," he said. "They're a nice alternative for people who want something a little different than the typical coconut macaroons."

Sadly, some recipes are irretrievable, Goodman said.

"There are so few of these dishes left," he said. "It's really like an extinct species. So many generous people shared their recipes with me. Some in the New York area would invite me to their home and let me cook with them in their kitchen. It was just an amazingly moving experience for me. But with each recipe they'd give me, they'd say, `I wish you could have tried these other two that so-and-so used to do, but she died.' That dish is gone forever."

Pizzarelle Con Giulebbe (Italian Matzah Fritters with Honey Syrup)

Syrup
1 cup honey
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Fritters

5 matzahs, broken into small pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher for Pesach vanilla
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 egg whites
Vegetable oil for deep frying

1. Make the syrup: Combine the honey, water and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cover and bring to a boil, then uncover, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into a serving bowl.
2. Make the batter: Place the matzah pieces in a bowl of cold water and soak until soft but not falling apart, one to two minutes. Drain in a colander and squeeze out any excess water. In a large bowl, mix together the matzah pieces, sugar, vanilla, salt, raisins, pine nuts and egg yolks.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the matzo mixture.
4. Make the pizzarelle: In a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot, heat at least 2 inches of oil to 375 F on a deep-fat thermometer. In small batches, drop heaping tablespoons of the matzah mixture into the oil. Fry in batches, turning as necessary, until they are a deep brown on all sides, about five minutes total. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve warm or at room temperature, accompanied by the honey syrup.
Makes about 25.

Pistachio Macaroons

3 cups (about 1 pound)
shelled pistachios
1 cup sugar
3 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons rosewater

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.
2. Grind the pistachios with the sugar in the bowl of a food processor, leaving some chunks for texture; transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
3. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold them, with the rosewater, into the pistachio mixture.
4. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls in balls onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between. Bake until lightly browned, 17 to 20 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Makes about 30.

Fantastic
This book is addictive.I spent an entire weekend reading it cover to cover.I received this book as an engagement present from a good friend.We are both cookbook collectors.The essays in this book are fascinating.They give you a real feel for the breadth of Jewish experiences in the diaspora.The recipies are exciting.I love to cook interesting and exotic foods and keep a strictly kosher home.It is a joy to have so many sumptuous recipes to choose from.One not of caution for the kosher crowd,I have still not been able to find all of the exotic spices and seasonings with kosher supervision.The majority - yes, but there are a few hold outs.The cookbook is still well worth the money.

A Book of Essays and Recipes
This volume is almost two books in one. One part is a story of the Jewish diaspora told from the standpoint of the foods they had in their new lands. This takes the form of a series of essays that discuss the movement of food with the people. As they went to new places, they encountered new ingrediants and couldn't get others. The food had to change accordingly. These essays give a history of some of these changes and are fascinating to see how foods develop through change.

The other part of the book is a cookbook of Jewish dishes from around the world. Of course there are the old standbys, mostly originating in the middle east. But the variety is what is striking here, you wouldn't think of Bombay curried fish as being a Jewish dish. What about Mexican Baked Blintzes -- what, you don't usually put poblano peppers in your blintzes. Then there's sweet and sour pot roast, brisket with coca-cola and many, many more.

This is an unexpected book because so many Jewish cookbooks only have the traditionals and here there is so much more, and the stories to go with the dishes.

Easy, Sumptuous Recipes and a Joy to Read
Okay, I know this author and I'm crazy about him. I am not what you'd call an accomplished cook, and further, I live smack in the middle of white bread country in an area where mainly Jewish people eat Jewish food and mostly in the privacy of their homes. I might not know about kreplach, kugels, and knishes, except from the Jewish folks I went to college with, and subsequently, from the few Jewish restaurants here in St. Louis, where shiksas like me go to eat exotically. On the other hand, I own a lot of cookbooks and really do use some of them on a regular basis. I watch Food TV on a fairly regular basis and pull recipes off food.com. I like to discover new (Okay, they're usually only new to me!) dishes and test them on my family and friends. Most important, I eat-a lot. While these facts hardly make me a food critic, they do make me feel completely qualified and objective in my decision to award this book all five stars.

1st star: For recipes that are easy to follow and that include vivid descriptions of the finished products. Further, a trip to my local chain grocery store confirmed that the ingredients are not difficult to find.

2nd star. For recipes that deliver, use fresh ingredients, and offer tips for simplifying preparation and also for amplifying flavors and textures. I made Petti di Pollo alle Erbe on the first night I owned this book. It was a good training dish for a Jewish food novice like me--very easy, and the recipe encourages herbs of your choice. I chose thyme and oregano and my family of five proclaimed it truly sumptuous. So encouraged, I made Potato Kugel-my first kugel ever-on the very next day, and it was another hit. The caramelized onions really rock! Next weekend I have to entertain a houseful of friends and relatives and guess what we're having? Probably one of the featured briskets, but I'm dying to try one of the meatball recipes. Conclusion: Even a tentative cook like myself can turn out a great dish using this book. I can't wait to try more.

3rd star. There is a wide selection of recipes; in fact, all the great Jewish dishes you might expect are here, along with many treasures. Recipes are presented from different countries-29 to be exact-and often offer more than one variety of a specific dish.

4th star. This book has been designed with use in mind-lots of clean, white space and good-sized, readable typefaces, making it a great choice for folks who like to write in their books (God forbid!), and those who are visually challenged. There are sections devoted to Poultry, Meat, Appetizers, etc., making it a cinch to find recipes and plan meals around the foods in your pantry-not the case with too many other cookbooks. Also, the ingredients are smartly listed like sidebars alongside the step-by-step instructions, a layout that makes a lot more sense than the usual manner of listing them above the instructions and forcing impatient readers like me to look up and down, up and down...

5th star. What's really special about this book is its lovely collection of essays, which are truly every bit as delicious as the food. They appear in the front of each section and before every recipe and they provide insights and anecdotes that touch on the geography, history, and culture of the people who originated the dishes.They also offer how-tos on cooking and tasting, and even a few savory tidbits from Goodman's own life and experiences. They make this book a treasure to own, and in contrast with most cookbooks, a pleasure for even a culinary proletarian to read, cover to cover.

As entertaining as it is practical, Jewish Food: The World at Table would make a lovely gift for Jew or Gentile-for anyone who enjoys cooking, eating, and a very nice story. I intend to give several to friends and family this year. I pre-ordered my own copy months ago and I'm thrilled to be among the first to own it. I'm already looking forward to Matthew Goodman's next book, and also hold onto the hope that he'll come to St. Louis soon and sign my copy of this one!

... Read more

Product Description
Pamela Grau Twena's introduction to Sephardic culture began on a blind date. Her future husband came from a family of Iraqi Jews who had immigrated to Israel. She was a non-observant Jew from Hollywood whose encounters with Jewish food had been limited to her grandmother's matzoh ball soup, a semiannual brisket, and an occasional cheese blintz. Twena's mother-in-law ushered her into a world of flavorful dishes. Captivated, she coaxed out the recipes, which had been passed through generations but never written down. Beginning with her husband's extended family, she went on to interview members of the Sephardic community (the term for Jews with ancient roots in Spain), persuading them to open their kitchens to her and divulge their coveted recipes. The result is a collection of 175 of Twena's favorite recipes from Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia in North Africa; from the Ottoman communities of Turkey, Rhodes, and Greece; from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran in the Middle East;Amazon.com Review
Sephardic Jews include those who left Spain during theInquisition in 1492 and the people in Jewish communities where theBabylonian Talmud is followed. These communities, found mainly in theMiddle East, tend to be exclusive, insular, and to eat very well.

From Morocco and Italy east to Iran and India, Sephardic cooking is arich blend of herbs and spices, of sweet and savory flavors. Hummus,stuffed grape leaves, and pilafs made with rice or bulgur are a fewSephardic dishes you may recognize.

Author Pamela Grau Twena'sintroduction to Sephardic cooking was unexpected. A nonobservant Jewfrom Hollywood, she met her husband, whose Orthodox family hademigrated from Iraq to Israel, on a blind date. After they married,they lived with his parents in Israel for one challenging year. TheSephardic Table grew, in part, from Twena's efforts to bond withher conservative mother-in-law, who guarded her territory so jealouslythat it took Twena months just to be allowed in the kitchen.

Obtaining recipes was difficult, even outside the family, because mostSephardic women cook by habit and feel, not following writteninstructions. Asked how many eggs she puts in a dish, a womansputtered, "How can I tell you? It depends on the chickens that day,it depends on the freshness of the flour."

When she returned to theU.S., Twena continued her research in Sephardic cooking. Hercollection of recipes, punctuated with moving personal stories,encompasses Italian Roasted Tomatoes generously seasoned with garlic,Indian Cardamom Chicken braised with six spices, and dishes fromSephardim living in countries everywhere in between. While Twena feltchallenged by this ritualized way of cooking, where you are supposedto stir the pot in a particular way and are only allowed combinecertain foods, even timid cooks can manage most of the recipes inThe Sephardic Table. --Dana Jacobi ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Mediterranean Jewish Cuisine
THE SEPHARDIC TABLE by Pamela Grau Twena
The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews~ A personal Collection of Recipes from the Middle East, North Africa, and India

ISBN: 0-395-89260-0Softcover, published in 1998

This is a very easy to use cookery book. I really like the way to lays flat as I use it, and the visual is great: nothing to distract me from the ingredients or instructions.I really enjoyed reading the author's personal story, as it made her choice of recipes even more meaningful to me.

The book is laid out by food categories, not countries.I find that is most helpful, unless I am looking to learn about a specific country or region.Since these Jews traveled all over after being expelled from Spain, their cuisine going with them, I found this method most handy.I did learn about each area, as I investigated the food groups.Such fun, if only it had photos!

Choosing a recipe was easily determined by my hunger for my favorite candy, Marzipan.This is expensive to buy in stores and yet not a holiday goes by, that I simply must have it.Here is the recipe, in Pamela's own words:

From Turkey
ROSA'S MARZIPAN (Masapan)

"The mother of my sister-in-law Chaya, Rosa Behor Levy, makes exquisite marzipan.Rosa is originally from Turkey, but traces her lineage back to the Sephardic expulsion from Spain.Every time Chaya and her husband visit us in the United States, her mother sends a large box of marzipan for my family.This is her recipe.

3 cups whole blanched almonds
2 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
½ cup light corn syrup
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract

Grind the nuts in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until they are as fine as powder.Transfer to a large mixing bowl.Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they are still but not dry and fold them into the ground almonds.

In a medium saucepan, combine all the remaining ingredients.Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, then reducing the heat to low and simmer, without stirring, for 20 minutes, or until it is thick and golden in color.Pour the syrup into the almond mixture and return it to the food processor.Blend until it becomes a smooth paste.Refrigerate the marzipan overnight.

The next day, roll the marzipan into walnut-sized balls.Allow to air-dry for several days before storing in an air-tight container."

Simple, right?And yummy! Great recipes, easy to do, easy to use. All in all, a fine cookbook.

My favorite Sephardic cookbook
After much deliberation about a Jewish cookbook for a wedding present, I decided on this one:every single one of the savory recipes that I have tried have worked out and inspired praise from all of my friends, and many have become part of my regular repetoire.While I enjoy Gil Marks's books, these recipes are consistently simpler and less time-consuming, so I'm more likely to cook them on a regular basis.Every single recipe looks delicious to me.

This book has a real strength in the meat department.Particularly good are the Yemenite chicken soup which my friend says tasted just like my friend's Yemenite grandmother's soup, the myriad meatballs, and the tabeet (Iraqi sabbath stew).Out of the 30 recipes from this book that I've tried, the only one which hasn't worked was the halva, and I tried it twice, so it's still a mystery to me how halva gets that incredible texture.

I'm extremely disappointed to see that this book is out of print, and all the used copies that I could find are so expensive.I'm posting this review in hopes to stimulate demand for this book again.

Recommended by our daughter
Our daughter purchased this book at a book sale.She enthusiastically read several recipes to me.I purchased copies of the book for myself as well as for several friends.There are many tasty comfort foods such as, 'Baked Fish and Chickpeas'.Every section of this book has recipes I want to try.A winning cookbook among the 100 or more I have collected.

Delicious recipes without complications
This is the first cookbook I reach for when planning a meal for Shabbat.The flavors are interesting and varied, and even similar sounding recipes often turn out quite different from one another.Good salads and great chicken.

decent but not excellent
I thought the recipes were too simple and ignored major ingridients that are used in sephardic cooking. The only advantage is very few ingridents, so it is easy to shop. Disadvantage: the taste suffers and isn't aromatic enough. ... Read more

Product Description
This cookbook brings together more than 350 kosher recipes from 27 countries, including Russia, Thailand, Israel, and Greece. From appetizers and desserts to special Shabbat and holiday meals, this cookbook teems with ideas to make kosher cookery an extraordinary international affair. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great options
A diverse group of beginner-to-intermediate dishes. Lots of flavor, but not lots of time or expense. The pumpkin soup, unstuffed cabbage, and lemon potatoes, and spinach rice make a fantastic meal.

Cooking with Kaplan provides ...
"Cooking with Kaplan provides not only revelation about clever substitutes, but also about the origins of each restriction and the history of traditional dishes."

Phoenix Home & Garden

If you'd love to sample cuisine from around the world ...
"If you'd love to sample cuisine from around the world but don't have the time or money to make the trip, "Kosher Kettle" can lead you through 27 countries with more than 350 recipes."

The Kansas CityJewish Chronicle

It's a deliciously small world when Sybil Ruth Kaplan ...
"It's a deliciously small world when Sybil Ruth Kaplan, with charm and humor, introduces us to her incredible collection of kosher recipes, her family and friends."

Kay K. Pomerantz, Block Publishing Company

Kosher Kettle
"This is a mixture of the old and the new, the well-known and the exotic."

- A Kosher Adventure Expressions: The Australian JewishNews ... Read more

Product Description
This book gives so much for so little. It combines the very best of Jewish recipes from home cooks and professional restaurants, along with a cultural exploration of major Jewish holidays and customs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Great Book!
I found this book at a Borders several years ago and made so many notes, etc., that I bought another copy for me and several as gifts for friends. This book has it all: a collection of great congregational recipes, deli recipes, humor and more. A personal favorite of mine is Marvin's Simple Roast Chicken, stuffed with a green apple and delicately seasoned with ginger. (Marvin Shapiro is the author of the books "How to Survive and Profit from your Son's Bar Mitzvah" and "How to Survive and Profit from your Daughter's Bat Mitzvah."

But best of all is the challah recipe. And after I added 3 tablespoons gluten, started using fast acting yeast and added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon I really had a winner. It makes wonderfully light loaves, doesn't require kneading and has the faintest hint of spice. All of this in 1 1/2 hours. This challah has a characteristic that I haven't found anywhere else. Regardless of the variation I use, it has a light crust that is just a bit crispy rather than chewy.

These recipes are DO ABLE and they taste very good.
I bought this recipe book before Passover and I have enjoyed several recipes .The one that stands out in my mind and works real well as a side dish to any meal is the potato kugel.You can easily cut the recipe inhalf or double it to suit your needs.Everyone enjoyed it.You don't haveto go to Israel or a speciality store to purchase the ingredients.Therecipes are easy to make and they taste very good! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I Expected More
The recipes were very unclear. The amounts were not clear, the directions were not clear. I seemed like the recipes could not possibly have been tested, by the way they were written. I collect Jewish/Kosher cookbooks,and I was very disappointed with this one.

a little treasure
Although I am a great reader, I've never posted a review on Amazon until now. Nancy from NJ doesn't realize the true nature and value of this book. It is, among other things, a cultural snapshot of one small town Jewish community among so many in the 1950s through 1970s. This snapshot is seen through three sets of eyes, our parents, their friends, and the children. It is a cookbook in two voices, one of adults seeking to preserve the tastes and smells of their traditions, one improvising on that tradition and taking it into a Postmodern world, though we didn't have that word at the time. Just like we didn't have food processors and access to every ingredient necessary. We had to improvise or do without.

Nancy asks why the Jewish version of chow mein was necessary. We wanted to be Jewish Americans in a time and place where ethnic food was limited by geography. To us, part of being American meant participating in the American culture by eating things like chow mein and cookies with M&Ms. As I look through this cookbook, I am struck by the amazing cornucopia of quality and diversity presented in the recipes, spanning the Sephardic and Ashenazi traditions with the occasional bit of Jewish-Americana.

This book gave me back my mother's recipes, ones I was too young to appreciate at the time, because she made them for herself and my father, often modified by the limited ingredients she could obtain. The kids were given peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now, with both parents gone, I can appreciate them, and as I make the food, I think of my mother's hands having done the same. This is a precious gift.

Thank you, Miriam Satz.

Kind Readers, you should buy your synogogue's cookbook. Buy this one also for a real treat, and an insight into Jewish-American life between 1950 and 1970.

Oy, I should have waited to buy this book.
The book appeared to be a slick, professional cookbook, and I was excited to find more pragmatic and clearer recipes than those of my grandmothers.I instead found transcribed copies of recipes, oddly sorted by contributor rather than type of food.The instructions are far from complete, and I beg to differ when the book states: "The treasures found here, all 479 of them, truly reflect the Jewish home." Someone want to explain to me where chow mein,chili and M&M cookies fit in, and why they were necessary? Buy your pta/sisterhood cookbook instead.

Comprehensive & intriguing view of Jewish cuisine
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/07)

I vividly remember my first encounter with Jewish cuisine some 15 years ago. We were in Krakow, Poland, and everybody wanted to eat at the famous Ariel, where the crew of Schindler's List ate often while filming the movie. They offered a set menu, featuring Gefilte Fish, which I figured would be some kind of stuffed fish, so I was really looking forward to it. Well, for those of you familiar with the famous dish I certainly do not have to explain how very wrong I was. For those of you who are not - let's just say I did not finish it. I also did not finish the following two courses, but I did have some cottage-cheese based dessert.For many years after that ill-fated meal, I did not venture into the exploration of Jewish culinary delights, until I had the good luck to try some dishes cooked by my friends and served in a home setting. That was enough to wake me up to the fact that Jewish cuisine can be and actually is delectable when done right.

The "Heirloom Cookbook," compiled and edited by Miriam Lerner Satz, presents over 450 recipes which, as the author puts it, are `recipes handed down by Jewish mothers and modern recipes from daughters and friends.' While quite a few are quite expected (the fateful Gefilte Fish, different kinds of Borscht, Chopped Liver, Matzo Balls, Blinis and more...), so many of them make one realize how diverse the Jewish cuisine really is and how many other cuisines have influenced it in the past. While Spanish, German, Russian and Polish influences were quite expected, I was amazed to find traces of Amish, Chinese, Danish, Greek, Italian, Mexican and other influences as well.

The recipes are diverse and cover every course of a regular or festive meal. There are even a dozen beverage recipes included. The directions to prepare are simple and easy-to-follow and the couple that I tried turned out absolutely yummy. While I enjoyed the family background part, the division of recipes in five sections (Lerner and Satz Family Recipes, Recipes from Miriam Lerner Satz, Passover Recipes, Sephardic [Spanish Jewish] Cooking and Favorite Recipes from Friends) made it slightly difficult to find appropriate recipes for each course. That was partially offset by an absolutely wonderful Index section, which listed the recipes in alphabetical order as well as by category and by author.

I've greatly enjoyed the family photos in the book, but missed photographs of the finished dishes. With the exception of three unidentified dishes on the front cover, there were no other photos of the food in the book. I have always found good pictorial material invaluable in a cookbook and great help in making the dishes look authentic. That was also my only semi-serious complaint about the "Heirloom Cookbook." I would highly recommend this book to anybody - Jewish or not - who enjoys good food and values family ties.

You won't be disappointed
This cookbook realy provides the best and most flavorable recipies.Their great for occations such as Passover, Hanukkah, and Thanksgiving.You won't be dissappointed with the purchase of this book!

P.S.The applesauce and the smoked salmon are very delicious! ... Read more

Product Description
"In this book we are seeking the best of both worlds--the remembrance of tastes past and the thrill of the new. What matters in this updating of the classics and the culling of new ideas from communities around us is that we adapt and integrate them in the spirit of Jewish history, making them our own as our ancestors have always done. In doing so we continue a tradition that began more than five thousand years ago."
--from the Introduction

Two generations of Jewish women, mother and daughter, have come together to create this wonderful collection of recipes for cooks young and old. The mother, Evelyn Rose, offers traditional Jewish recipes, just the way your mother and grandmother used to make them. For more contemporary, bolder, and lighter tastes, her daughter, Judi, offers updated and all-new dishes.

For example, the chapters on soups, starters, and salads include a recipe for traditional Chopped Liver (though it's made with less fat), as well as Chicken Liver Pate with Pears and a Citrus and Red Currant Sauce, a totally contemporary hors d'oeuvre made with a fruit citrus-scented sauce. Try the beautiful, ruby-colored Traditional Beet Borscht for that old-world taste, or you might enjoy the satisfying and sophisticated Cream of Watercress Soup with a Toasted Walnut Garnish, which can be served hot or chilled.

For the Kosher home, there are plenty of recipes for dairy meals, such as a traditional Onion Tarte from Alsace, or the exquisite and aromatic Provençal Sun-dried Tomato, Olive, and Basil Tarte. Many of the pasta dishes can be adapted to dairy or meat meals, such as Auntie Mary's Savory Noodles and Noodles in Sesame Sauce, Hong Kong Style, both of which can be prepared with chicken or vegetable stock.

There's a bounty of meat recipes as well, from universal Eastern European favorites like Beef-Filled Cabbage Leaves in a Sweet-and-Sour Sauce to South African Curried Beef Gratin, a spiced and slightly sweet example of how much fun you can have with Kosher cooking. Succulent Roast Chicken with a Lemon and Herb Stuffing is comfort food at its best, and Chicken and Mushroom Puff is a delicious way to use up leftover chicken and gravy, or even leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

If it sounds like there are too many delicious recipes to choose from, Judi and Evelyn have included menus for every holiday -- Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, and more. For each Jewish holiday, there is a discussion of the traditions and their cultural significance, such as why, during Purim, we eat all kinds of baked and fried sweet things using chickpeas, poppy or sesame seeds (to represent golden coins), and triangular pastries (Haman's pockets).

Finish your meal with desserts like Armenian Apricot Mousse with Pistachios, Auntie Annie's Cinnamon Balls, or Great Grandma's Feather-Light Lemon Cookies, and start creating a few traditions of your own. Cooking is as much about family and friends as it is about good food, and that's just the spirit conveyed here.

Whether you've been trying to remember the recipe for a favorite dish from your childhood or you want to keep a Kosher kitchen but are looking for some exciting new flavors, this is the book for you.

"This book," Evelyn Rose says, "is an attempt to preserve the food legacyhanded down by all our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, butto modify it to suit the lives we live now, and to introduce other dishesthat are imbued with the same spirit yet are looking toward the future." SoMother and Daughter Jewish Cooking is more like two generations ofwomen (Judy is the daughter) sharing traditional and contemporary recipes,in a kind of a mother-daughter coffee klatsch. Rose, who lives inManchester, England, and broadcasts on the BBC, is a world authority onJewish food. Her classic The New Complete International JewishCookbook is like The Joy of Cooking for the Anglo-Jewish home. That's a lot of muscle. Not enough of it is flexed in this collection. --Schuyler Ingle ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very disappointing.
I really looked forward to this book, since the recipes I had encountered from Evelyn Rose all seemed delicious.What a disappointment this book has turned out to be.I found most of the recipes to be labor-intensive, overly rich, and not very appealing.In the back of the book are some menu suggestions that are helpful, but I'm baffled as to why some holidays have extensive suggestions, while others are completely neglected.This is not a cookbook for someone who wants to create elegant meals that allow you to actually enjoy your guests and the holiday at the same time.

A cookbook packed with innovation and new ideas!
Mother & Daughter Jewish Cooking contrasts the different cooking methods and experiences of a mother/daughter team: while mother Evelyn strives to preserve Jewish traditional recipes, adapting them to thehealthier diet of today; daughter Judi uses modern ingredients andinternational influences to spice the results. The result's a cookbookpacked with innovation and new ideas.

Passing down recipes and kitchen secrets
Jewish women have been cooking and handing down their recipes since Rivka cooked a savory dish with which Jacob tricked Isaac.Evelyn Rose is the food editor for the UK Jewish Chronicle and author of the cookbook nearlyevery Jewish home owns: The New Complete International Jewish Cookbook. Herdaughter, Judi, who lives in NYC, is a producer for the BBC and iscurrently preparing a series on Thai cooking.Mother passes traditions andtips and lore onto daughter in this book.In addition to recipes and tips(tips on frying onions, soaking beans, chopping, preparing rice, and bakingskills), folktales are also passed down to the new generation, such as howit took Evelyn ten years to coax the Rose family pickle recipe out of herhusband.The Roses also include some holiday menus at the back of the bookwhich makes it easier for you to add their recipes to your holidaypresentations.For each classic Jewish recipe, the authors also presentupdated hybrids.For example, recipes include classic chicken soup,followed by a contemporary szechuan chicken soup with soy, ginger, orlemongrass.Hungarian Goulash soup is followed by a Spanish red peppersoup. A traditional Jewish lentil soup is paired with a Cream ofWatercress; chopped chicken liver is followed by liver pate with pears anda citrus and red currant sauce; or maybe you'd prefer a vegetarianmock-liver zucchini pate.Traditional Sephardic cheese puffs are followedby contemporary French petites gougeres.A traditional Tunisian bakedomelet (badinjan kuku) is followed by Israeli cream cheese pancakes.TheRoses provide a recipe for a lokshen kugel that can be made with wheat andegg free asian noodles (did you know that lakcha means noodles inTurkish?), as well as an excellent recipe for a traditional Anglo-Jewishhalibut in lemon sauce, and a kosher Valencian seafood-free paella. Gefilte fish is hybridized with Gefilte Fish Provencale, Marmite duePecheur, and Normandy style fish with cider and apples.There are a dozenchicken dishes, including a lemon chicken; an orange, raisin, and honeychicken; and spice roasted chicken with apricot and bulgher stuffing. Asfor salad recipes; to name a few, there is Moroccan carrot-raisin; fennel,almond and black grape; Manchester style potato; cucumber; and melon,cucumber and strawberry.The desserts are to die for, need I say more? Okay, let me mention three: A traditional Queen of Sheba FlourlessChocolate Gajeau, a contemporary Viennese Apfelschnitten, and a classicJewish Apple Pie.A very good resource for the Jewish and non-jewish cook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The Ultimate Jewish Cookbook!
I have hundreds of cookbooks and dozens which contain Jewish and Yiddish recipes.This is the only Jewish cookbook I need!I purchased the book several years ago for my friends who are Parisian Jews and were having a difficult time finding Ashkenazi cookbooks in the Paris book shops.I have since purchased copies for myself and other friends.No matter the recipe I select, it is just like my Grandmother and Great Grandmother had prepared it!My father and cousins love everything I have prepared from this book.Even the simple recipes like the lokshen kugel with schmaltz is just like Bubbe made!The explanations are wonderful and I oft times find myself reading it just for the sake of enjoyment!

Many thanks for such a superb cookbook!It has brought a bit of nostalgia to my family table.

Simply Best Jewish Cookbook
All recipes we have tried - and we have tried many - are excellent.The directions are detailed and the results are superb.Some recipes, the Bialysrtock-Style latkes, have become our family favorites.

What?Only 22 kugel recipes?I'm kvetching for Gvetch
Did your family eat prakke, holishkes, golobtzes, huloptches, or just staffed cabbage??Read this book and learn what this means about your family's history.This book is complete.Let me put it this way; there are 22 noodle-kugel-lokshen recipes and 7, count them, 7 recipes for chicken soup in this definitive book of classic Ash-kenazic Jewish cuisine.He includes maps of the Yiddish speaking areas of Europe and a pronunciation guide.Not only is the book filled with recipes and Yiddish aphorisms, but the author analyzes the history of the Jews through their language and cuisine. For exmaple, in his analysis of Lithuania and Northern Poland (an area known as Litteh), the popular herbs are understated dill and sorrel. Salmon and herring were the fishes used, and the starch was potato.Thus Jews from the area made the best potato kugels.But for non-potato breads, the best Jewish area was the Ukraine, which perfected black breads, challahs and bagels.Beet borsht eaters were mainly in the Ukraine, fruit soup eaters were in Litteh.Get the idea?If your gefilte fish was peppery, think Litteh; if it was sugar sweet, think Galitzia and southern Poland and Hungary. Either way... u have good cooking ahead for u with this book

One of my all-time favourite cook books
This book doesn't have the glossy pictures or fancy covers that you often see in cookbooks these days, but the content is superb. The recipes are beautiful, and strike me as authentic. The best part of the book, though, are the stories the author writes that put the food into the context of Ashkenazi Jewish culture. As a non-Jew, I found Sternberg's stories and sidebars both fascinating and intimate. I've other books on Jewish food, and this is the only one I use regularly.

Liked it so much, we bought more copies as gifts
This is a wonderful cookbook -- both for the recipes and for the rich cultural heritage it paints.We got this book half price a long time ago and liked it so much, we bought 8 more copies to give to friends andrelatives.It's really that good. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best of Jewish Cooking...
I've been using this cookbook for over twenty years and all of the recipes are just wonderful. I get a lot of compliments...and I'm not much of a cook when left to my own devices. It's beautifully presented with the author'scalligraphy on each page. I highly recommend it for its visual beauty as well as the deliciousness of its recipes. ... Read more

Product Description
Acknowledged as the leading light of new Jewish cuisine, and described by the Jewish Chronicle as "the doyenne of Kosher with style," Carole Sobell reveals her secrets in a new cookbook that offers a contemporary approach to one of the world's classic cooking styles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A highly recommended guide to modern kosher dining
Kosher cooking and catering expert Carol Sobell shares her culinary and entertaining insights, advice, and recipes in New Jewish Cuisine: Contemporary Kosher Cooking From Around The World. The full color photography and instructional advice comprising the Entertaining section make New Jewish Cuisine an especially welcome reference for the novice kitchen cook. From Cream of Vegetable Soup with Garlic Croutons; Broiled Salmon and Baby Leek Terrine with Saffron and Chive Dressing; Sea Bass with Ratatouille and Tapenade Sauce; and Roasted Tomato Salad with Herbs; to Honey and Mustard Roasted Poussin with Root Vegetables; Beef Wellington; Sticky Toffee Pudding with Caramel Sauce and Creme Anglaise; and Poached Red and White Pears with Vanilla and Cinnamon, New Jewish Cuisine is a definitive and highly recommended guide to modern kosher dining. ... Read more

Product Description
'Mother & Daughter Jewish Cooking' brings together two generations of Jewish cookery. In her popular and authoritative style, internationally acclaimed food writer the late Evelyn Rose takes the hassle out of preparing for all those family occasions that are so central to Jewish life. Two generations of Jewish women have come together to create this wonderful collection of recipes for cooks young and old. Evelyn Rose offers traditional Jewish recipes, just the way your mother and grandmother used to make them. For more contemporary, bolder, and lighter tastes, her daughter Judi offers updated and all-new dishes. Cooking is as much about family and friends as it is about good food, and that's just the spirit conveyed here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Awful condition
My favorite book - but in such an awful condition! Shame on the seller. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of exciting, stylish and modern Jewish recipes for the busy person. The step-by-step approach aims to maximize time and effectiveness and enable the reader to master each dish with the confidence of a professional. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great
Received item in the best packaging I've ever seen.

The book itself is excellent--giving history with each recipe as well as a brief summary of Jewish history in the introduction.

Recommend it highly!

very disappointing with textbook dull writing
This was a big disappointment. The writing is very dull like an old, boring textbook with nothing to even describe the recipes. I don't require pictures in cookbooks (this one doesn't have any but that's okay) but do like descriptions of how things taste (eg, is this recipe here because it is quick & cheap or because it is yummy) and when to serve them (eg, is this great for a party or good for the family when you're pressed for time.

Very uninspiring; nowhere near as good as other Jewish ckbks
I was horribly disappointed with this book.At best, it was uninspiring and very dull.I grew up loving Jewish cooking and have many Jewish cookbook....There are many absolutely wonderful cookbooks on Jewish cooking (check Amazon)

Every recipe is a home run
I've made ten or so of the recipes in the book and I've always had success. Everything turns out great. Either it's something new that just tastes really good or it's an old memory from my childhood that I didn'tknow how to cook. We have several cookbooks in the house. This one is thebest. ... Read more