Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The best and worst thing one can say about this book is that it is just a very large collection of ancient and modern recipes whose ingredients and preparation conform to at least conservative Jewish dietary laws. It is very similar to a collection of all English Language published sonnets ranging from Shakespeare to the little old lady in Nebraska who publishes in her local newspaper. Everything has been published and everything follows certain rules, but all connections between the collected items ends there.
This is not an unworthy book. It sort of reminds me of the old Palgrave's Golden Treasury of English Poetry, which collected works according to little rhyme or reason, except that the authors were English and wrote in English.
This book has three things going for it.
First is its size. With 825 recipes, someone looking for a recipe to accomplish a particular objective within the kosher rules, they have a good chance of finding one.
Second is the fact that all recipes have been published, but not all have been published in the pages of the New York Times. Some come from recently published books such as Marcus Samuelson's 'Aquavit'. This means that each one has been editorially reviewed by one or more of professional editorial eyes.
Third is the obvious love and care with which the editor(s) have assembled the material. The introductory essays by Mimi Sheraton and Joan Nathan are informative and endearing.
Unfortunately, all sense of cohesiveness stops on the first page of Appetizer recipes. There is no trace of any scholarship which would help sort out the recipes by whether the originating tradition was, for example Ashkanazy or Sephardic.
The Chapters dividing the recipes are:
Appetizers
Soups
Fish
Poultry
Meat
Vegetables
Grains, Legumes, and Pasta
Salads
Light Fare for Brunch and Lunch
Trimmings, Savory and Sweet
Breads, Rolls, Bagels, and Matzohs
Desserts
There is no sense in which Jewish traditional food forms a cuisine in the same sense that Morocco or Turkey or Iran have a distinctive cuisine. Jewish food is an overlay on the existing cuisine of the region.
This is a very worthy book if you have few cookbooks and are in need of a more diverse selection of kosher recipes. It is interesting that there is no statement in the book saying that the validity of the kosher nature of the recipes has not been certified by any rabbinical authority. And note that a kosher recipe can easily be made non-kosher by using non-kosher ingredients. A reasonable price for a lot of recipes. If you want a more measured look at Jewish Cooking, check out Claudia Roden's book on the subject and her book on Middle Eastern food.
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