Bengali Cookbooks

[bong]

During my recent trip to Kolkata, I picked up two Cookbooks specializing in Bengali cooking:

"Bangla Ranna: The Bengal Cookbook" - by Minakshie Dasgupta

ISBN 81-7476-205-1

and

"The Calcutta Cookbook" - by Jaya Chaliha, Minakshie Dasgupta et al.

ISBN 01-4046-972-9

Unfortunately, both the books are currently out of stock at amazon.com

I found both the books to be fairly good, but then again, I haven't read that many Bengali cookbooks before. The "Calcutta Cookbook" has lots more than recipes -- it has some stories about culture etc. which some people may or may not like.

The Bengal Cookbook is more like a cookbook, and it concentrates on recipes alone. The recipes are very well written and would be useful for people who do not have an intuitive feel for Bengali cuisine. This book also has some great pictures.

If you want to get introduced to Bengali cooking, the Bengal Cookbook may work for you.

PS: Minakshie Dasgupta is the mother of the owners of Kewpie's Restaurant that I mentioned In this thread about Kolkata restaurants.

[Rushina]

I have read it from cover to cover. It is good, thought the second is a reprint of the first. It is available at Crossword in Bombay and might be available with Strand book stall WWW.strandbookstall.com

Rushina

[Vikram]

The best Bengali book on food - and a strong contender as the best one on any kind of Indian food - is Chitrita Banerji's "Life & Food in Bengal". Its a really excellent book that paints a picture of the whole context in which Bengali food is eaten, the influence of seasons, social customs and history.

Its done in two parts - there's a central section which follows Bengali food season by season, which is an excellent way to write on Indian food given the continued importance, thank god, of seasonality in our cooking. And sandwiching this section are two fictional accounts of a girl growing up in a Bengali family and then years later, when she's a married and then divorced woman living in the US, the story of her return to Calcutta.

It seems to be a lightly fictionalised version of Banerji's own life - she was married to a Bangladeshi and lived there for a while which gave her knowledge to East Bengali ingredients and ways of cooking. It all works very well, the memoir-cum-essays framing the recipes that she gives along the way. The book used to be available in a rather uninspiring reprint from, I think, Orient Longman, but I haven't seen it in a while (and I've been looking since some horrible person seems to have taken my copy).

What is available is Banerji's more recent book called 'The Hour of the Goddess', no recipes this time, but a collection of essays on the role of food and cooking in the lives of Bengali women. This includes her essay on the Bengali bonti, the fixed floor knife, which came in Gastronomica (and is available on its website). She writes really well so its a very good book - my only crib is I wanted more! Its available at Strand, the book shop, and maybe at the sale though I didn't see it the one time I went there this year. (I find the sale somewhat overrated - its not that cheap for all the owner's talk, just remember these are remaindered books)

I bought the Chinese Pantry book that's a companion to the Indian Pantry book you mentioned in another thread. It seems quite as good as that one - which I've lauded on this forum in the past - though somewhat more eccentric. The writer seems to have strong opinions which he doesn't mind conveying in quite a blunt way. It adds to the enjoyment of the book, of course.

Vikram

[Monica Bhide]

rummate -- perhaps this will help your research?

[Rushina]

Hey Vikram,

I went out and bought the chinese Pantry book too. was intrigued by the recipe for the Master Sauce. Also tried the fried chicken with triphala/ Sichuan Peppercorns. It was a huge success with the boys. (the husband and the son). I liked the book too.

Rushina

[bong]

The best Bengali book on food - and a strong contender as the best one on any kind of Indian food - is Chitrita Banerji's "Life & Food in Bengal". Its a really excellent book that paints a picture of the whole context in which Bengali food is eaten, the influence of seasons, social customs and history.

OK, I finally got this book. Haven't read the book completely yet, but won't stop me from offering an opinion about the book. I agree that the book does "paint" a picture of the whole context of Bengali food.

But I was unimpressed by the book as far as the recipes go. It is not a cookbook at all in my opinion. It is more of a "Introduction to Bengali Culture with Emphasis on Food" sort of a book.

I still think as far as just cooking goes, the "Bangla Ranna: The Bengal Cookbook" is a better cookbook. The recipes are more clear, the directions are more precise.

Edit: Correct name of the book helps.

For Mongo: see the first post in this topic.

Edited May 5, 2004 by bong (log)

[mongo_jones]

I still think as far as just cooking goes, the "Bengali Cookbook" is a better cookbook. The recipes are more clear, the directions are more precise.

who is that one by again bong?

i'm awaiting my "calcutta cookbook" from the penguin series.

on my next trip home--i hope to be able to go for more than 3 weeks for a change--i want to sit down with my grandmother (a legendary cook) and my youngest aunt (who learned everything she knows from her, and added her own frills) and get them to talk about food and cooking.

my eldest mamima--maternal uncle's wife--who'll be here in a month is also an amazing cook (and a treasure-trove of information--she was taught after marriage by my mother's widowed aunt and by family cooks) but i'll only have a few days with her and don't want to waste time that could be spent on practical instruction on talk!

[jw46]

on my next trip home--i hope to be able to go for more than 3 weeks for a change--i want to sit down with my grandmother (a legendary cook) and my youngest aunt (who learned everything she knows from her, and added her own frills) and get them to talk about food and cooking.

Has always wished I would have taken the time to talk to my Grandmothers and get their recipes firsthand...While my Mother has them written down, they never come out the same...They died before I really got into cooking...

Bring the legacy to the next generation...learn from them...before long, it will be too late...Just the way life goes, I guess...

[Rushina]

on my next trip home--i hope to be able to go for more than 3 weeks for a change--i want to sit down with my grandmother (a legendary cook) and my youngest aunt (who learned everything she knows from her, and added her own frills) and get them to talk about food and cooking.

Has always wished I would have taken the time to talk to my Grandmothers and get their recipes firsthand...While my Mother has them written down, they never come out the same...They died before I really got into cooking...

Bring the legacy to the next generation...learn from them...before long, it will be too late...Just the way life goes, I guess...

I know what you mean. I started of this tradition in my family, I bought a beautiful diary for myself and passed it around to all the women in my house, My grandmother, mom, aunts etc and got them to write down their recipes for me in their own hand.

So now I have a collection of recipes, with the added memory of it being in their own hand. Another bonus is most of them took the time out to add a little note of blessing or advise. My only regret is that i missed out on my Dadi - my paternal granmother. I was too busy being a teenager when she was alive. I never spent enough time with her.

My grandkids will all get a copy one day, even the boys!

Rushina

[bhelpuri]

My grandkids will all get a copy one day, even the boys!

Khuda Hafiz.

You've done something special, and quite vital in our times of dispersal.

I'm a firm believer in the open source model. That is, everyone should get all elements of the heritage to make of what they wish and what is natural.

Your experiment, in the family, is exactly the kind of knowledge maintenance that will provide some of the essential aspects of moving forward - within the culture - in these times.

--

So, um, how about letting us into the Rushina family secrets as well?

[Peppertrail]

[on my next trip home--i hope to be able to go for more than 3 weeks for a change--i want to sit down with my grandmother (a legendary cook) and my youngest aunt (who learned everything she knows from her, and added her own frills) and get them to talk about food and cooking.]

I know what you mean. For many years I also went home for three weeks at a time and was never able to sit down and talk to everyone about those family recipes. I flet bad that my children who grew up here will never know their legacy. Six years ago I decided to do something about it. I started writing down the recipes from my mother's and aunt's letters which were my only source of Kerala recipes during my early years of stay in the U.S. Then during my visits home I took the time to speak with family and our old cooks. After September 11th when the financial markets were collapsing, I took a chance to leave my job and decided to concentrate on my project. Ever since I have been going home for months at a time and talking, collecting, testing and writing down those recipes - 180 plus so far. Someday hopefully I would able to move them from the hard drive of my pc to the pages of a cookbook.

Edited May 5, 2004 by Peppertrail (log)

[skchai]

BTW, the Calcutta Cookbook is more than an update of Bangla Ranna. It has one chapter, also called "Bangla Ranna", which is in some ways a very condensed version of DasGupta's earlier path-breaking work on Bengali Cuisine. However, the other chapters focus on different communities, ranging from Moghul influence, Anglo-Indians, and a chapter on minority communities, complete with discussion of Sino-Indian cuisine and the small Baghdadi Jewish community.

[jw46]

Ever since I have been going home for months at a time and talking, collecting, testing and writing down those recipes - 180 plus so far. Someday hopefully I would able to move them from the hard drive of my pc to the pages of a cookbook.

Looking foreward to you publishing it..Put me down for a copy...

[skchai]

Put me down too. See, you already have a readership!

[Peppertrail]

Put me down too.  See, you already have a readership!

jw 46 and skchai:

Thank you.

ammini

[Monica Bhide]

Ammini.. me too.. as you know I love your work! Good luck my friend