Building a Kosher Cookbook Collection

[Gifted Gourmet]

What exactly is the half-shell in this case?

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By eliminating the non-kosher oysters and clams, I am assuming that she meant that the yams were split in half ...

[Rebecca263]

BAKED YAMS ON THE HALF SHELL: It's a dairy recipe for baked yams, pulp scooped out and mashed, then mixed with raisins, salt, butter and sugar, then restuffed and browned. Sounds yummy, and I got some yams for .29 a pound today at the 'Farmers' Market', can't wait! I only have the Italian, French and Chinese of those books myself. They're a fun read, but a bit dated, of course.

[Pam R]

One of the gals in my office suggested looking here.

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Hmm.. it seems it's a trilogy - which means that I couldn't have a 4th unknown book...

[JoanNathan]

I am new to this site and find it fascinating to see all your postings of Jewish cookbooks. As the author of many I welcome your questions and comments.

I. too, have a favorite, the Community Cookbook from Woonsocket Rhode Island from the 50s. A very interesting sociological study with good recipes of a town during and after the war.

I would also be interseted in French Jewish cookbooks.

Thanks,

Joan Nathan

[Swisskaese]

I am new to this site and find it fascinating to see all your postings of Jewish cookbooks.  As the author of many I welcome your questions and comments.

I. too, have a favorite, the Community Cookbook from Woonsocket Rhode Island from the 50s.  A very interesting sociological study with good recipes of a town during and after the war.

I would also be interseted in French Jewish cookbooks.

Thanks,

Joan Nathan 

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Welcome to eGullet! I am a big fan of your cookbooks.

I have your Jewish Holiday Kitchen cookbook. It is my holiday bible.

Edited February 15, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[alacarte]

Welcome Joan! another fan here.

My vote goes to The Kosher Palette cookbook.

I also like Spice & Spirit -- not so much for the recipes, which are OK, but because it has in-depth explanations of seemingly EVERYTHING. For example, the diagram of the cow, noting the different kosher cuts.

[Swisskaese]

Now that I am back in the country, I found another couple of cookbooks on my shelf:

The Complete Passover Cookbook by Frances R. AvRutick

This cookbook reminds me of the Settlement Cookbook, but it is

Delectable Recipes - Strictly Kosher for Passover and the Year 'Round

The Passover Gourmet by Nira Rousso

She has some interesting recipes, such as:

Italian Walnut-Honey Griddle Cakes

Broccoli-Olive-Basil Soup

Potato-Yogurt Cakes

Cream Cheese Apricot Cake

Babanatza - Wine Pudding

Edited February 20, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[phaelon56]

There's a new Kosher Chinese cookbook released just this past fall. I'm aware only because the author, Don Siegel, is a prof at the local university and got plenty of good press coverage recently. I think it's worth looking into....

From Lokshen to Lo Mein: The Jewish Love Affair With Chinese Food.

[Pam R]

I've ordered a couple of new books (which I meant to do last week... )

To start building my kosher cookbook collection I'm going with:

A Pied Noir Cookbook: French Sephardic Cusine From Algeria by Chantal Clabrough

Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen - Joyce Goldstein

Can't wait to begin!

[jackal10]

I have, slightly by accident, spare copies of Vol 1 and II of Edda Servi Machlin's The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews. I bought them for around $30 each. Happy to pass them on or better, swap...

[Pam R]

In the last year I've only added a couple of new books to the kosher library:

The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York, Claudia Rodin

The Jewish Kitchen: Recipes And Stories from Around the World, Clarissa Hyman

I've got a hankering for some new books. I'll be going through the suggestions already given (thanks!) but I'm wondering if any new books are on your radar? Any book I can't live without?

[bloviatrix]

Have you seen Laura Frankel's Jewish Cooking for all Seasons? Frankel owns Shallots, a kosher restaurant in Chicago (there used to be a branch in NYC). Frankel's philosophy is to cook seasonally using the freshest ingredients available. She doesn't do "traditional" jewish cooking. I've cooked quite a bit from the book and although I think her serving sizes are way off - enormous quantities of food - everything I've made has been a hit. We're particularly enamoured with her recipe for pomegranate molasses bbq sauce. Quite simple to make and dresses up roast chicken nicely.

[Pam R]

I haven't seen the book - but it sounds great. I have heard of (though don't think I've been) to Shallots.

While I obviously do 'traditional cooking' I'm very interested in non-traditional kosher cooking. That's actually what I focus on more than the traditional stuff.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Anything else?

[Pam R]

I ordered a few books last week, and the first arrived today. 'Cooking with the Kosher Butcher's Wife' by Sharon Lurie.

I've only had a chance to read and look through some of it so far, but I like what I see. First of all, it's a beautiful book. Lots of colour photos of meat (and all courses - soups, salads, sides, desserts). There's even a section called 'Awesome Offal'. What's not to love? The entire book is meat and parve - and she uses dairy substitutes and the like, which I have no problem with.

I'm looking forward to reading the whole thing and trying some recipes. I'll report back later.

I haven't gotten to the other books yet, but will report on them when I have a chance to look at them.

Anything new out there?

[cakewalk]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but I recently ordered this book for a friend of mine: "A Drizzle of Honey: The Life and Recipes of Spain`s Secret Jews." It arrived a couple of days ago and I've looked through it only briefly. So far it seems that its history is more interesting than its recipes (but then, my friend doesn't cook much. He can, however, trace his family back to the 1700s to Spain and Portugal, which is something that amazes me.) Apparently one of the ways in which the Spanish authorities found people secretly practicing Judaism was through information their servants gave regarding how/what/when they cooked particular dishes and/or used particular ingredients.

[Pam R]

I have a stack of books that I haven't opened all over my house. Now that Passover is over and I'm (mostly) recovered, I'm starting to look at them.

The first book that I've been reading is The Book of New Israeli Food by Janna Gur. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I'm really enjoying reading it. There's some history, wonderful pictures and I've already got a bunch of post-it notes in place. It's got kubbe recipes, all of the Israeli salads that I've never tried to make myself, Ashkenazie, Sephardi, you name it. I'm looking forward to trying some of them.

Any new books I should be looking at?

[HungryC]

I don't keep kosher, but Mildred Covert's Kosher Cajun, Kosher Creole, and Kosher Southern Style cookbooks are pretty good, regardless of your dietary observances.