Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited
Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited
Arthur Schwartz knows how Jewish food warms the heart and delights the soul, whether it's talking about it, shopping for it, cooking it, or, above all, eating it. "Jewish Home Cooking" presents authentic yet contemporary versions of traditional Ashkenazi foods - rugulach, matzoh brei, challah, brisket, and even challenging classics like kreplach (dumplings) and gefilte fish-that are approachable to make and revelatory to eat. Chapters on appetizers, soups, dairy (meatless) and meat entrees, Passover meals, breads, and desserts are filled with lore about individual dishes and the people who nurtured them in America. Luminous food and location photographs in delis, butcher shops, and specialty grocery stores paint a vibrant picture of America's touchstone Jewish food culture.Product Details
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Schwartz (Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food) breathes life into Yiddish cooking traditions now missing from most cities' main streets as well as many Jewish tables. His colorful stories are so distinctive and charming that even someone who has never heard Schwartz's radio show or seen him on TV will feel his warm personality and love for food radiating from the page. Oddly, even the shorter anecdotes often run longer than the actual recipes; anyone intending to cook from the book should have some kitchen experience or risk frustration at the often brief instructions. Dishes run the gamut from beloved appetizers like gefilte fish to classic meat and dairy main items (cholent, blintzes), plus less familiar items like onion cookies and Hungarian shlishkas (light potato dumplings). Schwartz intersperses engaging commentary on everything from farfel and matzo to Romanian steakhouses and why Jews like Chinese food. Those with Westernized palates may recoil at the thought of gelled calf's feet, but Schwartz shows how stereotypically heavy Ashkenazi food can be improved and made at least somewhat lighter when prepared properly. Cooks and readers from Schwartz's generation and earlier, who know firsthand what he's talking about, will appreciate this delightful new book for the world it evokes as much as for the recipes. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From the Back Cover
"Wonderful writing, wonderful food, brilliant history: this is a book for everybody."
--Barbara Kafka, author of Soup: A Way of Life and Vegetable Love
"As a former Crown Heights, Brooklyn, girl now living in San Francisco, where Jews have been known to add avocado and mayonnaise to pastrami sandwiches (oy!), I was made very hungry and homesick after reading the superb recipes in Arthur's book. Yiddish food needs revisiting and revival so it doesn't ever go away. Bring on the food with tam and schmaltz!"
--Joyce Goldstein, author of Sephardic Flavors: Jewish Cooking of the Mediterranean
"It takes a scholar and a mensch to reclaim a vanquished culture, one replete with humor, profundity, and soul-rocking food. Arthur Schwartz has done it in this illuminating culinary retrospective with more than 100 fabulous recipes."
--Rozanne Gold, award-winning chef and author of the 1-2-3 cookbook series
About the Author
Arthur Schwartz is a Brooklyn-based food critic, writer, media personality, and host of the nationally syndicated US radio show "Food Talk." New York Times Magazine has called him "a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge." His five previously published cookbooks include the IA CP award-winning and James Beard award- nominated Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food.
Customer Reviews
The Jewish classics and then some
Great recipes for all the famous Jewish classics and many of the not so famous ones.
The paprika chicken recipe is great as is the kuggel one (although I prefer mine richer). I made the caramelized cabbage with noodles, a dish I'd never heard of but now consider a great addition to my family's side dishes. The chicken soup recipe was also good.
There were also great illustrations of Jewish food and Jewish cooks to illustrate and lend the book a festive air. I haven't tried any of the sweet dishes but come the next round of holidays I expect to.
Finally, the book contains fascinating text about Jewish culinary history. I learned a lot about where Jewish food developed, what created the classic Jewish flavor combinations, and provided insight into a mostly gone era of Jewish dairy restaurants, Romanian steakhouses, bialy bakeries and other varieties of Jewish restaurants beyond the bagelries and delicatessens.
Ehh . . . whatever
This is an okay cookbook. I bought this based on the rave reviews it received from Amazon customers as well as journals. Unfortunately it was a disappointment. None of the foods tasted as good as promised and were ultimately very bland. In fact several of the recipes, including the one for the babka, turned out a disaster. You could find a much better cookbook then this . . .
Arthur Schwartzs Jewish Home Cooking
My husband and I love this cookbook. It brings back a lot of memorys for my husband and we have tried many of the recipes. They are all good.
The stories are so similar to our own lives. It really is a joy to read.
Related Links : Product by Amazon or shopping-lifestyle-20 Store