Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited [A Cookbook]

by Arthur Schwartz

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. Light-filled food and location photographs of delis, butcher shops, and specialty grocery stores paint a vibrant picture of America's touchstone Jewish food culture. Stories, culinary history, and nearly 100 recipes for Jewish home cooking from the heart of American Jewish culture, New York City. Written by one of the country's foremost experts on traditional and contemporary Jewish food, cooking, and culinary culture. Schwartz won the 2005 IACP Cookbook of the Year.Reviews & Awards

James Beard Foundation Cookbook Award American Category

IACP International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards, American Category Finalist  "Jewish Home Cooking helps make sense of the beautiful chaos, with a deep and affectionate examination of New York's Jewish food culture, refracted through the Ins of what he calls the Yiddish-American experience."—New York Times Book Review Summer Reading issue, cookbook roundup“Schwartz 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 personaality and love for food radiating from the page . . . 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.”—Publishers Weekly

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Jewish, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to thumb through this cookbook on the heels of 97 Orchard : An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, because much of the information in the chapter on Jewish Immigrants was mirrored in the textual parts of this cookbook. Schmaltz is praised and utilized like crazy; that just made me think I needed to pay more attention when I eat Jewish food (I don't eat chicken!)

The recipes come from the Ashkenazi tradition more or less, but it feels like Polish grandmother food. Same difference, maybe. Hearty, full of fat, and full of tradition.

I bookmarked quite a few recipes to try:

-Split Pea Soup (versions for dairy and meat, I'd make dairy)

-Anne Whiteman's Birthday Kugel (picture is of my attempt!)


-My Family's Yom Kippur Break Fast Kugel (clearly I'm enamored with sweet pasta casseroles!)

-Chocolate Babka

-Junior's Cheesecake

-Rugelach

There was also a little blip about egg creams, which I couldn't resist making. It didn't turn out as described, and I'm pretty sure I'd need freshly bubbling seltzer for it to really work.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It is as much a cultural/gastronomic history of Jewish people in the U.S. (mostly the New York area) as it is a cookbook. It tells the origins of certain recipes, and gives variations on how to make them. There is a chapter devoted to "Dairy Main Courses" that looks like a great source for our vegetarian meals. It has the standards I grew up eating - borscht, kugel, latkes, pickles, stuffed cabbage, etc. - as well as dishes I haven't heard of before.

AS I think about my experience of reading this, I realize that one reason I loved it is that I felt included, warmed, and inspired to try some of the recipes. Often, my experiences with Judaism are mixed - when I go to a synagogue, for example, I always feel left out of my own traditions, growing up, as I did, in an atheist family, and living at times in a country with almost no other Jews.

Reading this made me miss my Grandma Sophie, who taught me how to make some of the dishes here.

Warning: you will get hungry reading this!

[Anina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Ashkenazi Jewish Cusine. Which is the type you are familiar with. You know...tongue (yum). Borscht. Cabbage and noodles. Lots of beige startchy things such as potatoes, farfel (look it up), pasta, matzo meal dumplings, and of course cottage cheese.

So yeah, being banished into caves in Russia, this is what we came up with. The history aspect of it is interesting. A grown man describing his love for cottage cheese is somewhat unsettling, but takes cajones. The part where I make chopped liver (EXTRA YUM) for the next party I am invited to will be hilarious.

[Kathryn Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reshelved this book at a library I have been volunteering at and thought it looked good, so I borrowed it myself. It has lots of interesting information about the recipes, and even though I don't have time to try out many of the recipes I have enjoyed learning more about Yiddish cuisine and looking at the beautiful photos. I wish I owned this book!

[Ellen Krueger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history and point of vie. Fun recipes, but lacked the recipes for important basics like bagels and bialys. They were mentioned and discussed, but no recipes. Disappointing.

[Davida "Davi" · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not really a fan of this book, though I like Arthur Schwartz, and other things I've read by him.. This book is his memoir and his ode to his friends and family and the way he grew up Jewish and among Jews in New York City in the middle of the 20th century. I am a Midwestern/Southern Jew who grew up in the last quarter of the 20th century, and came to cooking later. These recipes are literally schmaltzy - most call for chicken fat, and the notes and context are particular to Mr. Schwartz's time and place, which is not my own and not something I'm interested in - indeed, I am inundated with it enough already. A few things were interesting, like how to make your own pickles, but some just had no place other than anecdote in this kind of book. Mr. Schwartz professes that "many" Jews hid their pork-eating habits from their Jewish neighbors, and that it was OK to eat Chinese pork because it was hidden. Really? Not that I'm Kosher, but I'd love to see more "evidence" on this kind of thing. I'm sure the recipes are tasty, and I'd love to make my own bagels or bialys or babka, but the recipes are too intensive for me.

[Johanna Haas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories behind the food, both historical and personal, are the best part of the book. Centered around the immigrant communities of New York, the writing brings forth life in the neighborhoods just at the point before rapid Americanization. The recipes are harder - simple but hard-to-find ingredients and complex cooking procedures. It makes me want to travel to where someone else can prepare these foods for me.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just makes me drool. I haven't *actually* tackled anything from it yet. My top choices are: latkes, challah, matzo balls, or good chicken soup. I feel like if I don't get good at making these things, I'm disrespecting my mom and my nana. The traditions need to be carried on, I firmly believe it...

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook almost reads as a memoir of the author's experiences with Jewish cuisine. While I'm unlikely to make any of the recipes, I just loved all the stories and connections to old New York. Plus, I finally learned what "cholent" is.

[Gypsy Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to learn something about Jewish cooking b/c a close friend is Jewish and from Brooklyn, and is a phenomenal cook. I can't tell you this book made me a better Jewish cook, but I learned so much about the culture and cooking. It is much more than a cookbook and is a delightful read, truly.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish I owned it. Schwartz' revisits all those recipes you grew up with, well, er, if you grew up in a Jewish household. Great photos.

[Ms. S........... · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reference for food and culture.

[M Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very New York, personal point of view and not too knowledgeable religiously but lots of interesting stories and good, easy to follow recipes.

[Marilynn Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arthur Schwartz has outdone himself with this cookbook..!! Plus the bonus of a little Yiddish..Love it!

[Bear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Not enough photos.