Kosher Cookbook Memories, Bring on The Celebrities...

I get an email version of Jewniverse every once in a while. It's a cute little service that sometimes has some wonderful tidbits. Yesterday the email "subject" seemed rather familiar,  The 1975 Celebrity Kosher Cookbook That Only a Turkey Could Hate. As I read on, I realized that I had that very cookbook.

In the 1970's when I was a young wife and mother, the older generation of the combined clans, mine and my husband, liked to buy me all sorts of, mostly kosher, cookbooks and health food guides. My kitchen bookshelves are still stocked with them, although I don't cook according to recipes and haven't even glanced at most for decades.

Here are the shelves:

So, when I saw the keywords, celebrity, kosher and 1975, I was pretty sure that I had the book. It fit the timeline of my collection perfectly. Yes, it's the one with the faded pink cover in the top photo.

I don't think that I ever found a recipe I could use in it, but I absolutely loved reading the stories accompanying them. Since I read cookbooks, rather than cook from them, that shouldn't be a surprise.

To be totally honest, I've always had a dream of writing a cookbook, a cookbook that would be more than just a recipe collection. I think it's time to reread "Celebrity Kosher Cookbook."

Cook in Israel, Another Cookbook

Orly Ziv's Cook in Israel is a beautifully produced cookbook. It's attractive and professional-looking.  It doesn't skimp on photographs and isn't full of frightening complicated recipes. The recipes aren't full of exotic, expensive never to be used again ingredients. From what I understand, Orly Ziv is a cooking teacher with a large following.



I would really like to only praise the book, but in all honesty, I just can't.  It's not just the quirky English, "tomatoe" and "rough salt" sic which could have been corrected with a good editor.  It's the use of butter and milk in recipes that should be parve, meaning neither meat nor dairy.  Orly does explain that she's a pesco-vegetarian and eats a lot of dairy. For people who live on a similar menu, this will be the perfect cookbook.

IMHO a kosher and/or Jewish or Israeli cookbook should not have so many recipes with hidden dairy ingredients. By "hidden" I mean unexpected.  If someone is served a baba ghanoush or babka he/she doesn't usually expect them to be dairy.  If there's a new edition, I'd suggest adding ways to take out the dairy and make the right substitutions.  That way those who are on a non-dairy diet can fully benefit from this wonderful and tempting book.

Bread is not supposed to have milk and butter, and if you do want to add dairy to cakes, which would normally be eaten on Shabbat and other festive meals when meat or poultry are eaten, then at least provide easy to follow and find alternatives for the dairy. This is a serious kashrut problem. Just because Ziv is vegetarian, she shouldn't limit her potential customers to those who eat the same way.  Yes, when buying a general, secular cookbook, we know we have to adjust recipes, but a good Jewish cookbook should be much easier to use.  It should be written for those who keep a kosher kitchen.

And nowadays when more and more people are discovering that dairy isn't healthy for them, a cookbook filled with recipes that require butter, yogurt and milk isn't a good idea.

I've just given you my opinion.   I'm sure that many people really will enjoy this cookbook, but I almost never serve or cook with dairy ingredients.

What's interesting is that kosher labeling is becoming a requirement by law in Israel.  Dairy, Parve and Meat will have to be clearly labeled.  Homemade and restaurant food should also indicate if it's strictly dairy, meat or parve.

My Most Visited Blog Post is a Recipe. Should I Try Writing a Cookbook?

Considering that my my visited blog post on this blog is a recipe,easiest cake recipe, would it be a good idea to write a cookbook?  Actually, I did try writing one over a period of time.  It got destroyed by a computer virus.  It was simple and humorous.  I even had a few people going over the drafts.

Many people say that nowadays, cookbooks are passe.  When people want to check a recipe they just go online and "google it."

My way of cooking is so simple; it was hard to think of a large enough number of actual recipes I make.  I combine what I have to make foods.  I don't choose recipes and food themes and then go shopping to fit.  I bake a vegetable dish using these things, the sweet potatoes and the eggplants, just layering over onions and topping with pumpkin. Yes, in real life my recipes can be that vague.

My moussaka is also very simple.  I layer onion, eggplant, chopped meat/poultry mixed with some egg and chopped onion, and then another layer of  eggplant and then I top it all with canned diced tomatoes.

It's really not all that hard to cook. But to write up these recipes in a way that would make them seem a bit more impressive, that is hard.

Sometimes I make things that are even simpler.

It's exactly what you see:

• onions
• sweet potatoes 
• squash 
• carrots

Just dribble a bit of oil over them before baking.  What could be simpler?  And it's healthy and tastes great, too.

Review of the Harry Potter Cookbook, Kosher and Hebrew Version בעברית

The following is a review my daughter wrote about The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (Hebrew,) Gefen Publishing House. She titled her review "Savta Batya Brought us a Surprise."  The reason why the review is in Hebrew is because the book is.  I'll just summarize what she wrote in case a non-Hebrew reader wants to get one to give as a gift.  My daughter first made it clear that she and her eldest are great Harry Potter fans and have read the series.  That's why I accepted it for reviewing.  I knew that they would love the idea of having such a book.  They'd be interested in anything about Harry Potter. My daughter mentioned that the book isn't produced as a cookbook; it was hard to use, keep open.  They cooked the Brown Bread Ice Cream.  The bread needed isn't whole wheat; it's sweet challah.  And only in the middle of making the ice cream did they discover that the book required an ice cream maker.  They made it without.  It's actually very sweet and tasty.  I tasted some when I was over the other day.  It's hard to believe that there's really some bread inside.

As Harry Potter fans, they are happy with the book, and she thinks it was a great idea to publish it.

סבתא בתיה הביאה לנו הפתעה

"ספר הבישול הבלתי רישמי של הארי פוטר" – דינה בוכהולץ

המהדורה העברית יצאה על ידי גפן בית הוצאה לאור

סבתא בתיה הביאה לנו הפתעה: "ספר הבישול הבלתי רישמי של הארי פוטר". אני ובכורתי, שקראה את הסדרה מספר בלתי נתפס של פעמים, קפצנו על המציאה. נתחיל מהשבחים: אין ספק שמדובר ברעיון קסום ונחמד. ספר שמשלב שתי אהבות גדולות: נפלאות עלילות "הארי פוטר" וקסמי הבישול. הספר מחייה את חוויות הארי פוטר ומגשים אותם למשהו שאפשר להריח ולטעום, תוך קישור לסצנות הרלוונטיות מסדרת הספרים. הספר אף מלא במידע מרתק על ההסטוריה של אוכל אנגלי. ויתרון קריטי מבחינתנו הינו שהמתכונים כשרים, למרות שהתפריט המקורית בסדרה איננו כזה נעשו כל השינויים הנדרשים לאפשר לנו ליהנות ממתכונים שמתאימים גם למטבח שלנו.

ובכל זאת לספר כמה חסרונות... נראה שהוא אינו מצליח להחליט האם הוא ספר קריאה או ספר בישול. הספר הודפס בגודל של ספר קריאה, בכריכה רכה, הדפים רכים ואינם בנויים להתמודדות עם חווית המטבח. ההסברים מורכבים סיפוריים ולא סדורים, הכתב קטנטן – מה מקשה על תהליך העבודה ומחייב גם מי שטרם מאובחן כזקוק למשקפי קריאה להרים אותו כדי לעקוב אחר ההוראות, מה שלא ממש נוח תוך כדי העבודה עם ידיים לא תמיד יבשות ונקיות – בפרט שהספר כל כך לא בנוי לחיים במטבח כאמור. הספר גם פוסח בין הסעיפים – ספר לילדים או למבוגרים – אין ספק שהמתכונים מורכבים מכדי להיות נגישים לגילאי רוב ציבור חובבי הסדרה.

בכל מקרה אחרי שבילינו זמן מה בקריאתו, נתתי לבכורתי לבחור מתכון.  המתכון הנבחר נקרא "גלידת לחם חום" (גלידה שמכינים עם פירורי חלה מתוקה).

כיוון שלא התעמקתי באותיות הקטנות מראש, רק בחצי הדרך גיליתי שבעצם המתכון מיועד לבעלי מכונת גלידה... מה שאין ברשותנו. המשכנו בכל זאת... חלק מהכמויות וההוראות העלו תמיהות אצלנו – אך השתדלנו לא לזיף מדי... בסך הכל יצא מקפא מתוק ומעניין. נהנינו מהחוויה ומהתוצאה אך בעיקר מהקריאה בספר... אחלה יוזמה ... רק חבל שלנו המוגלגים אין את הכישורים של מולי או של גמדוני הבית להכין את המאכלים בדרך הנכונה באמת  - בקסם...