Hungary (Culinaria)

Average customer rating:

A great little book but......

Excellent book about Hungarian Cuisine.

OOH IT'S SOOO GOOD

Book about Hungarian soul

Best Hungarian Cookbook available

Hungary (Culinaria)
Aniko Gergely , Ruprecht Stempell , and Christoph Buechel
Manufacturer: Konemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
European | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Hungarian | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Culinaria Germany (Culinaria)

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ASIN: 3829026188

Customer Reviews:

A great little book but.............2007-09-10

this is a terrific book of authentic hungarian cuisine, the book focuses heavily on recipies with sour cream, paprika and sweets. i give it four stars for a reason though, one i found rather annoying at times

not all recipies have quantities required for them!!!!

this is very annoying for instance with goulash soup which requires "a layer" of paprika, took me 3 tries to get the right amount. If only it said 1/4 of a cup like i ended up using it would have been perfect.

so make sure you remember when making those ones to write down the quantity you use in the book once you get it right and you have a 5 star book.

Excellent book about Hungarian Cuisine........2007-02-02

I borrowed this book from the library in my ongoing search for a reliable English version of the recipe for Esterhazy Torte which I first ate in Hungary, a cake to die for - truly. Anyway, I didn't get it in this book but it gave me everything else! This book does have many recipes but I would not really characterize it as a recipe book. Rather, it is about Hungary's traditional agriculture, its resultant tastiest base ingredients for the local cuisines. Basically, it is a book about traditional Hungary, the country, seen through its foods and drinks. You kind of feel like you're being taken on a tour of the country with stops along the way to eat the local specialties (through your eyes until you can get into the kitchen). I wish I had read this book before I went to Hungary because now I see how much a missed. It has lots of colorful pictures and just the whole presentation is A-1, including the quality of the physical book. It doesn't have the most recipes but it has the best ones. I did have trouble understanding what some of the ingredients were here and there but I am sure some research would clear it up for me. I recommend everyone who is interested in Hungarian food buy this book FIRST and then buy additional books afterward. I even recommend it for anyone planning a trip to Hungary. I wouldn't lug it along but it would really help you plan a few key restaurants, cafes and markets to go to and what key dishes and drinks you have to have.

OOH IT'S SOOO GOOD.......2006-03-13

I really like this book. All of the CULINARIA books are huge. They're probably not the most handy to have sitting on your counter while you're trying to cook up something from the pages, but still, they're pretty darn cool. This book has really nice, quality photos with insight about what the picture is showing you. The history packed into these books is crazy. It covers everything related to cuisine in Hungary. And I do mean everything. If you not only have an interest in the food of this country, but also a curiosity about the history behind the food,... GET IT. If you're only interested in some interesting historical tid-bits about Hungary and it's culture, but not really interested in the recipe aspect,... GET IT. It covers both and isn't boring.

Book about Hungarian soul.......2005-08-02

I am coming from the southern Slovakia, which is a region inhibited by Hungarians and recently I do live in Hungary. This book covers everything, what you should know about the Hungarian cusine. As Hungarian I knew plenty about some of the food items described in the book (just because I eat them :) )but i did not know where they come from, how are they made. This book covers it all. Does not shield you from the truth ! We eat meat with meat (and a bit of cabage), lot of sweets and plenty of fat. And we like it with beer, wine and palinka. and if possible then all of them at once! Finally one book which does not try to make pink glasses over your eyes. We are fat, but happy :)))). I love the photos. They are soo real. I love the fact that they are made in the villages. Old granny making strudle or selling pickles. People working with garlic and paprika, cooking halaszle (fish soup). My favorite is a well built man eating sousage with mustard from a street stand with his hands.. I love that... I think I will have that for lunch with some pickles... jo etvagyat (enjoy your meal)

Best Hungarian Cookbook available.......2005-02-26

This is the best Hungarian cookbook available by far. Excellent photos and accurate, easy-to-follow recipes. I've purchased several copies over the last few years and have had to give them up to friends who were equally impressed. Also, it's a great guide to anyone who is about to go to Hunagry and would like to get a feeling of the various regional traditions and culinary specialties.

Average customer rating:

The Hungarian Cookbook
A nice introduction to Hungarian cuisine
Excellent Presentation of Distinctive National Cuisine
How-to Manual for the New Hungarian Cook
A good basic introduction to Hungarian cooking

The Hungarian Cookbook
Susan Derecskey
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0060914378

Book Description

"Our appetite for this interesting cuisine, a melding of Germanic, Slavic, Tartar, and Turkish influences, has been whetted by [this] excellent new work."--New York Times

Customer Reviews:

The Hungarian Cookbook.......2007-09-21

I bought my first copy of this book over thirty years ago, and even then had to special order it. In the last couple of years I have bought four more copies for family and friends as many of the recipes are identical to those of my mother-in-law whose family was from Croatia. Any one whose family originated in the Slavic area of Europe, including Austria, may find some family favorites in this wonderful, entertaining and reliable book.

A nice introduction to Hungarian cuisine.......2007-01-04

I'm really pleased with this cookbook. Many of the recipes remind me of the dishes my grandmother used to make. I'll admit to adding a bit more paprika to the goulash than the recipe called for, but overall I was very happy with the results, as were my guests.
I like that the author recommends side dishes and desserts to accompany and follow the main courses. The section on wine is most welcome as I find more Hungarian wines in my local wine shop.
If you are of Hungarian descent or simply interested in Hungary, this cookbook makes a good addition to your culinary library.

Excellent Presentation of Distinctive National Cuisine.......2005-02-16

`The Hungarian Cookbook' by Susan Derecskey may be one of the easiest cookbooks I have yet reviewed, as this is quite literally exactly the food I grew up on. My comfort food, as a kid, was goulash, dumplings, Hungarian crepes, strudel, cabbage and noodles, and chocolate walnut cake, each and every one of these dishes made in exactly the same way as described in this book. All of these dishes came to by from my paternal grandmother who emigrated to the United States just before World War I, from a small town in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, forty miles east of Vienna, which is now in Hungary. From this background, I can say with certainty that this is an exceptionally good evocation of Hungarian cuisine.

This is also an exceptionally good evocation of a national cuisine in general, even when compared to some of the leading treatments I have seen recently of the cuisines of Turkey, Lebanon, Germany, and Armenia. It is also as good as many treatments of French and Italian regional cuisines, although it may not be quite as good as the best of these, and it is certainly not as good as Paula Wolfert's classic work on Moroccan cuisine. It is also just a bit less than the classics on national cuisines such as Diana Kochilas on Greece or Penelope Casas on Spain. But, it is exactly all you need to recreate the great Hungarian dishes I remember from my childhood.

Aside from finding recipes for my long lost chocolate nut birthday cake, the first thing which impressed me about the book was the care in which the author pointed out that some recipes were simply difficult to get right the first time. This fact is probably obvious for strudel dough, but it is less obvious with recipes for potato dumplings.

For those of you who may be totally ignorant of Hungarian cooking, its most distinctive characteristics are noodles, dumplings, and soup. Egg noodles and dumplings essentially serve for Hungarians the role of pasta and risotto has for Italians. This is really carb central in that in addition to the white flour, potatoes are also an important ingredient for many dumpling recipes. And, these dumplings are real gut grenades. They are guaranteed to spike your blood sugar in record time.

Since soup is such an important part of the Hungarian cuisine, I paid special attention to the recipes for stock in Ms. Derecskey's book and found them entirely to my liking. They are not long cooking, the vegetables are put into the simmering stock for just an hour, and the author is more careful than most in advising the cook to be very careful not to boil the stock and to skim off scum as quickly as it appears. I usually don't see as much care given to stock making in books on `minor' national cuisines.

Vegetable dishes are always a special interest of mine and this book has several especially good ones. Like most of central Europe, the king of the vegetables was the cabbage. There are several good asparagus and beet and cucumber recipes, but no sign of artichokes or rapini. This is cabbage country, partner. I was also more than modestly pleased with the recipes for salads. I never associated salads with Mitteleuropa, but there they are. Very nice vinaigrette recipes to be sure.

The only thing that puzzled me about the book and its recipes was the author's stating that Hungarians were not especially fond of mature beef. They preferred to cook veal, including braises and stews, which almost seems like a waste when you can let the cow mature a bit and get much more meat for stewing.

While Hungary does not have the great pastry tradition of its neighbor much did rub off while the two countries were joined at the hip up to 1918 under the Hapsburgs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, Budapest was the empire's second city ahead of even Prague in esteem. The star of the Hungarian pastry is strudel, which has a lot of similarities with Greek filo, but it is not exactly the same. I have tried to make strudel with filo and the results are less than perfect.

If you have any Hungarian in your blood, you really need this book. If you are simply interested in reading of world cuisines, this one is a winner. The instructions on making strudel and dumplings alone are worth the price of admission.

Highly recommended.

How-to Manual for the New Hungarian Cook.......2004-07-28

Although my mother was a Hungarian national,she did not prepare many Hungarian dishes.Learning to cook Hungarian food has become a hobby that has helped me to connect with my own roots. However, as I seek to learn how to prepare Hungarian food, I do not have the luxery of having watched someone prepare it, and, in some cases, I am 'flying blind' with no idea how a given recipe is supposed to look or taste. This book has provided me with a helpful orientation, and enabled me to branch out with other Hungarian recipes. I have also found that once I prepared a favorite dish, that I was able to adapt the seasonings and spices to fit personal tastes. The Hunter's Pot Roast and Noodle pudding (complete with walnuts, raisons and apricot jam) have become family favorites.

A good basic introduction to Hungarian cooking.......2003-10-11

I grew up in a household where the cooking was almost exclusively Hungarian, and these recipes match closely to what my mother made. Whenever I have a yen to make something from my childhood, I consult all four of my Hungarian cookbooks, but inevitably, I end up using a recipe from this book. The only "americanization" that I can see is the use of butter or shortening in the place of lard, which is one of the staples of Hungarian cooking.

Although some reviewers have found these recipes to be bland, that has not been the case for me. I should point out, though, that one of the keys to good flavor is to use authentic Hungarian paprika, which is simply not available in most supermarkets -- not even in large urban areas. I'm lucky, I have relatives who send me some, but I can also recommend mail order from Penzeys.com. Paprika also comes in "sweet" or "hot" flavors. I prefer the "sweet" kind, but I have known Hungarians who think that's for wussies, and who prefer the "hot" kind. At any rate, true Hungarian paprika has an overwhelming fragrance, and a little goes a long way; if you put in too much of this stuff, the dish will have a bitter taste to it. (Looking at Mr. Lang's cookbook, a book that I find to be somewhat pretentious, I can see that the quantities of paprika that he recommends are for the bland, American kind of paprika.)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Hungarian cookbook - the best I've found

Fascinating reading... but who has that kind of time?

George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary
George Lang
Manufacturer: Wings
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Hungary (Culinaria)

All Along the Danube: Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria (Hippocrene International Cookbooks)

ASIN: 0517118688
Release Date: 1994-06-13

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Hungarian cookbook - the best I've found.......2006-02-28

For many who have been fortunate enough to have had it, there is nothing better than good Hungarian food. As the child of a political refugee from Communist Hungary and an American mother who embraced Hungarian culture and language, and also having had the good fortune to visit Hungary many times, I have been familiar with and loved Hungarian cuisine for a long time. I have also been frustrated in my search for a good, thorough, Hungarian cookbook, and generally have to look through several I own anytime I'm trying to find a recipe. Finding authentic recipes has become even more difficult in the last decade or so, as more and more Hungarian recipes have become westernized and modified even in Hungary.

Mr. Lang's book is the best, most useful, and completely thorough on authentic Hungarian cooking that I have found. It has enabled me to recreate some of the most delicious dishes my grandmother served me, as well as some of the exceptional pastries and cakes that were commonplace in Hungarian and Austrian coffee houses in the past. Mr. Lang's recipes are excellent, and will enable anyone to cook truly great Hungarian food. Additionally, for those who are interested (or who may become interested through experiencing the cuisine,) Mr. Lang has included a masterfully researched section on the history and culture of Hungary. A great book for those who simply enjoy creating and eating good food, to those who are already knowledgable of Hungarian cooking and culture.

Fascinating reading... but who has that kind of time?.......2003-05-09

This is a wonderful book, full of quirky facts and Hungarian cooking history. The author is opinionated in the most delightfully Hungarian way.

Did you know, for example, that just as "the secret of the abundance of good Hungarian string instrumentalists is that they have a well developed "sound sense", it is most probable that Hungarian housewives and cooks are either born with or develop a keen "soup sense"? No?

Or what about this gem: "it wouldn't be too farfetched to say that Hungary specialises in winning international culinary battles and losing revolutions". Hmm. The French and Italians might have a thing or two to say about that.

To use it as a cookbook, you pretty much need to be an experienced cook. How about the soup recipe that begins, "first mince some meat"? Or the one that half way through instructs you to "make a roux" with no further hints?

I've made about 10 recipes from this book. With the exception of simple dumplings, none has taken less than an hour, most upwards of two.

Oh yes, the result is worth it. Yummm. It's just not for the fainthearted.

Buy the book for the history and other reading. For example, a list of actions Hungarian farmers were required to perform each month in 1674.

A sample:
February - Every fifth day you have to give kiln-dried beans to peacocks to make sure that they will lay eggs speedily enough.

March - Put three goose eggs under the stork and when they hatch take them away from the stork. You can catch crabs with frog's legs, and fish with your hands if you smear your feet and legs with a mixture of melted game grease and honey.

April - buy salt for the summer and put carp into the lake.

No explanation for why the eggs go under the stork! And where do you get the carp from?

There are examples of original recipes from an 1826 cookbook (cut out the bone from a piece of good beef...); a New Year's Day menu for a Count in 1603 - consisting of two 18 course meals; and a detailed account of different regions' traditions.

Book Description

A Taste of the Past is an entertaining reconstruction of the daily life and household of Therese (Riza) Baruch (1851-1938), the great-grandmother of the author, Andras Koerner. Based on an unusually complete cache of letters, recipes, personal artifacts, and eyewitness testimony, Koerner describes in loving detail the domestic life of a nineteenth-century Hungarian Jewish woman, with special emphasis on the meals she served her family.

Based on Riza's letters, part one offers an imaginative sketch of growing up in a religious middle-class family in the 1860s and 70s in an industrial town in western Hungary. Part one also describes Riza's reactions to the dilemmas posed by the early signs of Jewish assimilation. In part two, the heart of the book, Riza has married, moved to a smaller town near the Austrian border, and become the central figure of a large household. Koerner recreates a typical day in the life of Riza and her family, peppering his narrative with recipes of the food she served for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon coffee-and-cake, and the much more modest evening meal.

Riza's family was religious, and Koerner also describes the special foods (pike in sour aspic, cholent, apple-matzo kugel, and much more) she served to celebrate the Sabbath and the six major Jewish holidays. Short introductions to the recipes describe the evolution of the dishes through the centuries, their role in Jewish culture, and how cultural influences and religious traditions shaped Riza's cooking.

More than 125 evocative pen-and-ink illustrations bring Riza's story and her food to life. A Taste of the Past offers an enchanting look at Jewish daily life in western Hungary in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a time when middle-class Jews were increasingly assimilated into mainstream Hungarian life and culture. Such small-town Jewish life had completely disappeared due to the Holocaust. Koerner's book revives this lost world and invites the reader to be a guest in Riza's house to watch her caring for her family, shopping, cooking, and preparing for the holidays. By offering easy-to-follow updated versions of her recipes, the book also allows readers to savor Riza's dishes and desserts in their own kitchens, thus completing this experience of a visit to the past.

Customer Reviews:

A great book for foodies and history buffs alike.......2004-03-10

This lovely book brings a slice of Hungarian Jewish culture to life in a uniquely three-dimensional way - the sights, the tastes, the details of everyday life. I found the recipes easy to follow and the pictures charming. The author's great-grandmother whom he profiles here is a refreshingly complex character - her views about such things as religion and national identity change over time, along with historical changes, and some of these shifts are even reflected in her food! For example, this is one Hungarian cookbook that is light on the paprika - apparently ginger was the spice of choice in the 19th century. Who knew?

A great book for foodies and history buffs alike.......2004-03-10

Engages all your senses.......2004-01-24

The book really brings to life a community that was wiped out by the Holocaust. The description of life in the small city in Hungary is vivid and the amazing illustrations are a great complement. The easy-to-follow recipes round out the experience.

All Along the Danube: Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria (Hippocrene International Cookbooks)

Average customer rating:

Not very useful
COMFORT FOODS

All Along the Danube: Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria (Hippocrene International Cookbooks)
Marina Polvay
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0781808065

Customer Reviews:

Not very useful.......2007-02-23

This book fell apart as soon as I opened it. The glue wasn't strong enough to keep the pages together, and they fell right out of the book. And that was just a foretaste of the fact that the recipes were not going to be very useful at all. The problem is that it is very poorly organized...there is a heavy concentration on the countries involved instead of the dishes I was interested in trying. The author couldn't decide whether it was a cookbook or a historic and geographic tour guide. She needed to make up her mind, but didn't.

COMFORT FOODS.......2006-08-28

An excellent book that takes you along the Danube, stopping to
eat at every country and sample a little of their cuisine. The recipes are a great collection of comfort food that all are
sure to enjoy.

Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)

Average customer rating:

Loved this book
Suzanne's Review
Warm Collection of Hungarian Standard Dishes
Written with memories, traditions, and lore
terrible cookbook

Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)
Yolanda Nagy Fintor
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

International | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0781809967

Customer Reviews:

Loved this book.......2007-08-06

I love the title of this book and when I saw terms like Grandma and Grandpa Nagy in the introduction, I smiled because, I, too, am a Nagy. That was my maiden name and many of these recipes reminded me of my Grandmother's kitchen in Cleveland, OH. I'm keeping this book with my small colection of Hungarian culture for my daughters and grandchildren.

Suzanne's Review.......2005-10-22

A very good cookbook. The paprika chicken was delicious! The history in the book is very interesting which makes the book worth reading. Worth the money.

Warm Collection of Hungarian Standard Dishes.......2005-08-27

"Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks" by Yolanda Nagy Fintor has a long title. It should. There is a lot packed in it.

As cookbooks go, this is among the most accessible I have read. While many tend to err with a tone too haute cuisine, Fintor realizes she's suggesting ordinary people cook these dishes.

To many Americans asking themselves what Hungarian food is, I can say it is a good, good thing. It will challenge your arteries, but delight your soul. Your stomach will be happy too. Here, you will find recipes proving that.

Fintor explains in a brief introduction a history of Hungarian cuisine. She writes how, despite its present unique place in the culinary world, it began as an amalgamation of French, Italian, Turkish, German and Transylvanian food.

While not exactly useful to the American cook, she has a section on Hungarian language. Now, you can pronounce the dish names when your Hungarian date comes over for dinner. If things work out, you will impress your spouse's family too.

More practical to most readers is her section on how to interpret the recipes, and what ingredients you will need handy. The difference this makes is important, like that vinegar to be used is distilled white, and that butter should be the salted kind.

Keyed into the needs of beginning cooks, Fintor provides some useful tips, a glossary of basic cooking terns (like dredge, dice, trussing, and what roux is).

Recipes are the bulk of the book, with some black and white pictures of dishes. The layout is easy on the eyes. Directions are straightforward. Occasionally, she gives ideas to adapt the recipe to an American context, in case the ingredients are somewhat different. The only significant drawback is the hardcover design, which makes keeping it open while cooking difficult.

The recipe sections are as follows, each with an introduction:

Appetizers, relishes, and sauces
Salads
Soups
Biscuits, dumplings, and noodles
Poultry
Meats
Vegetables
Desserts
Breads
Wines (no recipes, just an introduction).

I fully recommend "Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks" by Yolanda Nagy Fintor. Jó Étvágyat! (May you have a good appetite!)

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Written with memories, traditions, and lore.......2004-01-12

Now in a newly expanded edition, Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes For New World Cooks by Yolanda Nagy Fintor (who learned cooking from her Hungarian mother) introduces the reader to a culinary wealth of truly great recipes that have been passed down through generations of Hungarian cooks via an oral family tradition. Featuring not only recipes with meticulous instructions, but also memories, traditions, and lore from those who have prepared and shared such dishes as New World Creamy Potato Soup, Sweet And Sour Cabbage, and Beer Bread Sticks, the Hungarian Cookbook is very highly recommended for anyone seeking to learn about, create, and taste the flavors and culinary traditions of Hungary.

terrible cookbook.......2002-11-02

DO NOT buy this book if you like Hungarian cooking. Its idea of a recipe is to cook something as bland as possible and add, mmm, sour cream, or maybe canned tomato juice, or maybe bacon. And a little bit of paprika. I only bought it based on the Amazon.com feedback.

Wine and Thorns in Tokay Valley: Jewish Life in Hungary : The History of Abaujszanto (Sara F. Yoseloff Memorial Publications in Judaism and Jewish a)

Average customer rating:

Moving story of a 14 yr old girl who survived auschwitz.

Wine and Thorns in Tokay Valley: Jewish Life in Hungary : The History of Abaujszanto (Sara F. Yoseloff Memorial Publications in Judaism and Jewish a)
Zahava Szasz Stessel
Manufacturer: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Austria | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Hungary | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0838635458

Customer Reviews:

Moving story of a 14 yr old girl who survived auschwitz........1999-07-09

Imagine, you are a 14 yr old girl growing up in a small, rural Hungarian town... surrounded by your loved ones. Slowly, hatred is surrounding you and all your friends and relatives are taken away to a death camp--Auschwitz. You survive alone among your family and come back to your "home". Your neighbors, who looted your furniture, resent your coming back. Your family is gone. Their business is gone...but your memories keep bringing you back. After you are a grown woman, a grandmother, you get a degree in history and write a book of your little town. You still search for the answer to the question-- WHY? Dr. Stessel wrote a moving history of her little town. Life was idyllic and life was cut short. The groping for the details tells many stories.

A Drizzle of Honey : The Lives and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews

Average customer rating:

Good Food, Bad History
A drizzle of honey
This is Gastronomy for the strong of heart
A Lost Cuisine, and New Art for This Chef
Read it as history rather than as recipes

A Drizzle of Honey : The Lives and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews
David M. Gitlitz , and Linda Kay Davidson
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312198604

Book Description

When tens of thousands of Iberian Jews were converted to Catholicism under duress during the Inquisition, many rapidly assimilated to their new religious culture. Others, the crypto-Jews, struggled to retain their Jewish identity in private while projecting Christian conformity in the public sphere. In order to root out these "heretics," the courts of the Inquisition published checklists of Jewish household habits and koshering practices and grilled the servants, neighbors, and even the children of those suspected of practicing their religion at home. From these testimonies and other primary sources, Gitlitz and Davidson have drawn a fascinating picture of the secret culinary life of the crypto-Jews and the customs and foods that threatened their existence while securing their precarious sense of identity. From nearly a hundred specific references to Sephardic cuisine, the authors have recreated these recipes. They combine Christian and Islamic traditions in cooking lamb, beef, fish, eggplants, chickpeas, and greens and use seasonings such as saffron, mace, ginger, and cinnamon. These recipes, with accompanying text that tells the stories of their creators, promise to delight the adventurous palate and give insights into the foundations of modern Sephardic cuisine.

Customer Reviews:

Good Food, Bad History.......2007-03-08

I was excited when I first heard about this book, but when I got a copy, I was quite disappointed.

First the good... the recipes produce tasty dishes.

But they are not the recipes of Spain's Jews, secret or public.

These are recipes invented by the authors with a minimum of supporting evidence, or, in fact, most of the time, none at all.

They are based for the most part on the testimony of people who turned in Conversos for being "secrect Jews". The mere mention of, oh, say, chick peas and honey, has led the authors to invent a recipe that includes these ingredients.

If you are truly interested in the history the food eaten by Spain's Jews, you will not learn much. If you want some nice Spainish-style recipes eaten by Jews, you'll probably do better skipping the sad tales of betrayal and torture and buying a modern Sephardic cookbook.

A drizzle of honey.......2007-01-11

A fascinating look into the lives of Secret Jews during the Inquisition. A collegue had recommended it for its historical insights, and I found the anecdotes about the fates of the recipe authors tragic but a great insight into a time of flux and intolerance. Good recipes, too!

This is Gastronomy for the strong of heart.......2006-12-21

I was very delighted to read this insightful gastronomic reference. Although, it is more than a recipe book, it is also a telling account on what it took to go through the Inquisitional process. Hence, a Drizzle of Honey, is much more than one bargains for. I have also made the Adafina that is included in the book, and it was quite good. The Inquisition was not necessarily aimed at mainstream "Jews" per se, but at Conversos, or "Jews"who were forcibly converted.
It is very interesting that in many respects the Jewish converts to Christianity were many times denounced on the slightest pretext of eating in the "Jewish" manner. It could be as forthright as not eating pork for "health" reasons, or as absurd as making stew with Swiss chard, both being indicators of a "relapsed" Jew, in other words a Christian heretic. To our postmodern sensibilities these gastronomic preferences are almost comical. But to many of my relatives in Spain living under those Medieval conditions it was absolutely terrifying. I've got to hand it to Mr. Gitlitz, his premise for this book is very well thought out. This book is probably not for the weak of heart or stomach, given that some references in his book are counterintuitive when it comes to appetite. But, for those who want to learn about our tragic past, and who want to see if some of the recipes are what our grandmothers cooked, I fully recommend it. My Mother always cooked with Swiss chard and used olive oil in her meals. In Spain this would have been a sure sign that we are Jewish. Oh well.

A Lost Cuisine, and New Art for This Chef.......2006-09-01

Recently I picked up a copy of the book, "A Drizzle of Honey: the Lives and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews". It has a fascinating and well documented history as well some marvelous redactions of the most likely constructs of recipes. I recall learning briefly about the secret Sepahrdim in hebrew school. This book gives marvelous insight and helps recreate a delicious cuisine. I am fairly certain that either this passover or the next I am going to attempt a full Sephardic sedar for a change of pace and add some culinary excitement.

Read it as history rather than as recipes.......2006-01-14

I received this book as a present several years ago, but I've never cooked any of the recipes. That's despite the fact that several of them sound good, some VERY good, such as roast chicken stuffed with fruit, ginger and lavender; or a fish and eggplant casserole.

However, the book is of more interest historically than it is as a "what to make for dinner tonight" inspiration. There's two reasons -- one that would ordinarily make these dishes appealing, and one that creeps me out.

The positive side, first. Most recipes we have from the middle ages are those of the nobility -- the people who could afford to stuff a tiny bird inside a larger bird inside another one inside an even bigger one. In contrast, this is a book of recipes of (or at least inspired by) the "ordinary" middle class person of Spain in the 1400s and 1500s. So if you're interested in the evolution of cooking, and what people ate before the discovery of the New World introduced corn, tomatoes, and potatoes, this is a fascinating book all on its own. But you may not want to read it late at night, if you're prone to nightmares.

That's because the history it illuminates is depressing. The recipes are culled from detailed stories about the Spanish Inquisition, particularly the expulsion of the Jews, the torture of those who would not confess, and the "evidence" of those who converted to Christianity but who were accused of still practicing Judaism. Quite often, the "evidence" was a neighbor observing what the family ate ("In Almazan in 1501, an anonymous witness reported that when Isabel Velez's father died, the family sat at a low table near the door, and ate 'a casserole made of chard and bread crumbs and cheese,' which Isabel had prepared at home and brought to her father's house"). You get the testimony of the trial, sometimes the result (such as burning), and then an analysis of the dish that was mentioned ("Typical of Iberian Jewish funerals was a communal meal eaten in the house of the deceased after the funeral..."). The authors figure out a recipe that matches what was mentioned and reflects what was known to be available ingredient-wise (so it may not be *exactly* what the Accused had, but it's close, and how can one object to a tasty chard-cheese casserole?).

Historically, it's fascinating. But do I really want to cook a chicken that got some woman killed 500 years ago? In some sense, I do; it keeps her memory alive. But, uh, I think I'll just make this OTHER roast chicken instead, which doesn't have all that weird karma tied up in it. Enough of those, and -- well, as I said, I've had the book for about 5 years and I haven't cooked anything from it.

However, I'm not planning to give the book away, because it is wonderful and fascinating from a foodie historian perspective. Aside from the reason these scholars brought up the subject, it's great to learn about the thickeners used at the time, a discussion of what almori is or was (a staple of medieval Islamic cooking), and so on. And this might be a 5 star book, from that viewpoint.

If you view it simply in that manner, with the recipes as illustrations, perhaps it won't make you feel that weird. Or, if you have a stronger stomach than I, go ahead and cook the recipes; some of them seem awesome. Let me know how it turns out, okay?

German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian: 70 Traditional Dishes from the Heart of European Cuisine (Cooking Around the World)

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German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian: 70 Traditional Dishes from the Heart of European Cuisine (Cooking Around the World)
Lesely Chamberlian
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

International | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0754815463

Book Description

Over 70 traditonal recipes from these rich historic cuisines, all shown in easy to follow step-by step pictures.

Art of Hungarian Cooking (Hippocrene International Cookbook Classics)

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Art of Hungarian Cooking (Hippocrene International Cookbook Classics)
Paula P. Bennett , and Velma R. Clark
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0781805864

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