In Jewish Home Cooking the warmly ebullient Arthur Schwartz taps into all his talents and all his passions, both of which are legion. Schwartz is an non-ponderous historian, a story-teller, a food writer of wit and charm, a teacher, a lover of life at its most elemental. Bringing all these talents together Schwartz reaches to the roots of New York's once-vast Ashkenazy Jewish population, to what he calls 'Yiddish cooking.' These recipes are fast becoming endangered species, and Schwartz revives them with healthily updates to save them from extinction.
With the spirit and good humor that infuses his writing, Schwartz tells us, "the traditional food of the Ashkenazim has a good place at the contemporary table - with a lessening of the schmaltz here, a tweak there: a little makeover never hurt anyone." The book is divided into eight chapter categories from appetizers, soups and sides, to breads and desserts. Meat main courses and dairy main courses are covered separately, just as they would be on a kosher table. There is a special chapter for Passover dishes.
To Schwartz, food is never divorced from its culture and his love of this immigrant history illuminates his writing. Schwartz believes that that "food can connect us to our past. In fact, food is often our very last and only connection to our pasts, enduring long after old language has been forgotten and other traditions have died." With a small piece of lore, both personal and cultural, attached to each recipe as evidence to this belief, the recipes glow with so much energy that the reader becomes a time traveler, living the life of old New York's Jewish population. These nuggets of history are as tasty as food itself.
You will not find wildly experimental recipes here: these are the tried and true comfort foods, but Schwartz has revised them for our more sedentary and health-conscious contemporary society. Where relevant, Schwartz includes notes of advice for both the kosher and non-kosher cook.
Interspersed are memories of the early Jewish culture that existed before the latest Jewish diaspora - the exodus to the suburbs. Beginning with the first family sitcom on TV, "The Goldbergs" Schwartz reminds us that Molly Goldberg's opening line - "Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Bloom," became a national punch line. He takes us back to the Romanian Steakhouses, those elegant places with "real linens" on the table, as well as to the Jewish delis. This history makes Schwartz bristle, stating that a New York Jewish delicatessen is a "venerable institution...that by definition is a store that sells delicacies, not Cheese Doodles." He examines the reason why Jews love Chinese food, digs into the history of bagels and lox, the NY Cheesecake, the almost vanished egg cream, even Dr. Brown's Celery Tonic. He travels north from New York City to the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, commonly known as the Borscht Belt, home to big eaters and aspiring performers, many of whom went on to celebrity.
Schwartz has missed none of the great classic Jewish recipes. He gives recipes for chopped liver in several permutations and gefilte fish which he states is "actually the most refined of Yiddish fare" when made properly. There are recipes for and dill pickles and other 'sours,' for a chicken soup so perfect and delicious that his reviewer salted it with tears of joy when tasting the result. There are recipes for Knaidlach (Matzo balls!) from the 2nd Ave. Deli "of blessed memory," for classic Mushroom-Barley Soup, Potato Soup, Borscht. There are recipes for Kugel and Latkes, Kasha Varnishkas, the less familiar Shlishkas. There are meat recipes for Cholent, Pot Roasted Brisket, Holishkes. There are dairy recipes for Blintzes, for Bagels and Lox in its many uses. There are bread recipes - the staff of life- for Challah, Challah French Toast, for Bagels and for Rye breads. There are sweet recipes for the comforting Babka, Cheesecake, Honey Cake and Mandelbrot. Schwartz has not overlooked any classic.
There are photographs throughout some of food, but many of places both current and past, of the people who once worked and still work with food They illuminate Jewish culture in New York.
As a non-bibliographic testament to his research, Schwartz tells us that to fully explore and write this Jewish history he spoke with octogenarians and "scouted Florida retirement communities." Begging pardon for a non-Yiddish expression, we say, ¡Viva Arthur Schwartz!
L'Chaim.
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