Now available in paperback, Joyce Goldstein's beloved cookbook offers a fascinating perspective on the Italian food we all know and love. Tracing the long-forgotten Jewish influences and focusing new light on the intertwining of two time-honored cooking traditions, the recipes in Cucina Ebraica are familiar and yet entirely fresh, a robust and delicious taste of Italys regional cuisine. From the enticingly crunchy fried vegetables of fritto misto to the savory meat-filled buricche pastries to tonno fresco con piselli (Fresh Tuna with Peas), each dish is an invitation to the unexpected delights in both Italian and Jewish cuisine.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Jews have lived in Italy since Roman times, always part of the cultural landscape, always living in isolation of one kind or another. The word we know as ghetto comes to us from 16th-century Venice. Within the world of Jews in Italy, there are several smaller worlds: those of the native Italian Jews, of the Sephardim driven out of Spain, and of the Ashkenazim moving down from Germany and Eastern Europe. Take all those food traditions and dietary laws, squeeze them in one overarching food sensibility, and you have a very unusual way to view culture and history. Joyce Goldstein, in Cucina Ebraica, demonstrates that culture and history are edible, if not downright delicious.
Take Livornese Couscous with Meatballs, White Beans, and Greens. Couscous came to Livorno with North African Jews in the 1270s. It was a Friday-night meal, and the leftovers were served cold the next day on the Sabbath. Goldstein gives the first honest recipe for Carciofi alla Giudia (crispy fried artichokes in the Roman Jewish style) yet printed. Not all artichokes are alike, she demonstrates, and then shows you a way around the problems no one else ever manages to address to successfully cook this classic.
As she has proved in The Mediterranean Kitchen and Kitchen Conversations, Joyce Goldstein knows how to bring great food to the home kitchen. Her research is impeccable, her technique straightforward. Cucina Ebraica, this wonderful way of looking at an Italian cuisine that must answer to so many other influences, is an obvious project of love and devotion. Not to be missed. --Schuyler Ingle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Could there be any small corner of Italian cooking still left to be explored? You don't think so? Guess again. How about the cooking of Italy's Jewish community? It's a distinctive cuisine that mixes Sephardic, Middle Eastern and Spanish cooking traditions with Italian ingredients and methods. The Washington Post
For many Jewish families, the menu for Rosh ha-Shannah dinner, from the chicken soup to the honey cake, is set in stone, and has been for generations.
Nonetheless, you can count on new cookbooks to appear just before Rosh ha-Shannah, the Jewish New Year celebration, which begins this year at sundown on Sunday. The older generation probably needs no help preparing the chopped liver or the chicken soup, but publishers are hoping a younger generation now taking to the stove will want a recipe for hallah or some new menu ideas or, for that matter, the precise requisites for Rosh ha-Shanah or other holidays.
This year, "Cucina Ebraica," by Joyce Goldstein Might inspire a dinner that strays from the tried and true, with its recipes for Italian Jewish dishes. Will there be howls of protest if kreplach, the meat-filled pasta similar to wontons, are replaced with stroncatelli, a kind of handmade pasta, as Ms. Goldstein, a chef and former restaraunteur in San Francisco, suggests? Perhaps. But expect compliments for the chicken roasted with orange, lemon and ginger; the gratin of potatoes and tomatoes with garlic and parsley (better done on top of the stove than in the oven), or the quinces in spiced sugar syrup.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Being a true Italian, I couldn't wait to try some of the recipes in "Cucina Ebraica." To my delight, I really enjoyed the tasty recipes, in fact the recipes I made brought me back to many childhood memories especially the aromas that came from my grandmother's kitchen. "Cucina Ebraica" contains a amazing collection of simple to prepare, mouth-watering gourmet recipes. A must to try the Crostini di Peperoni, (a superb version of Bruschetta), Potato and Tomato gratin, Fresh Tuna with Peas; your family and guests will ask for seconds. Joyce Goldstein's introduction had very informative history of the Italian-Jewish culture. She also gave an educational description of the Jewish holidays and great menu suggestions for the holidays (I can't wait for the holidays to come). This book should delight the palate of every gourmet. I absolutely recommend this book.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Short form: vegetables + raisins and pine nuts is a good combination.
There is a certain image of Jewish food and a certain image of Italian food in this country that is widely understood. The food in this book really is neither -- it's a unique cuisine that in some ways is a throwback to Roman food, while still reflecting the Jewish heritage that influenced it. And this is one of the few books readily available that discusses it -- even Claudia Roden's monumental Book of Jewish Food -- IMHO possibly the greatest ethnic cookbook I own -- has very little to say about Italian Jewish food, though its coverage of Sephardic and Mizrachi cooking is otherwise excellent.
The recipes in here are snapshots of foods that aren't necessarily standardized -- the recipe for Riso di Sabato (Sabbath rice), for example, points out that some make it like a risotto, some don't. Three different versions of Passover charoset appear, from different parts of Italy, and even though the world-famous carciofi alla giudea show up there's a riot of other vegetable dishes, including many based on la zucca barucca, a pumpkin-like "blessed squash" that shows up quite frequently in this book.
Italian Jewish food is something very different from what the average cook might expect -- the combination leads to a fairly exotic yet very homey cuisine, and this book is one of the few I've seen that makes it accessible to American cooks. If you like seeking out interesting ethnic cuisines, there's a hole in your library if you don't have this one.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was born and raised in rome, I know a little about the Jewish people there. I know their beautiful Synagogue in the Ghetto, and I have eaten "Da Giggetto al Portico D'Ottavia" at least fifty times! It's fabulous, we used to go there for filetti di baccala' and puntarelle (a salad with an anchiov dressing. Ms. Goldstein has captured the "real" recipes. I was most impressed when I read "Carciofi alla Giudia", she is so right in describing what type of artichokes to use, only the Roman artichokes can be used in order to obtain the true recipe, she gives suggestions on how to use american artichokes but is not the same. Everyone should own this book, is informative, the recipes are incredibly great! Try the Roast chicken aith Orange, Lemon and Ginger; your guest will ask for the recipe, it is so fantastic. I recommend this book to all individuals that like good cooking, it is priceless, she did a wonderful job. thank you Ms. Goldstein!!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Book Supplier
Excellent price, delivered as advertised & most importatant of all, they responded quickly to answer questions we had regarding the shipment!!!!!!
Published 13 months ago by Fonzie
Terrific Recipes
Just made the Roast chicken with Orange, Lemon and Ginger - again last night!
Recipes are generally easy, few ingredients, and DEEELISH! Read more
Recipes are generally easy, few ingredients, and DEEELISH! Read more
Published 18 months ago by Jeffrey L. Allen
When history becomes delicious
I have a Bachelor's degree in history, a family history of Judaism and a love of good food. I am a sucker for the culinary history of the Jewish people and how it enriched other... Read more
Published 21 months ago by dnk
Paint Colorful Table With Italian Dishes
by Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family
from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
September 30, 2005... Read more
from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
September 30, 2005... Read more
Published on August 31, 2007 by Judy Bart Kancigor
Great book
Ordered, received, and as a well-travelled person who lives on the border with Italy - yes, worth every penny. Excellent recipes, easy to use.. Recommended
Published on March 21, 2007 by J. Strovs
Good recipes, easy to use, great photos
I am Jewish and my husband is Italian, so this seemed like the perfect book for us. It is well organized with appealing photographs and clear, understandable recipes with... Read more
Published on December 19, 2006 by LMT
OK cookbook, lousey as history
From the other reviews, I had hoped for more historical accuracy. All the recipes seemed to be modernized rather than left in their historical form. Read more
Published on August 23, 2004 by K. Davidson
Fantastic work at the crossroads of food and culture
Joyce Goldstein's cookbooks are a pleasure to read and to cook from. She has a wonderful sense of the way that culture and food interact and develop. Read more
Published on September 12, 2001 by J. A Magill
unusual, mellow, do-able
Unusual, homey recipes made with obtainable ingredients. Good ground chicken (or turkey)dishes. Good on beans, artichoke, eggplant. Read more
Published on August 12, 2001
Extraordinary cookbook, Buy it, you'll be glad you did.
Being a true Italian, I couldn't wait to try some of the recipes in "Cucina Ebraica." To my delight, I really enjoyed the tasty recipes, in fact the recipes I made... Read more
Published on February 19, 1999
Inside This Book
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Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
In Italian Jewish cooking, antipasti, the small bites of food traditionally served at the start of the Italian meal, are meant to stimulate the appetite, just as they are on every Italian table. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
cucina nella tradizione ebraica, bagna brusca, cucina ebraica, matzoh pie, classic cream sauce, della mia famiglia, drop into the lemon water, cups meat broth, pale green heart, matzoh meal, pasta rolls, thinnest setting, fresh egg pasta, dark green area, recipe introduction, warmed platter, warmed serving dish, freshly ground black pepper, dairy meal, little meatballs, chilled unsalted butter, grated zest, shallow soup, oven preheated, veal scallops Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Italian Jewish, Mira Sacerdoti, Donatella Pavoncello, Edda Servi Machlin, Giuseppe Maffioli, Italian Jews, Roman Jewish, Yom Kippur, Braised Spinach Stems, Donatella Limentani Pavoncello, Emma Belforte, San Francisco, North African Jews, Sephardic Jews, Tullia Zevi New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In Italian Jewish cooking, antipasti, the small bites of food traditionally served at the start of the Italian meal, are meant to stimulate the appetite, just as they are on every Italian table. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
cucina nella tradizione ebraica, bagna brusca, cucina ebraica, matzoh pie, classic cream sauce, della mia famiglia, drop into the lemon water, cups meat broth, pale green heart, matzoh meal, pasta rolls, thinnest setting, fresh egg pasta, dark green area, recipe introduction, warmed platter, warmed serving dish, freshly ground black pepper, dairy meal, little meatballs, chilled unsalted butter, grated zest, shallow soup, oven preheated, veal scallops Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Italian Jewish, Mira Sacerdoti, Donatella Pavoncello, Edda Servi Machlin, Giuseppe Maffioli, Italian Jews, Roman Jewish, Yom Kippur, Braised Spinach Stems, Donatella Limentani Pavoncello, Emma Belforte, San Francisco, North African Jews, Sephardic Jews, Tullia Zevi New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 9
books:
See all 9 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- Italian Jewish Cooking by Mira Sacerdoti on 5 pages
- Italy in Small Bites by Carol Field on page 29, and Back Matter
- The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, I: Traditional Recipes and Menus and a Memoir of a Vanished Way of Life by Edda Servi Machlin in Front Matter, and page 27
- Celebrating Italy: Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods, The by Carol Field on page 150
- French Country Cooking (Penguin Cookery Library) by Elizabeth David on page 172
See all 9 books this book cites
- Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South by Marcie Cohen Ferris in Back Matter
- The New York Times Jewish Cookbook: More than 825 Traditional & Contemporary Recipes from Around the World by Linda Amster in Back Matter
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