Customer Reviews

Divine Kosher Cuisine: Catering to Family and Friends

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This cookbook is really great. The recipes do work - and are tasty. many are not too much of a patchke ( I do have a busy schedule, like many people -but I also love to eat well). The lay-out is also beautiful .
I do not easily say it , but this time I do : I would rank this one as a must-have in a (kosher )cookbook collection

Divine Kosher Cuisine brings Kosher cooking to the 21st century, with recipes ranging from traditional to trendy. You'll find many creative new spins on old favorites for everyday, holidays or entertaining.

There is a chapter of vegetarian recipes as well as many non-dairy substitutions throughout the book. There are many recipes from around the world as well as a signature dessert section, with elegant endings for special occasions.

You'll find helpful hints, wine suggestions, table settings, menu planning, a chapter on catering...in short, something for everyone! There are two full menu choices for each Jewish holiday, with alternatives. Every recipe has a pareve, dairy, meat and/or Passover designation.

There are excellent Passover recipes, including many non-g'brochts dishes identified by the key "Non-G." (Some traditions prohibit foods that mix baked matzoh (or matzoh by-products) with water, known as g'brocht foods.)

The "best of the best" include Greek Charoset, Signature Whitefish, Apple Brie Soup, Potato Cheese Lasagna, Grilled Chicken Breast with Tomato Salsa, Layered Sweet Potatoes and Apples and Signature Almond Horns.

This hard-covered book is beautifully designed, with a special layflat binding for easy use. The photos almost leap right off the pages...and onto your plate (don't you wish)!

Divine Kosher addresses all aspects of cooking Kosher, confronts a variety of culinary and dietary challenges and provides solutions with a flair and confidence that will be appreciated by both novice and gourmet cooks. The authors have paid meticulous attention to every detail to create an outstanding visual and culinary work of art.

I wish I had written this book! The authors have stepped up to the plate to produce a sure-fire hit! This book deserves a place on your bookshelf and in your kitchen. Well-done (pun intended)!

Norene Gilletz, cookbook author, cooking teacher and culinary consultant, Gourmania Inc., Toronto

This is an eclectic collection of outstanding, easy-to-follow, sure to savor recipes. User friendly recipes beautifully displayed with outstanding photography. You'll want to have this book for the next time you cook and entertain! You don't have to keep a kosher home to relish this book!

Each recipe I have tried is absolutely outstanding. My favorite (so far) include the Sesame Noodles, the Turkey RollUps, and the Meringues. So easy to follow!!

I have not been able to eat anything with dairy products for several years and this cookbook has given me wonderful new recipes to try. Every recipe clearly indicates whether it is dairyfree and suggests alternatives if it is not. The book is beautiful with wonderful photographs and easy to follow recipes. The many tips and side remarks are very interesting and helpful and makes good reading.

What a great cookbook! It has everything I like in a cookbook: beautiful full color photos, binding that allows it to stay flat and well-organized sections. I really like the catering section that make entertaining a crowd of any size a snap. I've never seen this in any other book. It includes shopping lists, instructions for increasing recipes, and great photos of buffet layouts. It's a treat just to read it.

This book looks expensive only until you see it ... In truth, it would be a bargain at any price. The recipes are all thoroughly tested tried-and-true favorites written as clearly as possible to virtually guarantee success.

Although it obviously holds special appeal for those who keep kosher, the delectable recipes will appeal to anyone with tastebuds. (I'm Protestant, and love this book -- as does everyone I've given it to.) Every single recipe I've tried has been sensational!

Don't miss this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

from the Orange County Register
September 21, 2006

by Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family

A stroll through my kitchen before the holidays is like a walk down Memory Lane. Would it be Rosh Hashanah without Mama Hinda's majestic spiraled challah or Aunt Sally's tsimmes (carrot stew)? I can still smell the roasting chicken and honey cake wafting downstairs from my grandparents' apartment, where Mama Hinda busily prepared a holiday feast for the onslaught of Rabinowitzes that would soon fill those tiny rooms.

But in choosing a menu for the holiday, which begins at sundown on Friday, I also like to mix it up with some new twists on the old themes as I explore the new cookbooks of the season. This year I will be cooking from "Divine Kosher Cuisine" by Risé Routenberg and Barbara Wasser (Wimmer), the long-awaited, all-volunteer fund-raising project of Congregation Agudat Achim in Niskayuna, New York.

Routenberg and Wasser draw on their years of experience with As You Like It, the synagogue's kosher catering service, which for decades has been a magnet in the area for all events Jewish, garnering national attention in 2003 when it won the Gold Solomon Schecter Award.

"When we were catering a bar or bat mitzvah or a wedding, invariably people would come in the kitchen and beg us for a recipe for this or that dish," said Wasser. "We would tell them we were thrilled they loved the dish, but we were really sorry, and promised that when Risé and I retired, we would write a cookbook."

And so they did! But you don't have to be Jewish to love this book, which contains over 400 tried-and-true recipes, from treasured family collections as well as the synagogue's catering archive, that are easy to follow and reflect a wide range of traditional and contemporary American and international favorites. As Wasser pointed out, "This book is for everyone who loves cooking, eating and entertaining, not just for those who keep kosher."

Sure, you'll find chicken soup, tsimmes and latkes, but also Black Bean Stuffed Cabbage, Asparagus-Smoked Salmon Strudel, Seared Tuna with Wasabi Sauce, Chicken Satay, Dijon Crusted Lamb, Goat Cheese Terrine and dozens and dozens of decadent desserts from Bourbon-Pecan Pie to Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Patties, I Can't Believe It's Not Cheese Cheesecake and Triple-Layer Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Cooks will especially appreciate the traditional and updated sample menus for the Sabbath and Jewish holidays and the tips for entertaining large groups that evolved from years of catering experience.

As the holiday approaches, cooks who have no trouble getting dinner on the table every night may feel daunted by the prospect of serving a crowd.

"Start warming everything up much earlier than you think is necessary," advised Wasser. "Cover your dishes well and warm them at 350. Then turn the heat down to 250. We have found you won't dry things out, but if your dish does need a little extra moisture, add a little water and rotate the dishes in and out of the oven.

"Most of our recipes you can prepare and freeze ahead. Keep last minute things to a minimum so that you can relax and enjoy your company."

CURRIED APPLE-SQUASH RINGS
from "Divine Kosher Cuisine" by Risé Routenberg and Barbara Wasser

6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder, divided
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
2/3 cup apple juice
1/2 cup dried currants
Salt and pepper to taste
2 acorn squash, cut into 1-inch rings and seeded

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease cookie sheets.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in large skillet and sauté onions until soft.
3. Stir in 1 tablespoon curry powder, apples, juice and currants. Simmer until liquid evaporates. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Melt remaining butter or margarine in saucepan, add remaining curry powder and stir until fragrant, to make curry glaze.
5. Arrange squash rings in single layer on sheets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Place scoop of filling into center of each squash ring. Drizzle with curry glaze. Cover with foil and bake until tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer with spatula to serve.

First and foremost, excellent recipes with a contemporary flair. This book also is a delight for the eyes, with its beautiful design and format, including a spiral binding so that the pages lay flat, and a helpful chapter on party planning.

Divine Kosher Cuisine is a must for every kitchen. Whether one keeps kosher or not, the recipes are tried and true and are as failproof as you can get. I have served 'first run' entrees to guests and have had only compliments.

If you are looking for a book which presents easy-to-follow recipes and a book which can nicely guide you through whatever dining situation, then don't even hesitate!
It's a winner!