The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories [Paperback]

Susie Weinthal (Author), Suzanne Somers (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

"Having feasted on hundreds, maybe thousands of her meals, I am her greatest fan... Hers is the best kind of food. It's comforting, unbelievably delicious, sexy, mouth-watering, beautiful, and crowd-pleasing... I promise you're gonna love this book!"
-- From the foreword by Suzanne Somers

In The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories, Susie Weinthal invites us into her kitchen, where she shares her most inspired recipes for the modern family. From appetizers to entrées, from savory to sweet, Susie covers all four courses, and then some, to help you create a sumptuous comfort-food family dinner or a gourmet extravaganza designed to excite the taste buds and inspire scintillating conversation at your next dinner party. Her easy-to-follow recipes include classic Jewish dishes like Matzo Ball Soup and Beef Brisket; seasonal favorites like Summer Tomato Soup and Bruschetta Antipasto; cosmopolitan fare like Lamb with Avgolemono Sauce and Szechuan Sweet and Sour Whole Fish. Susie's eclectic recipes are peppered with warm memories of family and friends, generations of inspired palates whose mealtime favorites are included in this wonderful collection: Great-Grandma Sadie's Potato Soup, Ellen's Moroccan Hot Salad and TV personality Suzanne Somers's Brie en Croûte, to name a few. The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories offers an essential taste of modern life through generations of family and friends and the all-encompassing symbol of this shared love, as every grandmother knows: great food.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susie Weinthal was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She moved to Toronto, where she raised three children and became the first female executive at Canada 's largest development company, Cadillac Fairview. Later, she established Wigderson Marketing Ltd. She is currently retired and is the grandmother to seven beautiful and gifted grandchildren. Susie splits her time between Toronto and Hockley Valley, where she cooks, gardens, entertains and stares at her toes.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Sample Recipes

Stuffed Red Peppers

4 perfect red or 1 yellow peppers
1 1/2 lbs, 750 g mozzarella cheese,diced or shredded
1 Tbsp, 15 mL chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp, 15 mL chopped, fresh thyme
1 egg
1, 250 mL cup fresh bread crumbs
Kosher or coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)

1. Cook and gently core the peppers, keeping them whole for stuffing.
2. Mix the cheese with the herbs and stuff the peppers with the mixture.
3. Pressing the open ends together gently, dip the peppers into the beaten egg and then into the bread crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper.
4. Add the oil to a large heated pan and sauté the peppers until they are lightly browned on both sides
5. Remove to a lightly greased casserole dish. The stuffed peppers can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated until ready for use.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.

Cheesecake

Serves 10

Crust:

4 oz, 125 g zwieback(baby cookies)
3 Tbsp, 45 mL granulated sugar
3 Tbsp, 45 mL melted butter

Cake:

1 lb, , 500 g cream cheese at room temperature
3 Tbsp, 45 mL all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups, 375 mL granulated sugar PLUS 3 Tbsp + 45 mL
1/2 tsp, 2 mL salt
6 eggs, separated and brought to room temperature (always separate your eggs when they are cold)
1 tsp, 5 mL pure vanilla extract
1 cup, 250 mL sour cream

Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C)

For the crust:

1. Place the zwieback in a food processor in small batches and make very fine crumbs.
2. Mix together the zwieback, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup (50 mL) of this mixture for the topping.
3. Heavily butter a 10" (25 cm) springfoam pan.
4. Press the zwieback mixture around the sides of the pan and sprinkle a bit onto the bottom of the pan, ensuring there are not too many crumbs in the corners.

For the cake:

5. Cream the cream cheese until it is fluffy.
6. Sift together the flour, the 11/2 cups (375 mL) of sugar, and salt.
7. Slowly add the flour mixture to the cheese. Mix well.
8. Add the six egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
9. Mix the pure vanilla extract into the our cream and add to the mixture.
10. Because the batter is quite heavy, make sure that you use your rubber spatula frequently to stir up the batter at the bottom of the bowl.
11. Beat the six egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff, slowly adding the 3 tablespoons (45 mL) of sugar.
12. Fold about 1 cup (250 mL) of the cheese into the egg whites.
13. Then fold this mixture gently into the cheese.
14. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the 1/4 cup (50 mL) of topping.
15. Bake for 1 hour.
16. Turn off the heat but leave the cake in the oven for an additional hour with the oven door open.
17. Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate.
18. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Key Porter Books (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552632334
• ISBN-13: 978-1552632338
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,995,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful collection of well-tested recipes!, November 30, 2005

By 

Carrie Beth "Carrie" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories (Paperback)

This is a warmly written, wonderful collection of well-tested favorite recipes. My only complaint is that all critical info should be in the recipe (e.g., if it uses unsalted butter, don't mention that in the forward but omit it from the recipe). However, that's minor - these are awesome recipes, clearly written - and also include tips, preparation of staples (e.g., bread crumbs or oven fried tomatoes), etc. Awesome book! Many of the recipes are Jewish, but they're delicious and will appeal to any palate. (I'm not Jewish, but love them.)

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious., January 9, 2007

By 

CaliChrissy (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories (Paperback)

Delightful Recipes of all kinds. Please be aware many recipes are UN-KOSHER however, although Jewish I don't keep Kosher and appreciated the Lobster recipe.

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NOT A KOSHER COOKBOOK, May 19, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories (Paperback)

I bought this book and returned it when I discovered that it is full of TREIF recipes (shrimps, clam sauce, etc.) It's anyone's right to publish a treif cookbook, but please don't market it as "Jewish cooking."