Passover Cookery : In the Kitchen with Joan Kekst [Paperback]

Joan Kekst (Author), Peter Renerts (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 2001

From the novice to the seasoned cook, the Jewish holiday of Passover presents a host of culinary challenges. But whether your goal is to create a new and distinct feast or to reproduce the beauty and traditions of your grandmother's Seder, Joan Kekst paves the way in her upcoming book, Passover Cookery: In the Kitchen with Joan Kekst.

Cleveland food columnist, lecturer, kosher cooking instructor, and passionate cook, Kekst wrote her book in response to frequent pleas for help from those making Passover for the first time. She combines common sense, easy to follow instructions, with creative recipes from her extensive private collection into this indispensable guide. Passover Cookery includes:

Dishes that can be made in advance of the Seder
Interesting foods children will love
Numerous low-fat/low-cholesterol and vegetarian recipe suggestions
Ethnic specialties from Sephardic and Ashkenazic heritage
To help first time Seder makers, and those new to Judaism, Kekst provides easy-to-understand explanations of the holiday, its requirements, customs, unique cooking ingredients, and the symbolic foods of the Seder plate. Her "Countdown to Passover" guide helps busy cooks and their families to organize their holiday preparations into easy steps. Starting six weeks ahead, Kekst outlines a schedule for all the preparations necessary to create a "Kosher for Passover" home and a healthy, tantalizing, and meaningful Seder feast. Recipes accomodate all eight days of the Passover holiday.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A gastronomic tradition predating many other world cuisines, Jewish cooking focuses yearly on the observance of Passover. Most Jewish families have their own obligatory and traditional Passover dishes, but those seeking new tastes will find many kosher novelties in Kekst's Passover Cookery . From Kekst one learns that Passover dietary strictures needn't yield tasteless foods. Liberal use of spices and herbs show up in her recipes, each clearly labeled as meat, dairy, or pareve. Numerous Sephardic dishes broaden the expected American Jewish traditions. Libraries will find Kekst's treatise useful both for Jewish patrons and for those seeking more knowledge of Jewish Passover customs and practices. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...Joan Kekst's Passover Cookery will provide new insights as well as new, delicious recipes for the holiday." -- Cynthia Dettelbach, Editor Cleveland Jewish News

Joan has not only written the most complete and best-organized Kosher Passover cookbook... -- Rabbi Armond E. Cohen, Park Synagogue

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Five Star Publications (AZ) (January 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877749443
• ISBN-13: 978-1877749445
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent addition to your cookbook library!, April 22, 2003

By 

Norene Gilletz "Cookbook author/food consultant" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passover Cookery : In the Kitchen with Joan Kekst (Paperback)

Reviewer: Norene Gilletz, Kosher cookbook author of "The Food Processor Bible" and "MealLeaniYumm! 800 Fast, Fabulous & Healthy Recipes"

Joan Kekst truly understands that everyone recalls the aroma, nostalgia and 'taste memories' of childhood Passovers with their grandparents. Her user-friendly, comprehensive cookbook helps both the new and experienced cook capture and create traditional Passover flavors. In addition to wonderful recipes, it also contains a complete Countdown to Passover guide to help busy cooks and their families organize holiday preparations into easy steps. Kekst includes Sephardic and Ashenazic specialties, dishes that can be made in advance, foods that children will love, and low-fat/low-cholesterol and vegetarian recipe suggestions.

Recipes include Boneless Stuffed Breast of Veal, Potato Knishes with Carmelized Onions, Spinach Moussaka, and Passover Grilled Cheese "Sandwiches." A friend raved about the Chocolate Chip Cookies, giving them the ultimate compliment - "These sure don't taste like Passover!" Passover Cookery is sure to provide many traditional and new food memories.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excerpted from Fullerton News Tribune 3-29-01, April 19, 2001

By 

Judy Bart Kancigor (Fullerton, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passover Cookery : In the Kitchen with Joan Kekst (Paperback)

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

"Passover Cookery" by Joan Kekst (Five Star Publications $24.95) is no ordinary matzo masquerade on parade. I'll be serving her Chicken Roulade with Scallion Sauce year round. Ditto her New York Style Cheesecake and Chocolate Mousse. Her full page on the proper beating of eggs is alone worth the price of the book! (My aunt's lemon sponge cake swelled from nice try to mile high under her tutelage.) "Passover Cookery" is more than a collection of recipes. It's a Passover primer, with equal appeal to mavens and neophytes. Especially helpful are her Six-Week Countdown to Passover and sample menus. A welcome twist are Kekst's low-fat Passover tips. (Low fat? Passover? Think that's an oxymoron?) "If you over-indulge on a one-day holiday, it's not so bad," says Kekst, "but keep that up for a whole week, and you'll get in trouble," so the book features a variety of fruit desserts and sorbets as well as defatting options throughout. I caught up with Kekst as she was preparing for her family's seder (the festive Passover meal) as she has for the last 20 years since her mother-in-law packed away her Passover dishes, pots and pans, put them in Kekst's car and said, "It's your turn from now on." 37 family members will attend, but with four out of five of her children local, "I never peel a carrot or dice an apple. They all just fall in and out of my house and do their jobs."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone facing the preparation of their first Passover, April 24, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passover Cookery : In the Kitchen with Joan Kekst (Paperback)

Joan Kekst is a Cleveland food columnist, lecturer, kosher cooking instructor, and passionate cook who in Passover Cookery has compiled and indispensable guide designed for the novice cook seeking to prepare a memorable Passover dining experience. Every aspect of this Jewish holiday meal is covered including its requirements, customs, unique cooking ingredients, and the symbolic foods of the Seder table. Passover Cookery provides a six week "Countdown to Passover" guide to help busy cooks and families break down their holiday preparations into easy, worry-free steps for each week, resulting in healthy, tantalizing, and meaningful dinners for each of the eight days of this annual celebration. Passover Cookery is a "must" for anyone facing the preparation of their first Passover celebration, and has much of value for even the more experienced Passover kitchen cook.