Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An offbeat unlikely cookbook from Peru, May 16, 2008
The Amazon robot suggested a fascinating little book; it "knew" I had reviewed books about food and about Peru, and suggested I might like this collection of Asheknazi recipes influenced by Peruvian cooking. In the event, I found a used copy in Cuzco, and have enjoyed it immensely.
Violeta Autumn also wrote Flavors of Northern Italy and is an architect in Oklahoma. In her foreword, she writes:
"In the late 20's and early 30's there was an influx of Russian-born Jewish people to Peru. They were young people from the small towns lining the frontiers of Russia and Roumania, along the river Prut in the region of Bessarabia.
"The stories told of these arrivals [Russian born Jews], of their disappointments, befuddlement and despair would be sad if they were not filled with that irrepressible sense of humour and good-natured indulgence so characteristic of their group. It wasn't long before the shock of arrival wore off and they were speaking Spanish, eating seviche and dancing the marinera with just as much gusto as their genial and accepting hosts.
"Basically, immigrants as a breed only last one generation; they create a chance condition that is fragile in its permanence. The immigrant never loses his traditional ways, but he does assimilate the new, and so manages to create something unique which lives as he lives and then it's gone.
"And that is what this book is all about. It is an attempt at recording one such moment in history that happens to taste awfully good."
The book reminds me of church and PTA inspired collections of family recipes from my Wisconsin childhood. Autumn's mother's recipes are hand-written with line drawings in black, white and different shades of orangish-brown.
The recipes themselves are varied: Pickled Herring, `Jumus' (Hummus), Black Bean Soup and Pesto Menestrуn. Seviche (fish `cooked' by the acidic action of lemon juice) and `rugged Russian cookies'. Snacks, Relishes, and Appetizers include Onion & Matzo, dill pickles, and Jrein (a beet and horseradish relish). Soups include Latin Lentil Soup, Cold Borsht with Sour Cream, and Chupe Chowder. Fish include Seviche and Okopa. Vegetables include Ginger Carrot Salad, Papas a la Huancaina, and Polita's Malisnik. Beef, Pork, Chicken, Dove, Duck, Rabbit includes Prake (sweet and sour stuffed cabbage), Pelotitas (Jewish meatballs in Peruvian sauce), Norita's Chancho con Tamarindo (pork in tamarind sauce), and a number of recipes with shmaltz (rendered chicken fat).
Pasteries include Nocques, Potato Dumplings, Varenikes, and a variety of Empanadas and Knishes. Dessert: Cookies include Mrs. Gidelman's Flan, Arroz con Leche, Cachitos, Nut Torte, Apricot Soufflй, and Picarones. Breads include Koilich, Bublichki/Rosquitas (pretzels), Peisaj'ke Bagel, and Povet'l (prune jam).
Garbanzo Balls tasted great once I was back home in New Jersey:
15 oz can drained garbanzos, 2 beaten eggs, 1 tblsp finely minced onion, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, 3 tblsp matzo meal.
Grind garbanzos, add eggs, minced onion, salt, pepper, matzo meal. Let rest 10 minutes. Make into 1 inch balls and deep fat fry until golden. Drain.
A "rough cookie" recipe in the original language [Yiddish?] and also good at home:
250 g amandelen fijngemalen (zonder schil) [ground almonds]
125 g poedersuiker [confectionary sugar]
1 eiwit (L) [egg white large]
2 tl abrikozenjam [2 tbsp apricot marmalade]
druppels vanille-escense [few drops vanilla essence]
zout [salt]
35 g walnoten, fijngehakt [walnuts, cut into pieces]
Mix all the ingredients except the eggwhite and walnuts. Make balls 1,5 inch in diameter and flatten them. Mold them into leaves and brush with egg white. Put the walnut on top. Bake on 350єF until slightly brown. Allow to cool on the rack out of the oven.
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This book is an absolute charmer. Autumn writes: "My mother's cooking was so appreciated by the Jewish people living in Lima, that it was inevitable she would be talked into opening a sort of boarding house. It was my father's idea that all guests should have as many helpings as they wished. It was such a smashing success it closed up after only two months of operation."
I'm sure you'll enjoy having a copy just for the humanity displayed here even if you never cook from it. Unfortunately, very few copies seem to be available here in the States, and I've quoted heavily from it to give readers a real taste of the book.
Thanks Amazon Robot; you are starting to learn my taste in books.
Robert C. Ross 2008
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!, June 28, 2009
We were married for four days and living in Bologna. How this became our first cookbook remains a mystery to me. Several hundred cookbooks later, this remains one of my favorites. Learn how to fry onions. Batido de frejoles. Picadillo. And the best recipe for Kasha.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Russian Jew Cooks In Peru, December 23, 2008
This cookbook, A Russian Jew Cooks in Peru, is one of my favorite cookbooks, and is a great cookbook if you have spent time in Peru. It has Peruvian recipes, some Jewish recipes, and some Russian ones too. It is nice because it uses ingredients you can readily find in the U.S. The title of the cookbook is humorous and true, and the rhyme is nice.
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by Jhumpa Lahiri
