Customer Reviews

The Sephardic Table: The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews

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I am a great fan of Sephardi food and own several Sephardi cookbooks. Twena has assembled a wide ranging collection of recipes from the many countries whose Jewish communities fall under the classification "Sephardi". A comment on the origin of the recipe or its appeal personalises each dish. Many Sephardi recipes can be complex and time consuming, but Twena's are generally quick to prepare. Despite several deep fried delicacies and olive oil starring in many others, there are enough low fat recipes to satisfy the calorie conscious. This book is a great purchase for someone searching for a different and imaginative style of cooking, or to duplicate their mother's or grandmother's specialties.

I thought the recipes were too simple and ignored major ingridients that are used in sephardic cooking. The only advantage is very few ingridents, so it is easy to shop. Disadvantage: the taste suffers and isn't aromatic enough.

My personal favorites are the Mezze (Appetizers) and the Indian Cardamom Chicken, which is a delight. Many Sephardic recipes are complicated and/or time-consuming to prepare, but Mrs. Twena's are easy to follow and fairly quick too. The spice combinations are intriguing and there are many delicious vegetarian dishes. She also has helpful menus and a basic explanation of the Jewish holidays in the back.

This is the first cookbook I reach for when planning a meal for Shabbat. The flavors are interesting and varied, and even similar sounding recipes often turn out quite different from one another. Good salads and great chicken.

After much deliberation about a Jewish cookbook for a wedding present, I decided on this one: every single one of the savory recipes that I have tried have worked out and inspired praise from all of my friends, and many have become part of my regular repetoire. While I enjoy Gil Marks's books, these recipes are consistently simpler and less time-consuming, so I'm more likely to cook them on a regular basis. Every single recipe looks delicious to me.

This book has a real strength in the meat department. Particularly good are the Yemenite chicken soup which my friend says tasted just like my friend's Yemenite grandmother's soup, the myriad meatballs, and the tabeet (Iraqi sabbath stew). Out of the 30 recipes from this book that I've tried, the only one which hasn't worked was the halva, and I tried it twice, so it's still a mystery to me how halva gets that incredible texture.

I'm extremely disappointed to see that this book is out of print, and all the used copies that I could find are so expensive. I'm posting this review in hopes to stimulate demand for this book again.

Our daughter purchased this book at a book sale. She enthusiastically read several recipes to me. I purchased copies of the book for myself as well as for several friends. There are many tasty comfort foods such as, 'Baked Fish and Chickpeas'. Every section of this book has recipes I want to try. A winning cookbook among the 100 or more I have collected.

THE SEPHARDIC TABLE by Pamela Grau Twena
The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews~ A personal Collection of Recipes from the Middle East, North Africa, and India

ISBN: 0-395-89260-0 Softcover, published in 1998

This is a very easy to use cookery book. I really like the way to lays flat as I use it, and the visual is great: nothing to distract me from the ingredients or instructions. I really enjoyed reading the author's personal story, as it made her choice of recipes even more meaningful to me.

The book is laid out by food categories, not countries. I find that is most helpful, unless I am looking to learn about a specific country or region. Since these Jews traveled all over after being expelled from Spain, their cuisine going with them, I found this method most handy. I did learn about each area, as I investigated the food groups. Such fun, if only it had photos!

Choosing a recipe was easily determined by my hunger for my favorite candy, Marzipan. This is expensive to buy in stores and yet not a holiday goes by, that I simply must have it. Here is the recipe, in Pamela's own words:

From Turkey
ROSA'S MARZIPAN (Masapan)

"The mother of my sister-in-law Chaya, Rosa Behor Levy, makes exquisite marzipan. Rosa is originally from Turkey, but traces her lineage back to the Sephardic expulsion from Spain. Every time Chaya and her husband visit us in the United States, her mother sends a large box of marzipan for my family. This is her recipe.

3 cups whole blanched almonds
2 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
½ cup light corn syrup
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract

Grind the nuts in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until they are as fine as powder. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they are still but not dry and fold them into the ground almonds.

In a medium saucepan, combine all the remaining ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, then reducing the heat to low and simmer, without stirring, for 20 minutes, or until it is thick and golden in color. Pour the syrup into the almond mixture and return it to the food processor. Blend until it becomes a smooth paste. Refrigerate the marzipan overnight.

The next day, roll the marzipan into walnut-sized balls. Allow to air-dry for several days before storing in an air-tight container."

Simple, right? And yummy! Great recipes, easy to do, easy to use. All in all, a fine cookbook.