The New York Times Passover Cookbook : More Than 200 Holiday Recipes from Top Chefs and Writers [Hardcover]

Linda Amster (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 23, 2010

A perennial favorite with more than 200 holiday recipes from top chefs and writers, The New York Times Passover Cookbook includes beloved family recipes and innovative kosher cuisine that will make your holiday particularly savory and festive. Compiled by Linda Amster and featuring mouthwatering contributions from Craig Claiborne, Mimi Sheraton, Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters, and many others, The New York Times Passover Cookbook offers a cornucopia of delights to add magic to your Seder meal…and to any family gathering thereafter!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Finally, you can put aside those yellowed newspaper clippings this holiday! The New York Times Passover Cookbook collects almost 50 years' worth of delicious Seder recipes from the Times and its contributors, from Florence Fabricant's Classic Gefilte Fish to Barry Wine's Tsimmes Terrine. With more than 200 recipes, the book travels around the world of Jewish cuisine, from Artichokes, Sephardic Style--a spicy, fried, Egyptian dish--to Mississippi Praline Macaroons, a recipe that traveled with its originator from Vienna, Austria, to Natchez, Mississippi. Because the book includes recipes from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions, editor Linda Amster notes that the ingredients in some recipes may not be acceptable to other communities (for example, the allspice in Claudia Roden's Matzoh-Meat Pie perfectly reflects its Arab-Jewish influences, but probably would be out of place on an Ashkenazic Passover menu).

Through the years at the Times, many Passover recipes have come from accomplished home cooks in the New York area (such as Florence Aaron's Salmon and Egg Salad). More recently, however, the paper has given some star chefs a turn at the traditional Seder dishes, so you'll also find such gourmet delights as Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Beet Tartare, Paul Prudhomme's Veal Roast with Mango Sauce, Charlie Trotter's Carrot Consommé, and Maida Heatter's Chocolate Walnut Torte. In addition to the wealth of recipes, The New York Times Passover Cookbook features a thoughtful introduction on the meanings of the Passover ritual by Joan Nathan, author of the award-winning Jewish Cooking in America. Threaded through the book are four essays by Times critics and columnists Ruth Reichl, Mimi Sheraton, Molly O'Neill, and Howard G. Goldberg. Goldberg's informative piece on Kosher wines may cause you to put the sweet Manischewitz aside for a dryer Israeli Cabernet or a Californian Semillon. Whether you're looking for a classic apple-nut Haroseth or a fusion-cuisine Southwestern Tsimmes Stuffed in Anaheim Chiles, The New York Times Passover Cookbook is an excellent, comprehensive sourcebook for the Passover meal. --Rebecca A. Staffel

From Publishers Weekly

Passover is celebrated at the table with ritual words and food; this serious new collection does justice to both. And as Amster, a regular contributor to the New York Times food pages, points out, there's another tradition associated with Passover. Every year, home cooks eagerly await recipes, conforming with the holiday's dietary restrictions, published in the Times. The 175 recipes reprinted from cookbooks by the paper's well-known food writers, as well as by celebrated chefs, range from the traditional to the innovative and are drawn from European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern traditions. Anne Rosenzwieg offers a haroseth recipe that uses rhubarb. The section on gefilte fish includes Wolfgang Puck's variation, served in cabbage leaves, and Barbara Kafka's version, prepared in the microwave. In addition, Amster imparts seven ways to roast a chicken, including Chicken Breasts with Green Olives and Tomatoes. Paul Prudhomme serves up his Veal Roast with Mango Sauce, a dish he prepared in Jerusalem in honor of the city's 3000th anniversary. Nathan's knowledgeable foreword describes dietary restrictions and offers definitions and explanations of the symbolism behind the food. Taken together, Amster has produced what may be the definitive word in Passover cookbooks, from recipes to the feelings evoked by sitting at a beautifully set, bountifully laden table.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (February 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688155901
• ISBN-13: 978-0688155902
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome and refreshing new ideas for passover April 18, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

This year for the first time in many years I made a few different charosis recipes, a new chicken recipe, and a new kugle - all from this cookbook, and they were all delicious and beautiful to look at. I was so pleased I bought copies for my daugher and daughter-in-law. Every Jewish kitchen should have this book. It is definitely something to pass on in a family. From Liz Levine

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Favorite Passover Cookbook March 9, 2003

By R. Tuttle

Format:Hardcover

I am a definite "foodie", and an Orthodox Jew. I'm always looking for new recipes to try out. I frequently take out cookbooks from local libraries to try them out, and purchase the most useful ones. There is a definite dearth of good Kosher for Passover cookbooks, so I was thrilled to find this one last year.

I am buying this one today. This is not a cookbook for beginners, but all the recipes I tried were worth the effort, and were delicious. I can't wait to try some more recipes this year. It's so nice to find some recipes for Passover that are not the usual chicken/potatoes combo. There are also many recipes to use year round.

I would also like to answer the person who said the this cookbook is not for any Orthodox Jews. He/she forgot that there are many type of Orthodox Jews. If you do not eat gebrokts (a mixture of matza meal & liquid) during all but the last day of Pesach, then there are some recipes that you will not be able to use. If your tradition (minhag) is to peel all fruits and vegetables, go ahead. You think the NY Times writers are chasidish??? Please! You can get many kosher for Passover for cookbooks with recipes from your community.

Please remember that your type of Yiddishkeit is not the only one. There are many Orthodox Jews who will not have problems with any recipes in this cookbook. And again, there are still many good recipes in this cookbook, even if you don't eat gebrokts.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Chad Gadya? Who knows one? Who knows 175 recipes! February 15, 1999

By Larry Mark

Format:Hardcover

Each year, thousands of readers of The New York Times await a Wednesday "Dining In / Dining Out (DiDo)" section that appears in the week or so preceding the Jewish holiday of Passover. They want to read about time-honored / traditional and updated / newer holiday recipes that give one a taste of the holiday, conform to dietary rules, and provide a aura of rebirth and freedom. Linda Amster, a DiDo section regular, has compiled the most exciting recipes in this Passover Cookbook; sure to become a classic. Had she only included Wolfgang Puck's Los Angeles seder recipes... "Dayenu," it would have been enough. Had she only then added Paul Prudhommes Pesach veal roast... "Dayenu," that too would have been enough to make this worthwhile. And what about Anne Rosenzweig recipe for haroseth? "Dayenu." We get 175 recipes. They are all in this book. I doubt that I will ever prepare a tenth of the recipes in the book, yet it is an exciting read none the less.