Annotated Bibliography – 5 cookbooks – 2 websites

Moreh, Ester. Iranian Kosher Recipes. Great Neck, New York: Hadassah, 1998. Print.

This Iranian cookbook has a wide variety of recipes for all different types of food. If an American man were to read the table of contents, he wouldn’t be able to understand what half the chapters are for. Some chapters are specifically dedicated to “Khoresh”, “Dolmeh”, “Kuku”, and much more. Something really good about the recipes in this cookbook is that they are short and sweet. It does a great job at keeping the recipes simple so that it becomes easier for people who are trying to learn how to cook in succeeding. You can memorize more recipes this way and broaden your cooking knowledge much quicker. Also, since this cookbook was written by an Iranian Jew in particular, there are two chapters that pertain specifically to the Jewish holidays and festivals.

P.T.A., North Shore Hebrew Academy. Feast of Goodness. Great Neck, New York: Morris Press, 2005. Print.

This book was written by the P.T.A. of North Shore Hebrew Academy, a Jewish school, which is why so many of the recipes relate to Jewish customs. Most of these recipes however are specifically geared towards the families of Eastern European decent, since the school itself is deemed as an Eastern European school, or “Ashkenazi” in other words. There are a lot of recipes in this cookbook that I am not familiar with, definitely more than “Iranian Kosher Recipes”. Yet again, this cookbook provides simple recipes as well and can really help Jewish people cook with all different kinds of skills.

Fishbein, Susie. Kosher by Design. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 2009. Print.

Kosher by Design is seriously an engaging cookbook that delights our senses. The main stress of Susie Fishbein’s book is that she is trying to help us prepare meals that look like we’ve spent hours on them, but without the fuss. A quote of hers from the book “I want the cook to feel like I’m standing in the kitchen, guiding every step. Cooking tips, presentation ideas and practical, down to earth instructions make all the difference.” She really captures the warmth of each Jewish festival by categorizing her recipes in the order of the holidays. There is even a section at the end of the book just for making floral arrangements and table décor. Probably the best part about this cookbook is that there is a picture for every single recipe, which helps the chef know what his final product should look like.

Korn, Sarah. A Taste of Chabad Serving NYU. New York: Chabad House, 2008. Print.

Sarah Korn’s cookbook is a great source for all the classic recipes amongst all kinds of Jews. She has recipes ranging from breads to salads to fish and more. Just like Feast of Goodness, A Taste of Chabad Serving NYU also contains a lot of simple recipes that are short and easy learn. My favorite part about this cookbook is that in the beginning Sarah gives us a general run down of the laws of keeping kosher for Jews. How to keep kosher meat, kosher dairy, parve foods, etc. It’s always helpful for a Jew to run through these laws that Sarah laid out so nicely for us in order to make sure that we’re always in check with our kosher diets. She ends in her introduction on the laws of kosher foods with a pretty mystical note, “The food we eat literally becomes our blood (our life force), in order to give us nourishment and strength. Mystical Jewish teachings tell us that because the food we eat becomes so much a part of us, it affects the way we think, feel and act. When we eat kosher food it creates a pure channel for our soul to connect with G-d. This enables us to accomplish our own individual mission in this world with greater clarity and success.”

Lubavitch Women’s Cookbook Publication. Spice and Spirit. Brooklyn, New York: Lubavitch Women’s Cookbook Publication, 1990. Print.

Spice and Spirit is a massive cookbook that contains all kinds of recipes for over 500 pages. The “spice” in Spice and Spirit is a treasure house of kosher dishes, against the backdrop of a “spirit”- the rich tapestry of Jewish life. These two elements are strongly connected because the tasty “spice” of kosher food derives its unforgettable flavor from its “spirit”- the occasion for which it was prepared and the people with whom we shared it. I don’t think it’s possible to get through all of the recipes in this cookbook, but the good thing is that there are just so many recipes you can probably find a kosher recipe for just about anything you want.

http://www.food.com/topic/iranian-persian/popular?pn=2

“Iranian Persian Recipes.” Iranian Persian Recipes – Food.com. Food.com, 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.

This website is amazing because it has a bunch of Iranian recipes, including ones which were in Ester Moreh’s cookbook, such as Ghormeh Sabzi, Fesenjan, Persian Rice (which is really referred to as Tahdig), Morgh polou, and a bunch more. Something really interesting about this website is that it had two hummus recipes in the Persian recipe section because it originates from the middle east. Although I have discussed in my research paper that the origins of hummus are unclear, Persian origins was never one of the options. They titled the name of the Hummus recipe as “Hummus Amongus”, but I am really not sure what that exactly means in Farsi.

 

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/category/eat/jewish-recipes/

“Jewish Recipes Archives.” My Jewish Learning. My Jewish Learning, 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.

This website is very user-friendly, containing a lot of pictures and tutorial videos on how to make a whole wide variety of Jewish foods. There are a bunch of sections to dive into- Jewish breakfast recipes, Jewish dinner recipes, Israeli food recipes, Sephardic food recipes, and even Sabbath recipes. My favorite section was probably the Israeli food. Of course it had recipes for hummus, but it had a ton of other recipes for some Israeli foods I’ve never seen. There was Meatballs with tahini and tomatoes recipe, Israeli 7-layer salad with labne poppyseed dressing recipe, a za’atat challah recipe, and a bunch of other unique dishes that I never knew of. There was even a recipe of Asian green pea humus recipe! I definitely haven’t heard of that one yet!