The Gefilte Variations: 200 Inspired Recreations of Classics from the Jewish Kitchen with Menus Stories

Jayne Cohen's The Gefilte Variations not only is an exceptionally well written collection of personal and historical Jewish memorabilia and literary and folk,scholarly and pungent and often quite humorous anecdotes;it is also that rarest of creations, a truly and compulsively readable food book. What makes it so exceptional is the author's obvious lifelong passion for memorably earthy,redolent food and her creativity in rendering five-star meals out of what so many of us (non-culinary cognoscenti)grew up thinking was a clunky, Eastern European poor substitute for appealing French Italian or Asian meals. The international range of these dishes-from Iranian Stuffed Chicken, Egyptian Ground Fish Balls with Tomato and Cumin to Bombay Pineapple-Coconut Milk Kugel and the numerous inspired pomegranate based creations, make this even more appealing than the finely-tuned work of Joan Nathan and Claudia Roden-and that's pretty rarefied territory. Gefilte Fish itself, a dish one would never normally consider in the same breath with gourmet foods, rises to ethereal levels in the author's several fish-ball recipes, using as alternatives to pike combinations of lean fish like red snapper or striped bass mixed with the more succulent flavor of pompano,whitefish or salmon.Or as another alternative,inspired by Chinese dumplings, quickly steamed between cabbage leaves. And the directions for cooking are literally a treasure trove of generations of secrets perhaps not seen before in this form in the light of day. In addition to mining culinary traditions, one also gets the impression from this book that much of the author's creation of these tantalizing and often tart-sweet dishes arose in the night kitchen of her fertile mind. The book is elegantly divided into sections for dairy, fish meat etal and a separate easy to follow section suggesting various alternatives for the holidays-all nicely mixed in with family story-telling,folklore and easy to read scholarship. This is plainly one of the most exciting cookbooks I have ever come across-one which transcends in its universality, humor and sauciness any one religion while remaining faithful to the tenets of underlying rules. Listen to the author describing Rich Noodle Kugel Baked with Plums and Nectarines-"The paradigm of ongepotchkeh(the author's all-time favorite Yiddish word, meaning overly fussy) is taking noodle kugel- a luxurious confection of pasta eggs butter and milk or cheese-and then slathering it with some sweet stickiness that may have been a fruit in another life.The very lushness of a noodle pudding demands an innocent topping. .." This is a book to take on vacation. An outstanding culiniterary work.

These are the GEFILTE VARIATIONS by Cohen, not the GOLDBERG Variations by JSBach as performed by Glenn Gould. Just a note of history first. The Goldberg Variations (Aria with 30 variations) were composed by J. S. Bach for Count Herman Carl von Keyserlingk of Dresden to be played to soothe him by his harpsichordist and 15 year old prodigy Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727-1756). The variations explore the full palette of emotions: joy, contemplation, happy, quiet, tragic, resurrection. Okay, now what about this Jewish recipe and story book? Just as Bach showed full range and innovation, the Gefilte Variations is innovative in its presentation and reinterpretation of the Jewish musical, I mean recipe, standards, such as matzo balls (with fennel and seasonal changes), kasha (with melted eggplant) chopped liver, kugels (with peaches), entrees (like fish and rhubarb and tomato), soups, latkes (with persimmon), and matzo brei (with artichoke hearts, with wine and dried plums, or french toast style, or fritatta style, or fluffy egg style, or pancake style). Oh their are so many variations. Speaking of matzo, Cohen provides a recipe for recrisping matzo to give it that fresh from the Williamburg oven taste (toasting it at 400 degrees), as well as at least five variations of flavored motzot, from lemon to cheese to sweet to onion, garlic, thyme, or herb. I hope I have given you a flavor of the book's contents.