Posted on 08/14/2018 9:46:48 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
aren Solomons new cookbook, Cured Meat, Smoked Fish & Pickled Eggs: Recipes and Techniques for Preserving Protein-Packed Foods, is, on the one hand, very Jewish. Ashkenazi Jews have been at the forefront of food preservation for generations and will appreciate recipes for gravlax, several types of herring and Killer Smoked Fish Salad. The book also has recipes for prosciutto made from duck, and for pastrami that Solomon considers one of her top crowd-pleasers.
People just love it, she said. There are certain things I make that make people really happy. Bacon tops the list, but that pastrami recipe is right up there.
And theres the other hand right there. The pork section is 30-plus pages, so if recipes for ham and pork rinds and pork belly confit are going to bother you, you might want to skip through these pages.
Among the herring recipes is one that comes straight from Solomons grandmother. The baked chopped herring and the salmon croquettes are pure Bubbe [Sayde] Franks, she said. When Solomons mom received her copy of the cookbook, she called me up practically screaming with excitement that the baked chopped herring loaf was included.
It starts with pickled herring mixed with celery and apples, followed by cracker crumbs and eggs to bind it. Finally cinnamon and sugar are sprinkled on top before it is baked.
Its something of an acquired taste, she admits. One of her sons loves it (as does she), while her partner and other son find it revolting. Its kind of like tuna casserole. You either love it or hate it. You can have nostalgia for it and find it delicious or totally the opposite. But I hope that people will try it.(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at jweekly.com ...
Cousin Eddie said it tasted great by itself.
Wife recently made some pemmican. Tis’ very healthy energy food.
One of my grandmother's treasured possessions was a huge general purpose cookbook, published in the 1930's by the Culinary Institute of America. She was a widow with four kids and little education who worked as a cook for some Jewish families in Cincinnati (somebody had to be able to work in the kitchen on Shabbat and High Holy Days). Working as a cook in Jewish households she had to learn to cook Kosher and keep a kitchen spotlessly clean.
Her children, one of whom was my mom, were charitably educated by Episcopal nuns, but Jewish cooking found its way down in the family on my mom's side.
My grandma saved for years to be able to afford a copy of that book and we still have it in the family. The recipes don't use words like "shortening", "vegetable oil", etc., but nearly every single one contains the simple word "fat". Duck fat, chicken fat, beef fat (tallow), whatever was available was put to use. Rendering was the only "processing" involved and everything she made was delicious. This link brought a lot of those flavors and aromas back from my chldhood.
Save for later. Preserving was also quite probiotic and beneficial.
Thank you for your reminiscences. That cookbook was precious to your family. Your mom’s food sounds delicious.
“People are rediscovering that fats in the human diet are good, necessary in fact.”
Carbs are not necessary. It may be more healthy to eat some carbs, but they are not essential to survival. The body can manufacture its own sugar from fat.
Living is easy in the summer but whatchoo gonna do in mid-winter?
Learning how to grow and harvest food is essential. (Preppers, listen up!) But the art of preserving food is equally crucial. Those luscious sun-ripened tomatoes of August will be but a pleasant memory in snowy February.
Im pretty good at pickling and canning and now Im working on dehydrating what the garden gives me. Im getting there.
Russians are the champs at pickling and preserving everything...even things that should not be pickled.
Oops, added this to the ggg list but never pinged it. BFL.
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
I warm smoked some salmon with cherry wood 2 weeks ago. Fried some as salmon “bacon” this morning. Good.
I’m going to try a BLT...or should I say SLT... soon.
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