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The Khwan Niamut
or, Nawab's Domestic Cookery
David E. Schoonover
University of Iowa Press, 1992
This appealing little cookbook, published in Calcutta in 1839 with the weighty subtitle “Being a Selection of the Best Approved Recipes, of the Most Flavoured and Savoury Dishes, from the Kitchen of Nawab Qasim Uli Khan, Buhadur Qâum Jung, from the original Persian,” gave colonial Europeans a way to enjoy royal feasts in their own homes.The Khwan Niamut is an entertaining way for today's adventurous cooks to explore Asian dishes in their own homes.
Translated as “Table of Riches,” The Khwan Niamut offers a collection of tempting recipes from the lavish household of Qasim Uli Khan which did indeed allow transplanted colonials to dine like shahs. All the refinements of Persian cookery—from hearty pilaus and curries and kababs to delicate almond comfits and such mandatory accessories as mango and lemon pickles—are served up in the pages of this facsimile edition.
The Khwan Niamut also includes many traditional ways of preserving meats, eggs, fruits, juices, and dairy products, growing mushrooms—“If the water wherein mushrooms have been steeped or washed be poured upon an old bed…there will speedily arise great numbers”—perfuming linen with rose leaves, cloves and mace, and preparing “a fine strong tincture of coffee.” A lengthy appendix caters to British taste buds, allowing homesick colonials to prepare less exotic but more familiar dishes such as mutton hash, veal broth, eel pie, lemon custard, and ginger beer.
To satisfy today's tastes and methods, David Schoonover has updated many festive Persian dishes as a major part of this introduction, which places this cookbook in the context of culinary history. More experienced cooks will enjoy the full range of recipes inThe Khwan Niamutusing the tables that translate such measures as chuttacks, mashas, and seers into modern equivalents. Everyone seeking to broaden their culinary repertoire will delight in the recipes and history of The Khwan Niamut.
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front cover of Kitchen Literacy
Kitchen Literacy
How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back
Ann Vileisis
Island Press, 2008
Ask children where food comes from, and they’ll probably answer: “the supermarket.” Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket shelf have become mysteries. How did we become so disconnected from the sources of our breads, beef, cheeses, cereal, apples, and countless other foods that nourish us every day?
 
Ann Vileisis’s answer is a sensory-rich journey through the history of making dinner. Kitchen Literacy takes us from an eighteenth-century garden to today’s sleek supermarket aisles, and eventually to farmer’s markets that are now enjoying a resurgence. Vileisis chronicles profound changes in how American cooks have considered their foods over two centuries and delivers a powerful statement: what we don’t know could hurt us.
 
As the distance between farm and table grew, we went from knowing particular places and specific stories behind our foods’ origins to instead relying on advertisers’ claims. The woman who raised, plucked, and cooked her own chicken knew its entire life history while today most of us have no idea whether hormones were fed to our poultry. Industrialized eating is undeniably convenient, but it has also created health and environmental problems, including food-borne pathogens, toxic pesticides, and pollution from factory farms.
 
Though the hidden costs of modern meals can be high, Vileisis shows that greater understanding can lead consumers to healthier and more sustainable choices. Revealing how knowledge of our food has been lost and how it might now be regained, Kitchen Literacy promises to make us think differently about what we eat.
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front cover of Kitchen Literacy
Kitchen Literacy
How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back
Ann Vileisis
Island Press, 2008
Ask children where food comes from, and they’ll probably answer: “the supermarket.” Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket shelf have become mysteries. How did we become so disconnected from the sources of our breads, beef, cheeses, cereal, apples, and countless other foods that nourish us every day?
 
Ann Vileisis’s answer is a sensory-rich journey through the history of making dinner. Kitchen Literacy takes us from an eighteenth-century garden to today’s sleek supermarket aisles, and eventually to farmer’s markets that are now enjoying a resurgence. Vileisis chronicles profound changes in how American cooks have considered their foods over two centuries and delivers a powerful statement: what we don’t know could hurt us.
 
As the distance between farm and table grew, we went from knowing particular places and specific stories behind our foods’ origins to instead relying on advertisers’ claims. The woman who raised, plucked, and cooked her own chicken knew its entire life history while today most of us have no idea whether hormones were fed to our poultry. Industrialized eating is undeniably convenient, but it has also created health and environmental problems, including food-borne pathogens, toxic pesticides, and pollution from factory farms.
 
Though the hidden costs of modern meals can be high, Vileisis shows that greater understanding can lead consumers to healthier and more sustainable choices. Revealing how knowledge of our food has been lost and how it might now be regained, Kitchen Literacy promises to make us think differently about what we eat.
[more]

front cover of Knish
Knish
In Search of the Jewish Soul Food
Laura Silver
Brandeis University Press, 2014
When Laura Silver’s favorite knish shop went out of business, the native New Yorker sank into mourning, but then she sprang into action. She embarked on a round-the-world quest for the origins and modern-day manifestations of the knish. The iconic potato pie leads the author from Mrs. Stahl’s bakery in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, to an Italian pasta maker in New Jersey—and on to a hunt across three continents for the pastry that shaped her identity. Starting in New York, she tracks down heirs to several knish dynasties and discovers that her own family has roots in a Polish town named Knyszyn. With good humor and a hunger for history, Silver mines knish lore for stories of entrepreneurship, survival, and major deliciousness. Along the way, she meets Minnesota seniors who make knishes for weekly fundraisers, foodies determined to revive the legacy of Mrs. Stahl, and even the legendary knish maker’s granddaughters, who share their joie de vivre—and their family recipe. Knish connections to Eleanor Roosevelt and rap music? Die-hard investigator Silver unearths those and other intriguing anecdotes involving the starchy snack once so common along Manhattan’s long-lost Knish Alley. In a series of funny, moving, and touching episodes, Silver takes us on a knish-eye tour of worlds past and present, thus laying the foundation for a global knish renaissance.
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front cover of Korean Cuisine
Korean Cuisine
An Illustrated History
Michael J. Pettid
Reaktion Books, 2008
The spicy tang of kimchi, the richness of Korean barbecue, the hearty flavors of bibimbap: Korean cuisine is savored the world over for its diversity of ingredients and flavors. Michael Pettid offers here a lushly illustrated historical account of Korean food and its intricate relationship with the nation’s culture.

Over the last twelve centuries, Korean food dishes and their complex preparations have evolved along with the larger cultural and political upheaval experienced by the nation. Pettid charts this historical development of the cuisine, exploring the ways that regional distinctions and historical transformations played out in the Korean diet—including the effects of wartime food shortages and preparation techniques. Underlying all these dishes are complicated philosophical and aesthetic considerations, and Pettid delves into their impact on everything from the rituals associated with group meals or drinks with friends to the strict rules governing combinations of dishes and ingredients according to temperature, texture, spices, color, and consistency.

Featuring a batch of mouthwatering recipes and over a hundred vivid photographs of a striking array of dishes, Korean Cuisine is an incisive and engaging investigation into the relationship between Korean culture and food that will spice up the bookshelves of foodies and scholars alike.
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front cover of The Kosher Baker
The Kosher Baker
Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy
Paula Shoyer
Brandeis University Press, 2010
Producing flavorful and appealing kosher desserts has been a challenge in Jewish households throughout the ages. Without access to butter, cream, milk, cheese, yogurt, or other dairy products, creating a tasty and memorable dessert for family and friends requires more than simple substitutions and compromises. Now pastry chef and teacher Paula Shoyer provides the inspiration and innovation to turn the age-old challenges of parve baking into delectable delights in her one-of-a-kind kosher cookbook. The Kosher Baker is your indispensable kitchen companion to a wide range of dairy-free desserts, from family favorites and time-honored holiday classics to stylish and delicious surprises of Shoyer’s own careful creation. It even includes desserts not usually found on a kosher table, such as creamy key lime pie, luscious flan, and rich tiramisu. You’ll find everything from cookies, biscotti, breads and muffins to pastries, tarts, fancy cakes, and mousses. Shoyer guides you through more than 160 mouth-watering recipes and expands every non-dairy baker’s repertoire with simple, clear instructions and a friendly yet authoritative voice. The Kosher Baker is organized as a tutorial into three primary sections—Quick and Elegant Desserts, Two Step Desserts, and Multiple Step Desserts—allowing the busy home baker to choose a dessert based on both taste and time constraints. The first section presents the fundamentals of simple kosher baking in the form of everyday treats like Amaretto Cookies, Orange Tea Cake, and Apple Pastry. The next two sections teach increasingly more challenging desserts, from a Challah Beer Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce to Chocolate Babka. A special fourth section includes chapters on baking Challah, Passover desserts, and no-sugar-added desserts. The Kosher Baker has something for everyone in the Jewish household for any occasion or holiday. It spills over with detailed information, including tips on storage, freezing, and thawing; tools; must-have ingredients; and tips and techniques. Anyone baking for those with special dietary needs such as food allergies or diabetic concerns will also find recipes to love in this comprehensive collection. It even includes recipes for nut- and gluten-free desserts, and vegan desserts. No Jewish home should be without this essential cookbook!
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