Book of Cooking and Home Economics for Jewish Housewives

Preface

It is a not a simple cookbook that I am presenting herewith to my sisters in faith, although most room is given to the “kitchen.” This book of Cooking and Home Economics [Koch- und Wirtschaftsbuch] contains everything practical one needs to know regarding not only the entire extent of a regular household, but also for establishing and managing a religious household. This book is the fruit of many years of collecting, beginning in my 15th year, when I had to take over from my mother, and during a 20-year marriage as the housemother of many boarders and caretaker of my own large family.

Until I became a bride, I lived in France, and afterwards, due to my husband’s profession, in the south, north, and east of Germany. Wherever I lived, I studied the features of local cuisine and put them to use. The proficient housewife will find much that is new to her and will look for in vain in other books of this kind. The young wife, however, will find practical, tried-and-true advice for her work in kitchen and house, for accidents in the family, as well as for the physical education of her beloved little ones.

This work, too, will have its faults. But indulgent readers will consider the words of the poet: “Who brings a lot will bring something for everyone!”¹ The richness and comprehensiveness of this work and the low price, I hope, will win this book of home economy numerous friends and soon afford me the pleasure of adding everything that is missing in a new edition, and so achieve in this field something drawing ever closer to perfection.

May my book inspire our Jewish housewives, despite all the demands of modern cooking and house management, to be always and primarily concerned with preserving our time-honored customs, sanctifying the Sabbath and holidays, and to conduct her business in the house in keeping with the laws of our religion.

Charlottenburg [Berlin] in May 1888.
Mrs. Flora Wolff [ . . . ]

Menu for Friday Evening

Most families in Prussia, Pomerania, Posen, and Silesia content themselves with a good fish dish and a simple fruit, beer, or wine soup. In northern Germany: Hannover, Hamburg, and so on, a delicious meat soup or roast meat is served, accompanied by a suitable vegetable, no fish. In southern Germany: Soup, fish, and roast meat. Below we present sample menus for simple and fine dining.

Fancy Menus

3. Northern Germany

Noodle soup     Noodle soup
Green beans     Black salsify roots
Italian beef      Roast beef
Almond cream²    Compote

Mockturtle soup      Wine soup
White beans (East Frisia) Spinach
Stuffed breast of veal     Veal cutlets
Lemon flummery

Bouillon with meat dumplings  Mushroom soup
Red cabbage          Red cabbage
Stuffed breast of veal        Pot roast
Almond cream       Cherry flummery

Wine soup with tapioca    Gruenkern soup³
Stuffed white cabbage      Young carrots
Browned beef         Beef tenderloin
Lemon gelée        Strawberry gelée

Soup of sweetbread [ris de veau]   Turkish wine soup
Cauliflower         Apples with rice
Braised beef           Veal cutlets
Champagne gelée         Compote

Chicken soup           Veal soup
String beans       Apples with potatoes
Chicken ragout          Boiled veal

Meat soup           Cucumbers⁴
Sugar snap peas
Saddle of veal⁵

Chicken soup          French soup
Pears with dumplings    Pears with potatoes
Roast chicken        Chicken ragout
Rhubarb compote   Marinated cucumber salad

Beef soup with rice       Semolina soup
Chestnuts        Sweet and sour beans
Tongue of veal à la Tartare     Mutton roast
Cherries            Cucumbers

Celery soup       Soup of lung of veal⁶
Rice with raisins   Red cabbage with chestnuts
Stuffed spleen        Steamed chicken
Pears             Cucumbers

4. Southern German

Noodle soup           Wine soup
Salmon              Trout
Steamed chicken        Fried chicken
Apricots           Rice pudding

Gruenkern soup        Chicken soup
Tench⁷               Carp
Puff pastry with veal ragout⁸    Stuffed duck
Apples with currants    Compote of oranges

Bouillon with meat dumplings    Veal soup
Northern pike          Polish carp
Chicken ragout       Chicken with rice
Cucumbers     Sweet pickled cucumbers

5. Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, Posen

Beef soup            Bouillon
Goose giblets         Chicken ragout
Marinated salmon         Noodles⁹
Pears             Stewed fruit

Lemon soup           Beer soup
Salmon          Marinated salmon
Roast potatoes        Roast potatoes
Sweet pudding¹⁰       Vanilla pudding

Creamed herb soup¹¹       Cherry soup
Carp             Baked carp
Horseradish         Boiled potatoes

Apple soup           Wine soup
Northern pike            Tench
Horseradish            Omelets
Sweet pudding

Tomato soup        Raspberry soup
Fish ragout       Northern pike in butter
Sour potatoes          Potato salad

Foamy beer soup         Beer soup
Northern pike with dumplings   Fish nuggets
Potatoes with parsley     Mashed potatoes
Cucumbers