Essential Jewish Cookbooks

Jennie Grossinger was the celebrity whose zest for good Jewish food put Grossinger’s famous Catskill resort on the map, attracting more than 50,000 guests each year. She learned her traditional recipes in her mother’s kitchen; she was a firm believer in her mother’s maxim, “No one must ever go away hungry!” Here she shows you how to prepare the richest, most luscious meals your imagination or appetite could desire!

The author of Sababa returns with a collection of good-for-the-soul recipes that embody the spirit and pleasures of Shabbat. Because tradition dictates that the Sabbath is reserved for downtime, Shabbat cooking is all about smart techniques and sound prep. Taking us inside the kitchens and traditions of local cooks who have shared their most beloved recipes, Shabbat brings to life transporting, slice-of-life storytelling. Deeply personal and brimming with life, Shabbat inspires us all to embrace the delights of Shabbat.

In Gursha, which loosely translates as “the act of feeding one another,” chef and restaurateur Beejhy Barhany shares the food and culture of Beta Israel or Ethiopian Jews. Born in Ethiopia, Barhany fled to Sudan before making her way to Israel and, eventually, Harlem. She tells that story through food, bringing together more than a hundred personal recipes, from traditional dishes (Doro Wot, Shakshuka, Legamat) to those of her own creation (Berbere Fried Fish, Injera Fish Taco, Queen of Sheba Chocolate Cardamom Cake). Alongside the recipes, readers will also find essays on Beta Israel culture and traditions.

Here, in her most personal book yet, the beloved authority on global Jewish cuisine uses recipes to look back at her own family’s history — their arrival in America from Germany; her childhood in postwar New York and Rhode Island; her years in Paris, New York, Israel, and Washington, DC. Joan Nathan shares her story — of marriage, motherhood, and a career as a food writer; of a life well-lived and centered around meals — and she punctuates it with all the foods she has come to love.

From Jack’s Wife Freda, the New York City neighborhood restaurants with a worldwide following, comes a gorgeously illustrated cookbook filled with beloved recipes for accessible, delicious, and inventive Jewish comfort-food cooking at home.

Star of Food Network’s Girl Meets Farm, and winner of the Judges’ Choice IACP Cookbook Award, Molly Yeh explores home and family and celebrates her Jewish and Chinese heritage and her current Midwestern farm life in this cookbook featuring more than 120 recipes.

For the bubbes and the balabustas, the keepers of Jewish kitchens and the enthusiastic neophytes, comes a cookbook that celebrates how many Jews eat today. Kosher Style is for anyone who likes to cook and loves to eat, and it’s especially for those yearning to create new shared memories around a table brimming with history, loved ones, and maple-soy brisket.

The fascinating, mouthwatering story (with recipes!) of the immigrant family that created a New York gastronomic legend: “The most rambunctious and chaotic of all delicatessens, with one foot in the Old World and the other in the vanguard of every fast-breaking food move in the city” (Nora Ephron).

The author of the acclaimed The Book of New Israeli Food returns with a cookbook devoted to the culinary masterpieces of Jewish grandmothers from Minsk to Marrakesh: recipes that have traveled across continents and cultural borders and are now brought to life for a new generation.

An exciting debut cookbook that confirms the arrival of a new guru chef. A moving, deeply personal journey of survival and discovery that tells of the evolution of a cuisine and of the transformative power and magic of food and cooking. From the two-time James Beard Award-winning chef whose celebrated New Orleans restaurants have been hailed as the country’s most innovative and best by Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, GQ, and Esquire.

More than 150 fun, flavorful, and modern kosher recipes inspired by dishes from around the world — featuring quick-and-easy weekday meals, traditional recipes, and unfussy holiday dinners from the creator of the blog Busy in Brooklyn.

Driven by a passion for discovery, King Solomon is said to have sent emissaries on land and sea to all corners of the ancient world, initiating a mass cross-pollination of culinary cultures that continues to bear fruit today. King Solomon’s Table is a definitive compendium of Jewish recipes from around the globe and across the ages, from Joan Nathan, the James Beard Award-winning, much-loved cookbook author, and “the queen of American Jewish cooking” (Houston Chronicle).

Steaming sukiyaki. Pillowy, soft shokupan. Springy ramen noodles. These famed Japanese dishes, as well as modern interpretations and evolutions, are all part of Love Japan, a collection of beloved family recipes from the married owners of Brooklyn’s Shalom Japan. Like many of us, chefs Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel lead busy lives and often find themselves short on time in the kitchen. Their secret to getting nourishing, delicious food on the table for their family? The Japanese-inspired dishes that Sawako grew up eating. While not rigid in tradition, these recipes are all rooted in the Japanese flavors and techniques taught to Sawako by her mother, with influences from Aaron’s Jewish heritage as well as the menu at Shalom Japan.

Take a trip to Montreal’s Arthurs Nosh Bar, the family-owned luncheonette that has garnered international praise for serving Jewish classics with a twist. Named after the co-owner Raegan’s larger-than-life father, Arthur (who loved a good nosh!), the restaurant is regularly lined up around the block for their in-demand OTT breakfasts, brunches, and lunches. Like Arthurs itself, this cookbook is somewhere you’ll want to spend time in. It’s full of big restaurant energy, and the passion and commitment to Jewish cooking leaps off every page, all showcased in a joyful design, with gorgeous photography and playful illustrations.