West Palm Beach, Fla. — The recipes in "The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook" (Caras and Associates, $36), compiled by Joanne Caras of Port St. Lucie, Fla., are a capsule look at Eastern European cuisines: cabbage; meat and chicken one-pot meals; rustic breads; and beet, beef and lentil soups.
They're "home" cooking recipes, written as the cooks themselves presented them – often with large gaps in methods of cooking or precise amounts for ingredients, making for interesting reading. But the stories and photos that accompany them, collected from Holocaust survivors around the world, are much more compelling.
Cox News Service photo |
Bigos, also known as hunter's stew, is one of the recipes offered in 'The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook.'
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With the national celebration of Holocaust Remembrance Day just past, Caras' two-year-old book again has garnered attention.
Tales of heroism and sheer luck, sacrifice and poignant family reunions are preserved – largely unedited – by the author.
Caras decided to compile the cookbook after visiting her son in Israel, where he works at a soup kitchen. To raise money for the kitchen and to honor the memory of the Jews who died in the Holocaust, Caras started the cookbook, using traditional recipes passed down from older generations as a base.
"These recipes will be lost when this group dies out, and it's already happening," she said. "We need to preserve them."
After receiving a few recipes with the stories of the survivors' deliverance, she decided to add the photos of the people, then and now, who contributed.
"The pictures bring their stories to life," Caras said. "We have to remind the next generation of both their heritage in food, and their place in history."
Her mission was small at first, then grew as she took the idea worldwide.
"Originally, I contacted people that we knew who were survivors," she said. "Then we e-mailed Holocaust museums and organizations for survivors.
"The stories started coming in. I wanted 129 – one to represent every major country. They began arriving slowly – I wondered if 129 were possible. Then, as word of mouth spread, they started to really pick up, and in the book, I finally have 129."
One of the writers is Sara Stolniki (born Seena Schwarz) of Windsor, Conn., who writes about surviving the Holocaust with her older sister, Gutki Miliband Stoniki, now of Delray Beach, Fla.
Stolniki writes that she was born in Antwerp, Belgium, and was 8 years old when the Nazis invaded her country and began taking over Jewish homes.
The sisters were shuffled into orphanages and hiding places within the country. They were separated from their mother. Their father was killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
Eventually, the sisters landed at a convent in Brussels, where the nuns hid 14 Jewish girls. Some were baptized to try to protect them, Stolniki said.
She went to school, while her sister, about 20 at the time, helped in the convent.
They were found out, however, and turned over to the Gestapo.
But resistance workers also had found them and staged an overnight rescue that involved setting up a fake attack on their accomplices – the nuns.
Stolniki and her sister again were bounced to different hiding places, then eventually placed in another convent, where they stayed until the liberation in 1944.
That's just one story. Caras and her husband, Harvey, spent hours talking to the survivors to get as much information as they were willing to share.
"There are hundreds more just like it," Caras said.
The compilation is more than a cookbook to Caras.
"It's a book of 129 miracles," she said.
The cookbook is $36. To order, go to survivorcook
book.org.
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Sauce
Liptauer (Cheese Spread)
8 ounces whipped cream cheese
4 ounces margarine
11/2 tablespoons minced onion
2 squirts anchovy paste (not too much since very salty)
Lots of paprika – to redden the spread
Mix well. Refrigerate. Serve with crackers or bread.
Recipe from Lillian Berliner,
New York
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Desert
Palacsinta (Crepes)
3 eggs
11/4 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup club soda
Margarine or butter for cooking the crepes
Mix eggs, flour, milk, sugar and salt. Make a smooth pancake dough. Let dough rest for 1 to 2 hours. Stir in club soda at the last moment, just before cooking the pancakes.
Heat an 8-inch frying pan. When the pan is hot, add 1/4 tablespoon margarine or butter. Let it melt and cover the bottom of the pan. Pour a ladle of the batter into the pan. Gently tipping and twisting, so it covers the whole pan. When the top bubbles, turn the pancake over and cook for another 4 to 5 seconds. Remove the cooked pancake into a large plate.
Fillings for pancake: Apricot jam or farmer cheese mixed with an egg yolk, sugar and raisin mixture. Roll the filled pancake and then fry lightly to heat before serving.
Recipe from Lillian Berliner, New York
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Main Dish
Bigos (Hunter's Stew)
2 pounds sauerkraut with liquid
2 pounds cabbage, cut up or shredded
1 large onion, sautéed
1 to 2 pounds sliced and sauteed pieces of meat – turkey, beef, your choice
10 prunes
10 or more dried mushrooms, soaked for 1/2 hour in water; sliced; liquid from soaked mushrooms
Salt and pepper
Bullion powder (parve)
Bay leaf
Brown sugar for sprinkling
Place all ingredients in a large pot or baking dish.
Bake at 300 (degress) for 4 to 5 hours, or more, turning every hour.
Sprinkle brown sugar into the pot in the last hour.
Note: Best if rebaked the next day.
Recipe from Zosia Emelia, Cleveland, Ohio.
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Main Dish
Bubbe Ginendel's Gefilte Fish
10 pounds carp (whole)
11/2 pounds cod fillet
6 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs (or matzoh meal)
11/2 pounds carrots, approximately
3 large onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Water
Note: Have the carp cleaned, scaled, filleted and skinned. Take home every part, mostly for the bones and head. This is important because the liquid will not gel without bones. Remove the eyes from the fish and discard.
In a meat grinder (do not use food processor), grind the carp, cod, 2 large carrots and large onion twice.
Add the eggs, crumbs, salt and pepper and a small amount of water and mix thoroughly with your hands.
Add enough water until the consistency is such that you can form balls (much like meat balls). Shape the fish into balls of the size of your choice.
In 2 large pots, pour about 2 inches of water, add 2 sliced carrots and 1 sliced onion, salt and pepper to each pot, and bring to a boil.
Gently drop the bones and heads into the liquids, cover each pot tightly and boil on a low setting for about 20 to 30 minutes until the bones have begun to look cooked.
Making sure that the liquid is boiling, drop in the fish balls one at a time in one layer. Shake the pots to keep from sticking; cover tightly.
Cook until the balls feel firm to the touch before adding the next layer; otherwise, they will stick together.
Taste the liquid for spices; add salt and pepper as need. Cover tightly and cook on low setting for 1 hour, tasting, and shaking the pot occasionally.
When done, uncover partly and let stand to rest and cool slightly. Note: Do not remove from pot for 1 hour, or balls will fall apart.
Remove the balls with a spoon and place on platters. Decorate with carrot slices and pour a little liquid over them to keep them moist. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Remove the bones with a slotted spoon from the pots and set aside. Pour the remaining liquid in 1 or 2 small bowls and refrigerate. This will gel, and is delicious served with challah.
Recipe from Sara Stolniki, Windsor, Conn.
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Dessert
Lady's Whim (Noi Szeszely)
6 teaspoons cooking oil (not olive oil)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs, separated
11/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans or hazelnuts may be used)
Apricot and raspberry preserves (or preserves of your choice)
2 tablespoons sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degress.
Cream oil and sugar. Add vanilla and egg yolks. Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg yolk mixture.
Knead dough in bowl until well blended. Pat dough into the bottom of a lightly greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spread a thin layer of preserves on top; sprinkle with 1/2 cup nuts. Beat egg whites until stiff, adding 2 tablespoons sugar during the beating. Spread egg whites over the preserves. Top with remaining 1/2 cup nuts.
Bake at 350 (degress) for 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool completely before slicing into squares.
Recipe from Eva W. Shankman, Olney, Md.
