Not Your Mother's Matzo Balls
Reviewed by Elaine Herscher
CONSUMER HEALTH INTERACTIVEHealthy Jewish Cooking
By Steven Raichlen
Viking
224 pp $29.95 Harriet Roth's Deliciously Healthy Jewish Cooking
By Harriet Roth
Plume
Paperback 461 pp $16.95 
Even in this cholesterol-sensitive era, few cooks have tried to trim the fat from Jewish food. And who could blame them? Traditional Jewish cooking relies on rich ingredients and faith. If you're going to eat chopped liver, you must have faith that your arteries won't clamp shut before you get up from the table. Long before my birth, my great-grandmother would render the fat from a chicken and store it in the icebox, and she and my great-grandfather would spread it on their bread instead of butter. Who knew? That, in all of its heart-stopping glory, was Old Country cooking. Of course that sort of culinary hari-kari is unacceptable now, but some true wonders of Old World Jewish cooking sadly went with it. My great-grandmother also made her own gefilte fish -- from a live carp that would swim around in the bathtub until she was ready to claim it for the Passover table. Both Steven Raichlen and Harriet Roth have such fond memories -- Roth's mother lovingly making strudel, Raichen's grandmother hand-cranking the meat for chopped liver -- that they each independently took on the challenge of making these foods suitable for modern-day low-fat sensibilities without sacrificing flavor. Their books are stylistically different, but both rely on some low-fat cooking standbys: egg whites and egg substitute, reduced amounts of oil, low-fat dairy products. Raichlen's Healthy Jewish Cooking is glossy and stylish, filled with appealing color photographs. Harriet Roth's Deliciously Healthy Jewish Cooking is pictureless, sturdy, and homey. At the end of each recipe, both books offer breakdowns of calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Oddly, Roth chooses to show grams of fiber but not protein or carbohydrate, which Raichlen's cookbook includes. Raichlen, a cooking instructor, author of 20 books, and winner of the James Beard Award, serves up more than 150 recipes, most of which are renditions of dishes made by great-aunts and grandmothers. He begins with the "Ten Commandments of Healthy Cooking," which include subbing intensely flavored herbs and condiments for fat, roasting instead of frying, and eating more vegetables and less meat. Recipes with memories
Memory played an important role in leading him to write this book. He describes preparations for the Passover seder his family had when he was 13: "My great-aunts, Annette Farber and Rena Aronson, have been toiling all day in a kitchen that most cooks would find hopelessly spartan. Huge pots simmer away on the stove: one brimming with fragrant broth enriched with capons and flanken (beef ribs), another filled with knaidlach (matzo balls) the size of baseballs, and golden tsimmis (that Eastern European stew of carrots, sweet potatoes, and prunes). An army of lettuce-lined plates waits on an old Formica table, ready to receive shimmering ovals of gefilte fish and dollops of fiery red horseradish....My aunts never seem to break a sweat preparing this Rabelaisian feast." Raichlen's book relies on a minimal number of ingredients and uncomplicated directions. His Savory Cheese Kreplach -- dumplings served as an appetizer and baked rather than fried -- turned out tasty. Raichlen replaces the traditional egg dough with Chinese wonton wrappers, which are paper thin and made from wheat flour. His chopped liver isn't exactly to die for, but it's pretty darn good considering it's made mostly of mushrooms and hard-boiled egg whites -- with just a small amount of chicken liver -- and has less than four grams of fat. (I tossed in two of the egg yolks for a richer taste at Raichlen's suggestion. It seemed sacrilegious to throw five egg yolks away.) Roth, a nutritionist, former director of the Pritikin Longevity Center Cooking School and author of five other cookbooks, has produced a thicker book that covers much more ground than Raichlen's. She leads her 350 recipes with sections covering each of the Jewish holidays and offers short introductions to the dangers of fat and cholesterol. At the end of the book there's a glossary of Yiddish terms for those of us who know less than six words of the language of our forebears. ("Kasher," for example, means to soak and salt meats and poultry before cooking, and if you're buying noodles, ask for "lokshen.") Bootsie's Matzo Balls
A nutritionist to the core, Roth includes some handy charts on weight and fat consumption. She's got some great titles for her dishes, too -- like Reformed Rugelach (those rolled cinnamony pastries that are popping up at bakeries and coffeehouses) and Bootsie Segal's Feather-Light Matzo Balls. Bootsie's got the right idea. Her matzo balls -- made with egg substitute and a bit of seltzer -- did indeed turn out feather light and delicious enough to make any Passover cook proud. Roth also gives a very satisfying and flavorful low-fat recipe for blintzes. Her mother made incredible strudel, she says, and the book offers a whole section of renovated strudels, some savory and some sweet. But as health-conscious as she is, even Roth apparently can't resist certain temptations: She includes a final chapter called the "Baker's 'Deadly' Dozen," a collection of rich desserts she recalls for "the loving spirit in which they were baked, eaten, and appreciated." Save the Hungarian Butter Horns and Mama's Danish for a "very special occasion," she advises. Both books were fun to read, easily evoking the aromas of brisket and chicken soup. And either could come in handy when a craving hits for some fondly remembered or newly discovered dish. Traditional comfort foods may be easier to find in Roth's book, because she has so many more recipes. And a few of hers were more successful at reducing fat without sacrificing taste. Raichlen makes his blintzes with unflavored bread crumbs and cottage cheese, while Roth uses fat-reduced dairy products, including ricotta and cream cheese and sour cream. With both cookbooks, at least you have a choice. It's nice to know you can have your chopped liver and eat it too. -- Elaine Herscher, a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, is a senior editor at Consumer Health Interactive. Sweet Noodle Kugel with Apples
From Steven Raichlen's Healthy Jewish Cooking
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 1 cup golden raisins
1 cup apple juice
8 ounces flat egg noodles
Salt
2 firm sweet apples, like Galas
2 cups no- or low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup egg substitute or 1 egg plus 4 whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese (large curd)
1/3 to 1/2 cup light brown or regular sugar
Spray oil for the pan For the topping:
1/2 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumbs or regular graham cracker crumbs or bread crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon butter (optional) 1. Soak the raisins in the apple juice for 30 minutes to soften them. Drain well. (Save the apple juice for drinking.) 2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 3. Cook the noodles in 4 quarts rapidly boiling salted water until a little shy of al dente, about 6 minutes. Drain the noodles in a colander, rinse with cold water, and drain again. 4. Wash, core, and coarsely grate the apples (on the large-holed side of a grater). I don't generally bother to peel the apples. Squeeze the grated apples between your fingers to wring out the excess liquid. 5. In a mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, egg substitute, vanilla and almond extracts, cinnamon, and lemon zest, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the cottage cheese, brown sugar, noodles, raisins, and grated apples. Correct the seasoning, adding sugar or cinnamon to taste. 6. Spoon the noodle mixture into an 8-by-12-inch baking dish lightly oiled with spray oil. Sprinkle the top with the graham cracker crumbs and sugar and dot with butter (if using). 7. Bake the kugel until set and golden brown, about 50 minutes. Let the kugel cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares for serving. Serves 8. Calories per serving: 362
Protein: 17 grams
Fat: 3 grams
Saturated fat: 1 gram
Carbohydrate: 65 grams
Sodium: 435 milligrams Cholesterol: 54 milligrams
Reviewed by C.E. McLaughlin, MD, a professor of sports medicine at the University of California at Berkeley.
Our reviewers are members of Consumer Health Interactive's medical advisory board.
To learn more about our writers and editors, click here.
First published January 19, 2001
Last updated November 30, 2007
Copyright © 2001 Consumer Health Interactive
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