Shabbat Shalom: Recipes and Menus for the Sabbath

In this delectable contribution to contemporary American kosher cookery, Friedland draws on the very best of traditional Ashkenazic and Sephardic cuisine to find dishes that especially honor the Sabbath, that unique day of the week on which work is forbidden. Her matzo balls and cholents (stews) look familiar to devotees. But Friedland is no slave to tradition. She complements the old with contemporary dishes whose origins lie far beyond Europe’s shtetels. Thus, Friedland’s Sabbath table holds gravlax, Scandinavia’s dill-cured salmon, and coq au vin, France’s elaboration of a Jewish mother’s revered chicken soup. Friedland’s introductory essay deftly catalogs and explains Sabbath traditions beginning with the lighting of candles and associated prayers, making those rites accessible to nonobservant Jews and Gentiles alike. Friedland’s clear directions make her recipes easy to follow. Highly recommended as an illuminative, celebratory guide to kosher cooking. Mark Knoblauch

Susan R. Friedland, Director of Cookbook Publishing and Executive Editor at HarperCollins, is the author of The Passover Table and coauthor of The Jewish American Kitchen. She lives in New York City. dianapolis Star)