Program Descriptions
Episodes #101 thru #113
Jewish Cooking In America with Joan Nathan
26-Part Cooking Series
by Maryland Public Television,
Frappe Inc. And Joan Nathan
Begins September 1998 on PBS
Episode #101: Sabbath: Friday Night Dinner and
a Day of Rest
Joan criss-crosses the country sharing festive Friday night
meals with families of many different backgrounds. Stops
include an ultra-orthodox home in Brooklyn and a Yemenite-Israeli
dinner in Manhattan with Elliot Gould. Joan discovers the
secrets to a great challah, the traditional Sabbath bread.
Recipes: Retired Baker Fred Loeb's Challah (Silver Spring, Maryland); Cookbook Author Edda Servi Machim's Savory Italian Crusty Kugel (Croton-on-Hudson, New York)
Episode #102: The Borscht Belt
Many of the jokes surrounding Jewish food grew up with the
Catskills. Joan visits with Elaine Grossinger Etess, daughter
of the founders of the most famous Borscht Belt resort.
While enjoying a meal at Woolfie's in Miami, they also share
a sentimental journey back to the time when generations
of summer vacationers escaped New York City for fresh air,
fun and food just two hours north.
Recipe: Cookbook author Barbara Kafka's Winter Borscht (New York, New York); Chef Ed Brown's updated Striped Bass with Borscht Sauce (New York, New York)
Episode #103: Brisket: The Jewish Pot Roast
Joan traces the brisket's journey from immigrant baggage
at Ellis Island to fine food in fancy restaurants across
America. Meet Cleveland's "Mr. Brisket," Sanford Herskovitz,
who gives all the details of how to properly select, cook
and slice brisket.
Recipes: Chef Jim Cohen's Sephardic Brisket with apricots and prunes (Phoenix, Arizona)
Episode #104: Sukkot: The Fall Harvest Festival
Joan heads to Chicago for harvest holiday preparations including
home wine-making and time-lapse building of a sukkah, the
temporary outdoor structure dating back to the Bible. Mso,
a stop at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York to look
at a unique Sukkot tapestry smuggled out of war-torn Hungary
and the search in Brooklyn for the four biblical species
of crops that symbolize the holiday.
Recipes: Miriam Steinberg's Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage and Mort Steinberg's Sweet Holiday Wine (Highland Park, Illinois)
Episode # 105: The Dairy Meal: Hold the Pastrami, Please
A slice of cheesecake after a good pastrami sandwich? No
way! Kosher laws requiring the separation of milk and meat
led to the development of special dairy restaurants like
Ratner's in New York. Joan visits with Leah Adler, Steven
Spielberg's mother and owner of the popular Milky Way Restaurant
in Los Angeles where every delicious meal is completely
meatless.
Recipes: Cookbook author Mollie Katzen's Summer Borscht (Berkley, California); Holocaust Survivor Agnes Stern's Hungarian Palachinta Torte (Coral Gables, Florida)
Episode #106: Everybody Doesn't Like Something. But
Everybody Likes Cheesecake
From Plato to Shakespeare, Lindy's to Sara Lee.. cheesecake
has been written about, made and enjoyed for thousands of
years. Joan explores this delicious history—including
how cheesecake came to be thought of as a "Jewish" dessert
- with food historian Jan Longone in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
and the real Sara Lee Schupf in New York. She fights the
calories on her trek to the Disneyworld of cheesecake, Eli's
Cheesecake Factory in Chicago.
Recipe: Cookbook Author Alice Medrich's Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake (Berkeley, California)
Episode #107: Jewish Roots in Early America
Joan traces the fascinating early history and food of Jews
in America from the arrival of the first 23 Sephardic Jews
in New Amsterdam in 1654 to kosher food at a picnic in Philadelphia
celebrating the signing of the Constitution. Visits with
such American chroniclers as Eli Evans and Calvin Trillin
reveal the very varied regional influences on Jewish cuisine
as Americans began to spread out across the continent. Stops
include the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan
and Jewish cooking over the open hearth at the 1714 Gomez
Mill House in New York's Hudson Valley.
Recipes: Chef Anne Rosenzweig's Salmon Cakes with wild mushrooms (New York, New York); Mary Powell's Dampfnudel, a Bavarian steamed dumpling (San Francisco, California)
Episode #108: What Is Kosher?
A Kosher cop? Julia Child joins Joan for a trip to a New
York supermarket to find out what's kosher, what's not and
what's the difference. In Brooklyn, a trip to a fish market
with a lively, if fishy, guest. Also, a visit with a kosher
butcher and a rabbi in Rockville, Maryland, to further
demystify~ what kosher means.
Recipes: Chef Jean Louis Palladin's Faux Ham Glazed Corned Beef (New York, New York); Chef Marty Freed's Pastrami Lox (Brooklyn, New York)
Episode #109: The Nosh: Jewish Fast Food
Always on the move, Joan samples falafel from Moshe's, the
best stretch pushcart in New York City, plus pickles from
Guss' on the Lower East Side and lots of street-corner hot
dogs. Egg cream maven Isaiah Sheffer shares his secrets
of this often-debated bubbly treat during a visit to Sammy's
Roumanian Restaurant in New York.
Recipes: Psychiatrist Justin Frank's Salami and Eggs with Matzah Meal Pancakes (Washington, DC)
Episode #110: Hanukkah: Olive Oil and Freedom
Foods fried in oil—particularly potatoes—commemorate
the ancient miracle at the heart of this celebration. Joan
explores the foods and traditions of this once-minor holiday
of religious freedom that today in America has become today
a major celebration because of its proximity to Christmas.
Recipes: Chef Allen Susser's Potato and Boniato Pancakes (Miami, Florida); Lily Serviansky's Once-A-Year Cheese Latkes (Coral Gables, Florida)
Episode #111: The Smoked and Pickled Appetizing Store
Once upon a time, there were little "appetizing" stores
that sold more kinds of pickled and smoked fish than one
believed existed. Joan heads to New York to visit two of
the last surviving relics of these uniquely Jewish markets,
Barney Greengrass on the Upper West Side and Russ & Daughters
on the Lower East Side, to find out what was so deliciously
memorable about these stores.
Recipes: Mark Federman's Pickled Salmon and Herring with Potatoes and Onions (New York, New York)
Episode #112: Goodbye, Columbus: Food for the Jewish
Celebration
What's a wedding or bar mitzvah without finger food? A big
part of Jewish cooking are foods that can be picked up and
eaten while socializing. Joan samples several of these with
savory influences from Russia to the Middle East.
Recipes: Elise Akouka's Egyptian Stuffed Grape Leaves (Coral Gables, Florida); Gary Danko's Potato Knish (San Francisco, California)
Episode #113: What Am I Chopped Liver?
Joan tastes her way across America as she samples everyone's
favorite chopped liver. Because of the kosher separation
of meat and milk, there's even some vegetarian versions
originally made popular at dairy restaurants on New York's
Lower East Side.
Recipes: Hyman Bookbinder's Classic Chopped Liver (Bethesda, Maryland); Mandy Patinkin's Mother's Vegetarian Chopped Liver (San Diego, California)
Jewish Cooking In America
Recipes
- Russ & Daughters Pickled Lox with Sour Cream Sauce
- Jim Cohen's Sephardic Brisket
- Apricot or Chocolate Filled Rugelach
This page created September 1998
