Jewish Cookery Book

Esther Levy

1871

Mock Turtle Soup

Get a calf’s head, with the skin on, but cleaned from the hair. Half boil it; take all the meat off in square pieces; break the bones of the head, and boil them in some good veal and beef broth to make it richer; fry some shalot and flour enough to thicken the gravy; stir this into the browning, and give it one or two boils; skim it carefully, and then put in the head; put in a pint of Madeira wine, and simmer till the meat is quite tender. About ten minutes before you serve, put in some chives, parsley, cayenne pepper, and salt to your taste; also, two squeezes of lemon, two spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup, and one of soy. Pour the soup into the tureen. Forcemeat balls and yolks of hard boiled eggs. There are various ways of making this soup, but I choose this as preferable.

To Make a Good Frimsel (or Noodle) Soup

Take a piece of thick brisket, about five or six pounds for a large family, and a knuckle of veal, and put in a saucepan, with water sufficient to cover the meat, about, for that quantity of meat, two and a half quarts of water, with an onion, celery, parsley, a little pepper, ginger, and mace. Some persons use saffron, dried and pounded, just a small pinch; boil for three hours. Take out the meat, and strain the soup; then return it to the saucepan. Have ready some vermicelli or frimsels, and let the soup come up to a boil; then throw in, lightly, the frimsels, and boil for ten minutes. Two ounces of flour and one egg, with a pinch of salt and ginger, will make sufficient frimsels; or two eggs and a quarter of a pound of flour, for a large family.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.

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Esther Levy’s Jewish Cookery Book was the first American Jewish cookbook to be publicly available in the United States, and only the second to be written in English. The book offers a breadth of information about topics related to Jewish home life, including menu suggestions as well as housekeeping advice, medicinal recipes, and a Jewish calendar. The book focuses mainly on German dishes in addition to providing recipes that combine contemporary tastes with kosher preparations. Both a culinary and historical volume, Levy’s book functioned as a comprehensive guide to keeping a Jewish home, written to help new European immigrants adapt to American culture while retaining their religious traditions and values.

Related Guide

Literature and Modernity

1750–1880

Jewish writing in the period spanning 1750–1880 reflects the profound changes that confronted Jews in modernity. Some writers self-consciously broke with traditional and religious models; others definitely embraced it.

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Life Writing: Biography, Autobiography, and Ego Documents

1750–1880

The famous and the obscure, women and men, in epitaphs and private letters, ethical wills, cookbooks, and religious reflections, all reflect aspects of Jewish life in a period of great transition.

Creator Bio

Esther Levy

19th Century

Little is known about Esther Levy (born Jacoby) beyond the fact that she was raised within Philadelphia’s German Jewish community and that she personally registered her Jewish cookbook, the first American Jewish cookbook to be publicly available in the United States, with the Library of Congress. 

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