The Swiss Cookbook

by Nika Standen Hazelton

Drawing from her long experience of and affection for Switzerland, cookbook expert Nika Hazelton explains the basic elements of Swiss cooking as it is understood and practised in Swiss homes. Her 'lessons' include such necessities as complete directions for 'au bleu' fish cookery, for making superb dumplings or Swiss pasts, for plain or fancy Fondue in all its variations, and for roasting veal in the Swiss manner. The book's 250 recipes, gathered over many years from peasants, housewives, and chefs through history, cover the range of home cooking, from appetisers to desserts. Included are such delights as Heidi's Devil's Dip, Gypsy Salad, Farina-Cheese Souffle, Minced Veal Bellevoir, and Apfelbroisi. This classic guide to Swiss cuisine, originally published by Atheneum, is sure to prove a favourite to today's cook as well.

Genres: Cookbooks

371 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my on going effort to learn about my Swiss family history, I bought this book, written in 1965. I enjoyed the nostalgic, albeit outdated, look at the country via chapters on the history of Swiss eating, regional specialties, Swiss chocolate, cheese and wine manufacture, Swiss trains, and famous Swiss hospitality. Costs of food and the salary of a hotel manager in an upscale hotel ($30,000) in 1965 made me chuckle, but it was the world my Swiss cousins knew when they were teenagers like I was.
The recipes were a lesson unto themselves. Even in 1965 ordinary people, especially those living in isolated mountain locations, ate very simple calorie laden foods, based on what was available prior to our age of easily obtained foods from anywhere in the world. I enjoyed my "trip" to the Switzerland of days gone by.

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot speak to the fairly old-fashioned recipes here, but I really enjoyed the author's stories about her childhood and her opinions on what 'actual' Swiss people eat and enjoy and how that is different across different regions. These stories & opinions are not at all the focus, the recipes are, but she works them into the book in a very natural way and reading it I felt like I was reaching across the years to touch a past (1967) in which she stood and was reaching backwards in her own memories to try to explain to her audience both Swiss cooking as she understood it and how it had changed with the post-WW2 world. I wonder if all the Hippocrene cookbooks are like this? I am hoping to find out but it is proving difficult to get more from the library just now.

[Donzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yup. Full of food that fills and gives stamina. Not a culinary arts book for sure!