Cooking With Memories: Recipes and Recollections

by Lora Brody

A kitchen is suffused with the aroma of stew simmering on a low burner. For Lora Brody this fragrance doesn't simply register in the present. IT flings open the doors of yesterdays, when other stews bubbled and other kitchens smelled as welcoming. It stirs a string of memories, of smells and tastes, of places far away, of home and of childhood.

In Cooking with Memories the spark of memory kindled by wonderful food illuminates long-forgotten family episodes; funny, poignant, tender, and treasured. Twenty-one stories, supplemented by over 100 recipes, recall the times and flavors of Lora's life: from her mother's chicken soup to Aunt Bessie's babka, served after sundown on Yom Kippur; from potatoes baked in a winter's fire to picnic baskets at the beach in August; from get-well food for a sick child (challa, broth and sweet custard) to holiday fare of salmon salad, roast turkey, and mile-high Nesselrode pie.

Lora's recipes and recollections transport the reader from Hartford, Connecticut, where she grew up in the 1950s, to present-day Chicago, where she judges the entries in a Velveeta Cook-Off. She travels to northernmost Vermont for a memorable weekend of food and fun with an upcountry New England family. She celebrates holidays with unforgettable meals, recounting Passover at home, Christmas at a friend's, a son's birthday, another's bris, a week of sitting shivah for a departed relative, and other times both sweet and sad.

Collected here are special memories, sprinkled with much-beloved recipes from days gone by. With a liberal dash of humor, a dollop of nostalgia, and a generous seasoning of wit, Lora Brody serves them up to her family, her friends, and to you.

Genres: Cookbooks

212 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1989

Reviews

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because most of memories were of growing up in Hartford, CT, which was near where my husband and I used to live (Bloomfield, CT). I was familiar with many of the streets and areas she described. We also have already tried one of her recipes and found it very tasty. This book will be added to our cookbook shelf so more recipes can be tried.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me it was interesting because of similarities and differences of how we grew up in roughly the same time and culture. Some of her stories will stick with me like true fables, because of the
'moral' that is implied. Now to check with my Hartford-ites for more context.