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Friday, December 12, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
GLORIA KAUFER GREENE
Cooking Editor
hose of you who have
followed this cooking
column over the years
or who have read my Jewish
Holiday Cookbook: An Inter-
national Collection of Recipes
and Customs (Times Books)
know of my special interest in
Jewish cuisines from around
the world. I feel closer to Jews
with different backgrounds
when I include some of their
specialties on my table. Also,
this century has seen the
dwindling or disappearance
of many smaller, diverse
Jewish. communities whose
wonderful heritage may be
partially preserved through
their customs.
Recently, I came across two
fascinating books that
describe Jewish dishes little
known to most American
Jews. This week, I will
discuss an Indian cookbook
that includes the Jewish
cooking of Calcutta. In
another column, I will review
a book on Moroccan Jewish
Cookery.
My curiosity about Indian-
Jewish cooking was sparked
last November when I came
across an intriguing article in
the The Pleasures of Cooking
magazine. Written by
Copeland Marks, the piece
was titled "Calcutta's Sephar-
dic Cooking" and featured a
few enticing recipes from
Marks' unusual collection.
Last May the book from
which the article was excerp-
ted appeared on the market.
The Varied Kitchens of In-
dia (M. Evans and Company,
Inc.; hardcover; $19.95; 288
pp.) is subtitled Cuisines of
the Anglo-Indians of Calcut-
ta, Bengalis, Jews of Calcutta.,
• Kashmiris, Parsis, and Tibet-
ans of Darjeeling. It is the
third (and largest) section of
Marks' book that is of pri-
mary interest to Jewish
cooks. This 76-page chapter
contains 74 recipes that he
painstakingly gleaned from
the Calcutta-Jewish commun-
ity.
Marks first became inter-
ested in the cuisine of the
Sephardic Jews of Calcutta
about 25 years ago, when he
went to the city to study
regional kitchens. In 1982,
realizing that the unique
Jewish community might
soon disappear forever, he
returned to concentrate his ef-
T
forts on collecting recipes for
a culinary record of a once
vibrant group. (Now, only
about 50 members remain in
Calcutta.)
According to Marks, the
Sephardic community he
studied traces its origins to
Jewish emigrations from
Baghdad, Iraq at the end of
the sixteenth century. By
1800, he notes, many more
Iraqi Jews had immigrated to
India. They brought with
them their techniques and
tastes, which they adapted to
the wide variety of spices,
produce and other foods
found in India, while still
keeping to the laws of
kashrut.
(Interestingly, I found that
several of Marks' Indian-
Jewish recipes in his book
were quite similar to those
given to me in the past few
years by Iraqi Jews.)
Another point Marks
makes is that most of the
cooking in the Jewish house-
holds was done by male ser-
vants, and overseen by the
lady of the house. When a
cook retired, he passed on his
duties to his son. Says Marks,
"The family cook . . .was
highly skilled in reproducing
Jewish cooking and frequent-
ly became the guardian of its
tradition."
Marks includes bits of
background information with
most of the recipes (though
not all of it relates to the
Jewish kitchen). I would have
liked to see much more of this
fascinating information in the
book. The appealing recipes
are, of course, quite unlike
those seen in most Jewish
cookbooks. Adventurous
cooks will probably enjoy col-
lecting the right ingredients
and spices (some must be pur-
chased in an ethnic specialty
store) and then preparing the
more challenging dishes;
whereas others might prefer
to stick to the easier ones.
Following are some recipes
reprinted from "The Jewish
Kitchen" chapter of The
Varied Cuisines of India.
Mukmura (Chicken
in Lemon Sauce)
Copeland Marks writes:
"Many years ago I acquired
this, my first Calcutta Jewish
recipe. It was from Minnie
Curlendar, whose Friday
evening traditional dinners
were something to behold.
The table groaned with large
Continued on Page 82