The Oy of Cooking: A Grandmother's Legacy of Food and Memories

Arlene Gryfe is a Toronto-based professional nutritionist and home
economist.

Susie Weinthal’s grandmother was an excellent cook, but she never used
written recipes. As a result, her great dishes were never recorded and
passed along. To prevent her own experiences with food and her love of
cooking from being lost to her own grandchildren, the author penned a
record of the variety of foods she has tasted and loved throughout her
life. Although she stresses her Jewish background, this is not a Jewish
cookbook, since it includes foods (and combinations thereof) that are
traditionally forbidden.

The recipes are arranged in traditional chapters (“Starters,”
“Soups,” “Salads,” etc.) and most have a personal anecdote as a
preamble. An excellent index with many cross-references is included.

All recipes are in metric and imperial measures, with ingredients
highlighted in a box and measurements printed in blue. The method is
conveniently numbered in steps, with each number and the appropriate
action verb in a bolder font (mix, add, drain, etc.). Surprisingly, the
ingredient font is smaller than the preamble or method, which may cause
difficulties for some readers.

Scattered throughout The Oy of Cooking are many black-and-white family
photos, more that a few of which bear no relation to cooking. However,
since the book was written for the author’s grandchildren, the photos
and the many eponymous titles will surely be meaningful to them.

The book appears to have been hastily edited. There are some errors in
metric equivalents, spelling mistakes, inconsistencies in pan sizes
(some in linear measure, some in volume), and that annoying
Americanism—using the adjective “real” as an adverb, as in “whip
until real creamy.”

Although Weinthal states that the recipes are never difficult to make,
some run as long as three pages. There is also a dangerous assumption of
advanced knowledge of preserving techniques that could inadvertently
lead to a contaminated product and possibly to illness.

The Oy of Cooking is not intended as a Jewish cookbook, nor for cooks
of a specified level of ability, but rather as a collection of memoirs
and recipes.