For The Love of Cooking

For so many Jews, food is an expression of love. I certainly feel that love every time I open up Rae Dayan’s For The Love of Cooking. It was gifted to me by family, who knew how I was experimenting with Syrian Jewish cooking as an expression of my love for them. My prior repertoire was entirely Ashkenaz. Syrian food, while exciting, was a whole new flavor palette. With my copy of For The Love of Cooking, also came the generous offer to call any time I needed help, which I actually did!

When people think of Syrian Jewish food, they think of the stunning photographs in Aroma’s Of Aleppo. In terms of photography, comprehensiveness, and explanations about the community it is unmatched. But if you want your food to come out with that extra special something? You need For The Love of Cooking (extra points if you still have a DVD player to watch the videos of Rae preparing some of the dishes). There are very few photos, and there are a few recipes I am definitely not trying (cheese straws…) but you have never tasted keftes until you’ve made the ones from this book. The butcher always gives me a hard time when I buy my kibbeh homda balls, assuming I am mistaking them for classic fried kibbeh, until I review Rae’s recipe and he acknowledges I actually know what I am dong. And yes, there is a fried kibbeh recipe and I have made it. The Passover version is the best.

My favorite though, as is often the case, is a desert. The ajweh – date crescents -are ridiculously easy yet always a crowd pleaser. People ask me dubiously if I am sure I am Ashkenaz after I serve them (which I do every sukkot). I can feel Rae Dayan’s love not just for cooking, but for the people she was feeding, radiating off these pages. I only wish I had purchased more copies when the book was still easily available in print. Because gifting is a wonderful way to show love, but there’s no way I’m letting anyone have my copy.