Oak Ridge Cooks Again, a 1972 community cookbook from the National Council of Jewish Women Oak Ridge Section, is the sequel to Oak Ridge Cooks. Sales of the first book were so robust, the group decided to have another go, per the eloquent preface written by editor Joan Wright Goodman.
With the zeal of a professional test kitchen, they staged a “mammoth testing program.” Every recipe was tested thrice (meaning a total of 2100 kitchen tests conducted by the community. Ms. Goodman states that the process paid off–“several recipes were found to be missing an ingredient, a few cooking temperatures and/or times were found to be wrong; and a couple of genuine flops were turned up.” Typographical errors and oven differences are always a worry when you’re cooking from a community cookbook. (Or a handwritten recipe. A couple decades ago I made my grandmother’s most beloved cookies for Christmas with my new husband’s family only to discover they tasted like sawdust. Maybe the thing that was missing was her touch.)
The first cookbook had a section devoted to Jewish cooking, but because they did not want to duplicate any recipes in Oak Ridge Cooks Again, there weren’t enough to do that again, so traditional Jewish recipes were interspersed throughout the sections. Here are recipes for four traditional Jewish holiday treats that made their way into the second book.
Who doesn’t love macaroons? Typically, you think of them as being haystacks of coconut, which is what makes these almond based cookies sound so delicious.
The advent of bread machines and instant yeast has made baking bread less scary for those of us who were always terrified we would use water that was too warm or too cold for the yeast to bubble to life. This braided bread recipe could easily be adapted to kneading in a bread machine or with a paddle of a stand mixer.
We’ve never tried to make Passover breads, but this recipe seems simple enough to try.
Kugel of all kinds is a reason for joy. The idea of kugel topped with juicy cherries is a cause for pure bliss. Even better that a “Pyrex” dish is specified. As we all know, everything tastes better when cooked in Pyrex.
If all this comfort food has you jonesing for more, have we got a baked custard recipe for you, also from a community cookbook.
