Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' "A Gift to Young Housewives"

Classic Russian Cooking is a book that I highly recommend. Joyce Toomre has done a marvelous job of translating this valuable and fascinating source book. It’s the Fanny Farmer and Isabella Beeton of Russia’s 19th century." ―Julia Child, Food Arts

Joyce Toomre... has accomplished an enormous task, fully on a part with the original author’s slave labor. Her extensive preface and her detailed and entertaining notes are marvelous." ―Tatyana Tolstaya, New York Review of Books

... should become as much of a classic as the Russian original... dazzling and admirable expedition into Russia’s kitchens and cuisine." ―Slavic Review

What a delightful discovery this is!... an astonishing and immensely appealing work that will serve adventurous readers and curious cooks." ―Nahum Waxman, Owner, Kitchen Arts & Letters

What a joy to be introduced to Russia’s Joy of Cooking by way of a scholar as knowledgeable as Joyce Toomre, who tells us what it was like to be a young housewife in the days of Chekhov and Tolstoy, feasting in Butter Week before the Great Fast, making pirogs and kvass, hazel grouse souffle [acute accent over e] and ‘Drunken’ plums, gathering berries, pickling mushrooms. A rediscovery of pre-Bolshevik times." ―Betty H. Fussell, author of I Hear America Cooking

First published in 1861, this "bible" of Russian homemakers offered not only a compendium of recipes, but also instructions about such matters as setting up a kitchen, managing servants, shopping, and proper winter storage. Joyce Toomre has superbly translated and annotated over one thousand of the recipes and has written a thorough and fascinating introduction that discusses the history of Russian cuisine and summarizes Elena Molokhovets’ advice on household management. A treasure trove for culinary historians, serous cooks and cookbook readers, and scholars of Russian history and culture.

Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies
Alexander Rabinowitc