Book Review: The Czechoslovak Cookbook by Joza Brizova, translated by Adrienna Vahala

The Czechoslovak Cookbook does not mince words in getting to the essence of respected, successful compilations of chef-, reader-, taster-friendly recipes. It encourages recipe-collectors to extend and review their knowledge of Czech cuisine by:

• nudging recipes into food-grouped chapters;
• organizing recipes alphabetically by English designation, followed by original Czech wordings; and
• putting entries in Czech and English for all recipes within a 20-page, user-friendly index.

Readers also find taste-enhancing options, such as:

• barley, rice in mock beef soup;
• cocoa in marzipan;
• eggs in boiled beef tongue;
• frankfurters, smoked meats in rye-bread or tripe soup;
• milk, yolks in smoked meat soup;
• sour cream, tomatoes in veal paprika;
• whipped cream in fruit sherbet; and
• whites in black-and-white Linz dough. 

Czech cuisine always gets high marks for:

• attention to detail;
• contributions to health;
• emphasis on in-season, local resources;
• simplicity of instructions;
• use of leftovers and scraps; and
• versatility in multi-tasking role-playing.

Joza’s cookbook therefore holds an informational treasure-house on:

• correcting curdled butter cream icing or home-made mayonnaise;
• larding bacon;
• substituting compressed and granular yeasts, instantized and 00-type flours, or phosphate-type single-acting and double-acting sodium aluminum sulphate-type baking powders;
• testing batter and dough consistencies;
• turning fish blue with vinegar; and
• understanding brown-liquid, clear-liquid, firm-ball, hard-ball, hard-crack, soft-ball, soft-crack, thread sugar stages and temperatures.

Its information particularly is welcome to lovers of:

• almonds, chestnuts, filberts, hazelnuts, walnuts; and
• apples, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, gooseberries, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries.  

So The Czechoslovak Cookbook jet-packs readers into culturally enriching, educationally entertaining, gastronomically enthralling adventures through the Czech Republic’s classic and traditional recipes, thanks to:

• Charlotte Adams, series editor;
• Joza Brizova, author;
• Patti Manzone, jacket designer;
• Susan McCaslin, jacket illustrator; and
• Adrienna Vahala, translator.

It keeps company with such Crown Classic Cookbook Series releases as:

• Maria Lyons Bar-David, The Israeli Cook Book;
• Ada Boni, The Talisman Italian Cook Book;
• A.Escoffier, The Escoffier Cook Book and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery;
• O. and A. Hess, Viennese Cooking;
• Wallace Yee Hong, The Chinese Cook Book;
• Leah W. Leonard, Jewish Cookery;
• Maria Ochorowicz-Monatowa, Polish Cookery;
• Maria Ojakangas, The Finnish Cookbook;
• Elizabeth Schuler, German Cookery; and
• Lie Sek-Hiang, Indonesian Cookery. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

marcipánové brambory (marzipan potatoes): trompe l'oeil potatoes made from marzipan and cocoa
marzipan potatoes; Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005, 12:03: Asio otus, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lebensmittel-Marzipan1-Asio.jpg

homemade tartar sauce made with homemade mayonnaise: enjoyably fresh
tatarská omáčka (tartar sauce): Nillerdk, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tatarská_omáčka.jpg

Czech cuisine features trompe l'oeil candy and cookies fashioned to resemble nuts.
"candy nuts"; ořechy (cukroví); Christmas, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008, 13:24: Dezidor, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ořechy_(cukroví).jpg

Well known for hearty meat dishes, Czech cuisine also favors enticing fruit- and nut-stuffed pastries, such as plum jam and poppy seed kolaches.
kolach, traditional Czech sweet pastry with plum jam or poppy seeds; Saturday, May 26, 2007, 14:40
Petr Brož (Chmee2), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koláčky.jpg

Czech cuisine appreciates the elegance of Pischinger tortes, made with oblaten (thin wafers), which fancify every table.
Pischinger (Piszinger) wafer cakes are named for their creator, Viennese confectioner Oskar Pischinger (Aug. 28, 1863-Jan. 7, 1919).: Silar, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:01141_Pischinger_(chocolate_oblaten_cake),_Sanok_2011.jpg

Brizova, Joza. 1965. The Czechoslovak Cookbook. Translated from the Czech Vaříme Zdravě, Chutně a Hospodárně of Joza Břízová and adapted by Adrienna Vahala. Edited for Crown Classic Cookbook Series by Charlotte Adams. New York, NY: Crown Publishers, Inc.