OP: The Estonian Cookbook
Estonian Women’s Club of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 1977. Comb bound. Very Good. Second printing.
When The Estonian Cookbook was first published by the Estonian Women’s Club of Los Angeles in 1976, they did so because there were no others available in North America—and there haven’t been many to speak of since. Editor Viivi Piirisild’s foreword explains the political motivations for her and her fellow immigrants’ “voluntary exile” from an occupied homeland and the ways in which a cookbook helps to preserve both culture and language for the first generations born abroad.
For those unfamiliar with Estonian cuisine but acquainted with other Eastern European, Russian, or Scandinavian traditions, the recipes in this hefty, nearly 300-page book may not seem so distant. Regardless, there are many delights here which could liven up any cook’s repertoire:
- Räimesupp—sardine chowder with allspice and dill
- Liharulaad—veal roulade filled with ground beef, hard boiled egg, and dill pickles
- Hanepraad—roast goose stuffed with apples, basted and served with sauerkraut
- Valged tanguvorstid—white barley sausage flavored with marjoram and caraway
- Leivasupp—dessert rye bread soup with cowberry jam and whipped cream
We’re pleased to offer a Very Good copy of this scarce community cookbook with minimal soiling and a fully intact plastic comb. Bilingual in English and Estonian.
