OP: Lithuanian Cookery

Darbininkas, 1976. Comb bound. Very Good Plus. First printing.

In the lifespan of Kitchen Arts and Letters, we’ve seen, maybe, three or four Lithuanian cookbooks in English (happily a new one has just arrived!). None of them have been from big publishing houses, and many were self-published. 

This 1976 book, first issued before the store opened, falls into the self-published category, but the fact that it remained in print into the 1990s suggests a long, useful life among those for whom the cuisine is most familiar—though, it would benefit from stronger editing, translation, and contextual headnotes.

The recipes assume a certain amount of familiarity with the dishes and cooking in general. They are written in English with the Lithuanian name below and include:

• Baked ham and (homemade) noodle casserole
• Goose neck stuffed with minced liver, cooked and served in broth
• Herring stuffed with shredded apples—seasoned with tomato paste, pepper, nutmeg—rolled and marinated in vinegar
• Yeasted bread “fingers” scented with caraway to be served with beer
• And an array of tortes, whose flavors and fillings including coffee, pineapple, poppyseed, chocolate, and many others

Our copy is a Very Good Plus first printing, comb bound. Very slight foxing to the edges and half title page, faint and scattered discolorations within. A substantial 318 pages.