“With a base of cottage cheese, sour cream and eggs,” he continues, “kugel can venture in whatever direction you want. So welcome to my whimsical world of modern kugel, where I break all the rules to get my peers hyped about Jewish casseroles.

If I’m cooking a meal, I want every dish to work together, and somehow the thought of brisket and sweet noodle kugel on the same plate just makes me gag. As a kid, how couldn’t you love an excuse to eat dessert with dinner? As an adult, the tables have turned. It’s a dairy-packed dish that doesn’t know if it’s a side or a dessert. “I love noodle kugel,” Cohen writes, “and I’m not ashamed of it. We’re making his kugel and cheese-a play on mac and cheese-first. It’s an enticing collection of modern Jewish recipes, yes, but it’s also funny, sweet and drool-inducing. As Jake reconciles ancient traditions with our modern times, his recipes become a celebration of a rich and vibrant history, a love story of blending cultures, and an invitation to gather around the table and create new memories with family, friends, and loved ones.We know it’s only March, but we think Jake Cohen’s new cookbook, Jew-ish, might be our favorite of the year. Jew-ish is a brilliant collection of delicious recipes, but it’s much more than that. Imagine the components of an everything bagel wrapped into a flaky galette latkes dyed vibrant yellow with saffron for a Persian spin on the potato pancake, best-ever hybrid desserts like Macaroon Brownies and Pumpkin Spice Babka! Jew-ish features elevated, yet approachable classics along with innovative creations, such as: In Jew-ish, he reinvents the food of his Ashkenazi heritage and draws inspiration from his husband’s Persian-Iraqi traditions to offer recipes that are modern, fresh, and enticing for a whole new generation of readers. But as food writer and nice Jewish boy Jake Cohen demonstrates in this stunning debut cookbook, Jewish food can be so much more.

When you think of Jewish food, a few classics come to mind: chicken soup with matzo balls, challah, maybe a babka if you’re feeling adventurous. A brilliantly modern take on Jewish culinary traditions for a new generation of readers, from a bright new star in the culinary world.

Jewish cookbook jake cohen