Jake Cohen’s new cookbook, I Could Nosh, entertains readers with humor from the very beginning. In the dedication to Cohen’s sister, he quotes her saying, “ʻThis is literally the worst thing I’ve ever tasted!”—Jamie Cohen, a hater of rose water and cardamom, upon trying my Havdalah Snickerdoodles.’ Immediately Cohen makes us want to try the Havdalah cookies to know if Jamie is right.
Cohen is truly the star of his own cookbook, never failing to make sure readers and cooks laugh their way through recipes and enjoy their time in the kitchen. I Could Nosh almost feels like a conversation between yourself and Cohen. He says things as they are and isn’t afraid to stir the metaphorical pot.
The best part though of I Could Nosh is the way Cohen provides a visual guide to cooking in addition to a written guide. Instead of just telling us to braid challah, Cohen includes step-by-step photos of his cutting, shaping, and braiding the bread, so that if you are a visual learner, you can literally follow along with him, almost like a cook-with-me class. Likewise, following the recipe for Latke Tartines, Cohen includes large, bright, easy to see graphics demonstrating all the ingredients included on savory tartines versus sweet tartines. Throughout the entire cookbook Cohen masterfully uses photos to enhance a recipe, letting us cook with our eyes, and see what we will be making.
Recipe: Tzimmes Cake Photo by Matt Taylor-Gross
Everything included in the cookbook has a pretty clear Jewish origin—even if the recipe itself looks completely different than a traditional recipe. Cohen is super creative in finding ways to connect historic Jewish recipes to modern day eating. For instance, whereas traditional tzimmes is a stew made from carrots and dried fruits, in I Could Nosh this classic spiced side dish is turned into a dessert—Tzimmes Cake. Feeling like Bubbie’s kasha varnishkes is getting a little boring? Cohen has you covered with kasha for every season! Shifting flavors by adding ingredients that match what’s fresh, four kasha varnishkes recipes are included with vibrant twists depending on the time of year. Getting tired of the same old potato kugel each Shabbat? Not to worry—Cohen introduces you to Kugel Fries, a fun, tasty way to use up your leftover kugel and eat it any day of the week.
Recipe: Summer Kasha Photo by Matt Taylor-Gross
If I had to pick my least favorite element of the cookbook, it would be a catch-22 situation—how personal it is. On the one hand, cooking from I Could Nosh is like cooking with a friend, as Cohen shares details of his own life in headnotes that make you feel like you are in a room noshing with him. For instance, he makes specific mentions of his social life and members of his family, he weaves in stories about his mother-in-law’s Iranian Jewish upbringing and reminds us to recollect bits of our past to preserve. On the other hand, some of the headnotes become long and repetitive, and assume that his personal life in New York City is a personal story everyone can understand. The recipe for Bialy, Egg, and Cheese, assumes that readers have easy access to obtaining bialys, something that is not necessarily so easy outside of New York City.
Ultimately this cookbook does accomplish what Cohen set out to do: “To help reignite passion in preservation of our history, stories, and recipes, to carry our culture through the present and into the future,”. He takes old-time recipes and finds ways to make them exciting not just for Shabbat, or other Jewish holidays, but for every day. His hope that people who make his challah recipe will divide it in half to use one portion for challah and the other for a new nosh to bring to the table is symbolic of the purpose of I Could Nosh as a whole. The purpose? To remember traditions, but also, to always create new ones.
