Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking

by Ray & Porcell, Lelectrolab

Overview

Celebrated Portland chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales brings her acclaimed Portland restaurant Kachka into your home kitchen with a debut cookbook enlivening Russian cuisine with an emphasis on vibrant, locally sourced ingredients.

“With Kachka, Bonnie Morales has done something amazing: thoroughly update and modernize Russian cuisine while steadfastly holding to its traditions and spirit. Thank you comrade!”

—Alton Brown

From bright pickles to pillowy dumplings, ingenious vodka infusions to traditional homestyle dishes, and varied zakuski to satisfying sweets, Kachka the cookbook covers the vivid world of Russian cuisine. More than 100 recipes show how easy it is to eat, drink, and open your heart in Soviet-inspired style, from the celebrated restaurant that is changing how America thinks about Russian food.

The recipes in this book set a communal table with nostalgic Eastern European dishes like Caucasus-inspired meatballs, Porcini Barley Soup, and Cauliflower Schnitzel, and give new and exciting twists to current food trends like pickling, fermentation, and bone broths.

Kachka’s recipes and narratives show how Russia’s storied tradition of smoked fish, cultured dairy, and a shot of vodka can be celebratory, elegant, and as easy as meat and potatoes. The food is clear and inviting, rooted in the past yet not at all afraid to play around and wear its punk rock heart on its sleeve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250087607
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	93,590
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

As the first-generation American daughter of Belarusian immigrants, chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales has a unique view on the culture and food of the former Soviet Union. Bonnie honed her skills in several of New York and Chicago’s Michelin starred restaurants. Bonnie and her husband Israel opened Kachka to much critical acclaim in 2014, receiving accolades from publications such as Bon Appétit, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, GQ, Elle, Zagat's, and Food & Wine. Bonnie lives in Portland, Oregon.

Journalist Deena Prichep cut her teeth on pickled green tomatoes in her grandfather's New York deli, and has covered topics ranging from Ramadan recipes to gefilte fish for NPR, PRI's The World, Bon Appetit, and Marketplace.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Guide to the Russian Market

Chapter 1: Infusions, Cocktails, and Other Drinks

Chapter 2: Pickles

Chapter 3: Cold Zakuski

Chapter 4: Hot Zakuski

Chapter 5: Dumplings

Chapter 6: Soups

Chapter 7: The Mangal

Chapter 8: Homestyle Dishes

Chapter 9: Showstoppers

Chapter 10: Desserts

Chapter 11: Pantry

Acknowledgments

Index

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/21/2017
This fantastic cookbook from the chef at Kachka in Portland, Ore., is by turns funny, moving, informative, and appetite-whetting. Frumkin Morales is descended from a family of Soviet Jewish émigrés, and she exhibits the kind of humor and pathos that must have sustained them during difficult times as she tells sidesplitting family stories, including the time her father discovered a bowl of sauerkraut in a phone booth. A flow chart of quid pro quo under the Soviet system includes the tale of a man who dressed a slaughtered pig in a hat and coat to smuggle it. In terms of the recipes, Frumkin Morales delivers one intriguing dish after another, among them beans flavored with cinnamon, pomegranate seeds, and crushed marigold petals; herring “under a fur coat” (i.e., layered with potatoes and beets); and cold sliced pork loin with a salad of ribbons of celery tossed with a caraway dressing. The Soviet-inspired book design is clever and eye-catching. Spreads include a rundown of Soviet candy and their fancy wrappers and another on the pelmenitsa, a honeycomb mold for crafting dumplings. The logical organization of the chapters thoughtfully breaks the appetizer-entrée-dessert mold—for example, a chapter on the mangal (a Russian barbecue) presents grilled flatbreads sitting aside grilled skewers. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"This fantastic cookbook by the chef at Kachka in Portland, Ore., is by turns funny, moving, informative, and appetite-whetting."

—Publishers Weekly

"The last time I was in Portland I ate at Kachka twice in 24 hours. It's everything you want from a dining experience: a table covered end to end with cocktails, caviar, pickles, piroshki, and dumplings. It’s so immediately and obviously wonderful that you want every night to unfold the same way. With this book, it feels possible."

—Danny Bowien

"Portlandia meets my late grandmother. Kachka is the best guide to Russian cooking yet. It has reinvigorated my relationship with mayonnaise."

—Gary Shteyngart

“With Kachka, Bonnie Morales has done something amazing: thoroughly update and modernize Russian cuisine while steadfastly holding to its traditions and spirit. Thank you comrade!”

—Alton Brown

"'Where should we eat in Portland?' my visiting friends often ask; 'Kachka!' I invariably answer. Bonnie and Israel have created an amazing restaurant where zakuski fills the table, Soviet pop music fills the air and horseradish vodka washes it all down. This book captures the vibrancy and history of the food, the excitement of the restaurant and the generosity of the culture. Essential!"

—Andy Ricker

“Kachka tastes like a feisty Russian Babushka’s cooking—with Pussy Riot crashing the dinner table.”

—Portland Monthly, “Cuisine of the Year 2014”

“If ever there was a moment for Russian Cuisine to ascend into American mainstream culture, this is it. The curing and pickling crazes from recent years have primed our palates for northern Eurasian Flavors. Affordable caviar and electric orange salmon roe are now ubiquitous garnishes on restaurant plates. And who doesn't want to spend a few happy moments with a bowl of silken dumplings?”

—Eater National, “Blinis are the New Black at Portland’s Kachka”

From the Publisher

09/15/2017
Chef Morales and her husband co-own Kachka, a much-lauded restaurant in Portland, OR. Kachka's cuisine is labeled as Russian, but, as Morales and journalist Prichep explain here, it's more complicated. With stories and recipes, they dig into the geographic, historical, cultural, and culinary complexities of Russia and the Soviet Union, shedding light on Morales's background and influences. In addition to an impressive lineup of foods and beverages (e.g., infused vodkas, hot and cold appetizers, dumplings, soups, homestyle dishes, desserts), their cookbook includes menu ideas, an ingredient glossary, and eclectic guides on everything from building a Russian-style grill to selecting packaged candies and caviar. VERDICT Home cooks looking to break out of a rut will find plenty to explore. The subject matter will attract attention, as titles such as Olia Hercules's Mamushka and Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford's Samarkand have reinvigorated interest in eastern European and Central Asian cooking.

Library Journal