Katish: Our Russian Cook

by Wanda Frolov and Wanda L. Frolov

Book Overview

Katish, round as a plum and neat as a pin, arrived in Los Angeles as a Russian emigre in the 1920s. As Wanda L. Frolov remembers, her house was brought to life by this humble genius of the kitchen,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375757619
• ISBN13: 9780375757617
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Modern Library
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Russian recipes

This is an excellent book, telling a marvellous story with authentic Russian recipes liberally sprinkled throughout the text. Thank you. Brian

Our Russian cook Katerina Antonovna Ripoff?

"Katish" is a cute fictional book a la recipe collection. It has a "story" of a Russian emigree widow who comes to the US in the 20's and cooks for a very American California family. Through Prohibition and all the struggles of learning a new country, Katerina "Katish" makes her new adopted family happy with borscht, pelmeni, piroshki and babas and pashkas. The recipes are fine--I recognize many of them from my own family recipes because my Grandma and Great-Aunt were from Russia. While Grandma was not a cook (lamb chop and opening cans of salmon were her forte), Great-Aunt was a noted cook who raised 4 kids on a farm in Africa after she emigrated and married in the early 1900's. And my mom's soup recipe is right in there as well, along with her stuffed cabbage, so I can vouch for the validity of at least some of the recipes as quite genuine. And you won't go far wrong with the soups--I make these regularly as the basis of our winter cuisine and they are always appreciated. However, this book reads a great deal like another classic, "Clementine in the Kitchen" by Samuel Chamberlain. "Clementine" is purportedly not fiction, and the drawings are hauntingly similar in style to the ones in "Katish." Clementine is a rosy-cheeked French single lady, Katish is a rosy-cheeked widowed lady. Both fend off marriage proposals (but Clementine succumbs) and both deal with butchers, American shops and funny guests and young family members who view them as almost surrogate moms. Side by side, they have a lot in common. While I can recommend the good recipes in "Katish" as pretty much genuine, the fiction is more or less warmed-over and struck me as somewhat flavorless. When I looked up the history of "Katish" after reading it, I realized it is perhaps the instant pudding of fiction, quick, sweet but artificial. Read it for the recipes.

Unusual Novel/Cookbook

Wanda L. Frolov wrote for Gourmet and Better Homes & Gardens during the 1940s & 1950s. This delightful novel/cookbook follows the adventures of Katish, a Russian refugee who settles in Los Angeles and becomes the cook for a middle-class household. Although some of the humor is a bit dated, it still is a very enjoyable read, and the recipes are great, too. (Katish's cheesecake still remains Gourmet's most requested recipe.) In the original 1947 edition, Frolov noted that Katish was in fact, a fictional character, but said, "Strangely enough, most people seem to want to hear that it is all true exactly as set down. Well, perhaps I see their point: One doesn't look for fiction in a cookbook." (...) Buy the book!

delightful literary cookbook

Katish is the nickname of the young Russian widow who is taken in by Wanda Frolov's mother as a cook in 1920's Los Angeles. Wanda, the author, and her brother lived with their widowed mom. As a middle-class California family, hiring a cook was an extravagance for them, but Wanda's aunt talked them into doing it. In the 1940s, when she was grown, Wanda wrote the chapters of this book as a series of articles in _Gourmet_ magazine. They were later gathered together as a book in 1947. Now the Modern Library Food Series has reprinted this delightful literary cookbook for a new generation of reader-cooks. Like many things culinary, these memoirs have improved with age.The story of the book revolves around the cultural differences created as Katish and her Russian immigrant friends interact with an American middle class family of the 1920s. It is a heart-warming story in which both sides profit from the relationship. _Katish_ is a delightfully amusing glimpse into the culture of the time and is populated with warmly portrayed friends, relatives and situations. As each food is discussed in the narrative, the recipe is listed. They are easy to follow and delicious. The recipes are a wonderful introduction to Russian family cooking. Breads and rolls, soups, desserts, side dishes, and main dishes are all well represented. Sadly, there is only one salad and one beverage (a delightfully rich hot chocolate). Thirty of the recipes contain meat or meat products. Thirty five are ovo-lacto vegetarian (many with butter and sour cream). Only nine are animal-free vegan recipes and six of these contain alcoholic beverages. An interesting aside is that, for a Prohibition-era story, there are surprisingly many recipes with alcoholic beverages. Dieters should be warned that most of these recipes are rich in flavor, but also in calories. However, there is a delightful fruit juice pudding called Kissel that can be made fat-free.Read it for the story or read it for the recipes. Either way you are in for a treat.

Culinary trip down memory lane

This is a lovely slice of Americana, in addition to a quirky story of a Russian immigrant and a collection of divine recipes. The flow is perfect, with the recipes jumping in right when a dish is described. It took me back to my summer in Russia and I can't wait to try more of the dishes.