Even though Marcie Cohen Ferris’ Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales From the Jewish South won’t be released until the end of October, the cultural cookbook is already causing a stir: At least one lowcountry restaurant has based a special menu around Ferris’ recipes that she has collected from the unique traditions of Jewish communities from Memphis to Savannah.
Ferris, an anthropological historian at the University of South Carolina in Chapel Hill, chronicles how the Crisco saved Southern Jewish cooking and gets to the bottom of a mysterious Rosh Hashanah tradition called “hoppin’ john” (being only honorary Southern Jews ourselves, all we know is that involves peas.) Our shelves contain a good amount of Jewish cookbooks, but we’re looking forward to spicing up our kugel with cajun seasoning and learning how to prepare “sweet and sour shad.”
We’re mostly interested in the historical perspective on communities like Charleston (where the Jewish population exceeded that of NYC once upon a time) but we wish the publishers would have gotten it together to get Gumbo out before the High Holidays this year so we could abandon our tired ol’ brisket recipe.