Russ & Daughters Cookbook Review: 100 Years of NYC Jewish Food
By way of background, New York City Jewish food is imprinted in my identity. My grandparents were immigrants who arrived in the U.S. with little more than the clothes on their backs. But many food and cultural traditions they brought with them are still alive in New York City, and have become a part of me.
Italy may have its seductive salumerias and trattorias. However, delicatessens and appetizing stores are the NYC food emporiums that offer an authentic taste of the Jewish dishes that migrated here from Eastern Europe during the 20th-century Jewish diaspora.
My Humble Roots In The Appetizing Business
In high school, one of my first real jobs was working as the Sunday morning cashier at Bell Appetizers in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Queens, NY. The customers were largely Jewish men, who picked up appetizing for their wives (whom I pictured were still asleep).
The walls of the deep, narrow store were crammed with colorful cans and jars of food and worn wooden barrels of candy sold by the pound. However, the refrigerated showcase was the heart and soul of the appetizing store, brimming with smoked and cured fish. The store is long since gone, probably since the 80s, but it looked much like the vintage photo of Russ & Daughters below.
Behind the counter, stacked on top with bagels and loaves of Halvah (also cut and sold by the pound), my bosses Matty and Sonny hand-sliced and weighed the fish, greeting each customer with a smile: whitefish, smoked salmon, herring, sable, sturgeon and more. The men stood on a heavy, wooded platform that was covered with coarse salt to prevent them from slipping, presumably from the oily fish.
Although there was no seating, my appetizing store (like many others) was a “third place” where people from the neighborhood came not only for the delicious food but also to schmooze (make light conversation) and kibitz (joke around) with the amiable staff. Every Sunday was like a party.
Russ & Daughters, A Cookbook: 100 Years of Appetizing
These credentials, I believe, make me an ideal candidate to review the recently published book, Russ & Daughters: A Cookbook, 100 Years of Appetizing, Smoked Fish, Caviar, Bagels, Bakery and More (Flatiron Books). The quite long yet descriptive title accurately reflects the book’s content. Written by cousins Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, owners of the family business, the cookbook offers a deep dive into their heritage and the remarkable 110-year history of Russ & Daughters. They mention that it is one of the one percent of businesses that can boast four generations of longevity.
The book is filled with stories and archival photos of the family, many of whom grew up in the store as kids. Great-grandfather Joel Russ started the enterprise by selling schmaltz herring (a type of flavorful herring rich in fat) on the Lower East Side. It starts by answering the question: What is appetizing?
Appetizing stores sell fish and dairy (a nod to their Kosher roots) as opposed to delicatessens that include meat on the menu.
From his beginnings selling fish from a pushcart, Russ opened Russ & Daughters appetizing store, which has been located at 179 E. Houston Street since 1920. It was pretty extraordinary to name a business “& Daughters,” but he had three daughters and no sons.
The family-owned company expanded in 2014 with the opening of Russ & Daughters Cafe on Orchard Street, offering both counter and table service. In 2019, the family opened an outpost in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, followed by another near Hudson Yards in 2023.
The book tells the story of the “engine that propelled Joel Russ from penniless immigrant to somewhat prosperous home-owning patriarch,” a journey that mirrors the experiences of many Jewish New Yorkers, whose immigrant ancestors sought a better life for their descendants.
An Ode To NYC Jewish Food & Cooking
Most Jewish New Yorkers have broadened their appetites to include the wide variety of ethnic cuisines available in New York City, but appetizing still plays a seminal role in Jewish American culture. It’s traditionally eaten to celebrate births and to mourn after funerals.
Yet, if you walk into an appetizing store, you will realize that its appeal has become secularized: One doesn’t have to be Jewish to indulge in these timeless foods.
Russ & Daughters: A Cookbook, 100 Years of Appetizing, Smoked Fish, Caviar, Bagels, Bakery and More is an excellent compendium of Jewish-style recipes, but it is more than a cookbook alone. It is rich with definitions, photos, and explanations of different foods, recipes, traditions and tools of the trade.
The aromas of the recipes almost jump off the page. Who can resist an egg cream soda overflowing its glass or the appeal of cheese blintzes topped with blueberries? Photos and detailed instructions make it easy to assemble a fish platter, make Russ & Daughters’ legendary chocolate babka, or bake delectable black and white cookies.
“This book was over one hundred years in the making,” write the authors in the acknowledgments at the end of the book. It will appeal to food enthusiasts, home cooks and those interested in Jewish American history in New York. If you are Jewish or a New Yorker, it will evoke memories of bygone times. Printed on heavy stock with excellent photography, it also makes a wonderful gift.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own. I am an Amazon affiliate. If you click an Amazon link, you will help support my travel blog at no additional cost to you.
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