Cooking is an art in which the Hungarian excels. It is his heritage. His joie-de-vivre. He is an epicure, and although he does not "Live to Eat," he places much stress on the palatability of his food.  - Rosa Green

{HISTORY}

It is so interesting that Rosa Green's Hungarian American Cook Book, first published in 1938, reprinted through the 1960s, and still referred to decades beyond that has such a mysterious author at its core. Despite, these beloved traditional Hungarian recipes that had been adapted for American kitchens, there's practically no information on the personal life and times of Rosa Green after much research was attempted in the pursuit of discovering more about her.

We were hoping for a great immigration story or some information on where Rosa grew up, or what inspired her to share traditional recipes with an American audience or how food influenced her journey through life. 

In the Forward, where generally we get to know a little behind-the-scenes info about what sparked a book or a collection of recipes, Rosa romances readers into explaining why Hungarian cooking is different than other Eastern European cuisine and how their not-so-secret ingredient of paprika plays an important role in the flavor of many traditional Hungarian dishes. She shares info about the well-suited topography of Hungary for growing vegetables and fruit, about the clean, clear waterways that host fish and crab, and about the beautiful sunshine that dries peppers to eventually form the sweet powder known as paprika. It's interesting and descriptive. It's all about the food and nothing about Rosa herself. 

That makes this cookbook pretty unique in its straightforward approach. There's a confidence in that style of cookbook writing that lets you know you are in trusted hands. Again, Rosa's cookbook is all about the food, not all about her. And perhaps that's why this collection of recipes was not only reprinted again and again, but exalted, consulted, and talked about for over 40 years following its original debut. 

Here, home cooks will find recipes for Roast Venison, Savory Cream Sauce, Hot Potato Salad, Chicken Paprikash, Souffle a la Budapest, Pannonia Fritters, Goulash Soup,  Hungarian Nesselbrode Pie, Potato Flour Noodles, Poppyseed Streudel, Sacher Torte, Hungarian Lemon Butter Cake, Chicken Fricassee, Hungarian Gulyas and Szegedin Ribsteak among many others.

Occasionally, there's a little history note or presentation suggestion accompanying a recipe but other than that Rosa is all business - recipe name, ingredient list and instructions, and then onto the next. 

The only personal bit of info we learned about Rosa is that her husband's name is Bela, and it is his name that holds the original 1938 copyright to the cookbook although Rosa's name is also included in the copyright description too. That could have been a result of traditional manners or customs, since she was Bela's wife and therefore yielded copyright status to him, much like Mrs. Balbir Singh, who preferred to be published using her husband's name instead of her own. But that also proposes that Bela could have had a hand in all these recipes too. Until we find out more, these recipes will just have to speak for themselves, just as Rosa wanted.

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• 1948 Edition by Tudor Publishing New York
• 351 pages
• Contains over 1300 recipes
• The index is organized by recipe subject instead of ingredient 
• Contains original dust jacket

{CONDITION}

In beautiful vintage condition. This cookbook is very clean and bright throughout with no cooking spots, stains or notations. The dust jacket bears a few small rips along the top and bottom edges. The spine is tight and all pages are intact.

{SIZE}

Measures 8.5" inches (length) x 6" inches (width) x 1.25" inches (thickness) and weighs 1.5 lbs