Heirloom Kitchen: Heritage Recipes and Family Stories from the Tables of Immigrant Women by Anna Francese Gass

    • Categories: Rice dishes; Main course; Cooking ahead; Italian
    • Ingredients: Arborio rice; chicken broth; prosciutto; Italian breadcrumbs; eggs; parsley; Parmigiano Reggiano cheese; coarse salt of your choice; mozzarella cheese; vegetable oil; Parmesan cheese
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Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Anke's beef stew (Anke's goulash)

    • mjes on September 08, 2021

      This is a straight-forward, excellent recipe for goulash. The tomato paste is the only element not in the recipe I've used for years.

  • Nikki's cashew chicken (Nikki's poul ak nwa)

    • jdjd99 on April 02, 2020

      Loved the sauce and veg! I mean this in the best way, but it reminiscent of ketchup with the sweet and sour flavors. The initial treatment of the chicken is interesting - rubbed with lime juice then rinsed. I've not seen this before, and I'm not it really added anything, Will make again.

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Reviews about this book

  • Eat Your Books

    A touching, beautiful book filled with recipes and the lives of 45 strong immigrant women. Brilliance in book form.

    Full review
  • ISBN 10 0062844229
  • ISBN 13 9780062844224
  • Linked ISBNs
  • Published Apr 23 2019
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 256
  • Language English
  • Countries United States, Canada
  • Publisher Harper Design

Publishers Text

A gorgeous, full-color illustrated cookbook and personal cultural history, filled with 100 mouthwatering recipes from around the world, that celebrates the culinary traditions of strong, empowering immigrant women and the remarkable diversity that is American food.

Born in Italy, Anna Francese Gass came to the United States as a young child and grew up eating her mother’s Italian cooking. But when this professional cook realized she did not know how to make her family’s beloved meatballs—a recipe that existed only in her mother’s memory—Anna embarked on a project to record and preserve her mother’s recipes for generations to come.

In addition to her recipes, Anna’s mother shared stories from her life in Italy that her daughter had never heard before, fascinating tales that whetted Anna’s appetite to learn more. So, Anna began reaching out to her friends whose mothers were also immigrants, and soon she was cooking with dozens of women who were eager to share their unique memories and the foods of their homelands.

In Heirloom Kitchen, Anna brings together the stories and dishes of forty strong, exceptional women, all immigrants to the United States, whose heirloom recipes have helped shape the landscape of American food. Organized by region, the 100 tantalizing recipes include:

  • Magda’s Pork Adobo from the Phillippines
  • Shari’s Fersenjoon, a walnut and pomegranate stew, from Iran
  • Tina’s dumplings from Northern China
  • Anna’s mother’s meatballs from Calabria in Southern Italy

In addition to the dishes, these women share their recollections of coming to America—stories of hardship and happiness—that illuminate the power of food, and how cooking became a comfort and a respite in a new land for these women, as well as a tether to their native cultural identities.

Accented with 175 photographs, including food shots, old family photographs, and ephemera of the cooks’ first years in America—such as Soon’s recipe book pristinely handwritten in Korean or the measuring cup Anke tucked into her suitcase before leaving Germany—Heirloom Kitchen is a testament to female empowerment and strength, perseverance, diversity, and inclusivity. It is a warm and inspiring reminder that the story of immigrant food is, at its core, a story of America.

Profiled women and countries:

Gina (Calabria, Italy)

Maria (Calabria, Italy)

Lisetta (Sardinia, Italy)

Kanella (Greece)

Stacey (Scotland)

Emilia (Ukraine)

Tsilia (Ukraine)

Marina (Moscow)

Bea (Serbia)

Monika (Poland)

Susanne (Hamberg, Germany)

Anke (Berlin, Germany)

Tina (North China)

Daisy (South China)

Chizuko (Japan)

Soon (Korea)

Magda (Philippines)

Lydia (Philippines)

Khurshed (India)

Shobhana (India)

Shari (Iran)

Cheri (Iraq)

Lucy (Armenia)

Irene (Lebanon)

Shekaiba (Afghanistan)

Fattia (Palestine)

Nikita (Haiti)

Janet (Mexico)

Haydee (Puerto Rico)

Rocio (Peru)

Angela (Cuba)

Maria (Dominican Republic)

Morgana (Brazil)

Sheila (Panama)

Jennipher (Ghana)

Safoi (Morocco)

Amina (Egypt)



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