The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food from Hash to Hamantaschen

Noah and Rae Bernamoff, owners of the New York City restaurant Mile End, celebrate the craft of new Jewish cooking with more than 100 soul-satisfying recipes and gorgeous photographs.

When Noah and Rae opened Mile End, their tiny Brooklyn restaurant, they had a mission: to share the classic Jewish comfort food of their childhood. Using their grandmothers’ recipes as a starting point, they updated traditional dishes and elevated them with fresh ingredients and from-scratch cooking techniques.

In The Mile End Cookbook, the Bernamoffs share warm memories of cooking with their families and the traditions and holidays that inspire recipes like blintzes with seasonal fruit compote; chicken salad whose secret ingredient is fresh gribenes; veal schnitzel kicked up with pickled green tomatoes and preserved lemons; tsimis that’s never mushy; and cinnamon buns made with challah dough. Noah and Rae also celebrate homemade delicatessen staples and share their recipes and methods for pickling, preserving, and smoking just about anything.

For every occasion, mood, and meal, these are recipes that any home cook can make, including:

SMOKED AND CURED MEAT AND FISH: brisket, salami, turkey, lamb bacon, lox, mackerel

PICKLES, GARNISHES, FILLINGS, AND CONDIMENTS: sour pickles, pickled fennel, horseradish cream, chicken confit, sauerkraut, and soup mandel

SUMPTUOUS SWEETS AND BREADS: rugelach, jelly-filled doughnuts, flourless chocolate cake, honey cake, cheesecake, challah, rye

ALL THE CLASSICS: the ultimate chicken soup, gefilte fish, corned beef sandwich, latkes, knishes

With tips and lore from Jewish and culinary mavens, such as Joan Nathan and Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, plus holiday menus, Jewish cooking has never been so inspiring.

NOAH AND RAE BERNAMOFF opened Brooklyn’s Mile End Delicatessen in 2010. The New York Times dubbed it “a loving tribute to the deli tradition,” and Zagat and New York magazine voted it New York’s best deli. Originally from Montreal and New York, respectively, Noah and Rae now live in Park Slope.