The Hebrew Publishing Company produced The New Jewish Cookbook of Favourite Recipes in 1947 as a new and improved follow up to their Yiddish-language  Jewish Family Cookbook, which had been released in 1914. The publisher’s goal with this cookbook was to create an English language book of recipes for the modern Jewish woman, she who was dedicated to cooking food that was delicious and economic, while at the same time nutritious and in keeping with kosher laws.

The cookbook is a varied and expansive resource, divided into thirty-four sections, not including the publisher and author’s notes, introduction, chart of terms used in cooking, page of “rules for koshering”, and a table of weights and measures. Betty Dean’s book compiles many recipes that are easily recognizable to modern cooks. Macaroni with cheese, chicken fricassee, and baked apples are listed beside recipes with a firmly vintage feel like sweet and sour calves’ heart and lungs and sour milk cookies. And there are, of course, sections dedicated to recipes for traditional Jewish dishes like gefillte fish, challah, and potato latkes.

The New Jewish Cookbook focuses on from-scratch cooking, using next to no pre-packaged or processed ingredients in any of its recipes. There’s a tangible influence from eastern Europe, but the majority of the recipes are very American, and could have been found on the dinner tables of many post-war households.

What sets The New Jewish Cookbook apart is the obvious emphasis on educating a new generation of cooks and housewives. While some cookbooks focused on educating home cooks on newly available technologies or ingredients, Betty Dean chose to educate her readers on new advances in nutraceutical science and healthy eating.