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Luscious Legacies: Kosher Cookbook With a Twist

Chef Idalee Cathcart, who combines recipes with food for thought, hopes her book will bring families together.听
[additional-authors]
January 20, 2022

鈥淟uscious Legacies Cookbook: L鈥橠or V鈥橠or: From Generation to Generation鈥 is designed to inspire, as well as nourish. Chef Idalee Cathcart, who combines recipes with food for thought, hopes her book will bring families together.

鈥淭he COVID 19 pandemic 鈥 basically brought us back to the table,鈥 Chef Cathcart told the Journal.

Cathcart and her husband keep a kosher home, and are active members of Tiferet Israel in Dallas, home of the annual Kosher Chili Cookoff.

The author, who is Ashkenazi, was raised Conservadox on Long Island. 鈥淚 loved going to services,鈥 she recalled. 鈥淚 remember walking home [from shul]. It was family time.鈥

Although Cathcart 鈥渇ell off the wagon鈥 religion-wise in her college years, she eventually found her way back.

鈥淚 know that Hashem wanted me to get back to my roots because, one time when I had gone off the deep end, I had gone out to dinner with some people and they ordered me seafood,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 tried it and wound up in the hospital with anaphylaxis.鈥

She continued, 鈥淭hat was an eye-opener. I got [the] message from above and it brought me back to kosher. This was around 2007.鈥

Cathcart had built a business in Houston in the 1980s selling her signature truffles, The Idalee鈥檚 of Texas. The truffles were a combination of marshmallows and caramel and a blend of chocolates and crushed pecans.

After years of working 16-hour days, seven days a week, she sold off part of her business, went to the Culinary Institute of America and got her degree in Baking & Pastry Arts in the early 1990s.

鈥淚 loved it,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 was like a sponge. The chefs would even stay after to coach me because they saw the potential in me.鈥

After culinary school, Cathcart worked for other people for a while before starting another business. She was about to start distributing her signature sauce made with her mother鈥檚 recipe when COVID hit and the endeavor stalled.

鈥淭he good thing about what鈥檚 happened with COVID is that it gave me the time to sit down and put down thoughts that I had been wanting to put into print for a long, long time,鈥 she said. 鈥淢y book is a recipe-type book, but there鈥檚 also some psychology to it.鈥

The first chapter is called, 鈥淭he Meat of the Matter,鈥 which, according to Cathcart, relates to your quality of life and your relationships.

鈥淭he greatest relationship you can have is with yourself,鈥 she said. 鈥淜nowing who you are allows you to [develop] productive relationships with other people without compromising your integrity.鈥

Following each chapter鈥檚 introduction are recipes from Cathcart, as well as those handed down to her from previous generations and from family, friends and master chefs.

Throughout the kosher book, each recipe is noted as 鈥渕eat,鈥 鈥渄airy鈥 or 鈥減arve.鈥 However, Cathcart sees her cookbook as mainstream.

鈥淸Readers] can tweak the recipe however they want,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f I give them a recipe for meat, and they want to put cheese in it with meat, that鈥檚 their choice.鈥

As for the title?

When Cathcart started making desserts, people would say to her, 鈥溾楾his is delicious. This is luscious,鈥欌 she said. Photos of two of her desserts, carrot cake and chocolate mousse torte, as well as a fruit plate adorn the cover.

鈥淲hen I thought about honoring the memory of those that shared a piece of their life with me through their recipe, I thought luscious and legacies would be really good.鈥

鈥淚 love the word [luscious],鈥 she said. 鈥淪o I kept [it] in my heart. And when I thought about honoring the memory of those that shared a piece of their life with me through their recipe, I thought luscious and legacies would be really good.鈥

She added, 鈥淥ne of my taglines is, 鈥楤ringing back life to those who gave us life.鈥 So, it鈥檚 quite an honor to do that.鈥

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