Good Living

From left, Judy (daughter-in-law), Eva (daughter), Jessica 'grandaughter), Nela, Michael (grandson) and John (son) Rubinstein at Nela's party NELA'S BIGOS PARTY

By SUZANNE HAMLIN it turns out, really did exist. They were all there with her: HEN ONE asks Nela Stravinsky, Cary Grant, Princess Rubinstein how she Grace, Garson Kanin, Zubin met her husband, Mehta.... Arthur, she draws Not only there, but nourished by Wherself up ever so slightly, arches Nela, an impassioned cook and hos­ her eyebrows almost imperceptably tess who could never resist an and answers definitely: “My father excuse to entertain, who always was founder and conductor of the traveled with her pressure cooker Warsaw Symphony and, as a young and favorite knives, prepared to pianist, Arthur came to perform cook anywhere, including the with the orchestra.” Trans Siberian express, where, af­ Her voice trails off and she ter five days of greasy borscht, she smiles as if to say, “Could two such demanded equal time in the kitch­ performers have failed to find each en, producing a batch of capitalist other?” scrambled eggs. Married for 50 years to the re­ “I often wondered why I de­ nowned pianist who died last Janu­ veloped such a passion for cook­ ary, Nela Rubinstein established, ing,” she says, “and came to the against all logistic odds, a vivid career for herself, a conclusion that from early childhood to this day, a life that has just now become public via “Nela’s meal for us has never been just the process of Cookbook” (Knopf, $18.95), a gastronomic memoir swallowing food, but a ritual of a kind. It brought and chronicle of life on a road paved with celebri­ the whole family together. It was a ties, adventure and a kind of old-world glamor that, (Continued on page 3) Good Living 3 NELA'S BIGOS PARTY

(Continued from cover) pause in our rushed life. It made whatever place we were in feel like home.” Home has been Paris, New York, Spain, California and hotels around the world. All the while she raised her family. There is John, the actor; Paul, the stockbroker (and cookbook author himself); Eva, the photographer; Alina, the psychiatrist. And, now, there are grandchildren. At age 75, Nela Rubinstein appears to just be getting started. “I’ve been imploring Nela to write a cookbook for years," says Judith Jones, her editor at Knopf, who met the Rubinsteins in Paris when she was editing

HE RESULT IS memoir, part cookbook, ithuania, Nela Rubin­ rough the old family inally—the Polish and middle European dishes of her childhood. She has included other specialties, too—the recipes gathered over the years from friends around the world. There stein was a restaurant-goer of some note), but the majority of her recipes are uniquely personal. "The emphasis,” she says emphatically, “is on dishes that taste better made at home.” Of particular note are the recipes for a goulash with caraway seeds, smelts with sugared sauerkraut, beef Stroganoff (the author speculates that Count Stroganoff, for whom the dish was named, was owner of nearly 100,000 serfs and undoubtedly had no Nela Rubinstein, widow of the pianist, serves up bigos to her children John and Eva, and John's son Michael. misgivings about the price of tl beautiful babka, the strong be In her book, she tells the story of how bigos began ugared rusks as a hunter’s stew, literally a catch-as-catch-can dish, invented to sustain the hunters who would go on weeklong winter expeditions to bag the game that of sauerkraut, roamed the forests of Poland. When the hunting scrapbook of Nela Rubin­ party set out, they carried with them sauerkraut, life. recipe, this is a bigos of smoked meats and spices, the base ingredients for the ubtlety become the sentimental stew. Each night, whatever they had successfully pepper, spread shortening all . She says she cooked it first stalked would be added to the pot—grouse, pheasant, small roasting pan. n Paris rabbit, hare, venison, boar.... In the embers of the success fire, potatoes would be put to roast and always there among was vodka, icy and invigorating, the perfect drink for my plat de the hot, heady bigos. Ten years later, Contemporary evenings are still well-served by Russes and innumerable fil .bigos, which may be the ultimate meal-in-one dinner. follow.. g with bigos, and, in New York, i Dramatic and filling, it should be shared by at least to the first Bal Polonais, gi six people, which makes it perfect for a party. It’s for Polish refugees, easy to multiply, too, and can literally serve as many it is slightly idnight supper in as you have plates for. the Ame Because bigos is a finely textured stew (the meats geles by Oui are diced and shredded), and just forks are needed to eat it, it is perfect for a buffet, along with a good supply of boiled potatoes and, of course, generous above mg quantities of ice cold vodka. (In a truly authentic casserole, spirit, consider Wodka Wyborowa, a soft, excellent anyon it anywhere. Polish vodka that has just recently been imported to soaked, sli tomatoes. grated of some kind—and ther the U.S.) apples, An over-achiever might want to add appetizers, peppercorns party she gave recently in New York such as kolduny (small, meat-filled pastries), uszka simmer i ‘Children of a Lesser God," (mushroom-filled pastries), pierogi (filled, poached starred. Her daughter, E pastries, much like wontons), coulibiac, or a chicken quarter Chelsea loft for the celebrati liver and egg pate. And for dessert, kisiel, walnut bigos in h cake, sand torte or an almond and coffee torte. There sprinkle with salt. kitchenette, are recipes for all in “Nela’s Cookbook,” in which the daughter’s following symphonic instructions for bigos appear. Even more recently, bi center of . skin Polish another celebration, t party for crecooked kit “Nela’s Cookbook,” held Restaurant on W. 46th St. Why i is particular cooked ham locale turns out to b ichness, carameli twist in the Rubinstein restaurant, Father Pet (This step is opti the royal family ot Princess Grace were ighbors and friends in Paris. In the Rubi if things, it was only natural that friend become friends. remove caramel-broth mixture. When the-roast to the casserole., Als precooked half-cooked sausage, wine, if) contents burn. Taste it carefully; it may dissolved in it; it may need s The bigos can now be serv little differently. ^refrigerated for several days,