For recipes from the different countries in the former Soviet Union, try Please to the Table by Anya Von Bremzen, if you can find it. It might be out of print.
Yes to George Lang on Hungarian cuisine, Marcy Goldman on Jewish (Ashkenaz - European) baking - yes, many recipes were similar to neighbors' so Jewish cream horns taste like Catholic cream horns, etc. Also, Anne Applebaum & Danielle Crittenden have recently published From a Polish Country House Kitchen, which has recovered many (pre communist) classic and/or historic recipes.
I was knocking around the Strand bookstore yesterday, and came across "Oma and Bella" a cookbook of recipes of these two old ladies who came to live together in Germany. It was very interesting, and I think would meet your requirements!
Hi! I can't say that I've made any of the recipes, but Time-Life Books' The Cooking of Vienna's Empire seems to be a good introduction to the topic--bought my copy used on line. I've had great success with the recipes for goulash and cheese spaetzle in Mimi Sheraton's The German Cookbook. George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary is encyclopedic--if you want to know how to cook wild boar or partridge in aspic, this is the book for you. However, it also contains recipes for the things like the Austrian/Hungarian/Czech crepes called palacsinta--yummy. For pastry, Rick Rodgers' Kaffeehaus is probably the best for American beginners. However, many of the recipes are adaptations (with attribution) from the much more comprehensive Das grosse Buch der oesterreichischen Mehlspeisen by Josef Zauner available used from Amazon.de. I've never had a German class in my life, but I've managed to teach myself a lot of German cooking lingo just by using knowledge acquired through travel, through my hundreds of cookbooks, and through an occasional reference to an online translator. And yes, I've successfully prepared German language recipes. If you want to try some German recipes without committing to a book purchase, try the websites for Lecker or Essen & Trinken. If you would like to try some Central European breads, I suggest George Greenstein's Secrets of a Jewish Baker. The title is a bit of a misnomer--most of the recipes aren't specifically Jewish. Mr. Greenstein's father was a baker in Hungary, and taught Mr. Greenstein the trade. The rye bread and salt stick recipes taste like foods that I've eaten in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. I once gave a copy to a Lutheran woman who grew up working in a bakery owned by her father and German born/trained grandfather. She prepared a few of the breads and said that they were the real deal--like the ones she remembered from her childhood. If you are really intimidated by Central European baking, I suggest you try Marcy Goldman's Jewish Holiday baking. OK, this one contains quite a few specifically Jewish recipes--tasty, but not necessarily adopted by a large segment of the Central European population. But it also contains some recipes like those my Slovak Catholic grandmother prepared at Christmas time--poppy seed and nut rolls come to mind. Ms. Goldman's instructions enabled me to learn to pull the phyllo-like strudel dough. I've impressed many family members and friends with my skill--but as Ms. Goldman notes, the torn stuff tastes as good as the perfect stuff pulled by an Austrian pro. Her writing has a very encouraging "you can do it" tone--makes you want to try pastries that might otherwise intimidate you. And her instructions are very simple. Finally, if you'd like another recommendation for a comprehensive German language cookbook, try Planchutta and Wagner's Die Gute Kueche. It contains instructions for most Central European foods and desserts. Just be sure to buy the first volume, and not the second, which contains instructions for such bizarre items as Austrian sushi and Tex Mex (no kidding). One more thought--the Dr. Oetker German cooking books are available through American Ibooks at very reasonable prices--much cheaper than hard copy books. Some are even available in English. But even the German ones have pretty photographs--I'm currently enjoying the Christmas baking one.
Marlena Spieler has written several books on traditional (Ashenazi) Jewish food. This cuisine encompasses central Europe -- which by the way also includes Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Germany...(quiet as it's kept ;) )
kmccrystal, were there particular recipes or countries you had in mind? (I've been thinking of wiener schnitzel and knedlíky all day. Great winter dishes.)
I don't have any newer choices, but Transylvanian Cuisine by Paul Kovi is an old favorite. It's subtitled "History, gastronomy, legend, and lore from Middle Europe's most remarkable region."
I thought I also had All Along the Danube by Marina Polvay, but I can't seem to locate it to give you a recommendation. It's a broader book, subtitled " Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria," and worth checking out.
Central Europe covers the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Hungary, so, yes, specify what you are looking for. The Time-Life series published in the late 1960s devoted several volumes to Germany and Austria--can’t remember if they did a separate volume on Hungary. The books aren’t hard to find and I think they are good basic books. Also Joseph Wechsberg and Lilian Langseth-Christensen both wrote for Gourmet and are legendary for their stories about food from the former Austrian empire.
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I thought I also had All Along the Danube by Marina Polvay, but I can't seem to locate it to give you a recommendation. It's a broader book, subtitled " Recipes from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria," and worth checking out.