Much Ado About Noshing -For the Passover Write Off
Apr 08 '01 (Updated Apr 26 '01)
The Bottom Line A Jewish Mother's job is to instill food and guilt. If she can do both at once, she's a real expert.
This review is part of my Passover/Freedom Write-off. Happy Passover to all who celebrate. Special thanks to those who are participating in the write-off, and thanks to those who read the reviews.
Jewish cuisine is not just one thing. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., the Jews went into Diaspora around the world. The various Jewish communities around the world took the local foods and adapted them to the laws of Kashrut. What follows is some explanation of Jewish cuisine that was born in the shetls (Jewish ghettos) of Eastern Europe.
Latkes or Latkas - these are potato pancakes which are traditionally served during Channukah to celebrate the "miracle of the oil." (In Israel, they eat sufganiyot (jelly donuts) for the same reason, because they are cooked in oil.) Food processors have made the procedure of making latkes much easier. The basic recipe is grated potatoes, grated onions, eggs and matzah meals mixed together and fried in hot oil (proportions vary according to taste). They are served with either sour cream or applesauce or both.
In my house, my father was allowed to cook only once a year - on Channukah - when he made latkes. My father knew only two temperatures (off and on). Grease and oil from the latkes would end up all over the kitchen. My mother would have to clean up, which explains why my father wasn't allowed to cook.
In recent years, I have also taken to making latkes with a mix of sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, squash and turnips. I have a German friend who makes her latkes with mashed potatoes and includes no onions in her pancakes, but serves them with sauted onions on the side.
Matzah (plural Matzot)
A simple mix of flour and water which is baked. To be Kosher l'Pesach (Kosher for Passover) it must be prepared very quickly, in less than 18 minutes from the time that the water hits the grain until it is completed. The score marks on matzah are to keep it from rising. Orthodox Jews sometimes eat a variety called "shmura" (watched) matzah which is prepared under special rabbinic supervision. Although it is watched, it is consistently burned. My only thought is that perhaps they are watching it burn. I've stopped asking questions about shmura matzah, and just eat the regular cardboard type. If regular matzah tastes like cardboard, shmura matzah tastes like burned cardboard.
In our house, my mother used to make us something called "Anga Brachta Matzah" (please excuse my bad German spelling). The translation, she told us, was "all broken Matzah." It was too much for my sister and myself, so we called it "atza bratza matzah." It consisted of matzah broken up in a bowl with a splash of coffee, a little bit of sugar and with hot milk poured over the top. The neighbor's children shortened the name my sister and I used to simply "ahtz brahtz." I wonder a few generations down if they will be able to determine the etymology of that name.
Kasha Varnishkes
This is a mixture of buckwheat and bow-tie noodles. My mother hated buckwheat so I never got to try it until I was in college. I, on the other hand, love buckwheat. The secret to good kasha varnishkes is to mix the buckwheat with an egg, and then fry it up before adding the noodes and water. I use my kasha varnishkes sometimes to stuff portabello mushrooms. Sometimes I like to put mushrooms in it, too. Mario, a Mexican friend of mine, makes his with mushrooms and slices of roasted chicken. He also uses cilantro in his. You can tell he's not Jewish.
Blintzes
Every culture has some sort of pancake wrapped around some sort of filling. This is the Jewish one. A blintz is a thin pancake that is wrapped around cheese, fruit or savory vegetable fillings. The frozen ones are disgusting. After stuffing, blintzes can be browned up in a fry pan with some butter. Remember, fat tastes good.
Cholent
It is not permitted to cook on Shabbat (the Sabbath), so many Jews combine beans, barley, rice, eggs, potatoes, carrots, onions, meat and kishka and then put it in a pot and cook it in a low oven from before sunset on Friday until lunch on Saturday. Cholent is one of the reasons I am most happy to be a vegetarian. Different cooks may add different things to their cholent. Cholent is similar to chili and the latest version of Microsoft Windows -- if the one you have now is better than the one you had before, it's probably because something was left out rather than something else being added.
I am told there are also now variations of cholent which feature chicken or even some that are vegetarian. As a vegetarian, I suppose I should be pleased at the prospect of veggie cholent. However, since I don't like the original, I don't want anyone making vegetarian cholent. Right now, I have an excuse for not eating it. If my friends ever start making veggie cholent, I may have to eat it.
Kishka
This is the Jewish answer to Haggis. Why anyone would want to answer Haggis, I don't know. Take an intestine (kishka is Yiddush for intestine) and stuff it with carrots, onions, celery, spices, and flour. Today, it is possible to use parchment instead of intestine. Now, you toss the whole thing into a cholent pot and cook it....and cook it...and cook it. Cook it at least a day until it is overdone, all tastes exactly like everything else in the cholent pot, and all the nutritional value has been eliminated. Mmmm! Doesn't that make your mouth water?
Actually, some people fix their kishka outside of the cholent pot by either baking or boiling a reasonable length of time. This may taste better but the concept is still too much for me.
Kreplach
We Jews really need to find a new name for this one. It is delicious, but the name sounds like you're gagging. It can be soft, hard, soggy, or greasy. It's a Jewish wonton and goes into soup. Since I became a vegetarian, I've started making mine with potato, mushroom or eggplant filling depending on what kind of soup I'm floating them in. Most people fill them with meat.
Gefilte Fish
Gefilte means "stuffed." Originally, it was a carp stuffed with a minced fish and vegetable mixture. Today it usually comprises of small fish balls eaten with horseradish ["chrain"] which is judged on its relative strength in bringing tears to your eyes at 100 paces.
Bagels
When you say "Jewish food" most people think of bagels. A bagel is a circle of bread. The dough is allowed to rise, then it is boiled and finally baked. A real bagel does not have blueberries in it and is not purple. A real bagel does not have raisins or cinammon in it, and it certainly does not include chocolate. A real bagel may include poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onions, garlic, salt, or eggs.
Bagels can be served toasted or untoasted. To eat, you split them and spread with cream cheese. You can stop there, or top that with lox, white fish, cucumbers, or tomatoes. If you are from California, you may also add alfalfa sprouts. Butter or jelly may also be acceptable toppings. A bagel should never be confused with a bialy.
Bialy - A flat onion roll made with high gluten flour. Instead of a hole in the middle, there is an indentation filled with onions. Truly delicious!
Pita - this is a round flat bread from the Middle East. In the middle is a pocket. This isn't traditional Jewish but has become part of the nouveau Jewish cuisine. Can also be used as a frisbee when stale.
Lox - smoked salmon. If you are from New York, you must further specify if you are eating Nova or Belly lox.
Celery Tonic - Celery flavored soda. Must be made by Dr. Brown's. Dr. Brown's also makes the only truly acceptable creme soda. Yes, celery soda is disgusting, but there are some people who seem to have no taste.
Borscht - Beet Soup which is served cold with a dollop of sour cream. Fancy restaurants sometimes swirl it in. Silly people! I never serve borscht with anyone who I can't take off my shirt in front of. I invariably slop some of this on my front while eating, so no longer do this. As the singer says, "The beet goes on..." I just bet he didn't think he meant it went on the shirt.
Chicken Soup - Kosher Penicillin. My mother makes hers clear broth with nothing but a matzah ball or some kreplach in it. As a vegetarian, I no longer eat it - which kills my mother.
Matzah ball - A delicious dumpling served in chicken soup. Sometimes also called knaidlach (you pronounce both the k and the n here.) The Polish version is made from matzah meal. The German version is made from whole matzah. In our house, my mother made both.
Shmaltz and Gribines- Shmaltz is rendered chicken fat. Some people find it useful for cooking with. Some people like to spread on things. You can't explain everything that some people do.
If you don't want to use real chicken fat, there is a phony vegetarian version which is lower in cholesterol called Nyafat. In my opinion, they are both disgusting.
To render chicken fat you remove all the fat from the chicken before cooking. Chop it up into little pieces (kitchen shears work well for this) and freeze it until you have about 4 cups of it. In a large, heavy fry-pan cook the chicken fat over medium heat until it liquifies. (Is this starting to remind you of the movie Fight Club?) Dice up a medium sized white onion into little pieces and chuck that into the fat. When the onion and any little pieces of skin are crisp and brown, take the whole thing off the heat.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the skin. These are called "gribines." (You thought I forgot about those didn't you?) Gribines are supposed to be good added to chopped liver. I suppose nothing could make chopped liver much worse than it already is. Toss in a teaspoon of salt to the chicken fat. Let it stand until it cools, but is still liquid and not solid. You will end up with about a cup of shmaltz. Pour this in a glass jar and keep in the refrigerator or freezer. It will last indefinitely, so I am told. So will the time it takes to clean up the kitchen after this process. You can also purchase shmaltz at many Jewish specialty shops.
challah - egg bread used to begin many festival meals. On Shabbat, it is braided. On Rosh Hashanah, it is round with raisins. At weddings, they are often made to weigh the same as the bride and groom when they were born. This makes the world's best French toast.
I hope this helps. Obviously there is much more than these few items to Jewish cookery, but this information should get you started. B'tay-ah-vone, L'chaim and La-bree-ote.
Oh, and as delicious as the waitress tells you the tongue at the Jewish deli is, think twice before ordering a food that is going to taste you back.
Please read the reviews by others who are participating in this write-off which are located at the following URLs (names without URLs have not yet made their contribution.):
robinmichele:
telynor: http://www.epinions.com/content_16985394820 (In The Fiddler's House - Itzak Perlman)
dransome: http://www.epinions.com/content_1218748548 (What Should You Know About Kosher Cuisine)
cntaur5: http://www.epinions.com/content_17947725444
kurt_messick: http://halloffame.epinions.com/content_17856499332 (Joseph Telushkin's Jewish Wisdom: Ethical, Spiritual and Historical Lessons from the World's Great Thinkers)
djspendid:
wovengold: http://www.epinions.com/content_17407315588
(This is Our Seder)
adjensen: http://www.epinions.com/content_16538570372 (Fiddler on the Roof)
jo.com: http://www.epinions.com/content_17261629060 (The Jewish Book of Why)
sgentile: http://www.epinions.com/content_16818474628 (Hooray, It's Passover Board Book)
mtbat: http://mtbat.epinions.com/content_17697115780 (Fievel Goes West, An American Tail)
jankp: http://www.epinions.com/content_17440083588
(The Ten Commandments)
quasar: http://www.epinions.com/content_17477045892 (Tiberias Hot Springs)
infoscott: http://www.epinions.com/content_14367297156#ow
If you are interested in more reviews with content about things Jewish or Israeli, here are some of my previous reviews which may interest you:
About Israel:
Tips for Trip Tipping (Information on how to tip internationally including information on Israeli customs)
. http://www.epinions.com/content_16518254212
What You Should Know About Israeli Cuisine/A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey
. http://www.epinions.com/content_1218551940
Traveler's Glossary - Israel/I Could Be Fired for This
. http://www.epinions.com/content_1160880260
Ha'Aretz/Liberal Israeli Politics Gets a Voice
. http://www.epinions.com/content_8944979588
Tel Aviv/Dizengoff Center and What to Buy Elsewhere
. http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1EE5-4AEFE841-3A59E44F-prod3
Tel Aviv/Halpern's Books and Other Places for Literature in Tel Aviv
. http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1F75-19FFB2D9-3A1BB7DE-prod2
Tel Aviv/Stoli's Bar, An Industrial Nightmare
. http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-3DEE-29D85718-3A052D71-prod3
Tel Aviv/Chimichanga's Not So Real Mexican Food
. http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-707B-5D40957-39FBF365-prod1
Tel Aviv/Roshfeld - The Bistro
. http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-62B2-12F081A-39F00F9F-prod1
Books:
The Holocaust Industry/There's No Business Like Shoah Business
. http://www.epinions.com/content_15867088516
Samson's Lion/The Spies Who Came In From the Sea
. http://www.epinions.com/content_15866957444
Heartburn/The Jewish Prince
. http://www.epinions.com/content_6840028804
The Bible Code/Wanna Know About the Real Bible Code? (Discussion about Gematria. Write-off entry for kurt_messick's 500 write-off.)
. http://www.epinions.com/content_13847465604
Movies:
Kippur/A Movie that Will Move You
. http://www.epinions.com/content_13220679300
The Bible-In the Beginning/The Book Really Is Better than the Movie This Time.
. http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-7878-20584DE5-3A4F51C1-prod4
Into the Arms of Strangers - Stories of the
Kindertransport/Belated Thanks to the British from a Survivor's Daughter
. http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-229F-AFEAB65-3A3739AF-prod1
Miscellaneous:
The Museum of Tolerance/Unforgetable
. http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-FB3-135B0704-3A0AB5FB-prod2
Sabra Chocolate Orange Liqueur/When It comes to Chocolate, Go Dove or Above for Quality
. http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-13B3-E3254B6-39FD80DD-prod2
Ahava Body Lotion/I Like this Stuff a Lot!
. http://www.epinions.com/beat-review-7AD6-14CAC5B8-39CF485C-prod3
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