Succoth which is coming up soon is a major bread eating holiday.There are fourteen meals over the course of a the seven day holiday. For Jews a meal means bread. And lots of bread gets eaten in the sukkah.Thre’s also lots of entertaining, actual and metaphysical as every sukkah receives a nightly visit from one … Continue reading
With bagels sold on every corner and in the supermarket frozen food section why bother to make them at home? Sadly, many of those so called bagels are nothing more than soft rolls with holes in their middles. In Poland and in the Jewish neighborhoods of the early 20th century US, bagels were crisp on … Continue reading
Kiddush is the blessing over the wine. Kiddush is also the name of a post Sabbath morning services reception which begins with the recitation of the kiddush blessing. Kiddushes which are actually open house parties are a feature of synagogue life. At many synagogues there is a kiddush every week. Sometimes a congregant will sponsor … Continue reading
Some people go for walks or sit in coffee shops when they want to have heart to heart talks. Not Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld. When Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld wanted to have a deep conversation one of his students, he’d invite that student to help pickle the herring. Fish pickling on the curriculum at Shear Yoshuv, the … Continue reading
Last week a brick of bright yellow cornmeal sitting on a supermarket shelfl sent me into gastronomic ecstasy. This wasn’t just any cornmeal It was KiTov, a food manufacturer specializing in insect free products. Insects, warehouse beetles, ants, moths and other things that creep are the scourge of the food industry. Nobody wants to eat … Continue reading
I thought I’d be the last person on earth to render my own chicken fat. Chicken fat? Me? Why isn’t a recipe for instant arteriosclerosis ? Well, yes and no. While I wouldn’t recommend overdosing on the stuff animal fats, like schmaltz may even be healthy when eaten in moderation because they contain omega 3’s and linoleic … Continue reading
Don’t think we food bloggers don’t work hard. I attempted this recipe at least three times before hitting upon the winning formula. My first batch, made with old fashioned farmer cheese was leaden. After that I tried a recipe that included milk and ended up runny, but I didn’t give up. I persisted and … Continue reading
While I really don’t know what the Macabees ate during that first Hanuka I’m sure that it wasn’t potato latkes. Potatoes didn’t exist in Ancient Israel or even in Ancient Greece. The iconic tuber known in Yiddish as kartoffel (and in Hebrew as tapuach adama or sometimes tapud, a literal translation of the French pomme de … Continue reading
Many years ago a couple lived together in a small Polish shtetl . Though they were both basically good people, they had a disagreement they couldn’t resolve. In time their difference grew so severe that they were contemplating divorce. But before throwing in the towel they sought counsel from the local wise man who happened … Continue reading
I’m not a gefilte fish lover. I’ve been known to refuse the stuff even when it’s dressed up like a fishy petite four.But gefilte fish isn’t something to sneer at. It is actually a reflection of Jewish culinary genius.Since Shabbos means fish but the Sabbath laws forbid using a utensil to separate the bones from the flesh (you can … Continue reading
