Kosher cooking
During the dark ages before kosher sushi, marble cake was a fixture at the Shabbat morning after services kiddush. I haven’t been able discover why. I suspect the reason is that marble cake slices well and can be laid out easily and attractively on trays without too much fussing. It also goes well with the … 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
Way, way back in history, before brisket of beef and roast chicken were even invented there was the meat pie. In his authoratitive history of Jewish “Eat and Be Satisfied,” John Cooper says that this in Central and Eastern Europe a meat pie called a pastide was the Friday night entre of choice. The pastide … Continue reading
Of all the cholents, the slow cooking Sabbath stews, Adafina is my favorite. Adafina which is also called t’fina, dafina or simply Hamin which is a generic term for hot Shabbos food is the North African Sabbath stew . Unlike the Ashkenazi cholent, in this variation, the elements of the cholent are cooked separately in … Continue reading
For some reason, the cheese kreplach has been overshadowed by it’s better known “relation,” the cheese blintz. That is too bad because cheese kreplach are soooo symbolic.Here’s just a few meaning that have been attached to these soft, doughy stuffed triangles. Shavuot is in the third month-that’s when you count from Nissan. The Torah tells … Continue reading
For centuries, Sephardic women have been baking a bread called the the Siete Cielos in honor of Shavuot. In Ladino Siete Cielos means the seven heavens. This refers to a teaching about how the seven celestial spheres opened up when G-d gave the Torah on Mount Sinai. Ladino is a blend of Hebrew and Spanish … Continue reading
Tinted Eggs Believe it or not coloring eggs is a Jewish custom, though our color scheme doesn’t include pink, lilac or lime green. Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of the Omer count between Passover and Shavuot. On L’ag B’Omer the fatal plague infecting Rabbi Akiva’s students ended. L’ag B’Omer is also the yahrzeit or … Continue reading
While Ashkenazim spent the night after Pesach packing up the Pesach dishes, Morrocan Jews have a party called Mimouna. They have been doing this for centuries though no one is really sure why. Unlike most holidays, Mimouna doesn’t appear in any books of Jewish law and it’s celebrated only by Jews of Morroccans and North … Continue reading
There is no real reason to eat matzo balls on Pesach. Neither Pharoah nor Moses ate them and yet they are integral to the Seder. In many homes it is unimaginable to retell the story of the Exodus without taking a break midway through the telling to enjoy a bowl of matzo balls swimming in … Continue reading
