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Sorry, kat--I intended my post to come immediately after Armoth's, but with Porter's post between ours mine did seem like a non sequitur. I've edited to make it clearer what I was responding to.
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I watch my punctuation quite carefully. Occasionally it does tricks!
I said what I meant, and meant what I said. A good lokshen kugel is marvelous. Broccoli kugel can be quite tasty. And carrot kugel is usually good and occasionally transcendent.
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The yiddish word "kugel" comes from the german word for cannon ball or bullet. In yiddish it refers to a baked dish, sort of a casserole, baked pudding or what might get called "pie" in Trinidad. It is a very common part of the Sabbath meal since it can be prepared ahead of time and eaten cold. Typical recipes include eggs, sour cream, cheese and some starchy base like noodles, potatoes or matza. They can be either sweet or savory.
It is speculated that "kugel" got its name because it was originally baked in a round pan, like the Austrian "Gugelhupf" (same word origin). Kugel today are however most commonly baked in rectangular pans. I suspect the name "cannon ball" may never have had anything to do with shape, but may arise from the way some of the less inspired and denser varieties feel when they are sitting in your stomach.
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I have a friend who grew up Orthodox but kinda wandered away from that...The only thing he misses is kugel....
Rivka, my mom makes Kugel that pretty much taste like latkes. Judging from your latkes enjoyment previously stated in other threads, I dunno...we may just be the ones to convert you...
Posts: 1604 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Potato kugel is the only kind I like - go figure. I also loathe all Jewish fish, except for lox. Gefile fish is like the Spam of fish to me and that's actually how I describe it to people who ask me what it is. I explain cholent as Jewish chili.
Growing up in the South has probably made my palate less Jewish than it would otherwise be. It's certainly less Jewish than my husband's family, who can eat herring by the pound and adore something called "whitefish and pike balls." Yet they're horrified by something as delicious as fried dill pickles (which I am trying to get included in our shul's Jewish Food Festival).
How did the discussion get from a truly horrific cake wreck to kugel?
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: Baby cake to baby eating to jello salad to gefilte fish to kugel.
Not much of a stretch at all.
I don't know a characteristically jewish food that I actually like... I'm trying to think. IS there something that's really common, and jewish, and I just don't know it is? Because so far your list of foods is not appetizing to me. I was raised on a cross between California mexican, chinese, and midwestern food.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I know someone whose favorite food is the gefilte fish jelly from a jar. That said, no fish should ever be in a jar. Period.
As for kugel, there are so many kinds that I think it would be very difficult to dislike all types. Unless you don't like eggs. I tried to make one with just egg whites for someone with some dietary restrictions, and that was really not pretty.
Broccoli and squash kugels here this Shabbos (and tomorrow night). And, yeah, I make almost exclusively pareve kugels.
Posts: 289 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I made a Jello cake for my family last week. Turns out, they love that sort of thing. They eat it with Cool Whip. Sometimes we call it "Utah treat" or "Mormon treat", because I learned about it from Utah Mormons.
posted
I like couscous. But calling it Jewish food (unless we're talking about Israeli couscous, which is an entirely different thing) is rather a stretch.
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: I like couscous. But calling it Jewish food (unless we're talking about Israeli couscous, which is an entirely different thing) is rather a stretch.
I'd say the same thing about falafel and Shwarma. They are pretty widespread throughout the former Ottoman empire so it seems more accurate to call this "Turkish food" than "Jewish food". I sure that you can get them with a Kosher/Israeli twist but that twist doesn't put them even a standard deviation off the mean. I suspect they are traditional foods among the Sephardim communities that were within the Ottoman Empire but I've never heard of them among the Ashkenazim except in Israel.
Since Orincoro is currently living in Prague, it occurs to me that many Ashkenazi Jewish foods are very similar to dishes that are common in Central and Eastern Europe. Are there any Czech dishes you like Orinicoro?
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: I've never heard of them among the Ashkenazim except in Israel.
Ashkenazim think of them as "Israeli food", but they're definitely popular among Ashkenazi Jews. Every kosher pizza place offers falafel; many kosher meat restaurants (especially fast-food-type) have shwarma. Even the kosher Subways!
Bagels are Russian in origin; so is lox.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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That's what I always say. My dad always insists that these food have special spiritual quality - that they are "soul food." I often roll my eyes...
Whatever. So my ancestors ate pickled herring for hundreds of years. It's yummy. ::shrug::
I think the only real Jewish food is Cholent, or Hamim. It's a slow cooking stew specifically designed to cook overnight so that one can still enjoy hot food on the sabbath day.
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Sephardim have a couple other cook-at-low-heat-overnight dishes that may be uniquely Jewish as well. Like the Yemenite bread-type dish, jahnoon.
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: Since Orincoro is currently living in Prague, it occurs to me that many Ashkenazi Jewish foods are very similar to dishes that are common in Central and Eastern Europe. Are there any Czech dishes you like Orincoro?
I can't afford to eat out that much, and when do it is usually Chinese. But I like various kinds of Klobasa, goulash, steak in cream and gravy with raspberry sauce (this is the best Czech dish EVAR), and things like that. Honestly, for having lived here 4 months, I haven't had a meal I didn't like, but I have also had only about 5 or so proper restaurant meals. It sucks too because my current flatmate is a restaurant reviewer who gets to spend 8,000 Kc per meal for two, and she has never once invited me to a review. (8,000 Kc is about 400 USD, which goes A LONG WAY in a Czech restaurant).
Even though my Godmother is Jewish, she never cooked any Jewish foods for us- she doesn't really cook much. I like Czech latkas with goulash, which is the standard dish in any pub/restaurant here. It is just the most simple and best food for drinking beer with.
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I don't think I've had any of them. And knish looks like a crap-ton of work for something that doesn't seem appetizing. I don't ever prepare food that requires more than one step.
And by that I mean, I literally pour the tomato sauce cold out of the can onto a bowl of noodles, stir, and eat. You should see the look on my flat mate's face when I do that.
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I can't remember the last time I made knishes (or borekas) from scratch. I buy them ready-made, or frozen and ready-to-bake.
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No, I didn't assume you would, but the video you linked just put me off the idea even more. I don't think I'm a hard enough worker to appreciate Jewish foods.
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My dad makes kugelis at Christmas. It's like a Lithuanian version of potato kugel. It has bacon in it. You serve it with sour cream and more bacon. Mmmmm.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Oh, and knishes are delicious. Say that five times fast.
I have to make double batches of falafel now if I want leftovers. A single batch (my recipe makes about 5 dozen) is gone in 20 minutes. My kids INHALE them.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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So you are stocking up on children in case one of them aspirates on a falafel? Now I think I begin to understand you.
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quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: So you are stocking up on children in case one of them aspirates on a falafel? Now I think I begin to understand you.
Falafel (the ones I make) are sufficiently squishy not to be easily aspirated. Now, I've been told I shouldn't give them whole grapes, but they tend to grab things very quickly from a very young age... I am afraid they have seen my family eat and think that if they don't eat quickly enough they won't get any, despite my habit of cooking enough for 10 (regular) people... Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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