When you think of Hanukkah nosh, you think latkes: delicious fried potato pancakes with dollops of apple sauce or sour cream. But did you know that jelly doughnuts, known as sufganiyot, are a traditional Hanukkah treat in Israel? Follow the recipe below from Judy Bart Kancigor’s Cooking Jewish to make about 3 ½ dozen of these popular pastries:

Pnina Shichor’s Sufganiyot

(jelly doughnuts)

½ cup plus scant 1 cup warm water

(105 to 110 degrees F)

3 packages active dry yeast

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs, beaten

5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

Canola or corn oil, for frying

Jam (any flavor)

Confectioner’s sugar

1. Preheat the oven on the lowest setting for 15 minutes, and turn it off.
2. Pour the ½ cup warm water into a very large (at least 6-quart) bowl. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve it. Then add 1 teaspoon of the sugar, stir, and set the mixture aside until bubble, 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Stir the scant 1 cup water, salt, oil, remaining sugar, and eggs into the yeast mixture. Add 3 cups of the flour, and mix. Gradually knead in the remaining flour until the dough is spongy and elastic but still feels slightly tacky. Remove the dough and oil the bowl (no need to wash it). Turn the dough in the bowl to coat it all over with oil, and loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Let the dough rise in the turned-off oven until it nearly reaches the top of the bowl, about 2 hours.
5. Punch down the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is ¼-inch thick. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter or glass, cut out the rounds of dough. Place the rounds on a baking sheet and set them aside to rise, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
6. Pour oil to a depth of 1 inch into an electric frying pan (preferred), deep fryer, or large, heavy skillet and heat it to 365 degrees F.
7. Dip your fingers in flour, and lift up a round of dough. Move it back and forth between your two middle fingers to stretch the center of the round quite thin without tearing it. This will be the depression for the jam.
8. Quickly drop rounds in the hot oil, depression side down—a few at a time, without crowding. Cover the pan and fry until the doughnuts are golden brown but not dark, about 30 seconds. Quickly turn them, cover the pan, and fry until the other side is golden brown, 30 seconds more. Drain the doughnuts on both sides on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining rounds of dough.
9. Fill the depressions with jam, and dust the doughnuts with confectioners’ sugar. These are best when eaten warm. They don’t keep well, but no matter. You won’t have any leftovers.

What’s a Rosh Hashanah dinner without brisket? (What’s any dinner without brisket?, you may ask. To which I reply, “A mediocre one.”) Herewith, a recipe for brisket that’s, well, killer. And you know that’s the truth, because it comes straight from Judy Bart Kancigor’s mom via Judy’s scrumptious cookbook Cooking Jewish.

My Mom’s Killer Brisket
with tsimmes*

serves 8 to 10

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 to 5 pounds first-cut beef brisket
2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup sweet red wine or water
1 cup pineapple or orange juice
1 package dehydrated onion soup mix
2 to 3 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg to taste
3 cups (1 1/2 pounds) pitted prunes, dried apricots, or a combination
1/2 cup raisins
3 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 1/2 pounds carrots, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Paprika, for sprinkling

1. The day before serving, heat the oil in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the meat (fat side down first), and brown it well on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the meat to a plate.

2. Add the onions to the pot and cook, stirring often, until they are soft and brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Then stir in 3 cups water and the wine, juice, onion soup mix, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, return the meat to the pot, cover, and simmer until a fork can pierce the meat but it is not quite done, 1 3/4 to 2  1/4 hours, depending on the thickness of the meat.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool somewhat. Then remove the meat and slice off all visible fat. Transfer the meat, with the gravy, to a large bowl or container and refrigerate it, covered, overnight.

4. The next day, preheat the oven to 350°F.

5. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and skim off the congealed fat. Remove the meat and cut it into 1/4- to 3/8-inch-thick slices. Set it aside.

6. Transfer the gravy to a Dutch oven or other large, heavy, ovenproof pot and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the honey, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of the salt, or more to taste, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Return the sliced meat to the pot. Add the prunes and raisins. Arrange the sweet potatoes and carrots on top. Baste the meat and vegetables with the sauce and bring back to a boil.

7. Transfer the pot to the oven and bake, covered, for 30 minutes, basting after 15 minutes.

8. Sprinkle the potatoes and carrots lightly with paprika, and continue baking, uncovered this time, basting every 15 minutes, until the carrots and potatoes are very tender, about 30 minutes. If you like (and if your oven has a broiling mode), turn the oven setting to broil, place the pot on the lowest rack, and broil the potatoes and carrots briefly until crisp.

9. Serve hot.

*For all you Gentiles out there, tsimmes is “a traditional stew for Passover, made from a combination of sweet potatoes and dried fruit.”

This coming week will be my first Passover without my mother, so excuse me if I’m a bit farklempt. She left us this past September at age 93, and for the first time I am making her famous chicken soup without her.

For many years her soup was her province, a closely guarded secret. If Seder was at our house, she would simply appear with her 16-quart pot, and no one was the wiser. How does she do it?, we’d all exclaim between slurps. Such flavor, such comfort. No one could beat it.

In later years, as her hands became shakier and her memory a bit slower, we worked together, and finally the many secrets of this celestial brew were revealed.

Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking: YOUR mother’s soup is the best. Sorry. No, it’s not. My mother’s is the best on so many levels, and here’s why. She put the whole produce market into that soup!

How she would laugh when she would see chicken soup recipes from famous cookbook authors calling for two carrots and a stalk of celery. My mother used two POUNDS of carrots in that soup.

Most chicken soup recipes instruct you to add water to cover. No, no, no, said my mother. Two-thirds is plenty. The vegetables cook down and will be covered soon enough, because what you are looking for is that deep, dark, richly flavorful brew. Resist the temptation to add a cup of water to get another cup of soup, she advised.

Even if you’re not Jewish, you must use kosher chickens. The jury is still out on why they taste so much better. Is it the method of killing? The freshness? The salting? The blessing? Who knows, but there really is a difference. (Note: Kosher chickens are salted, so watch that shaker!)

Pack it in! Use as much chicken and vegetables as you can pack into your pot, or conversely, use as little water as possible, to produce the most intense flavor.

You must use fresh dill, and lots of it.

After cooking, reserve the carrots to be sliced into the soup later. Then squeeze the remaining vegetables well through a strainer for extra flavor. Purists will say, “But the best soup must be clear.” I say, give me a choice between clarity and flavor, and I’ll take flavor any day!

Lillian “Honey” Bart’s Famous Chicken Soup
While her exact ingredients would vary as the mood hits her, here is my mom’s recipe from a typical day.

2 chickens (3 1/2 to 4 pounds each) with giblets (no liver), quartered
2 pounds carrots (yes, 2 pounds, not 2 carrots)
2 large onions, cut in half
5 large ribs celery, cut in half
2 large parsnips
1 small sweet potato (6 ounces), cut in half
1 turnip (6 ounces), cut in half
1 rutabaga (6 ounces), cut in half
1 small celery root, cut in half (optional)
1/2 large green bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
1/2 large yellow pepper, stemmed and seeded
2 bunches dill, coarsely chopped (about 1½ cups)
1/2 bunch curly-leaf parsley (about ¼ cup)
3 cloves garlic
Kosher (coarse) salt and black pepper to taste
Chopped dill, for serving (optional)

Makes about 3 quarts

1. Place the chicken in a 12- to 16-quart stockpot and add water to barely cover. Bring just to the boiling point. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and skim off the foam that rises to the top. Add all the remaining ingredients (except the optional chopped dill) and only enough water to come within about two thirds of the height of the vegetables in the pot. (Most recipes will tell you to add water to cover. Do not do this! You want elixir of the gods or weak tea? As the soup cooks, the vegetables will sink and will be covered soon enough. Eight to 10 cups of water total is plenty for this highly flavorful brew.) Simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Remove the chicken and about half the carrots from the pot, and set them aside.

3. Strain the soup through a fine-mesh strainer into another pot or container, pressing on the vegetables to extract all the flavor. Scrape the underside of the strainer with a rubber spatula and add the pulp to the soup. Discard the fibrous vegetable membranes that remain in the strainer. If you’re fussy about clarity (and we’re not), you can strain it again through a fine tea strainer, but there goes some of the flavor. Cover the soup and refrigerate overnight.

4. When you are ready to serve the soup, scoop the congealed fat off the surface and discard it. Reheat, adding more dill if desired (and we do). Slice the reserved carrots and add them to the soup. Serve the soup with matzoh balls and mandlen (soup nuts) for Passover and lukshen (thin noodles) after the holiday.

–Judy Bart Kancigor

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Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family and the recently released Workman Short The Perfect Passover Cookbook: Family-Tested Recipes for Matzoh Ball Soup, Kugel, Haroset, and More, Plus 25 Desserts. A freelance food writer and columnist for the Orange County Register, Judy started Cooking Jewish as a family project. To find out more, go to http://cookingjewish.com.

Welcome to Part 2 of the 2010 Workman Holiday Gift Guide Extravaganzaaaa! If you missed Part 1: Kids and Kids-at-Heart, check it out here. Then see below for part 2 of the list: The Grown-Ups’ Table. What do you get for your parents, your aunts and uncles, and those other adult relatives who can be a little tricky to shop for? Here’s what Workman employees had to say…

The Grown-Ups’ Table:

• “My husband and I just had our first child, a daughter, so I will slip From Father to Daughter into his stocking.” —Selina
• “I’m giving The Crabby Cook Cookbook to my mother, who no longer has to worry about cooking for a family but will get such a kick out of remembering what it was like to put dinner on the table every night … though she will be sorry that she didn’t have those simple recipes back then when she needed them. For all the hypochondriacs in my family (and that would be everyone on one side of the family, though I can’t say which)—The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick. I think our phone calls may get more interesting when they realize there are concrete steps they can take to reduce their susceptibility to illness.” —Suzie
• “My parents are getting copies of Younger Next Year and Younger Next Year for Women, since they’re both recently retired and I want them to stay healthy and happy.” —Randall
• “I got the Islands Page-a-Day Gallery Calendar for my mom, because she loves tropical beach scenes.” —Claudia
• “Last year I gave my father-in-law The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf, which brought Christmas morning to a complete halt for a good hour, because he and my husband just had to play through the whole book (they’re very competitive, so it got a little intense)… He brought it to work and it is a huge hit in his office too. 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die was a huge hit with MY dad, who is a serious music buff. (Brought that gift-opening session to a standstill as well, as he became totally engrossed in the book!!)” —Melody
• “My step-dad is getting the Nuns Having Fun Calendar—perfect for an ex-Catholic School Boy who loves the Three Stooges. And I’ll probably give my mom a copy of The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free, in hopes that she’ll send some tasty treats this year that are suitable for my glutard self.” —Emily
• “Anything golf-related goes over well with my old man.” —Tom
• “I’m giving a copy of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies to my Aunt Betty. She’s an amazing baker, and the best part is that she always loads me up with baked goods whenever I see her (and my co-workers benefit because I bring them to the office).” —Laura
• “I’m going to give The Love That Dog Training Program to my mom, because she’s convinced that our old dog can’t learn new tricks.” —Avery
• “I got Cooking Jewish for my sister, who is constantly trying to expand her repertoire of Jewish recipes. Also, there’s a reason that Ad Hoc at Home comes wrapped in plastic. Do not open it! Or you will do what I did, which is decide that it was such a beautiful and enticing book, with such mouthwatering recipes, that, although my sister or father or best friend would have loved it, it was time I rewarded myself with a gift.” —Kathy

Hope that was helpful! And don’t forget to come back tomorrow morning for Part 3: Might-as-Well-Be-Family Friends.

Another delicious latke recipe from Judy Bart Kancigor’s Cooking Jewish. Click here for more Hanukkah posts.

MALAYSIAN LATKES
From Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman) by Judy Bart Kancigor

1/2 cup chopped unsalted cashews or peanuts
1/4 cup chopped mint or flat-leaf parsley, or a combination
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 large eggs, beaten
2 large baking potatoes (12 ounces each), cut into wedges
1 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
Cucumber Dip with Yogurt Sauce (recipe below)

1. Combine the cashews, mint, bell pepper, jalapeño, ginger, salt, curry powder, and eggs in a large bowl, and mix well. Set it aside.

2. Shred the potatoes and onion together in a food processor fitted with the shredding disk. Squeeze between several changes of paper towels to release as much liquid as possible. Add the potato/onion mixture to the egg mixture, and combine well. Stir in the flour.

3. Pour enough oil into a large, heavy skillet to cover the bottom, and heat it over medium-high heat. When the oil is quite hot but not smoking, add a scant 1/4 cup batter per latke and flatten them with a fork. Fry only as many latkes as will fit in the skillet without crowding. Cook until crisp and brown, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Transfer the latkes to paper towels to drain. Keep the latkes warm while frying the remainder.

4. Serve immediately, with the Cucumber dip. Makes about 16.

(Cacik) Cucumber Dip with Minty Yogurt Sauce

1 English (hothouse) cucumber
Kosher (coarse) salt
2 cups plain yogurt
1 to 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds

1. Grate the cucumber coarsely into a colander. Sprinkle generously with salt, and allow to stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Then rinse off the salt and let drain.

2. Combine the yogurt, garlic, olive oil, cumin seeds, and salt to taste in a bowl, and whisk until smooth and creamy.

3. Pat the cucumbers dry, and combine them with the yogurt sauce. Taste and adjust the salt. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.

Hanukkah starts early this year, but Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish, is always ready with a creative and delicious recipes! She’s back again with her menu for this year’s Hanukkah party.

We’re still nibbling on leftover turkey, and here comes Hanukkah already! This year our Chavurah (a group of friends that meets monthly for dining and dishing) is having a Hanukkah tapas party. What a great idea!

Ever notice that the hors d’oevres are more fun than the meal? A meal of hors d’oevres – what a concept! I am in charge of the latkes, so I’m making minis: my Crispy, Crunchy Potato Latkes with Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce (below) and, for something really different, Malaysian Latkes accompanied by Cucumber Dip with Minty Yogurt Sauce.

I’ll do a few the low-fat way too for the die-hards and…okay, okay, I’ll bring some applesauce and sour cream for the traditionalists. Happy Hanukkah!

Judy Bart Kancigor

CRISPY, CRUNCHY POTATO LATKES WITH AUNT HILDA’S CHERRY CHILI DIPPING SAUCE

From Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman) by Judy Bart Kancigor

2 pounds baking potatoes
2 large eggs
1/2 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium-size firm apple, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour or matzah meal
Peanut or canola oil, for frying
Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce, for serving

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. To keep them white and release some of the starch, submerge them in a bowl of water while you’re preparing the remaining ingredients.

2. Place the eggs in a blender. Add the onion, apple, salt, white pepper and baking powder. Drain the potatoes and squeeze them dry in paper towels. Add enough of the potatoes to fill the blender (all 2 pounds may not fit). Turn on the blender, and pushing down on the sides with a rubber spatula (careful you don’t blend the spatula — there is no rubber in this recipe), blend until the potatoes just move around. Add the remaining potatoes as you’re blending, but do not over-process or make it too smooth. The texture should resemble applesauce. (This takes about 6 seconds in my Osterizer.)

3. Transfer the batter to a large bowl and add the flour. The batter should be flowing, but not too thin.

4. Now for the real secret of my very crisp latkes: Pour enough oil into a large skillet to coat the bottom. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it is quite hot but not smoking. Use a serving spoon to scoop up the batter (about 2 tablespoons per scoop), hold the spoon about 8 inches above the pan, and spill it all at once. Splat! Remove your hand quickly so you don’t burn yourself. (Like tennis, it’s all in the wrist.) The batter will splatter, forming holes … the better to hold the dipping sauce. Repeat with as many as will fit in the skillet without crowding. Cook until browned, about 1 minute. Then flip them over and cook the other side for 1 minute.

5. Drain the latkes well on paper towels, and keep them warm while you cook the remainder, adding more oil as needed.

6. Serve immediately, with Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce.

Note: If you want to make the batter ahead, to cook later or the next day, prepare it through Step 2 (do not add the flour), and pour the mixture into a tight-fitting glass jar (do not use plastic ware). Tap the jar on the counter to release any air bubbles, cover the batter well with a thick layer of flour, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to use it, remove and discard the flour with the black layer that has formed beneath it. Transfer the batter to a large bowl, stir in the flour, and proceed with Step 4 using fresh flour.

Makes about 3 dozen latkes.

Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce (without the chicken!)

1 can (16 1/2 ounces) pitted black cherries, undrained
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup dry sherry or white wine
2 bottles (12 ounces each) chili sauce, such as Heinz
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

Slice the cherries and combine them with their liquid, the raisins, sherry, chili sauce, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Reduce this mixture over medium-high heat until it’s as thick as you like it, about 20 minutes.

For more Hanukkah recipes, visit cookingjewish.com or read Judy’s blog post from last year.

With Hanukkah beginning at sundown tonight, Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish, shares some of her favorite holiday memories and recipes for a Hanukkah feast including latkes, dipping sauce, and a delicious cherry chicken.

Hanukkah comes early this year. You know what they say about the Jewish holidays – they’re always early or late. They’re never on time!

When my boys were young, I used to hate it when Hanukkah came early. By the time Christmas rolled around, all their toys were already broken. Oh, the joys of the Hebrew lunar calendar. Only once, to my memory, did Hanukkah fall after Christmas. That year I saved all my Hanukkah shopping for the day after Christmas sales. (Talk about a leap of faith!)

As we light the candles, I can’t help but remember the Hanukkahs of my youth. My mother’s family was very close, and we cousins (13 of us) were raised together practically as siblings. Remember the movie Avalon? That was our childhood (without the fire, of course!) There were so many of us Papa Harry even put a board in the children’s table.

The highlight, of course, was our Hanukkah party. The pile of latkes! The mountain of presents! The noise! The excitement! The squabbles! Then when we cousins started producing the great-grandchildren, Aunt Sally’s basement bulged with our bounty. (No one ever thought of drawing names for a gift exchange back then!)

When we moved to California from New York, our boys were six and four. Away from our roots, our friends became our extended family, and our neighbors only too eager to share our traditions. On the first night of Hanukkah I would make my signature latkes, those crispy, irresistible potato pancakes, and set them on doily-lined Hanukkah paper plates for my boys to distribute up and down the block.

I have noticed through the years, however, that a snobbery has developed among latke aficionados, who view with disdain from their lofty perch those who use a blender to process the potatoes. Their mantra? Shredded is better. “Oh, no,” they tsk-tsk when they see my recipe, just a touch of feigned sympathy in their eyes. “I use the food processor. I like texture.”

Texture? You want texture? I’ll give you texture. Use my SPLAT! method and you’ll get all the texture you want with these babies. My family hovers over the pan to fight over the thinnest ones that are so crunchy and full of holes you can practically see through them, so turn down your decibel meter.

Now for the real secret of my very crispy latkes. Heat the oil until very hot, but not smoking. (I use canola.)  Scoop some batter with a large spoon, hold the spoon about eight inches above the pan and spill all at once. SPLAT! Remove your hand quickly so you don’t burn yourself. (It’s all in the wrist.) The pancake will splatter, forming holes, the better to hold the sour cream or applesauce. Keeping the temperature of the oil constant is key, so don’t crowd the pan. Allow the temperature to go down and you risk soggy latkes.

If you want to prepare the batter up to a day ahead, here’s a trick taught to me years ago by my friend, Elaine Asa. Prepare the batter without adding the flour, and pour the mixture into a tight-fitting glass jar. (Do not use plastic ware.) Tap the jar on the counter to release any air bubbles, cover the batter well with a thick layer of flour, and refrigerate up to 24 hours. When ready to cook, remove the flour layer with the black ring that has formed beneath it. Then add the flour, stir and fry.

For a change of pace, serve the latkes with a dipping sauce made from Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Chicken, her decades-old signature dish, eagerly anticipated by all (although she just called it “Holiday Chicken.” I always was a sucker for alliteration.) Sweet yet zippy, pretty plump cherries dotting the dish, Aunt Hilda’s Holiday Chicken ushered in countless New Years, heralded scores of birthdays and graced many a holiday table.

Not serving chicken this year? I’ve included a recipe below for the dipping sauce minus the bird. Happy Hanukkah to all!!

Click here for recipes fit for a Hanukkah feast

With the High Holidays coming up, Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish, shares some of her favorite holiday memories and recipes.

To read an excerpt from Cooking Jewish, click here or scroll to the bottom of this post.

When I was growing up, my large, boisterous family would gather in my grandparents’ tiny apartment in Belle Harbor, New York, for the festive Rosh Hashanah meal. Papa Harry, a carpenter who had emigrated from Russia in 1906, would extend the dining table with boards reaching practically to the walls. The arrival of the aunties with their foil-covered dishes signaled the beginning of the holiday feast, a menu that seldom varied:

For the forshpeis (appetizer) Aunt Estelle’s homemade, lovingly shaped gefilte fish served with Uncle Lou’s horseradish, hand-grated on the back porch to keep out the fumes;

Aunt Irene’s golden chicken soup and ethereal matzoh balls, followed by Mama Hinda’s roast chicken and brisket with oven-browned potatoes and Aunt Sally’s tsimmes (sweet carrot stew).

The centerpiece of the table was Mama Hinda’s grand spiral challah, round for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a symbol of the endless cycle of life. Only for this holiday would she add raisins, a sweet embellishment to enjoy a sweet New Year.

Sweet notes echoed from the beginning of the meal, as all assembled dipped apples in honey, to the dessert platters wedged onto Mama’s groaning sideboard: Aunt Irene’s dark, dense honey cake, Aunt Estelle’s mile-high sponge cake, Aunt Hilda’s chocolate chip mandelbrot (twice-baked cookies), and Aunt Sally’s apple strudel and taiglach, crisp cookie balls slowly simmered in honey.

Over at the children’s table, a gaggle of cousins, raised practically as siblings, chattered, spilled soup, shouted, squabbled, hiccupped with laughter, fought over drumsticks, dropped crumbs, clamored for seconds, and ran around, as far as one could run in such tight quarters, until a withering look from one of the aunties brought a temporary attitude adjustment, and then it was back to the merriment.

Or so I’m told.

We were never there!

Continue Reading »

An author guest post from Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish.

My husband Barry’s contributions to “Cooking Jewish” were recipes for his Black & White Malted and his beloved Egg Cream, the New York concoction from his misspent youth, working during the fifties in his father’s candy store on Utica and Church in Brooklyn.

There’s neither egg nor cream in the classic Egg Cream, which gets its name from its head of foam said to resemble beaten egg whites, although one school of thought holds that the original 1890’s version may indeed have used eggs and cream.

My husband, the soda jerk, couldn’t be pinned down to measurements, but in the privacy of our home (and in the interests of science) I held out the old measuring spoon as he displayed his rare talents. He did have strict rules, however, for the preparation of this Big Apple legend. First, the milk must be ice cold, the chocolate syrup must be Fox’s U-Bet (no substitutions) and you’ve got to spritz with seltzer.

When I was growing up, there was always a glass squirt bottle of seltzer on our table, which the seltzer man would deliver in wooden crates. Because the bottles were sealed, it never went flat, unlike the club soda available today.

In the 1967 film The Graduate Mr. Robinson offers one word of advice to Benjamin, revealing a vista of opportunity to the young lad: “Plastics.” The same word sounded the death knell to the glass seltzer bottle. So much so that Molly O’Neill, in discussing seltzer in her New York Cookbook, refers to the years before and after plastic as B.P. and A.P. Enter the screw-top plastic bottle, exit the seltzer man.

My father-in-law’s Brooklyn candy store had a pull-down seltzer dispenser, ideal for making egg creams, as well as other libations – “two pushes” was Barry’s measurement for one serving – or just a Two Cents Plain, a glass of straight cold seltzer.

“The seltzer came out at high pressure when you pushed the lever forward, creating a lot of foam,” my husband, Barry, recalled. “Club soda has nowhere near the fizz. You can use club soda to make an Egg Cream, but it won’t be quite as good.”

Such a simple recipe – so much controversy! Is this the drink you remember?

BARRY KANCIGOR’S NEW YORK EGG CREAM
From Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman Publishing) by Judy Bart Kancigor

2 tablespoons cold whole milk
About 1 cup seltzer
2 generous tablespoons Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup

1.    Pour the milk into a 12-ounce glass.
2.    Spritz with seltzer almost to the top.
3.    Add the syrup, wait a moment for it to fall to the bottom, and then stir with a long spoon. If you get at least an inch of foam, you did it right. Snappy comebacks to know-it-all customers: optional.

Serves 1

Note: Barry’s dad also served a vanilla egg cream made with Fox’s U-Bet vanilla syrup.

Cooking Jewish isn’t just about the holidays–it’s about the rich tradition of flavors generations old and the new twists we put on them. Judy Kancigor’s trip through old handwritten family recipes, and the “improvements” she’s made on them, mixes the nostalgia of your grandmother’s cooking with the ease of clear-cut instructions. Cook right out of the book or use Judy’s tips to perfect your own recipes–at the very least try adding her toffee walnuts to your kugel! Packed with recipes for any occasion, Cooking Jewish is a cookbook you’ll pull out over and over again for old favorites and new inspiration.