Brooklyn, The Center of American Kugel Cooking.
Hungarian Kosher Catering in Borough Park, has at least 18 kinds of kugel, Most American Jews know about noodle (lokshen) and potato kugel. But apple-noodle kugel? Salt and pepper kugel? Broccoli kugel? Modern "designer" three-layer kugel with sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower?
"It used to be that it was only potato and noodle, nothing goes without them," said Shmelka Friedman, 48, owner of the shop, which came to the United States from Hungary after World War II. His repertory now includes both blueberry and rhubarb kugel.
posted by VOS IZ NEIAS @ 9/28/2005 10:51:00 AM
13 Comments:
At 11:42 AM,
Anonymous said…
REMEMBER SHMELKE????
IF SHMELKA CAN
EVREYBODY CAN
YUH YUH AMOOL GAVAIN
At 12:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
which kugel for the cholesterol conscious ?
At 12:15 PM,
Anonymous said…
!!!!!!!! N O N E !!!!!!!!
(SHMELKA)
At 12:36 PM,
Anonymous said…
IS SHMELKE AN AHRONIE ????
At 12:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
oy vei!!!!! no kugel for shabbos????? what kinda a shabbos? a kugelless shabbos??????????????
At 12:40 PM,
Anonymous said…
aharon tb, who cares as long as he makes good kugel.
At 1:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
OY SHMELKA DI MACST MICH HINGERIG
At 1:51 PM,
Anonymous said…
hungarian cusine has the best freakin food! the apple kugel is awesome. the chulpshes are not shaich!!! i have to go there right now!!!!!
At 2:17 PM,
Anonymous said…
i am sorry, my doctor told me to keep my mouth shut. stop fressing.
abnormal blood pressure.
At 2:24 PM,
Anonymous said…
September 28, 2005
Kugel Unraveled
By JOAN NATHAN
FOR many American Jews, kugel is the taste of childhood. They want exactly the kind of kugel their mother made, whether it is a weekly Sabbath treat or served only on holidays like Rosh Hashana, which starts on Monday night.
I didn't know until recently, though, that this homey casserole of noodles or potatoes was credited with mystical powers.
Allan Nadler, a professor of religious studies at Drew University, studied references to kugel in Hasidic texts and ate it in Brooklyn and in Jerusalem at about a dozen rebbes' tishes, or tables, where male followers of a Hasidic rabbi gather to eat, sing and study the Torah.
According to Hasidic interpretations of Kabbalah mysticism, he said, kugel has special powers.
"Clearly the spiritual high point of the meal is the offering of the kugel," Professor Nadler said. At that moment the rabbi has the power to bestow health and food, and even to help couples conceive.
But despite kugel's deep tradition, it is changing, even in Brooklyn, the center of American kugel cooking.
On a recent afternoon at Hungarian Kosher Catering in Borough Park, at least 18 kinds of kugel were for sale, and customers were discussing them in Yiddish, English and Hungarian. Most American Jews know about noodle (lokshen) and potato kugel. But apple-noodle kugel? Salt and pepper kugel? Broccoli kugel? Modern "designer" three-layer kugel with sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower?
"It used to be that it was only potato and noodle, nothing goes without them," said Shmelka Friedman, 48, owner of the shop and a follower of the Satmar sect, which came to the United States from Hungary after World War II. His repertory now includes both blueberry and rhubarb kugel.
Shimmy Rosenblum, the executive chef at Gourmet on J in Flatbush, has also noticed the transformation of kugel. "People tend to be more health conscious, but when they want flavor they'll look aside," he said. "They'll cheat. People come in with questions you'd never ask before. Does it have oil? What kind of oil? Are there any carbohydrates? Any sugar? Now they are suddenly allergic to everything."
The word kugel comes from the German word for ball. It is traditionally a round, baked sweet or savory pudding or casserole made of noodles or potatoes. Since the first Jews came to the United States it has been a popular mainstay of holiday tables. The first published American recipe for kugel, from Esther Levy's 1871 "Jewish Cookery Book," is a mixture of homemade noodles, raisins and sugar, bound with eggs. Through the years, Madison Avenue had its way with kugel. Boxed noodles replaced homemade noodles, canned pineapple and cranberries replaced raisins, and processed cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese replaced farmer cheese and other European dairy products.
The transformation has been gradual. "When I came to New York from Vienna in 1940," said Erica Jesselson, an Orthodox woman in her 80's living in Riverdale, the Bronx. "There were no kosher carryouts. All food, except maybe smoked fish that you could get at appetizing stores, were made at home. Now the religious women, like everyone else, work and often go to carryout places. It helps the burden of cooking for such large families."
Karen Braver runs the Peppermill, next to Hungarian Kosher Catering. The eight-year-old Peppermill is known as the Williams-Sonoma of the ultra-Orthodox community. "Back in Europe nobody put asparagus, spinach or broccoli in their kugel," said Mrs. Braver, a Borough Park native. "Most people don't have to learn to make potato kugel. They want something more."
Mrs. Braver invites to her store chefs like Jeffrey Nathan (no relation to me) of Abigael's restaurant in Manhattan, who introduced customers to kosher Japanese panko, which can be used instead of challah crumbs to top savory kugels. "We show people what is up-to-date," said Debbi Braver, Karen Braver's partner and sister-in-law. "Kugel in the year 2005 often has individual shapes in tiny bundt pans, silicone pans or cookie cutters. It is the same traditional food modernized and updated. People are no longer intimidated by new ingredients."
Even if customers want more complex recipes, they always ask about ways to perfect the classic versions as well, she said. Kugel is traditionally served with meat meals, which means it is bound with oil and eggs, or sometimes mayonnaise, which like sour cream, according to Karen Braver, adds flavor and creaminess. Nondairy items like soy milk and tofutti cream cheese are also used. Dairy kugels are reserved for the meal following the Yom Kippur fast, usually a dairy meal.
One really delicious kugel is a sweet and peppery version called Yerushalmi, or Jerusalem, kugel. Supposedly this version originated in Jerusalem with followers of the Gaon of Vilna, a Jewish scholar, in the late 18th century. Made with thin noodles, pepper, salt and sugar, it is tricky because it has a caramel base that can stick or burn. Debbi Braver learned a foolproof way to make it over the counter at the Peppermill.
Tina Wasserman, a kosher cooking instructor in Dallas, makes what she calls a killer kugel for a Rosh Hashana lunch for 100 people at her home. "If you are going to eat kugel with eggs, sour cream and cream cheese, don't use low-fat sour cream and Egg Beaters," she said. "This kugel is like cheesecake. I just cut it into 25 squares so my guests will eat less but enjoy it."
With a recipe similar to Mrs. Wasserman's, Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Mich., uses fresh, creamy farmer cheese in a version more like the European dairy kugels than the ones made with processed cream cheese.
Gerry Cohn, who lives on Matzah Rising Farm, a half-hour's drive from Chapel Hill, N.C., makes his kugel with goat cheese, duck eggs and sour cherries. "I use whatever we have around," he said. So does Mildred Council, the owner of Mama Dip's, an African-American restaurant in Chapel Hill specializing in country cooking. On my recent trip there, with Marcie Cohen Ferris (an excerpt from her book, "Matzoh Ball Gumbo," is below), Mrs. Council told me that she was introduced to kugel at community interfaith dinners.
"The first time the Jewish people brought them no one knew what they were, with noodles, raisins and brown sugar, and potatoes." She likes them so much that she included three kugel recipes in her latest book, "Mama Dip's Family Cookbook," due out next month. "I put dried cranberries in mine," she said. "It's like a side dish. At Christmastime I am planning to put that kugel out with cranberry sauce on top. People will love it!"
Professor Nadler, who grew up Orthodox in Montreal, tosses off all these newfangled, secular kugels. "Not spinach or zucchini or sweet kugel for me," he said. "Everything is a kugel these days. I grew up in a home where my grandparents were from Russia. We ate salt and pepper kugel, and cut it up in the soup. Now that's kugel."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times
At 3:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
DO NEED THE NYT TO TELL ME ABOUT SHMELKAS KUGEL?????
VOOS FARSHTEIT A GOI TZI KUGEL
SHMELKA YOUR THE BEST (BTW NO AROINY)
At 9:11 AM,
Anonymous said…
זעט אויס אז גיהאלפען ווערען מיט א בן זכר קען מען נאר מיט פאטעיטא קוגעל, ווייל ירושלימער קוגעל שטאמט פון תלמידי הגר"א
At 11:36 PM,
Anonymous said…
Dear Shmelka
I want you to know that i live in nj and cant get myself liver like yours and i tried almost every dif. type
so hang in there and keep on knaking
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