Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  The bagaleh seems to have originated among the Arabs of Jaffa around 1948, initially influenced by the European bagel (referred to as bagaleh Amerikai). Bagaleh gained widespread prominence among Jews after the Six-Day War, when Israelis noticed them in the souk (marketplace) of the Old City (Jerusalem).

  Bagels are made from a lean dough (flour, water, yeast, and salt) and first boiled in water before baking, resulting in a very hard surface and chewy interior, while the larger bagaleh is made from a richer dough and merely baked, producing a softer bread. Each bakery's recipe is top secret, including the amount of oil and sugar, and some purportedly omit salt from the dough and others add dry milk powder.

  The original bagelach, and still the most common, are rather skinny. More recently, larger and more hefty versions have become commonplace. Because of their size, shape, and sesame coating, bagelach are generally eaten plain or sometimes with butter, za'atar, or feta cheese, but they are not sliced and used for sandwiches. Many Israelis have one with their morning cup of coffee or merely nibble it on the way to work.

  Bagel

  In light of the bagel's current ubiquity in America, it is often hard to imagine that a few decades ago this crusty, chewy, ring-shaped bread was basically unknown outside of Jewish circles. It only initially appeared in an English-language American newspaper in 1932. In 1951, during the intermission of the Broadway musical Bagels and Yox, bagels were distributed to the audience, many of whom were unfamiliar with them. As late as February 4, 1956, the New York Times tried to explain the bagel: "A form of Jewish baked goods sometimes described as a doughnut with rigor mortis, will not disappear from New York tables."

  Ring-shaped pastries and breads are hardly unique, as examples in many cultures date back thousands of years. The bagel's distinction derives from being boiled in water before baking, a step that produces the characteristic crisp crust and moist, chewy interior. The bagel is related to the similar medieval pretzel, the soft kind. The scalding liquid kills any yeast on the surface, thereby restricting rising during baking and maintaining the shape, as well as contributing to the unique shiny surface. The bagel's ring shape had a practical purpose—the hole made the bagel easier to remove from the boiling water.

  The best bagels are still boiled then baked. The traditional crew: two people shape the bagels, one boils, and one bakes.

  The beigel was first mentioned in 1610 in the records of the Kraków Jewish community, affirming that bagels were an appropriate gift for women about to give birth and for midwives. Jews from central Asia, where a similar type of ring bread still exists, might have brought the concept to eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. Or it may have come from the other direction, from Sephardim who prepared a boiled bread, escaladadas, a name derived from the Spanish escalder (to scald). The Yiddish name beigel/beygel may have derived from bougal, a Middle High German word for ring, or beigen, a Yiddish word for bend. It was later Americanized to bagel—this spelling appeared in print in September 14, 1930 New York Times.

  By the seventeenth century, bagels had become a commonplace food among Jews in Poland and the Baltic States. Bagels did not, however, make much of an impact in the surrounding areas of Germany or Russia. The original bagel was smaller and much thinner (more hole, less bread) than the average modern bagel. There was little variation in Old World bagels, although eggs were occasionally added to the dough to make the finished product softer, as well as to lengthen the shelf life. Unlike most breads in Europe, such as rye and bialys, that were commonly produced in bakeries by professionals, bagels were typically prepared by women in modest home kitchens, then hawked from baskets or poles on street corners by the husband or children. Government officials occasionally aspired to license bagel selling, but most peddlers ignored this inconvenience, frequently at the risk of forfeiting their wares to hungry police.

  The bagel's circular shape, with no beginning or end, led to its symbolic usage at various Jewish life-cycle events, including births, circumcisions, post-funeral gatherings, and meals before fast days. Nevertheless, it was primarily an everyday bread, not a beloved treat or icon. Following the impoverishment of Poland in the wake of the Cossack massacres in the mid-seventeenth century, bagels served as breakfast and lunch for the masses of Polish Jews, working men as well as school children, who ate them plain or with a schmear of butter or schmaltz.

  Beginning in the 1880s, eastern European Jews began to arrive in the United States in great numbers, bringing with them the bagel. Enough demand developed that there were three hundred bagel bakers in New York City in 1907, who banded together to form the International Beigel Baker's Union, Local #338. (After the advent of the bagel machine and the disappearance of unionized bagel makers, the union shifted to represent grocery workers and others.) This was a very restrictive group, with membership passed down from father to sons. Recipes and techniques were zealously guarded family secrets. For the following half century, bagels were all made by hand, customarily in groups of four—two men ambidextrously shaping the bagels, one boiling them, and one baking them. Workers, usually laboring in cramped cellars, were paid by the piece—constituting nineteen cents a box in 1910. An experienced team could churn out 6,400 bagels (that's 100 boxes) in a single overnight shift. As late as the 1950s, New York City still had more than thirty bagel teams practicing their craft in the traditional manner.

  As the immigrants became more established and prosperous, the bagel became less of a staple, eventually ending up as a Sunday morning treat. Toppings expanded to include poppy seeds, sesame seeds, caraway seeds, dried onions, garlic, kosher salt, and "everything," a combination of all six. Whereas in Europe bagels were never used for sandwiches, in America they began to attract various fillings. When during the 1930s, many Jews abstained from eating the then-stylish but unkosher American Sunday brunch classic, eggs Benedict, they substituted lox slices for the ham, a schmear of cream cheese for the hollandaise sauce, and a bagel for the English muffin. Thus was born an American classic. Neither lox nor cream cheese had ever touched a bagel in Europe.

  For decades, a number of people, hoping to expand production and break the union monopoly, struggled to invent a bagel-making machine. Among the most persistent of these was baker Meyer "Mickey" Thompson of Los Angeles. Finally in 1962, Thompson's son, Daniel, inventor of the first folded Ping-Pong table, fulfilled his father's quest, creating a machine that eliminated hand rolling and was capable of extruding up to four hundred bagels an hour; later large-scale commercial models could turn out nearly five thousand an hour. Ironically, the major American machine companies declined to produce the Thompson Bagel Machine, feeling that the bagel market would never be large enough to justify the expense of manufacturing the contraptions. Union protests managed to keep the new machine out of New York.

  In 1927, Harry Lender emigrated from Lublin, Poland, ending up in New Haven, Connecticut, where he opened a bakery, which was eventually taken over by his sons, Murray and Marvin. They sold traditional Jewish breads and rolls and, on the weekends, bagels. In order to speed up production, the Lenders began feeding large chunks of dough into an Italian breadstick machine, allowing an individual to form six hundred bagels per hour. In 1955, Lender's began packaging its bagels in plastic bags for sale in local grocery stores. In August 1963, Thompson installed his first machine in the Lender's plant in New Haven. Within a few years, almost every major bagel baker in America was using Thompson's machine.

  There was one problem with Lender's acquisition: The bakery was now producing more bagels than the geographic limitations of Connecticut could consume. To overcome the short shelf life, in 1965 Lender's began flash-freezing bagels, a step toward their eventual acceptance into the mainstream, although detrimental to their taste and texture. To further abet the bagel's acceptance, Lender's retooled its mass-produced bagel to be softer and sweeter than the traditional style. Lender's became and would remain the world's largest producer of bagels. A decade later, Lender's bagels were a common sight in supermarket
freezers throughout the United States and ranked only behind frozen orange juice in frozen food purchases. By the late 1980s, the bagel emerged as America's most prevalent breakfast bread. The number of bagel stores nationwide jumped to 1,500 in 1994 and more than 9,000 in 1998. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, bagel shops ranked among the top chains for growth in units and bagel stores existed in most towns, even those with no Jewish population.

  In Israel, as in early twentieth-century America, a few eastern European women boiled and baked bagels in their home kitchens. However, as these people died, so did the Israeli bagels. Then in 1994, Bonkers Bagels opened in Jerusalem, using a machine to produce American-style bagels. Other bagel stores soon followed and today in Israel bagels from plain to sun-dried tomato, with toppings from cream cheese to za'atar, are now commonplace.

  Baharat

  Baharat is an all-purpose spice blend.

  Origin: The Levant

  Other names: bharat; Farsi: advieh.

  Baharat, a province in India and a name for non- Muslim southern India, gave rise to a generic Arabic word encompassing spices and herbs, as well as more specifically to a Levantine spice mixture akin to the Indian garam masala. The exact ingredients and proportions of baharat vary from region to region and cook to cook. It can be either a simple blend of a few basic spices or a more complicated production including any and all of black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, paprika, and sumac. Since the arrival of the American allspice berry in the sixteenth century, allspice became a prominent feature of some versions, particularly in Syria, where the overall concept of baharat is equivalent to all spices. Turkish versions typically contain dried mint.

  Baharat is used as a rub for grilled lamb, as well as a flavoring for beef, chicken, fish, kibbeh (a ground meat mixture), lentils, rice, eggplant, tomato sauces, and soups. In the Indian manner, it is generally first fried in fat to develop the flavor before it is added to a dish. The Iranian variation is added to Persian charoset (advieh-e halegh). Baharat is quite popular in Israel, readily available in groceries and spice shops.

  Lebanese Spice Mixture (Baharat)

  about ½ cup

  [PAREVE]

  2 tablespoons ground black pepper

  2 tablespoons sweet paprika

  1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

  1 tablespoon ground coriander

  1 tablespoon ground cumin

  1½ teaspoons ground cloves

  1½ teaspoons ground nutmeg

  ½ teaspoon ground cardamom (4 green cardamom pods)

  In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients. Adjust the proportions to personal preference. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 months or in the freezer.

  Baklava

  Baklava is a layered phyllo-dough pastry filled with ground nuts and spices and drenched in syrup.

  Origin: Persia or Turkey

  Other names: Afghan: baghlawa; Arabic: baclawa, baqlawa; Azeri: paxlava; Farsi: baghlava, baqlava; Georgian: pakhlava, tapluna; Greek: baklavas, mpaklabas; Kurdish: baqlawa; Romanian: baclava.

  Baklava is the most popular and widespread pastry in the Middle East and the Balkans. Nut and honey confections date back early in history, but layering nuts between thin strips of pastry appears to have begun in the late medieval period. The cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes) by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Al-Baghdadi, written in Iraq in 1226, but based on a collection of ninth-century Persian-inspired recipes, contained recipes for lauzinaq. These were small pieces of almond paste wrapped in very thin pastry and drenched in syrup. Eventually, Middle Eastern pastry makers devised the process of layering the ingredients; some scholars suggest they were influenced by the Mongols or Turks. Around the fifteenth century, the Turks developed yufka, an extremely thin dough and the predecessor of phyllo, which was necessary for the invention of baklava.

  The name baklava is probably derived from the Farsi word balg/barg (leaf) with the Persian suffix va, indicating a Persian origin. It was, however, the royal Ottoman bakers in the sultan's palace in Istanbul who, sometime after the sixteenth century, transformed the dish into its contemporary form of multiple layers of phyllo filled with nuts and spices and drenched in syrup. The Turks and Arabs eventually spread baklava throughout the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Balkans, areas where it remains a beloved part of celebrations.

  The crisp, layered baklava has for many generations been a favorite treat at Middle Eastern celebrations.

  A common expression in Turkey was once, "I'm not rich enough to have baklava," as this dish was originally the sole province of the upper class. Because home horizontal ovens were until recently rare in many parts of the Middle East, baklava was primarily made by professional bakers. Then in the mid-nineteenth century, small pastry shops catering to the middle class appeared in large Ottoman cities, giving a large segment of society access to baklava. Around the same time, the popularization of the home oven led to baklava's increasing preparation by home cooks, making it a widespread indulgence. Baklava emerged as an important treat for Mizrachim and Sephardim from the former Ottoman Empire and Persia. Baklava became a common sight in Israeli groceries and bakeries. In the late twentieth century, it was popularized in America.

  There are numerous variations of baklava, many a closely guarded secret passed down within families. Almond is the traditional nut used in Iran; pistachios or a mixture of the two nuts are occasionally substituted. Walnuts are most common in Turkey, the Balkans, and the Levant. In Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the sugar syrup is usually accented with rose water, while Greeks favor honey, lemon juice, and cinnamon in the syrup. Romanians prefer a plain sugar syrup. Although purists disdain anything except the classic nut filling, some cooks innovate by adding items such as dates and chocolate chips. Hungarians make an apricot version, developed after the Turks introduced the dish in the sixteenth century. Butter is used to brush the phyllo, but for meat occasions, Jews substitute oil or margarine.

  Baklava is not everyday or even weekly fare, but generally reserved for special occasions, such as weddings and bar mitzvahs, as well as Rosh Hashanah and Purim. Sephardim refrain from serving dark-colored pastries, such as those made from walnuts, on Rosh Hashanah, which would portend a dark year. Therefore, blanched almonds or pistachios are traditional on Rosh Hashanah to produce a light color so that the year should be dulce y aclarada (sweet and bright). A Passover baklava is made by soaking matzas in wine or water to soften them and substituting these for the phyllo.

  Traditionally, baklava was prepared in a tifsin, a deep round baking pan. Professional bakers cut the baklava into diamonds, but some home cooks opt for easier squares. This very rich treat is usually served in small portions and served with Turkish coffee.

  Banana

  Today, more pounds of bananas, the fruit of a palm-like plant native to tropical Southeast Asia, are cultivated than any other fruit. Although the plant is called a tree, it is actually the world's largest herb. Each plant produces one bunch with three to twenty hands; each hand consists of ten to twenty bananas, called fingers. There are more than three hundred varieties, including some with large seeds, although only a very few are common in the West.

  In 2008, India was the world's leading producer of bananas, most for domestic consumption. For generations, bananas have been a part of Indian cooking—fried, steamed with short-grain rice, and cooked in coconut milk. Carrots sweetened with bananas are a traditional Indian Rosh Hashanah dish.

  Traders brought the fruit across the Indian Ocean to Africa and it subsequently followed the spread of Islam, appearing in Egypt by the tenth century and soon thereafter in Iberia. In 1516, the Spanish planted bananas in the West Indies.

  The first known appearance of bananas in the mainland United States was a load that arrived in New York City in 1804. Bananas were initially popularized at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Subsequently, Captain Lorenzo Baker established regular large-scale banana import
s and founded the Boston Fruit Company, which in 1889, merged with another banana importer, giving rise to the United Fruit Company.

  In 1885, fourteen-year-old Samuel Zemurray (originally Zmurri), born to a Jewish family in Kishinev, Russia, came in steerage to Selma, Alabama. He began working for an elderly fruit peddler to support himself. Four years after arriving in America, and after saving up $750, Zemurray purchased at a very low price a load of ripe bananas, the type of fruit that was usually thrown away. He sold the bananas, making a profit of $35. He continued successfully investing in banana transactions, buying carloads of "ripes" and becoming known as "Sam the Banana Man."

  In 1906, Zemurray acquired part ownership in two steamers and full title to five thousand acres of prime banana-growing land in Honduras. Six years later, when a new Honduran government acted against his interests, Zemurray loaned the former president, General Manuel Bonilla, money to buy a yacht, arms, and ammunition, and provided him with mercenary soldiers. Six months later, the military coup swept into power, establishing a regime friendly to the planter and giving birth to the term "banana republic." When the United Fruit Company acquired Zemurray's Cuaymel Fruit in 1929, he became the largest shareholder in the world's largest banana company. In 1944, Zemurray took the then-extraordinary step of turning a type of generic fresh produce into a brand name by attaching the Chiquita label. By the time of Zemurray's death in 1961, at the age of eighty-four, the United Fruit Company possessed more than four hundred thousand acres of land in Latin America, a fleet of ships, more than one thousand miles of railroad tracks, and influence over several countries.

  Beginning in the 1920s, Zemurray developed a friendship with future Israeli president Chaim Weizmann and supported Zionist causes. In 1946, Zemurray, through the Weston Trading Company (a front for the Haganah—a Jewish paramilitary group), purchased the recently decommissioned steamer USS President Warfield, named after the president of a shipping company, and having sway over the banana republic, registered it in Honduras. The ship became famous in 1947 when, under its new name, Exodus, it was manned by American volunteers and Haganah members who attempted to help settle 4,554 World War II refugees in Mandatory Palestine. A best-selling fictionalized account bearing the same name as the ship was written in 1959 by Leon Uris.