Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  1 bay leaf

  About 2 teaspoons table salt or 4 teaspoons kosher salt

  3 to 5 sprigs fresh dill

  1. Place the chicken, chicken bones, and cold water to cover in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer, occasionally skimming the scum from the surface, for about 15 minutes. Add the onions, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour.

  2. Add the carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, pepper, and bay leaf, and simmer for another 1½ to 2 hours.

  3. Gradually add the salt, tasting to determine when the flavor matches your preference. Add the dill and simmer for 10 minutes.

  4. Discard the bones. Debone and shred the chicken, then return the flesh to the soup or serve separately. The broth can be cooled, covered, and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or frozen. Skim any fat that accumulates on top of the soup as it cools.

  Chickpea

  The chickpea is actually not a pea, but a legume that grows two to a short pod. Around six thousand years ago, it was already cultivated in southeastern Turkey, where wild plants still grow. Its exact origins cannot be definitely ascertained, since the chickpea, which is among the first domesticated plants, was already widespread long before recorded history. By the early Bronze Age, chickpeas were common as far east as India, and they have been found in Neolithic burial mounds in Switzerland. Chickpeas thrive in tropical and subtropical climates with plenty of water, so the Mediterranean, central Asia, and India have naturally emerged as the centers of chickpea consumption.

  The nutty-flavored, nourishing chickpea has long been a staple throughout much of the world. Fresh green chickpeas in their pods are occasionally available and, when shelled, are quite tasty, even raw, although most people find them tedious to prepare. The vast majority of chickpeas are used in dried form. There are two primary types (of the same species): desi and kabuli. Desi (a Hindi term meaning "local/in country"), popular in India and Iran for flour, are smaller with a thick seed coat and a color ranging from light brown to black. The more common kabuli (referring to the capital of Afghanistan, which it passed on its way to India) is larger, has a thin seed coat, and ranges in color from white to tan.

  The chickpea remains India's predominant legume, and India is the world's top chickpea producer by far. They are prepared boiled, roasted, or fried. Chole is the Indian word for the kabuli type of chickpea and chana or chana dal denotes the desi type, but they are commonly used interchangeably. Thus the popular dish of curried chickpeas is known as both chole and chana masala. A ritual for naming a girl, usually on the twelfth day after birth, developed among the Bene Israel of Mumbai. Female relatives and friends, along with children, gather in the home and decorate the crib with flowers. On the inner edges of the crib, they arrange cookies, pieces of coconut, and cooked chickpeas to signify a sweet, prosperous, and happy life.

  People have been grinding dried chickpeas into a flour since at least the time of ancient Rome, where it was simmered into a mush. Subsequently, it was used by the poor of southern Europe as a substitute for wheat. Italians used it for a porridge called panissa, the forerunner of cornmeal polenta. Chickpea flour is called ard-e nokhodchi in Iran and in India it is variously known as besan, chana atta, and gram flour. There are two types of chickpea flour, one made from raw chickpeas and the other from roasted ones. The roasted is more flavorful, while the unroasted tends to be slightly bitter. Indians use chickpea flour in fritters, pancakes, crackers, confections, and even sherbets. Persians make chickpea flour meatballs, called koofteh nokhodchi and gondi, and cookies.

  The chickpea is mentioned only once in the Bible in Isaiah: "And the oxen and the young asses that till the ground shall eat salted chamitz [chickpeas] that have been winnowed with shovel and with fan." The chickpea's Hebrew name is chamitz or chimtza (sour), the cognate of the Arabic hummus. The Talmud mentions various species of chickpeas: light and dark, as well as large and small. In ancient Israel, chickpeas and fava beans trailed lentils in importance among legumes, although chickpeas were favored as an important animal fodder.

  The opposite is the case in modern Israel, where chickpeas are the most popular legume. It is the main ingredient in two of the most well-known contemporary Middle Eastern dishes: hummus (chickpea puree) and falafel. Hummus, technically hummus bi tahini, denotes both the chickpea as well as the puree made from it.

  Mizrachim add chickpeas to numerous stews, soups, salads, and pilafs and mash it into a savory pastry filling. Chickpeas (garvansos) were such prevalent fare among Sephardim that the authorities of the Spanish Inquisition considered them a Jewish food and people making chickpea stews were subject to arrest. Sephardim use chickpeas in hamin/adafina (Sabbath stew) and salads and mix them with rice, bulgur, pasta, and various vegetables. Moroccans add them to harira (soup) and tagines. More than half a millennium after the expulsion from Spain, Sephardim continue to make chickpea stews and soups nearly identical to those of their Iberian ancestors. Even among the "Hidden Jews" of the American Southwest, descendants of Conversos fleeing to Mexico and then migrating to areas above the Rio Grande, chickpeas remain ubiquitous.

  Chickpeas are a traditional Rosh Hashanah food, a symbol of fertility, abundance, and a wish for a well-rounded year to come. In the Maghreb, Jews carry this circular theme further, cooking chickpeas with meatballs and serving the dish with couscous and round pastries. Although most Sephardim eat the chickpea on Passover, there is a small group who abstain, as its Hebrew and Arabic names are so similar to the forbidden chametz.

  Northeastern Ashkenazim rarely ate legumes unless forced to by famine, but among the few exceptions were beans in cholent (Sabbath stew) and, for certain occasions, boiled chickpeas. The eastern Yiddish word for chickpeas is nahit, derived from the Turkish nohut, from the Farsi nokhod, showing the linguistic and geographic path of these ancient legumes. They are also called arbes ("peas" in Yiddish from the German erbse).

  Among Ashkenazim, nahit are traditional on Purim, alluding to a legend that Esther maintained a vegetarian diet while living in the palace of the king. Nahit can sometimes be found in the synagogue at a Saturday morning kiddush. They are prominent at a shalom zachar ("welcoming the male," a celebration held at home on the first Friday evening following birth), brit milah (circumcision), and Seudat Havra'ah ("meal of consolation" following a burial), because circular foods symbolize the life cycle and fertility. When Ashkenazim eat chickpeas, they are generally served simply boiled and tossed with salt and pepper.

  Isaac Bashevis Singer, in his short story Gimpel the Fool (1957), describes a brit in nineteenth-century Poland: "Women brought peppered chickpeas, and there was a keg of beer from the tavern."

  (See also Falafel, Harira, Hummus, and Lablabi)

  Chicory/Endive

  Chicory refers to two varieties of a cultivated herb: one variety is grown for its leaves (leaf chicory), which are used in salads and cooked, and the other for its fleshy root (root chicory), which is roasted, ground, and added to coffee blends or used as a coffee substitute.

  Wild chicory, also called blue succory, was consumed in the Mediterranean region for many millennia and still grows in parts of Israel. It is much like wild lettuce in appearance, with long, narrow, serrated bitter leaves growing close to the ground and spreading out into a rosette. The leaves and stems of wild chicory contain a milky sap, also a trait found in wild lettuce. The ancient Romans, and possibly also the Egyptians before them, cultivated chicory. In the sixteenth century, chicory was developed into larger and less bitter leaves. Modern leaf chicory forms loose heads of bitter, narrow, ragged-edged, light green leaves that are white nearer the heart and milder near the center.

  Chicory has long been confused with its close relative, endive. Endive is possibly a hybrid of chicory and dwarf chicory—which grows wild throughout much of Israel. In any case, endive had already developed into a distinct species from chicory in prehistoric times, although as late as the Talmudic era, endive and chicory looked rather similar t
o each other. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder noted that chicory was darker and more bitter than endive. Not surprisingly, the ancients preferred the milder endive to chicory.

  Endive now consists of two cultivated subspecies: escarole and curly endive. Escarole—also called scarole, broadleaf endive, and Batavian endive—is the more ancient subspecies. It has flat, murky green leaves that are broader and less curly than those of its relatives and form a loose head. It is the least bitter member of the chicory family. Curly endive, also called frisée (French for "curly"), was first recorded in 1586.

  Belgian endive, or more properly witloof chicory, is not a separate species, but the same plant as leaf chicory that has been treated in a special manner. Introduced in Brussels in 1850, the plant was, according to legend, discovered when a Belgian farmer threw some leaf chicory roots into a shed and, in the spring, noticed that the roots, in the absence of sunlight, had grown yellow-tipped white shoots. Radicchio (red chicory) is another relatively recent form of leaf chicory.

  Leaf chicory, escarole, and curly endive are primarily used raw in salads, but Europeans also cook them, especially in soups. Both chicory and endive were part of the diet of ancient Israel. The Talmud uses the terms "garden [cultivated] ulshin" and "ulshin of the field [wild]" to distinguish between the two. The Talmud also uses a synonym for ulshin, hindvei, which is obviously the root for endive. In modern Hebrew, endive is variously called ahntubin, tzeekoreem, hindvei, and olesh selet, while chicory is called olesh.

  Ulshin is among the five leafy greens that the Talmud recommends for the bitter herbs of the Passover Seder. Similar to lettuce, chicory and endive both are milder when young, in the early spring corresponding to Passover, and grow increasingly bitter with age. Today, some Sephardim and Mizrachim use chicory or escarole for the bitter herb as well as make a salad for Passover, salata de maror, containing escarole, chicory, arugula, and romaine lettuce.

  (See also Maror)

  Chili

  Chili, a capsicum pepper, is a relative of the potato and tomato. By the time Columbus stumbled onto the New World, varieties of capsicum—which the Nahutals of the Caribbean called chilli—had already spread throughout most of Central and South America. On sampling the fiery pods, Columbus, who thought he was in the Spice Islands of India, assumed capsicum to be the source of peppercorns or, at least, a possible cheap substitute and called them pimienta (Spanish for "pepper"); this name was combined with the Nahutal name to form the misleading but enduring name chili pepper.

  In 1493, the Spanish brought these fruits—peppers contain seeds meant for dispersal—to the Old World and began growing and crushing the dried chilies in the same way they prepared peppercorns. Only the hot chilies existed at that time and they were first used as a substitute for the extremely expensive Indian spice. Portuguese merchants also attempted to capitalize on them, taking them to Africa and India. Chilies, however, were virtually ignored in most of Europe, although Hungary was a notable exception. The Ottomans, who probably first discovered the crushed form of chili pods around 1513 in their dealings with the Portuguese or Italians, quickly took a liking to the zest it added to foods. The chili's fiery charms were also warmly appreciated in areas with hot climates, notably the Maghreb, Ethiopia, Yemen, and southeastern Asia.

  Capsicums interbreed with relative ease, producing an ever-increasing array of chili varieties. In 1680, there were thirty-three species listed by Europeans and by 2000 there were more than two hundred. All capsicums start out green, then, as they mature on the vine, turn into an array of colors, including red, yellow, orange, brown, and black. Chili flavors range from mild to fire-alarm hot. Determining a chili's piquancy is no easy matter, since even chilies of the same variety can differ in intensity.

  For the past several centuries, the favored type of crushed chili in the Levant and the Maghreb has been the Aleppo pepper, also known as the Halaby pepper and Near East pepper. This cultivar with a detectable but mild amount of heat is grown in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, around the city of Halab (formerly Aleppo), once an important Jewish center. The coarsely ground pepper has a deep red color and a robust, sweet, smoky ancho-like flavor with a moderate heat that becomes more fiery when cooked. It became an important element in many Jewish dishes in Syria and Lebanon. Another pepper belonging to the same variety as the Aleppo pepper is the Maras pepper, named after a Turkish province near Syria and also known as the Maras biber and Turkish pepper. Although related, Aleppo and Maras peppers possess noticeable differences in color, flavor, and aroma. The Maras pepper is the most prevalent chili in Turkish cuisine and it is an essential ingredient in popular fare such as Syrian muhammara (red pepper relish), kebabs, and scrambled eggs.

  Relishes and Sauces. Condiments are relishes, sauces, and other flavorings added to or served with prepared foods to enhance their taste and aroma. Some condiments based on vinegar are enjoyed by cultures across the globe. Others are common only in a specific area. Condiments based on chilies became popular in warmer climates. 1 Spain—agraz; 2 Italy—caponata; 3 Greece—agristada, ajada; 4 Balkans—ajvar; 5 Eastern Europe—chrain, kissel; 6 Morocco—chermoula, kahrmus, zeilouk; 7 Tunisia—ajlouk, harissa; 8 Ethiopia—awaze, berbere; 9 Levant—tahini; 10 Syria—bazargan, hamud, tamarhindi; 11 Turkey—ahilado, muhammara; 12 Georgia—bazha, tkemali; 13 Iraq—amba; 14 Yemen—hilbeh, s'chug; 15 India—chutney, halba

  In a slightly different league is cayenne. Technically, cayenne is a powder made by grinding the small, deep red, pungent cayenne chili; however, the term frequently encompasses any ground tabasco chili, such as the African bird pepper. Cayenne, which has little flavor in itself, is typically used in a dish when heat is required without affecting the flavor. Georgians have access to the fiery Abkhazia red pepper from the Black Sea region. Paprika, ground from dried sweet and hot peppers, is a key to Hungarian cooking.

  Chilies are an important ingredient in spice mixture and sauces which are essential to certain Jewish cuisines, including the Maghrebi harissa, Ethiopian berbere, and Yemenite s'chug.

  (See also Berbere; Harissa; Paprika; Pepper, Sweet; and S'chug)

  Chizhipizhi

  Chizhipizhi is an omelet.

  Origin: Georgia

  Other names: erbokvertskhi.

  This name of this omelet comes from the Georgian word for eggs, kvertskhi. Erbo means butter. The dish is derived from the Persian kuku, but features typical Georgian flavors, such as walnuts and peppers. Chizhipizhi is most often served with yogurt.

  Chocolate

  The evergreen cacao tree, a native of Central America, bears fruit in the form of a pod growing up to a foot in length and containing twenty to forty seeds, called beans. The tree grows in moist tropical climates near the equator (twenty degrees north or south), and most contemporary cacao grows in Java, Indonesia, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Hawaii. The cacao seeds were being processed by at least 700 BCE, probably first by the Olmec Indians of southeastern Mexico. The Aztecs processed cocoa beans, called kakaw, and used them to make an unsweetened beverage called xocolatl (bitter water), which later gave rise to the European term chocolate. This drink, considered an aphrodisiac, was seasoned with red chilies and vanilla, the latter perhaps originating on the eastern coast of Mexico. Aztec warriors drank the beverage before military campaigns. During the fifteenth century, the Aztecs even used cocoa beans as currency. Chocolate is made by fermenting, drying, and roasting the beans.

  Columbus introduced cocoa beans to Spain after his fourth voyage, but it was not until Hernando Cortés brought back the knowledge of how to use them, around 1528, that chocolate's popularity began to spread to the Old World. Cortés first tasted this "food of the gods" at a feast with the emperor Montezuma, who reportedly drank more than fifty cups a day. The Spaniards were intrigued by chocolate, but found it too bitter for their tastes. Soon someone added sugar, a remnant of the long Moorish control of the Iberian Peninsula, and the new drink immediately be
came the rage of the Spanish royal court. Along with vanilla, Spaniards commonly flavored the drink with cinnamon.

  The Spanish kept the process for chocolate secret through the sixteenth century, as the Indians were unwilling to share it with other Europeans. Finally, the Florentine traveler Francesco Carletti, who described in his journals how the Aztecs roasted the beans and made the chocolate paste during a trip to Central America, introduced chocolate to Italy by 1606. Soon Sephardim associated with the Dutch supplanted the Spanish in the chocolate trade. Sephardim and Conversos living in Central America learned the secrets of chocolate as well as vanilla from friendly Indians. As a result, Jews entered the then-exotic chocolate business early on, both as producers and middlemen. Many of the latter were from the Portuguese Jewish centers of Amsterdam; Bayonne and Bordeaux in France; Hamburg, Germany; and Livorno, Italy. In addition, Jewish merchants maintained a monopoly on the vanilla business for several centuries by keeping the vanilla drying and extraction process a secret.

  Benjamin d'Acosta de Andrade, a Portuguese Converso and translator, reached Dutch Brazil and returned to Judaism, only to be expelled after the Portuguese recapture of the area in 1654. He arrived in French Martinique and established two large sugar plantations, as well as, with knowledge obtained from Indians, the world's first modernized cacao-processing plant. Using his family and other Sephardic connections in Amsterdam and other parts of Europe, he began exporting cacao. Other Sephardim soon followed suit, and chocolate for beverages became the island's most important export. After the enactment of the Black Code in 1685, engendered by resentful competitors, the French restricted all business in Martinique to French citizens and expelled all the Jews. Subsequently, d'Acosta and the other Jewish owners of cocoa and vanilla enterprises shifted to Dutch Curaçao and English Jamaica. Jewish control of the European chocolate trade declined in the eighteenth century as cocoa production in Africa increased and Central American cocoa grew prohibitively expensive.