Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  Crostata

  Crostata is a tart, usually covered with a top crust.

  Origin: Italy

  Italian tarts, called crostate (crostata singular) are a specialty of Rome and Tuscany and are generally made with a thicker crust than the French type. This sweet, rich crust is made from a dough called pasta frolla (fragile pastry). It was developed during the Renaissance and has been the basic pastry of Italy ever since.

  Crostate were originally rustic free-form pastries. The cook filled the pastry with jam, folded the sides over, and baked the pastry directly on the floor of the oven. However, after the advent of baking pans, the pastries were more commonly rolled out and shaped in molds. Besides jam, seasonal fruits and nuts serve as the basis for most fillings. The pastries were also filled with ricotta cheese, pastry cream, and lemon curd. Many of the fillings were brought to Italy by Sephardim following the expulsion from Spain. Meat and vegetable pies are known as pasticcio.

  A small bakery, Boccione, dating back to 1555, in the old Roman Jewish ghetto continues to produce crostate, which are sold by the tart or slice, and other handmade traditional Jewish pastries. Among its specialties is crostata di ricotta e cioccolato (ricotta and chocolate), which originated in the ghetto and is now common throughout the country. Some of the other traditional Jewish fillings include mandorla e visciole (almond paste and sour cherries) and ricotta e visciole (ricotta and sour cherries).

  Csipetke

  Csipetke is a cross between a dumpling and noodle.

  Origin: Hungary

  Csipetke, meaning "pinched" in Hungarian, is an evolutionary link between dumplings (like galuska) and egg noodles (metelt), not quite one or the other. It serves as a garnish for many Hungarian soups and stews (such as goulash) or, with gravy, as a side dish or even as a main course.

  (See also Galuska)

  Hungarian Pinched Dumplings (Csipetke)

  5 to 6 servings

  [PAREVE]

  2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour

  1 teaspoon salt

  4 large eggs

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center and drop in the eggs. Using a fork, lightly beat the eggs, then gradually stir in the flour to make a firm dough. On a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Flatten the dough with your hands or roll out the dough to a ½-inch thickness. Cut into ½-inch-thick strips. Pinch off small pieces of the dough.

  3. In batches, add the dumplings to the boiling water and simmer until they float to the surface, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. The csipetke can also be cooked directly in soup or goulash. Add to a soup or toss with about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil to prevent sticking until ready to use. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

  Cucumber

  Melons, gourds, and cucumbers all belong to the Cucurbitaceae family; these plants grow on trailing, tendril-bearing vines. There exists, however, much confusion over the names and identities of melons and cucumbers throughout history.

  The common translation of the kishuim mentioned in the Bible is cucumbers. It was among the Egyptian foods the Israelites waxed nostalgic over in the wilderness. However, this is a misnomer. Seeds found in Egyptian tombs, as well as images in ancient illustrations, point to chate melons and possibly also snake melons, both common in ancient Egypt, as the biblical kishuim and not cucumbers.

  The chate melon (from the Arabic qatta or qitha, a cognate of kishuim)—also variously called chate cucumber, hairy melon, and cucumber melon—was probably the first cultivated melon in Africa; it was commonly being grown in the Bronze Age. Already four thousand years ago, residents of Egypt and Mesopotamia preserved them in salt, somewhat like the modern pickle.

  The snake melon—also variously called vegetable melon and Armenian cucumber—is an elongated fruit that grows up to three feet in length, is heavily ribbed lengthwise, and reaches one to three inches in thickness. Grown on the ground, it typically coils like a snake, while those grown on a trellis tend to be straight. When young and unripe, snake melons can be eaten raw, cooked, or pickled; the crisp, mild, white flesh has somewhat of a cucumber-like taste. In Lebanon and Afghanistan today, pickled young snake melons are sold bottled under the name "pickled wild cucumbers."

  The vegetables (cucumis and sikyos hemeros) mentioned by Pliny and other Roman writers and in the Talmud were most certainly the chate and snake melons.

  In the wake of the fall of the Roman Empire, melon cultivation disappeared in most of Europe. With the spread of the hardy Indian cucumber and its gradual improvement, the popularity of any remaining chate melons and snake melons further declined.

  The cucumbers common today—the intensely succulent, dark-green-skinned, cylindrical fruit- vegetables—are descendants of an annual native to a region in northwestern India near the Himalayas, where their ancestor was cultivated more than three thousand years ago. When cucumbers initially reached western Asia and the Mediterranean, they were confused with the African melons they resembled and called by their names. The modern Hebrew word for cucumber, melafefon, a contraction of the Greek words melo (apple) and pepon (watermelon), referred in the Talmud to a rudimentary muskmelon, not the modern cucumber. In addition to the confusion over linguistics, there is a lack of archaeological evidence because the cucumber's soft seeds have not been preserved at ancient sites. Consequently, we do not know when cucumbers actually arrived in Europe. It may have been as late as the thirteenth century. The cucumber only reached England in the fourteenth century.

  The original Indian cucumber that arrived in western Asia was small, curved, prickly, and bitter. Nevertheless, the Arabs developed a fondness for it and spread the vegetable westward; the Moors probably introduced it to Spain during the early Middle Ages. In Europe, because the same compounds that caused cucumbers to be bitter also made them hard to digest, they were considered an unhealthy food. The British initially used the vegetables for animal feed, calling them cowcumbers. Over the centuries, however, gardeners bred much of the bitterness and "burps" out of them.

  The Beit Alpha originated in the late 1940s on a kibbutz of that name in the Jezreel Valley, and is now Israel's—and Europe's—predominant cucumber, but mysteriously often called Persian cucumber in America.

  Around the middle of the sixteenth century, about a century after the cucumber arrived in northeastern Europe, nomadic Tatars and Turks brought the Chinese method of lacto-fermentation to eastern Europe. This pickling technique was more advanced than earlier European methods and led to the advent of pickled cucumbers. Soon the cucumber emerged as the predominant European pickled vegetable; in En- glish, pickled cucumbers even became known simply as "pickles." As a result, cucumbers were among the few vegetables eaten by northeastern Ashkenazim; however, they were only eaten in pickled or marinated form, never raw.

  Today, cucumbers constitute the fourth-most- cultivated "vegetable" crop. Gherkin (a diminutive of gurk, the Dutch word for a small cucumber) refers to any immature cucumber or small variety used for pickling. There are four basic types of cucumbers: the smooth-skinned garden cucumbers most common in America; the small Kirby; the very long, seedless hothouse, also known as Dutch and English cucumbers; and the Beit Alpha, also called the Middle Eastern cucumber. The Beit Alpha, originated in the late 1940s on a kibbutz of that name in the Jezreel Valley, and is now Israel's as well as Europe's predominant cucumber.

  In modern Israel, cucumbers emerged as one of the most important vegetables; along with tomatoes, they constitute the ubiquitous Israeli salad. Israelis are passionate about their small, thin melafefonim and enjoy them in salads, pickled, marinated, and added to cold yogurt soups.

  A favorite way of preparing cucumbers in most Jewish communities is marinated in a salad. Salting the cucumbers keeps them crunchy, while removing the excess water. Vinegar acts as a p
reservative, making the salad ideal for Sabbath lunch in the era before refrigeration. To counteract the pungency of the vinegar, a little sugar was sometimes added. For dairy meals, sour cream was mixed in for the tang. Dill was a favorite flavoring in the Baltic States, while mint served that role in the Middle East. Cucumber salad goes well with roasted chicken, chicken paprikash, or salmon. It is popular in modern Israel with schnitzel.

  (See also Melon, Pickle, and Tarator)

  Cumin

  Cumin, a member of the Apiaceae family, is a small yellow fruit (called a seed) with an acrid fragrance and warm, bitter-nutty, earthy flavor. Cumin resembles caraway seeds but it is longer, lighter in color, and straighter.

  Cumin, perhaps native to the Levant or the Nile Valley, is one of the most ancient and important of Middle Eastern spices. It was the most common spice in biblical Israel and, along with nigella and coriander, one of the few cultivated spices at that time. The prophet Isaiah observed, "For ketzach [nigella] is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is the wheel of a threshing sledge rolled over kammon [cumin], but ketzach is beaten out with a stick, and kammon with a rod."

  In the Far East, cumin is among the preferred warming spices (yang), along with cinnamon, coriander, ginger, and nutmeg. During the medieval period, cumin lost favor in most of Europe, except those areas with a pronounced Arab influence. It is largely nonexistent in the kitchens of most Ashkenazim, who favor caraway, and Italians. The exceptions, due to the long Ottoman domination, are Romanians and Hungarians. Cumin was subsumed by Ashkenazim under the category of kiyniyot and prohibited on Passover, which, considering that in Europe it was rarely if ever used, was not much of an imposition.

  In contrast, cumin is essential to Sephardim and Mizrachim, who permit it on Passover. It is used alone, whole or ground, and paired with other spices, notably cinnamon, coriander, and especially turmeric. Cumin contributes a gentle pungency and warmth to foods and adds a base note that complements more assertive spices, so it is frequently used in spice mixtures, such as Indian curries, Egyptian dukkah, Moroccan ras el hanout, Turkish baharat, Yemenite hawaij, and American chili powder.

  Cumin is the prominent spice in falafel, hummus, kebabs, shawarma, Sephardic Sabbath stews, kamounia (cumin stew), and Yemenite s'chug (chil paste). Moroccans add cumin and garlic to carrot salads, fish and merguez (sausages). Tunisians flavor grilled fish with cumin and cilantro. Syrians use it in red lentil soup and potato salad. The Arabic word for the spice, kemoun, meaning "grocer," was used by Middle Eastern Jews as a surname.

  Black cumin (Bunium persicum), distantly related to cumin, is native to Kashmir and Pakistan. It is darker, smaller, and more intense than the more common cumin. Black cumin is not the same as the biblical ketzach (nigella).

  D

  Dabo

  Dabo is a soft, spiced honey-wheat bread, made in both a large loaf and smaller buns, that is eaten during the Sabbath and festivals.

  Origin: Ethiopia

  Other names: ambasha, dabbo, yemarina, yewotet dabo.

  During the week, the mainstay of the Ethiopian diet is injera, a very thin, spongy, sour bread made from a grain called teff. On the Sabbath, however, spiced honey-wheat breads called dabo are also customary. Technically, these tender, lightly sweetened breads are called ambasha, but since in Ethiopia the Jews rarely ate any other wheat bread other than this type, it is simply referred to as dabo (Amharic for "bread"). Dabos are used to commence the meal or served as a dessert, or enjoyed as a snack throughout the day, while injeras are eaten during the meal.

  This sourdough bread was originally made from semolina flour, formed into a substantial slab of dough, and wrapped in banana or kabo leaves (defo dabo). It was steamed in a covered circular clay pot over a fire, then cut into pieces, either squares or slices, before serving. In the contemporary method, the dough is placed into a large circular pan or shaped into rolls and baked. In either case, the dough is lightly sweetened with honey, which was rather abundant in Ethiopia, and lightly spiced with coriander and sometimes cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, or fenugreek.

  Typically, Ethiopian housewives would start getting ready for the Sabbath on Wednesday, including preparing dabo dough. It was left to rise overnight and cooked on Thursday to be enjoyed during the Sabbath. After Saturday morning prayers, the women would bring a dabo to the village kes (priest), who would communally bless the breads, calling them misvaot (akin to the Hebrew word for commandments). Before eating, Yitbarek, a special Amharic benediction replete with a traditional melody, is recited over the Sabbath bread. The ensuing Sabbath meal would typically feature doro wot (chicken stew with hard-boiled eggs) served on a bed of injera, and gomen (collard greens). Many Ethiopians enjoy the sweet dabo warm as a snack with shai (spiced tea), tallah (beer), or agwat (curd cheese).

  Dabo kolo (the latter word means "roasted") are small pieces of fried spicy bread dough. They are enjoyed as a crunchy snack and as fare for travelers. In Israel, dabo kolo are popular opening tidbits at Ethiopian weddings.

  Dal

  Dal is a stew-like dish made from legumes.

  Origin: India

  Few Indian meals would be considered complete without some type of legume. Peas and beans are vital in this frequently vegetarian land and are usually served as an accompaniment to a curry or spiced rice dish. Indeed, many Indian meals consist wholly of dal and rice. Dal is the Hindi world for a split lentil, but it also refers to the different dried beans and peas that are cooked by Indians.

  Chana dal or chuna dal are small deep-yellow Indian split peas. They have a nutty taste when fried and are also used as a spice. Chowli dal are split black-eyed peas. Sabut massor dal are brown lentils and massor dal (also masore dal or masar dal) are red lentils. Red lentils were popularized in India by Jews who used them in a variety of dishes, such as piaju (lentil fritters). Toovar dal (also toor dal, arhar dal, or yellow lentils) are kidney-shaped yellowish brown pigeon peas. These are the primary dal of southern India and have an earthy flavor. Urad dal (black lentils, beluga lentils), actually a pea and not a lentil, have a dark skin and a nutty flavor. When split and hulled, they reveal an ivory-colored interior and are sold as "white lentils." Moong dal (mung dal) are yellow mung beans and rajma refers to red kidney beans.

  Rice and dal serve as the basis for both meat or dairy meats for weekdays, Sabbath, and holidays. Thin dal is served as a soup, medium-thin dal as a dip, and thick dal as a side dish. Indian food is always zestfully seasoned. For holidays, some cooks prepare a colorful dish using five different legumes, each added separately to the pot according to its cooking time.

  (See also Black-Eyed Pea and Lentil)

  Dandelion

  The dandelion has long grown wild throughout much of Asia and Europe. The name is derived from the Latin dens leonis (lion's teeth), referring to the jagged edges of its leaves. Fresh dandelion leaves are crisp and slightly bitter as well as nutritious. The ancient Romans used them stewed or raw in salads, while the roots were cooked or transformed into a tea and the flowers into a wine. Some scholars believe dandelion was one of the five bitter herbs appropriate for the Passover Seder. Due to their diuretic properties, dandelion leaves were employed by medieval Middle Eastern and European healers as medicine and brought by early English settlers to America, where they, of course, spread like weeds. The cultivated Italian variety of dandelion has a milder flavor and lighter green color than the wild kind. Organic wild dandelion leaves are edible if they are picked before the flowers develop. Thus dandelion was a seasonal green, prominent in the spring. In parts of the Mediterranean and Middle East, the leaves are still used to make salads and soups (they can be substituted for spinach).

  Danish

  Danish is a buttery yeast pastry filled with almond paste, cheese, or fruit.

  Origin: Austria

  Other names: Austria and southern Germany: Kopenhagener; Scandanavia and northern Germany: wienerbrod, wienbrod.

  In his 1955 novel Marjorie Morningstar (née Morgenstern), a com
mentary on Jewish assimilation in America in the mid-twentieth century, Herman Wouk described the foods at a typical Jewish brunch, almost none of which were ever consumed by Jews in eastern Europe: "Platters of smoked salmon, smoked whitefish, kippered herrings, lettuce and tomatoes, scrambled eggs, French-fried potatoes, rolls, toast, Danish pastry, and coffee cake covered the table."

  Danish pastry, a cross between sweet yeast dough and puff pastry, is ubiquitous to Ashkenazic bakeries and morning celebrations. Typical Danish dough contains about half as much fat in weight as flour. During baking, the fat particles in Danish melt and steam, producing flaky layers in the rich dough. The classic filling is butter beaten with sugar and ground almonds or almond paste. Other popular fillings include cheese, prune, and apricot.

  Despite its English name, Danish pastry, or more simply Danish, was actually created in Austria, where the dough is known as germbutterteig (yeast butter dough) and plunderteig. In fact, residents of Denmark, as well as most of Europe, call it wienerbrod or wienbrod (Vienna bread). This dough, related to croissant dough, was brought to Denmark in the early nineteenth century by an Austrian baker whose skills were so superior to those of his Danish counterparts that they were soon imitating his techniques. According to a legend, a strike by Austrian bakers around 1840 induced some to immigrate to Denmark with its better working conditions. Another version places the strike in Denmark, and the Danish owners importing Austrian bakers. Danes and Scandinavians used this rich dough to create small pastries, such as kringler (braids/pretzels), kammer (combs), and spandauer (squares with the corners folded in the center).