Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  There are also several popular Yemenite bread dishes bearing the name fatoot. Among Yemenites, Friday was a unique transitional day, as people prepared for the oncoming Sabbath. Many tried not to perform their regular jobs on Friday or at least stopped working at some time in the morning. Even the clothing worn on Friday was generally different from that of either the weekday or Sabbath. In addition, Friday food was also distinctive. One of these special Friday morning dishes, fatoot, technically fatoot samneh (crumbled bread with clarified butter), consists of pieces of saluf (pita-like flatbread) or melawah (Yemenite puff pastry) fried with beaten eggs and, in Israel, sometimes honey.

  The most widespread and important form of Yemenite fatoot is a hearty and spicy soup, technically fatoot marak or fatoot wa hilbeh (with fenugreek relish), containing or accompanied with plenty of crumbled bread. In Yemen, meat is generally prepared in the form of thin stews and soups that were, until recently, left to simmer much of the day. Yemenites usually serve meat only for lunch, as it is considered unhealthy to eat meat late in the day. The exception is on the Sabbath and festivals, when meat soup is served as the main course for dinner, and no Yemenite Sabbath or festival meal would be considered complete without it. Fatoot is also ubiquitous at Yemenite weddings.

  Lamb has long been the predominant meat in fatoot. In Israel, however, beef has gained in popularity. In Yemen, fatoot was made with either meat or chicken, and never the two together, but some Israeli marak taimani (Yemenite soup) recipes call for both. Also in Yemen, the only vegetables used were onions and frequently potatoes (typically one each per person), while in Israel a variety of vegetables are sometimes added to marak taimani, including carrots, celery, pumpkin, tomatoes, turnips, and zucchini. Many Yemenites, however, vehemently object to these untraditional additions, insisting that they jarringly alter the taste. Some even object to the presence of parsley, while others add both parsley and cilantro. The soup is always left to simmer for at least three hours. In Israel, this was traditionally done on a small kerosene single-burner cooker (ptiliya, from ptil, "wick"). Today, Yemenite restaurants in Israel typically feature a row of five or more cookers, each topped with a pot bearing a different type of traditional soup.

  There are several ways of adding bread to the soup. Just before eating, some households sprinkle pieces of saluf (flatbread) over the soup, letting it soften, but not turn mushy. Others remove some of the broth, add some boiling water along with several tablespoons of hilbeh and/or s'chug (chili paste), stir in the torn bread, let the mixture boil for several minutes, and then remove it from the heat and let it stand. This method produces two dishes: the remaining meat broth and the slightly thick, but liquidy, fatoot. Other families place the communal soup pot in the center of the table and diners dip pieces of saluf, melawah, or lachuach (Yemenite unleavened flatbread)—Yemenites consider biting from a large piece of bread animallike—into the soup; the bread is frequently first dipped into some hilbeh, a spicy relish. On Passover, soft Yemenite matza is substituted. Instead of bread, some add bulgur, letting the kernels soften in the soup. When wheat berries are used instead of bread and the soup is cooked overnight for Sabbath lunch, this dish is called harisa, the forerunner of Sabbath stews.

  Yemenites prefer a spicy soup, so they stir in a spoonful or several of hawaij (a spice blend of cardamom, cumin, turmeric, and black pepper), which produces a curry flavor and yellowish tint; they also add hilbeh and/or s'chug. Some stir in fresh lemon or lime juice just before serving. Fatoot is typically accompanied with hard-boiled eggs, which are also dipped into the hilbeh. After the broth is finished, the meat and potatoes in the pot are divided among the diners.

  Yemenite Meat Soup (Fatoot/Ftut)

  6 to 8 servings

  [MEAT]

  2 pounds lamb shoulder, beef chuck, or brisket, cut into 2-inch pieces

  2 to 3 marrow bones

  8 cups cold water

  2 large yellow onions, quartered

  6 to 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled

  1 to 4 tablespoons hawaij (Yemenite Spice Mixture (Hawaij)), or 2 tablespoons ground cumin, 2 teaspoons ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

  6 to 8 medium potatoes, peeled

  About 1½ teaspoons table salt or 1 tablespoon kosher salt

  6 to 10 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley or cilantro (optional)

  6 to 8 (5- to 6-inch) salufe (Yemenite flatbread) or pita bread, torn into pieces

  Hilbeh (Yemenite Fenugreek Relish (Hilbeh))

  S'chug (Yemenite Chili Paste (S'Chug))

  1. In a large pot, combine the meat, bones, and cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, occasionally skimming the scum from the surface, for about 10 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, and hawaij, cover, and simmer, occasionally skimming the scum from the surface, for about 2 hours.

  2. Add the potatoes and salt, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the meat and potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. If using the parsley, add about 15 minutes before the soup is done. Discard the onions and garlic. Scrape any marrow from the bones into the soup, then discard the bones.

  3. Place a torn bread in the bottom of each soup bowl and top with plenty of soup, a potato, and some of the meat, or serve with the bread pieces and let each person add or dip their own. Pass the hilbeh and s'chug, and let each person stir them into their soup.

  Fava Bean

  Fava beans are the seeds of a herbaceous plant with coarse hollow stems. It is a mysterious crop, as the fava cannot hybridize with any of its relatives. Its point of origin has not been determined nor have wild fava or any intermediate types ever been found. The earliest evidence of fava's use by humans was a cache of about 2,600 dried wild beans discovered in a late Neolithic site near Nazareth. Around the third millennium BCE, fava beans suddenly were cultivated from Persia to Iberia and North Africa. They were generally a peasant food, but were staples in ancient Egypt and Greece. Greeks and later Romans used the bean seeds for voting—white indicated "yes" and black indicated "no." Fava beans (pol) were mentioned twice in the Bible, both references denoting an item that was stored and useful in times of emergency.

  Even before Columbus brought unknown beans from America, the fava bean was less than universally beloved. Around 450 BCE, Pythagoras described fava beans as unwholesome and forbade people to eat them, while Herodotus noted that Egyptian priests "never sow or eat fava beans and, even if any grow wild, they will not even endure to look at them, since they consider it an unclean type of legume." Although favas were consumed in ancient Israel, it was not a favorite food. The ambiguous sentiments may be due to the lack of a blood enzyme (G6PD deficiency) among some people, especially males, of Mediterranean, African, and south central Asian ancestry. For those who inherit this genetic condition, eating fava beans produces deleterious or even lethal effects.

  The three most prominent contemporary fava bean varieties are the large, whitish, kidney-shaped Greek or European fava (ful rumi in Arabic; broad or Windsor bean in England), which is most commonly served in a mezze (appetizer assortment) and found fresh in Western markets; the medium-sized whitish Upper Egyptian bean (ful baladi, literally "local/country beans" in Arabic; horse bean in England); and the small, nearly round, dark brown pigeon bean, which is not the same as the pigeon pea. In Egypt, pigeon beans are called ful hamam (bathhouse fava), because they were cooked over the fires of Egyptian public bathhouses. These require a long cooking time and are often used for stews and the classic Egyptian dish ful medames (stewed dried fava beans).

  Soft, young fava bean pods, with a velvety exterior and very small beans, can be cooked and eaten without shelling. Once the beans have developed, but the pods are still young and soft, the pods can still be eaten, but the pale green beans must be shelled first. Fresh favas—avas frescas in Ladino and ful akhdar in Arabic—are sometimes served raw, but are more often cooked. The skin of fresh favas is tough and is frequently removed after blanching. When making a batch of ful, the chi
ldren in the family are frequently drafted for the tedious but necessary step of removing the skins. A common way to eat fresh fava beans in Italy and the Middle East is lightly cooked, then drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Europeans like flavoring fava beans with summer savory and the two plants are often grown together.

  Dried fava beans (ful nabed) and canned beans— rehydrated and cooked dried fava beans—can be found in specialty markets. Both of these have a very different flavor than fresh fava beans and are generally not interchangeable. The dried beans are used like chickpeas. Egyptians have a special copper or clay pot called a qidra, with a narrow base and neck and large center, for cooking dried fava beans.

  For centuries, fava beans constituted the principal ingredient of the Sabbath stews of Sephardim and Ashkenazim. Ashkenazim traditionally featured fava beans (bub), at shalom zachor, a celebration held on the Friday night following the birth of a son. In recognition of Esther, who maintained a vegetarian diet while living in the king's palace, fava was a traditional Ashkenazic Purim food. However, since the popularization of the American haricot beans, the fava virtually disappeared from the dishes of most Ashkenazim. In America, the fava bean was, with the exception of a few ethnic enclaves, practically nonexistent. However, recently, it has become trendy and can be found in vegetable markets and fashionable restaurants.

  The fava remains an important food in a few parts of Europe, China, and the Middle East. In Egypt, cooked beans are mashed into a puree akin to hummus and soaked raw beans are ground and fried to produce tamiya, which are similar to falafel. Ethiopians commonly add fava beans to stews. The long-standing significance of these beans to Sephardim may be seen in the bean's old Spanish name, judia, which is also the Spanish word for Jewess. Some Sephardim still use fava beans to make hamin/adafina and other Sabbath dishes. Jews in Mediterranean regions—recalling that fava beans were a staple of the Israelites' diet in Egypt, and also wanting to make use of the first of the winter bean crop—include bean dishes in their Passover fare, most notably soups (called bissara in the Maghreb), rice with fresh fava beans, and kubba (filled dumplings) cooked with fresh favas and artichoke hearts. Fava beans with artichokes are a popular Friday night side dish during the spring. In the Maghreb, fresh fava beans are served over buttery couscous on Shavuot. Bean soups and stews are common during the Nine Days before the fast of Tisha b'Av, providing a source of protein during this meatless period. Since the Hebrew name for fava beans (pol) sounds like the Hebrew verb pahl (fall), some families from the Maghreb eat them during Rosh Hashanah dinner as a sign of the hope that "those who hate us may fall."

  Fennel

  Fennel, a member of the Apiaceae family, has been cultivated since at least the time of ancient Rome. The recent cultivar of that ancient plant is a version that has an enlarged leaf base and resembles celery with a bulbous bottom; it goes by the names finocchio, Florence fennel, bulbing fennel, sweet fennel, and, sometimes mistakenly, anise. Bulb fennel may have been developed in Sicily or southern Italy.

  The original fennel still grows wild through much of the Mediterranean. The Greeks called it marathon (from maraino, "to grow thin"), referring to its use in weight loss—the seeds were believed to be an appetite suppressant and aide to the digestion of fat. The Romans knew it as foeniculum (fragrant hay) and spread the plant to all parts of the empire. Some scholars contend it is the ketzach mentioned by Isaiah. The Mishnah called fennel gufnan, while the Jerusalem Talmud referred to it as shumar and explained that the residents of Judah, who cultivated it, considered fennel to be a spice, but those in the Galilee did not. Its name in modern Hebrew is also shumar, which should not be confused with the modern Hebrew word for dill, shamir.

  In the ancient world, the feathery green or bronze fennel leaves were used raw in salads, the young succulent shoots were eaten fresh and cooked, and the thin carrot-like roots were brewed into a remedy for indigestion. However, it was the plant's fruits, called seeds, that were of primary importance; they were utilized as both a spice and a medicine. Pliny recorded twenty-two medical remedies obtained from the plant. In herbal healing, fennel was widely used to drive away evil spirits. The yellowish-green seeds contain anethol, an essential oil with a licorice flavor that is somewhat milder and less sweet than that of anise. The seeds are particularly popular in central Europe, where they are used to flavor rye breads, sausages, liqueurs, and pickles. Italians add them to pasta sauces, marinades, and fish.

  Sociologists coined the term "conservatism of cuisine," reflecting the observation that few people are adventurous when it comes to foreign food, preferring to rely on fare to which they are accustomed. Historically, an alien dish or vegetable generally took many years to seep into a country, if it did at all, even when the newcomer was delicious or superior to native food. Bulb fennel exemplifies this fact. In the sixteenth century, Jews from Sicily and southern Italy popularized bulb fennel among Jews in the middle and northern sections of Italy, and subsequently they incorporated it into numerous dishes. The favorite Italian way of enjoying fennel is baked. Meanwhile, bulb fennel was largely ignored by many non-Jewish Italians. In 1891, the Florentine cookbook writer Pellegrino Artusi, in La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiare Bene, observed that forty years earlier bulb fennel and eggplant "were considered to be vile because they were food eaten by Jews." Only in the late nineteenth century did Italians at large come to adore what Italian Jews had loved for centuries.

  Bulb fennel is popular among other Mediterranean Jewish communities as well, especially in the Maghreb. Raw fennel with oranges and olives is a classic dish. Fennel salad (salata bisbas) with olives and harissa (chili paste) is a specialty of the island of Djerba. Egyptians make a cooked salad of fennel and celeriac.

  Some Ashkenazim call three spices that resemble each other—fennel, caraway, and cumin—by the name of kimmel (from the German word for caraway, echter kümmel and for cumin kreuzkümmel) and forbid them on Passover because they can become contaminated with wheat. The fennel bulb, however, is permitted. There is a long-standing custom in some Mediterranean communities of eating fennel seeds or bulb fennel during the Passover Seder, as the plant's Hebrew name is reminiscent of the biblical phrase for Passover night, lail shimurim (night of watching).

  Fenugreek

  Both the leaves and seeds of fenugreek, a relative of the pea, have long been used in Asian and North African cooking. The plant bears light green, obovate (egg-shaped) leaves and small, flat pods, each containing ten to twenty aromatic yellowish seeds. Fenugreek seeds have been discovered at several Bronze Age sites in the Near East. When the leaves are dried, they emit a hay-like scent. The Ebers papyrus (c. 1500 BCE), reveals that the Egyptians utilized the seeds in medicines, as a skin softener, and in the mummification process.

  Fenugreek is among the foods recommended by the Talmud for Rosh Hashanah, as its Aramaic name (rubia) is similar to the wish sheh-yirbu (may our merits increase). The name may come from an ancient practice of giving fenugreek to nursing mothers to increase milk production. Fenugreek comes from the Latin term for Greek hay, a reference to the use of its leaves as animal fodder, perhaps due to its purported ability to enhance milk production. Its Arabic name, hilbeh, and modern Hebrew name, chilbeh, derived from the Semitic root for milk. Later, Sephardim confused the term rubia with the Arabic name for fresh black-eyed peas (lubia), a mistaken identity they passed on to Ashkenazim.

  Raw fenugreek seeds are very astringent. Lightly heating the seeds brings out a celery-like aroma and mellow, slightly bitter flavor similar to that of caramelized sugar. Fenugreek has a particular affinity for beef, bread, and potatoes. Several cultures cherish its earthy, bitter flavor and musky aroma, and cooks find it especially useful for adding accents to vegetarian fare. Fenugreek seeds are essential to the Yemenite relish hilbeh; Indian curry powders, chutneys, pickles, and dosas (rice or lentil pancake); Georgian sauces (such as bazha); and the Ethiopian spice mixture berbere. The seed's principal use in America is in imitation maple syrup.
Dried fenugreek leaves, although rarer than seeds, are also used to add bitter notes to foods, including the Persian ghorme sabzi (meat sauce with herbs) and the Georgian spice mixture khmeli-suneli.

  Fesenjan

  Fesenjan is a stew consisting of chicken, duck, or meatballs, along with pomegranates and walnuts.

  Origin: Persia

  Other names: khoresh-e fesenjan.

  Fesenjan is the jewel of Persian stews. It originated in the province of Gilan on the banks of the Caspian Sea, where wild ducks were in abundance. Chicken is now more commonly used than duck. The purplish khoresh (the thick sauce in which it cooks) must simmer long enough for the oil in the walnuts to exude and the flavors to fuse. The result is a thick, tangy, complex dish with a hint of sweetness that contrasts with the intense poultry flavor. The dish was most prominent in the fall, when pomegranates matured, and emerged as a popular Persian Rosh Hashanah recipe. Fesenjan is accompanied by chelow (crusty rice).

  Persian Chicken with Pomegranates and Walnuts (Fesenjan)

  4 to 6 servings

  [MEAT]

  1 (3- to 4-pound) chicken or duckling, cut into 8 pieces, or 8 chicken thighs or 6 duck breasts, bone-in and with skin on

  3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

  1 large yellow onion or 3 shallots, chopped

  ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or cardamom

  2 cups (8 ounces) finely ground walnuts

  ½ cup chicken broth or water