by Gil Marks
For a related stew called pörkölt (literally meaning "roasted")—Jews call it paprikás—the meat is cut into larger pieces than in a gulyás and simmered in much less liquid; instead, it is braised in onions and its own fat. To non-Jewish Hungarians, paprikás, known as paprikash in America, is the same as a pörkölt, but with sour cream added. For goulash soup, called gulyásleves, the amount of liquid is increased.
As is typical of Hungarian cooking, the meat is not browned, but only simmered until meltingly tender. Real goulash is never thickened with flour, but rather with the onions that break down during cooking. Goulash contains a large proportion of onions; according to some Hungarians, the weight of the onions should equal that of the meat. Following the arrival of tomatoes, many cooks began adding them to goulash, while others find their presence inappropriate. Hungarians never add bell pepper, although some do use fresh Hungarian paprika peppers, in addition to the ground paprika. The popularization of the potato in the nineteenth century led to its inclusion in some versions, while other cooks insisted on a pure-meat gulyás. Traditional gulyás never contained sour cream, which was added to many American versions. Consequently, Hungarian Jews could readily adopt gulyás into their repertoire and it became a popular Friday night and holiday dish.
In the nineteenth century, the Hungarian upper class finally embraced gulyás. At this time, Hungarians were attempting to distinguish and separate themselves from the Austrians by stressing their culture and language, and gulyás emerged as a symbol of the country and a national dish. Nevertheless, neighboring countries soon discovered gulyás as well. The Viennese version tends to be much thicker, more like an American stew. Czechs serve it with steamed bread dumplings. Romanians omit the paprika punch, but typically season it with garlic, green peppers, and sometimes horseradish.
The word goulash only appeared in English in 1866 and was subsequently brought to America by Hungarian immigrants. The early American Jewish cookbook Aunt Babette's (1889) offered a recipe akin to goulash entitled "Paprica (Hungarian Hash)." It was among the first American cookbooks to include paprika, let alone a Hungarian stew. The first edition of The Settlement Cook Book (1901) provided a recipe for "Hungarian Gulash." The directions said, "Veal and beef mixed. Cut into one-inch squares and brown in hot fat with one onion, salt, and paprika. When the meat is brown, add the tomatoes, and one-half hour before serving, add some small potatoes." By the 1943 edition of The Settlement Cook Book, the title was spelled "Hungarian Goulash."
By the onset of the twentieth century, goulash had become a standard dish among many American Jews from non-Hungarian roots. During the Depression, goulash emerged as one of America's most famous dishes, although many American versions are actually pörkölt, made with less liquid.
(See also Paprika and Paprikás)
Hungarian Beef Goulash (Marha Gulyás)
6 to 8 servings
[MEAT]
¼ cup schmaltz, vegetable oil, or shortening
2 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 tablespoons sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne (optional)
3 pounds boneless beef chuck or shoulder, cut into 1- to 1½-inch cubes
1 cup (6 ounces) peeled, seeded, and chopped plum tomatoes
2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and sliced (optional)
About 4 cups beef broth, chicken broth, or water
About ½ teaspoon table salt or 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
2 pounds baking (russet) potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes (optional)
1. In a large, heavy pot, heat the schmaltz over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the paprika(s) until the onions are well coated.
2. Place the pot over low heat, add the beef, and stir to coat. Add the tomatoes and, if using, bell peppers. Add enough broth to almost cover the beef. Add the salt, pepper, and, if using, caraway. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the meat is nearly tender, about 1½ hours.
3. If using, add the potatoes, cover, and simmer until the meat and potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Skim any fat from the surface and check the seasonings. Gulyás is even better if allowed to cool, refrigerated overnight, and reheated. Serve with csipetke (noodle pellets), galuska (dumplings), or wide noodles.
Variation
Hungarian Veal Goulash (BorjÚ GulyÁS):
Substitute 3 pounds boneless veal shoulder for the beef and reduce the cooking time to about 1¼ hours.
Gozinaki
Gozinaki is a walnut and honey candy.
Origin: Georgia
Other names: gozinaqi.
Georgians historically did not eat many confections and pastries, primarily reserving them for special banquets and weddings. Instead, they preferred fresh and dried fruit and preserves. However, the walnut-loving Georgians boiled their favorite nut in honey to create a popular confection, gozinaki. These are traditional on Rosh Hashanah, to start the new year on a sweet note.
Georgian Walnut and Honey Candy (Gozinaki)
about 48 pieces
[PAREVE]
2 cups (24 ounces) honey
½ cup sugar
1 pound (4 cups) walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (not ground)
1. In a heavy medium saucepan, stir the honey and sugar over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stop stirring, increase the heat to medium, and boil until the syrup reaches the thread stage or 230°F on a candy thermometer, about 8 minutes.
2. Reduce the heat to low and add the walnuts. Cook, stirring, until golden and reaches the soft-ball stage or 240°F, about 10 minutes. Do not burn.
3. Pour the syrup onto a moistened cutting board or oiled marble slab. Using a moistened spatula or rolling pin, spread into ½-inch thickness and smooth the surface. Let stand until firm but not solid, about 15 minutes, then cut into 2-inch diamond shapes or squares. Let cool completely, at least 2 hours. If desired, wrap individually in pieces of cellophane. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Grain
The grass family, consisting of more than eight thousand species, is the third-largest family of flowering plants. Nevertheless, it has long been the single most important food source for humans, providing the bulk of the diet in the form of cereal grains: rice and millet in eastern Asia; sorghum and millet in Africa; teff, wheat, and millet in Ethiopia; corn in South America; rye, wheat, barley, and oats in Europe; and wheat and barley in western Asia. These seeds possess certain important attributes accounting for their long-standing importance to humans: They are versatile (they are the basis for bread and many other foods); they do not spoil as quickly as other sources of protein; they are rich in carbohydrates, the major source of calories in the human diet since the advent of civilization; they provide fodder for domesticated animals; and, not coincidentally, they can also be transformed into alcoholic beverages. Grains, at least a few of them, are also the only substances that can become either chametz or Passover matza.
Well before humanity discovered agriculture, hunter-gatherers picked and amassed primitive barley and wheat, which was spread by the wind and sprouted wild throughout much of the Fertile Crescent. At first, kernels were roasted in campfires, which not only cooked them but simultaneously removed the inedible husks. Later, people began boiling the grains in the cavities of concave rocks beside the campfire and then in woven baskets. After the invention of earthenware during the Neolithic period, people boiled them in clay pots, to create what we call porridge or gruel—the Greeks knew it as sitos, the Romans as puls, and the Jews as dysah. Early meals consisted primarily of these stewed cereals, which were sometimes served plain and at other times flavored with onions, garlic, and herbs, or perhaps sweete
ned with honey. When some mush was left standing too long, it fermented, creating rudimentary beer, which in itself probably convinced the first farmers of the advantage of settling in one spot: If they could raise enough barley, they would be guaranteed a large, steady supply of fermented gruel. When people accidentally dropped some of the porridge into campfires—they were certainly not intentionally wasting a scarce resource—they discovered that the baked mishaps were tastier, more portable, and more useful than the gruel, and created the first rudimentary breads. In due course, cooks realized that finely crushed kernels cooked more quickly than whole ones and also gave the gruel a smoother texture—this discovery led to the development of flour.
In the late Neolithic period, rudimentary farmers near the Euphrates River discovered how to plant barley and wheat seeds to propagate a more-or-less stable supply, requiring them to settle in a permanent location and thus marking the very inception of civilization. In that vein, all the earliest records of writing have to do with grain transactions. Barley and wheat thrive throughout most of the Middle East, while most other grains fare poorly in much of the region. Therefore, bread from those two grains has long been more important in the Middle East than in any other area. In the earliest levels at digs in Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, archeologists found carbonized seeds of two primitive varieties of wheat—einkorn and emmer—as well as two-rowed barley. In the Seven Species with which the land of Israel is praised, the Bible lists two grains first—chitah (wheat) and se'orah (barley).
The Fertile Crescent was not only home to these important grains, but also to three of the most useful animals capable of being domesticated—cattle, sheep, and goats. Cows became an important part of agriculture with the advent of the iron plow in the Near East around 2500 BCE. This instrument was generally pulled by cattle, allowing for deeper burrowing and engendering a revolution in agriculture, especially for wheat. Barley can be planted without plowing, but wheat benefits from it.
Eventually, people discovered that they could thresh grain (remove it from the stalks) without roasting by beating the wheat or other grain with sticks or by having oxen repeatedly tread on the stalks. Yet all these methods generally resulted in most of the grains being broken, thereby allowing rancidity and limiting storage. Later, a threshing sledge (tribulum), a large board with spikes on the underside, was pulled over the stalks by oxen, leaving more unbroken kernels. In archeological sites of biblical Israel, numerous threshing floors and sledges have been discovered; these were needed for processing hulled grains like emmer, einkorn, and two-rowed barley.
The Romans preferred common wheat and distributed it throughout their domains. Around two millennia ago, common wheat in the Near East and, along with durum, constituted the bulk of the cereal crop, with barley increasingly relegated to animal fodder. Later, the Arabs spread rice west from Persia to Iberia. After the arrival of American corn, this new grain eventually became important in parts of the Old World. Beginning in the nineteenth century, corn, rice, and wheat would increasingly account among them for the vast majority of all grains produced worldwide, reaching nearly 90% in 2009.
In 2010, corn leads among all grains in worldwide production by weight, although a significant portion of the corn crop is used in industrial processes and for animal feed. In second place in production is rice, which is the predominant grain in tropical and semi-tropical areas, and only barely surpasses wheat (including common wheat and durum), the principal grain of temperate lands. Barley, the fourth most widely grown grain, remains important for malting and livestock, while sorghum (fifth) and millet (sixth) endure as staples of the human diet in parts of Africa and eastern Asia. Seventh in worldwide production is oats, its primary area still in northern Europe and North America. The last of the eight major contemporary grain crops (buckwheat, amaranth, and quinoa are pseudocereals and not members of the grass family) is rye, a grain increasingly over the past two decades decreasing in popularity and still most appreciated in the colder regions of Europe. There are also a few grains enduring as local favorites, such teff in Ethiopia, spelt (dinkel) in Germany, and emmer (faro) in Italy.
(See Barley, Bread, Emmer, Millet, Rye, Semolina, and Wheat)
Grape
Grapes are small, firm berries with a semitranslucent flesh enclosed within a smooth skin that grow in bunches on a perennial woody vine. Colors include green, red, purple, and blue-black. When mature, grapes contain about 75 to 80 percent water and 14 to 25 percent sugar. The vine is one of the most versatile plants, with most parts being used in cooking—whole berries with poultry, fish, salads, soups, and desserts; the pulp for juice and preserves; grape sugar as a sweetener; grape seeds for oil; and tender, young leaves for stuffing and cooking. The juice of unripe grapes is squeezed to make verjuice.
Today, there are more than eight thousand varieties of grapes and three types—wine, raisin, and table grapes. All grapes are descended from two diverse lines—labrusca (American) and vinifera (Asian and European). Labrusca, also called slip-skin, have skins that separate easily from the pulp and seeds. On the contrary, the skin of vinifera grapes adheres to the pulp, while the seeds are easily removed, or occasionally they are seedless. A single vinifera parent resulted in the many varieties of vines that produce all the world's premium wines and most of the world's table grapes. Among the earliest grapes, and possibly the original vinifera, was the Muscat, which still produces a fruity, perfumed wine. Crossing European and American grapes has produced varieties such as Concord and Catawba. Most labrusca grapes are used in commercial processing for juice, preserves, and sacramental (Kiddush) wine. Much more important to the world are the vinifera species.
From its home in southern Transcaucasia or southwest Asia, not far from Mount Ararat, the vinifera grape, initially cultivated around 3000 BCE, spread across the ancient world. Grape seeds have been found in many of the earliest archaeological excavations. Paintings on the walls of Egyptian tombs depict viticulture, and grapes have long been prominent fixtures of Judaism. Noah's first act following the Flood was to plant a vineyard (kerem). The Bible recounts that the Israelites' first exposure to the Promised Land was a grape cluster (eshkol) of legendary proportions brought back by the spies sent by Moses. The vine (gefen) is listed in the Bible among the Seven Species with which the Land of Israel is praised. The people of Israel were compared to grapes and God to the owner of a vineyard. Wine—symbolizing joy and fruitfulness ("wine that cheers man's heart")—is an integral element of many Jewish rituals, including Kiddush, Havdalah, brit milah, the marriage ceremony, and the Passover Seder. According to a Midrash, grapes were the forbidden fruit in Eden.
In the ancient world, grapes were eaten fresh, but only sparingly and for the very brief period when they came into season. Some of the crop was spread over flat wicker baskets and set in the sun to dry, becoming raisins, or pressed into clusters and dried as cakes. The bulk of the grape harvest was crushed for its juice, specifically, fermented juice. Hence the Bible repeatedly reiterates the trio of agricultural blessings: "of your grain, tiroshcha [your partially fermented grape juice], and your olive oil." (The word tirosh refers to grape juice that is not mature enough to be considered yayin, "wine.") The predominant form in which the fruit of the vine was used was in the liquid form and not as anavim (grapes), the actual fruit.
(See also Agraz, Raisin, Vinegar, and Wine)
Grape Leaves, Stuffed
Origin: Probably Turkey
Other names: Arabic: mehshi wara ainub; Azeri: yarpag dolmasi; Bulgaria: lozova surma; Croatia: sarma; Georgia: tolma; Greece: dolmades, yaprakes dolmas; Kurdistan: yaprach; Ladino: yaprakes finos; Persian: dolma bargh; Romania: sarmale in foi de vita; Turkey: yaprak dolmasi.
Throughout most of history, resources were never wasted, but some vegetation proved more difficult to utilize than others. Perhaps the first culinary usage for otherwise inedible grape leaves was enwrapping fish to insulate the tender flesh while roasting. During the early
medieval period, someone in the Caucasus region (the home of the grape vine), Sasanian Persia, or possibly Byzantium figured out that grape leaves could be filled with various leftover grains or meat, then simmered in a pot until tender. In the late medieval period, the Arabs spread the concept westward. The Ottoman Turks, for the five centuries following their ascension in the fourteenth century, honed and refined the art of making stuffed vegetables, generically known as dolma or dolmasi, thus transforming peasant fare into sophisticated food.
Consequently, the concept was most popular in the Ottoman Empire and adjacent areas. Three Turkish words—yaprak (leaf), sarma (wrap), and dolmak (to get filled/to be stuffed)—are used by various communities to specify stuffed vine leaves. In northern Europe, where vineyards did not thrive, the ubiquitous cabbage provided the principal leaves for stuffing, while in western and central Asia and the Balkans, grape leaves were far and away the most popular, with each country developing a slight flavoring variation.
There are two basic categories of stuffed grape leaves: ones containing meat and ones without meat. Grape leaves made without meat are sometimes called yalanci, from the Turkish meaning "false/liar." According to the Turks, meat-stuffed etli yaprak dolma should be served warm, while rice-stuffed yalanci dolma should be served at room temperature. Rice dolmas are particularly popular among Jews, as they can be eaten at both dairy or meat meals. Rice-stuffed grape leaves are frequently served with yogurt. Meat grape leaves are typically offered as a main course accompanied with rice and salads, while rice versions are usually appetizers, providing wonderful finger food on the Sabbath for mezzes (appetizer assortments) and lunches. Stuffed grape leaves were regular Friday evening fare in Salonika.