by Gil Marks
Tongue can still be found in many Jewish delicatessens, typically cold in sandwiches or occasionally hot in a raisin sauce. Some Ashkenazic households serve it every Friday night as an appetizer. Nevertheless, its days of starring in Catskills resorts, or being part of the menu for Jewish caterers, and at grandmother's Sabbath tables have certainly waned. Once a preferred part of an animal, tongue has generally fallen out of favor among American Jews, who, at best, consider it an exotic by-product. To most, it has gone the way of the neighborhood kosher butcher. Instead, today in America, Asians and Mexicans covet this piece of meat, and it has recently become trendy in hip restaurants.
Tortelli
Tortelli is filled pasta.
Origin: Italy
Other names: ravioli, torteleti.
Basic noodles as well as filled pasta spread from China to the Near East. In the twelfth century, they were probably introduced by the Arabs to Italy by way of Sicily. The first record of filled pasta in an Italian source appeared around 1260, which mentioned tortelli (a diminutive form of the Late Latin torta, "round bread"), a term that encompassed various filled pasta, including rounds, squares, rectangles, and crescents. Shortly afterward, tortelli first appeared in a Jewish source around 1300 in the writings of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, a Provençal native who spent many years in Rome and included it along with macaroni in a list of dishes served at a fantasy Purim feast. As with many dumpling dishes, it originated as a way of using up leftovers and stretching limited resources—leftover cooked meats and vegetables could be chopped and wrapped up in pasta.
The word ravioli, derived from either the Italian word raviolo (little turnip) or rabiole (items of little value), was first recorded in 1233 in Nice, where it referred to a pie. In the fourteenth century in Naples, the cookbook Liber de Coquina (c. 1300), incorporating foods from all parts of the peninsula, contained a recipe for ravioli (as well as the first recipe for lasagna). This early version of ravioli consisted of a meat filling that was wrapped in caul fat and fried; a pastry dough wrapping, also fried, was offered as an alternative. Soon ravioli became a synonym for tortelli, a boiled filled pasta. To further complicate matters, the terms tortelli and ravioli are used to denote both boiled as well as deep-fried filled dough. Ravioli, however, are typically made by enclosing a filling between two sheets of thin pasta, then cutting out squares or rounds. Whether called tortelli or ravioli, the dish was historically reserved for special occasions.
Italian Jews filled their pasta with meat or cheese as well as various vegetables, notably spinach and beet greens. In the sixteenth century, Conversos fleeing Spain and Sephardim from other parts of the Mediterranean brought with them to Italy their affinity for pumpkin, giving rise to pumpkin-filled tortelli. This dish, called (tortelli di zucca), is a particular specialty of Mantua in Lombardy; some cooks prefer them earthy and savory with sometimes a little cheese mixed in for a dairy meal, while others add a hint of sweetness with some crushed amaretti (almond macaroons). Spinach is historically a spring and late-summer ingredient and is, therefore, traditional for Purim and Rosh Hashanah, while pumpkin and winter squash are autumn and winter fillings, and are sometimes used to fill round tortelli for Rosh Hashanah, as well as the usual square-shaped pasta for Sukkot. Cheese fillings are traditional for Shavuot and Hanukkah. Meat filled pastas tend to be relatively small, while those with cheese and vegetables are typically larger.
Tortelli and ravioli are never served alone: meat-filled pasta is typically enjoyed in a broth, while cheese-filled and vegetable-filled versions are usually topped with a delicate sauce, such as butter or tomato.
(See also Pasta)
Travado
Travado is a small, nut-filled, crescent-shaped cookie that is typically dipped into a sugar syrup.
Origin: Greece, Turkey
Other names: beurekito con muez, boreka de muez.
Small cookies called travados are a favorite eastern Sephardic pastry, a sweet form of empanadas and borekas. The word travado means "joined" or "twist together" in Ladino; in Portuguese, travado also means "tornado." Bulgarian Jews call a similar cookie rosca di alhasu (filled coil).
Traditionally, the pastries were submerged in a sugar syrup, so the dough itself was not sweet. More recently, a variation emerged in which the soaking syrup is omitted and the cookies are coated with confectioners' sugar, and, to compensate for the lack of syrup, the amount of sugar in the dough is greatly increased. Greeks favor an almond filling, while Turks tend to like walnut. The nuts are frequently accented with orange-blossom water, orange zest, or marmalade.
Since they are labor intensive, travados are usually reserved for special occasions, in particular Purim. For Rosh Hashanah, they are made with an almond filling and dipped into a honey syrup, signifying the wish for a sweet and bright (dulce y aclarada) New Year. Some Turkish Jews include them in the meal to break the fast of Yom Kippur, along with pepitada (melon seed drink) and grapes. These pastries are commonly served with naa-naa (mint tea) or Turkish coffee.
(See also Kaab El Ghazal and Ma'amoul)
Middle Eastern Pastry Crescents (Travados)
about 50 cookies
[PAREVE]
Dough:
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup water and 1 teaspoon orange-blossom water or ½ teaspoon almond extract; or ½ cup orange juice, sweet red wine, or sweet white wine
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
About 3½ cups (17.5 ounces) all-purpose flour, or 1½ cups whole-wheat flour and about 2 cups all-purpose flour
Filling:
2 cups ground walnuts or blanched almonds, or 1 cup each
½ cup honey; or ½ cup sugar, ¼ cup honey, and ¼ cup water
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves or 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)
Syrup:
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water
¾ cup (9 ounces) honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease the sheets.
2. To make the dough: In a large bowl, combine the oil, water, and sugar. Gradually add the baking soda and enough flour to form a soft, nonsticky dough.
3. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients.
4. Divide the dough into 1½-inch balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the balls into 1/8 -inch-thick rounds, about 2 inches in diameter. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center of each round, fold a side over to form a half-moon, and crimp the edges to seal. If desired, run a serrated pastry cutter around the curved side. Bend slightly to form a crescent.
5. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies begin to turn golden, 15 to 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, transfer the cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.
6. To make the syrup: In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar and water over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Add the honey and lemon juice, reduce the heat to medium, and boil, without stirring, until syrupy, about 10 minutes.
7. Using tongs, dip the cooled travados, one at a time, into the warm syrup, completely submerging them for about 15 seconds, then let the excess syrup drip off into the pan. Place on wire racks or a platter and let cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Treibern
Treibern (a Yiddish noun from the Slavic trebiti, "to cleanse"; nikkur in Hebrew) is the process of removing the sciatic nerve (gid hanosheh) and forbidden fats (cheilev) from ritually slaughtered animals. The verb is treiber. Since this process is extremely exacting and tedious, Ashkenazim do not use the hindquarter of animals, after the twelfth rib, where most of the forbidden items are located. Other Jewish communities continue to use the hindquarters.
Treif
Treif ("torn" in Hebrew) is a biblical term
meaning an animal killed by a predator. It is also used colloquially to denote all foods and items that are not kosher.
Tu B'Shevat
Tu b'Shevat (the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat), the New Year for trees (which falls in mid-January to mid-February) is not a festival like the New Year in Tishrei, but rather a biblically significant day. In agriculture-based ancient Israel, this was an especially meaningful occasion, accompanied with singing and dancing. Sephardim, due to the warm climate and early growing season in their locales, have long manifested a deep devotion to the day—they call it Las Frutus (The Fruit)—which they express through a large number of customs and even by providing a vacation from school for children. On the day of Tu b'Shevat, Sephardic families customarily visit the homes of relatives, where they are offered a veritable feast, appropriately containing an abundance of fruits and nuts. The children are encouraged to not only partake of the spread, but to take bolsas de frutas (bags of fruit) home with them.
The community of kabbalists who made their home in sixteenth-century Safed maintained a profound regard for this minor holiday and developed a new liturgy and rituals for it. An expanded version of these prayers was collected in an eighteenth-century work appropriately called Peri Etz Hadar ("Fruit of the Goodly Tree," the biblical name for citron), which described the kabbalistic Tu b'Shevat "Seder" (ceremonial meal). This ceremony, based on the Passover Seder, includes rituals such as drinking four cups of wine—each wine a different type—and sampling at least twelve fruits and nuts; in other versions of the ritual, the number is increased to fifteen, corresponding to the numerical value of tu. Iraqi Jews further expanded on the concept, increasing the number to a minimum of one hundred fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables.
In the Tu b'Shevat Seder, the first cup of wine is white—symbolizing the snows of winter—and it is followed by fruits that have an inedible covering, including nuts, citrus fruits, pineapples, and pomegranates. The second cup is golden/yellow—symbolizing the sap beginning to flow in the trees—and it precedes fruits that have edible coverings but also contain large pits, including apricots, carob, cherries, dates, peaches, plums, and olives. The third cup is pink—symbolizing the blossoms that are just sprouting on the branches—and it is followed by completely edible fruits or those with very small seeds, including apples, berries, figs, grapes, quinces, and pears. The fourth and final cup is a deep red—symbolizing the fertility of the land. Appropriate psalms and Biblical verses referring to fruit and vegetables are recited during the course of the Seder.
In contrast, Tu b'Shevat was only marginally celebrated among Ashkenazim, probably because it fell in the dead of winter in northern climates. The Magen Avraham noted, "The custom in Ashkenaz is to increase the consumption of different types of fruits on this day." Beginning in the late 1900s, with the establishment of agricultural settlements in Israel as well as the growing need to plant trees to rebuild the land, this holiday took on new significance throughout the Jewish world.
Since Tu b'Shevat is a minor holiday, few specific dishes evolved for its celebration, but rather the practice emerged of serving food containing fruits and nuts. There is a widespread custom of eating the Shevah Minim ("Seven Species," the five fruits and two grains for which the Land of Israel is praised), either in the order in which they are mentioned in the biblical verse—wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates—or in the order of their importance in ancient Israel—wheat, barley, olives or olive oil, dates, grapes or wine, figs, and pomegranates. In addition, many people eat other fruits mentioned in the Bible or associated with Israel, most notably bokser (carob), apples, quinces, walnuts, and pistachios. Since almond trees are traditionally the first to bloom, as well as biblically significant, their nuts have special meaning on Tu b'Shevat. Some families serve jam or candy made from etrogim (citrons) that were used during the festival of Sukkot.
Popular Tu b'Shevat dishes include Hungarian wine soup (borleves), Moroccan orange salad (salata latsheen), Middle Eastern bulgur-stuffed cabbage (malfoof mahshee), Bukharan vegetable and fruit stew (dimlama), Bukharan baked rice and fruit (savo), Persian sweet rice (shirin polow), Ashkenazic barley with mushrooms (gersht un shveml), Persian carrot omelets (havij edjeh), Middle Eastern wheat berry pudding (ashure), and German fried dumplings with fruit (schnitzelkloese). Fruit strudels and kugels are popular Ashkenazic treats. Turkish Jews enjoy prehito, a dish of sweetened cracked wheat, or kofyas, a dish of sweetened wheat berries. Syrians serve fruit and nut pastries, such as ma'amoul (nut pastries) and ras ib adjweh (date pastries).
The weekly Torah portion read on the Sabbath preceding Tu b'Shevat, Beshallach, relates the story of the splitting of the sea and the disastrous consequences that befell the Egyptians, who were drowned while pursuing the Israelites. In commemoration of this event, many communities serve dishes with sauces, symbolizing the sea, or other symbolic foods. Italian Jews prepare a dish of pasta in meat sauce called ruota di faraone (Pharaoh's wheel). Alsatians serve small dumplings in chicken soup. Due to its proximity to Tu b'Shevat, many dishes served on this Sabbath also contain fruit.
Turkey
The Book of Kings reveals, "For the king [Solomon] had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram [king of Israel's northern neighbor, Phoenicia]; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, silver, ivory, and monkeys, and tukiyim [peacocks]." Solomon's navy sailed from the area of modern day Eliat through the Red Sea, bringing back exotic imports from east Asia, including domesticated peacocks. The biblical Hebrew tuki probably derived from the Tamil word for that bird, tokei. (In modern Hebrew, tuki means "parrot" and tavas, related to the Greek taos, is used for "peacock.")
The ancient Greeks and Romans also knew peafowl (pavo in Latin) and, in addition, raised large colorful birds native to the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, called melagris (now known as the guinea fowl). Both of these birds were then a rarity and delicacy. After the fall of the Roman Empire, these exotic birds mostly disappeared from Europe. Then during the medieval period, merchants from the Ottoman Empire began to import the Blue Peafowl from India to Europe. By the fourteenth century, peafowl (the English term derived from the Latin pavo) were widespread and served as food on the tables of the European upper class until the arrival of the fleshier American turkey in the sixteenth century.
In 1446, the Portuguese claimed the area of western Africa now known as Guinea-Bissau. Among the items the colonizers took from the region, besides slaves, was the domesticated helmeted guinea fowl, a large roundish bird with a red and blue head, red waddles, and grayish feathers covered with numerous white spots. The Portuguese named it pintada (painted), referring to its spots. The French mistook the bird for a native of east Asia, perhaps confusing it with the peafowl or thinking that these two colorful birds came from the same place,and called it 'poule de l'Inde' (Indian bird) or dinde, although the term was eventually switched to pintade. Although much of the rest of Europe confused the guinea fowl with an Indian heritage, the English mistook it for an Ottoman bird. When the guinea fowl arrived in England in the early sixteenth century by way of Ottoman merchants, the British took to calling it a turkey-bird, the term first recorded in 1541.
Part of the confusion over the guinea fowl's origin and identity came from the nature of fourteenth and fifteenth century commerce in the Mediterranean, which involved eastern Asian merchandise passing through the Ottoman Empire on its way to Europe. As a result, "turkey" was commonly attached to the name of exotic items. In the sixteenth century, after European countries began developing their sea trade, Ottoman merchants frequently purchased items from the Portuguese and Spanish and then sold them to various European countries. As a result, Italians called the guinea fowl faraona, from the Italian word for pharaoh, as the bird reached Italy by way of Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Since American corn arrived in Italy by way of the Ottomans, it was originally named grano turco (Turkish grain), while Hungarians called chilies törökbors" (Turkey pepper). T
he initial European misnomers of the guinea fowl as both Indian bird and turkey bird may have actually been due to Jewish merchants, typically acting as the middle men, mistaking its origin as Indian and using the biblical word for peacock, tuki. In any case, for the following two centuries after its arrival in Europe, the large African bird, commonly called Indian bird (or turkey in English), would be confused with the earlier multihued Indian peacock as well as, shortly thereafter, a newly-arrived large, colorful America bird.
There were two species of wild birds in America that would later become known as turkey. Agiocharis ocellata, from the Yucatán and northern Guatemala, is a great flyer, though it was never domesticated and was only known to Europeans through reports. The other, more important, species is Meleagris gallopavo of Mexico. More than a thousand years ago, Native Americans domesticated the Mexican species, which to casual observers resembles the helmeted guinea fowl. Besides the domesticated bird, there are five wild subspecies, whose ranges once stretched from Mexico to Canada.
Spaniards found this strange but tasty domesticated bird in Mexico and brought it back to Europe around 1519, and it probably reached England in 1541 or perhaps during the 1530s. When this previously unknown American bird originally entered Europe, it was widely confused by many with the guinea fowl and others confused it with the peafowl. Consequently, the Spanish know it as pavo and gallipavo (from the Latin gallus, "peafowl rooster"). The French, initially thinking that Columbus and the Spaniards were bringing these strange items from India and not an unknown continent, or that these were guinea fowl, called the American bird dinde (of India), a similar misnomer made its way into Turkish as hindi, Yiddish as indik and hendika, and modern Hebrew as tarnagol hodu, all meaning "Indian chicken." The Yiddish term for guinea fowl (the African bird), perlahener, was sometimes mistranslated as turkey (the American bird), further confusing the situation. The British initially used the same name, turkey, for both the African and American birds. During the sixteenth century, in the parlance of the common Englishman, turkey came to denote the increasingly common American birds, while guinea hen, the term first recorded in 1578, shifted to the more rare African one. In 1755, Samuel Johnson described turkey, the American native, as "a large domestick fowl brought from Turkey."