by Gil Marks
Abraham Cahan's novel The Rise of David Levinsky (New York, 1917) contains the line: "That there was not a trace of leavened bread in the house, its place being taken by thin, flat unleavened 'matzos,' and the repast included 'matzo balls,' wine, mead, and other accessories of a Passover meal, is a matter of course." Shortly thereafter, the term matza ball came into widespread usage.
Jewish comics helped popularize the matza ball in the American mainstream, making it one of the most famous of Jewish foods. Matza ball soup, typically featuring massive dumplings, frequently accompanied with noodles, became a staple of the Jewish deli. In 1939, black jazz musician Slim Galliard composed and recorded the song "Matzoh Balls," which was soon covered by Cab Calloway and included these opening lines: "Matzoh balls, gefilte fish, best ol' dish I ever had, now matzoh balls and gefilte fish makes you order up an extra dish." For Passover 1943, at the Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho, Chaplain Shulman, along with Cook's Mate Third Class Irving Cohen and his three non-Jewish helpers, planned and prepared a Seder for six thousand boot camp trainees, both Jewish and interested non-Jews, burning out an electric grinder processing matzas into meal for the matza balls. The 1946 edition of Roget's International Thesaurus included "matzo ball soup" in its list of soups alongside gumbo, minestrone, and mulligatawny. In a 1979 episode of Archie Bunker's Place, Edith Bunker prepared matza ball soup for her Jewish niece, Stephanie. The contemporary popularity of matza balls even among many non-Jews demonstrates the success of those medieval cooks.
Matza balls consist of only a few ingredients—matza meal, eggs, a little fat, a liquid, salt, and pepper. Using matza meal in place of flour and adding eggs results in a lighter dumpling. Adding fat—some cooks use the fat skimmed from the top of the chicken soup or beef marrow—produces a more flavorful dumpling. Some eastern European variations included a little ground almonds or bitter almonds, the latter an item unavailable in America. Some people favor a very peppery knaidel, while others only want at best a hint of pepper or prefer a touch of ground ginger (or even ginger ale) and/or nutmeg. Like other Ashkenazic dumplings, matza balls can be plain or filled with a savory or sweet mixture.
Some people prefer firmer knaidlach (sinkers), while others favor lighter ones (floaters); the preference is almost always based upon childhood memories of one's mother's or bubbe's cooking. As a rule of thumb, the firmer the batter and the more fat, the heavier the matza ball. Use a little less matza meal and fat or add some beaten egg whites for lighter balls.
Knaidlach are most frequently served in chicken soup. This pairing is one of the crowning glories of Ashkenazic cuisine, as the texture and flavor of the matza balls are an ideal foil for the rich, salty broth. Alsatians sometimes serve it in beef broth rather than chicken. Although knaidlach can be cooked directly in the soup, they leave the liquid cloudy and are therefore usually prepared in a separate pot of lightly salted water, then transferred to either the soup pot or the soup bowl to meet up with the steaming translucent broth.
In many Ashkenazic households, matza ball soup is standard at the Passover Seder and sometimes at Sabbath dinner throughout the year. Chasidim, who do not eat matza soaked in liquid during the first seven days of Passover, make pseudo—matza balls from ground chicken or turkey and mashed potatoes. Knaidlach are also customarily cooked in tzimmes, pot roasts, and cholent (Sabbath stew); when cooked overnight for Sabbath lunch, the dumplings are sometimes called cholent kugel or Shabbos ganif (Sabbath thief), a name they earned by stealing flavor from the liquids in which they were cooked. Jews in Louisiana serve matza balls seasoned with chopped scallions and parsley in an unorthodox chicken and sausage gumbo.
(See also Dumpling, Gebrochts, Halke, Knedlíky, Matza, and Passover (Pesach).)
Ashkenazic Matza Balls (Knaidlach)
about 12 small or 8 large balls
[PAREVE or MEAT]
4 large eggs
2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil or schmaltz (use less for fluffier balls)
¼ cup seltzer, club soda, chicken soup, or hot water
About 1 teaspoon salt
About ¼ teaspoon ground white or black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or dill, or dash of ground ginger, nutmeg, or garlic powder (optional)
1 cup matza meal
About 2 tablespoons water
1. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, seltzer, salt, pepper, and, if using, parsley. Stir in the matza meal. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Shortly before cooking, stir in enough water to make a slightly loose dough, but one that can be formed into balls. The looser the dough, the lighter the matza balls.
2. In a large pot, bring lightly salted water to a rapid boil. Using moistened hands, form the matza mixture into twelve 1-inch balls or eight 1¼-inch balls, remoistening your hands after each ball.
3. Gently drop the knaidlach into the boiling water, without overcrowding the pot. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Do not open the pot for at least 20 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Knedlíky
Knedlíky is a dumpling.
Origin: Czech
Czech cuisine was strongly influenced by its neighbors, all countries with a long heritage of dumplings— Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The Czech name for dumplings, knedlíky, comes from the Teutonic knödel, meaning "knot." The two most prominent types are bread (houskové knedlíky) and potato (bramborové knedlíky). Czech dumplings may also be made from matza, cheese (syrove knedlíky), liver (jatrov knedlíky), and even sweet yeast bread dough (kynuté knedlíky). Czech food consists largely of very saucy meat roasts and stews, such as gulás (goulash), and dumplings are the ideal accompaniment.
Bread dumplings are the most ancient form, allowing cooks to transform leftover loaves into a tasty way to stretch limited resources. The bread should not be too old or the dumplings will taste stale. Some cooks mix a little semolina into the dough for firmness, but this also produces a heavy dumpling. Bread dumplings—large, doughy, absorbent, and rather bland—are lighter than the dense potato ones, but still heavier than most American dumplings. They are commonly large and served cut into slices with a stew and some form of cabbage (zelo), such as sauerkraut, braised cabbage, or sweet-and-sour cabbage.
It is a rare Czech meal that fails to include some sort of dumpling (and some meals even include several types of dumpling), either in soup or as a side dish, and also for dessert. The plum-filled variation of the poached sweet bread dough, svestkove knedlíky, called pflaumen en schlaffrok (plums in nightgowns) in Germany, is a popular Czech Sukkot and Simchat Torah treat, making use of seasonal produce. At other times, cooks substitute a spoonful of povidla (plum preserves) or other fruit preserves for the fresh fruit.
By tradition, no Czech will use a knife to cut a dumpling, as it is said to spoil the flavor.
(See also Dumpling and Halke)
Czech Yeast Dumplings (Kynuté Knedlíky)
12 dumplings
[DAIRY or PAREVE]
1 package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast or 1 (0.6-ounce) cake fresh yeast
½ cup warm water (105°F to 115°F for dry yeast; 80°F to 85°F for fresh yeast), or ¼ cup warm water and ¼ cup milk
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg yolks or 2 large eggs
½ teaspoon table salt or 1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract or grated lemon zest (optional)
About 2 cups (10 ounces) bread or unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, melted
Confectioners' sugar, cinnamon-sugar, or poppy seeds for sprinkling (optional)
1. Dissolve the yeast in ¼ cup water. Stir in 1 teaspoon sugar and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture, remaining water, remaining sugar, eggs, salt, and, if using, vanilla. Stir in the flour, ½ cup at a time, to make a mixture that holds together. On a lightly flo
ured surface, knead until smooth and springy, about 5 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
2. Punch down the dough. Fold over and press to- gether several times. Let stand for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, form into balls, cover, and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
3. In a large pot, bring lightly salted water to a rapid boil. In batches, carefully lower the dumplings into the water, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer, shaking the pot occasionally, until dry and spongy on the inside, about 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Repeat with the remaining dumplings. Drizzle the knedlíky with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar. Serve warm.
Knish
Knish is a filled pastry, either baked or fried.
Origin: Probably Ukraine
Other names: Poland: knysz; Slovakia: dolken; Ukraine: knysh.
"What do you care about unfamiliar weddings and unfamiliar circumcisions? I tell my wife. Better see to it that we get something to eat. As it is written, Let all who are hungry come and eat. Nobody likes to dance on an empty stomach. If you give us borscht, fine. If not, I'll take knishes or kreplach, kugel, or dumplings. Blintzes with cheese will suit me too. Make anything you like and the more the better, but do it quickly." (From "The Bubble Bursts" [1899], a short story about Tevye the Dairyman by Sholem Aleichem.)
The knish is a classic example of peasant food evolving into comfort food and even sophisticated fare. The origins of the knish lay in a medieval Slavic fried patty called knysz in Poland, a peasant dish made from a cooked vegetable, most notably mashed turnips, or kasha; leftovers were typically used. These small cakes commonly accompanied a soup, and frequently the two dishes were the entire meal. Slavic cooks began stuffing the patties with a little sautéed mushrooms, onions, or chopped meat and eventually began adding bread crumbs or flour to the outer portion. In Ukraine, the knysz evolved into a filled yeast bread, such as a poppy seed jelly roll (makovyi knysh).
Eastern European Jews adapted the knysz to the dictates of kosher laws and to their tastes, transforming it into the knish, a small, round, fried filled pastry; this was a tasty way to enhance and stretch staples, notably kasha, cabbage, and curd cheese. Eventually, professional bakers and housewives began making a baked form of knish in which the outer wrapping became more tender and pastry-like. In the mid-nineteenth century, with the popularization of the home oven, the baked knish became the most prevalent type and emerged as the preeminent eastern Ashkenazic filled pastry.
The baked knish's rise coincided with the popularization of the potato in eastern Europe, and potato became the most common knish filling. Potato was frequently also used to make the pastry.
Knishes were sometimes everyday fare, but were more often offered at special occasions. For a Sabbath meal, they served as an appetizer, filled with chopped liver or chopped meat, or more often, as a side dish, containing kasha or potatoes, to a roast chicken or brisket. Knishes and other stuffed foods, symbolic of the bounty of the harvest, are traditional on Sukkot. Cheese and fruit knishes are customary for Shavuot and a flourless version is made for Passover. They are also popular on Purim.
Yonah Schimmel began selling his wife's knishes in Coney Island in 1890 and their legacy ("Always baked, never fried") continues on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Immigrants brought the knish to America toward the end of the nineteenth century, where it remained primarily Jewish fare before becoming a New York culinary favorite. As with many American gastronomic icons, such as hot dogs and hamburgers, the knish got its start in the New World by being peddled from carts by street vendors in New York and other large cities. In New York City, many hot dog or pretzel carts kept a separate compartment for knishes. Workers, students, and even businessmen commonly turned to the numerous knish vendors for a warm, hearty, inexpensive snack or meal. Knishes also became commonplace at Jewish delis, specialty stores, and Catskills resorts.
Some of the vendors expanded into larger enterprises. Yonah Schimmel, a Romanian rabbi, began selling his wife's round "always baked" potato and kasha knishes to immigrants, initially in 1890 in Coney Island. In partnership with his cousin, Joseph Berger, Schimmel relocated to the Lower East Side, first peddling knishes by pushcart and then opening a very small shop, where the partners were able to offer a larger variety. Schimmel left the business, although it retained his name, and Berger subsequently opened a still-extant store on Houston Street in 1910.
The word knish was first recorded in English in the January 17, 1916, issue of the New York Times, in a headline announcing, "Rivington Street Sees War, Rival Restaurant Men Cut Prices on Succulent Knish." The article explained, "Rivington Street is the latest scene of war. It is a knish war. In the event that there are any persons in the city who don't know what a knish is, it may be explained that it is a dish that was peculiar to Max Green's eating house at 150 Rivington Street until it became popular in the vicinity and competitors sent their chefs to taste it and discover its ingredients. It was made of mashed potatoes with onions and a sprinkling of cheese, all wrapped up in baked dough, like an apple dumpling, and its inventor was doing a land office business selling knishes—or knishi, or whatever the plural is—at 5 cents a knish."
In 1919, a Sephardic shoemaker from Yugoslavia, Elias Gabay, and his wife, Bella, arrived in New York City. After finding sporadic employment in shoe factories, in 1921, the couple began selling fried square potato knishes in Coney Island, before opening the first mechanized production facility, Gabila's Knishes. In 1988, New York City began to regulate the temperatures at which street food could be sold, practically eliminating the city's once-pervasive knish street vendors and much of Gabila's market. Around 1990, the company introduced frozen knishes, both precooked and uncooked, for sale in groceries. At the turn of the twenty-first century, Gabila's and Sons' plant in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn was producing more than fifteen million knishes a year, which were sold in groceries and delis; the knishes were shipped as far away as Puerto Rico. In 2005, at around the time Gabila's claimed to have sold its one billionth knish, the company relocated its factory to Long Island.
A rule of thumb in comedy is that k is a funny- sounding letter, and thus the knish, along with kasha, kishke, knaidel, and kreplach, found its way into various vaudeville routines. Among the compositions of comedian and musician Mickey Katz was the 1959 parody "Knish Doctor." As a result, the knish entered the American consciousness and mainstream, emerging among the favorite noshes of New York City. The knish man was a common sight at New York beaches, including Coney Island. The lower stretch of Second Avenue, once dotted with Yiddish theaters and Jewish delis, was nicknamed Knish Alley. After World War II, there were even knish trucks in parts of Brooklyn and, in the summer, at the bungalows of the Catskills. Yankee Stadium vendors peddled knishes, alongside hot dogs, peanuts, and beer. In 2000, Gabila's estimated that at a typical football game at Giants Stadium, between five thousand and eight thousand knishes were sold. During New York City political campaigns, eating a knish became a common way for candidates to identify with the Jewish voter. Susan Isaacs, in her novel Close Relations (New York, 1980), sets such a scene as Governor James d'Avonne Gresham gushes, " 'This is why I like campaigning in Queens. A knish, real food!' " The scene continues: "The crowd beamed as the Ultimate Wasp, their Beloved Non-ethnic, smiled and inhaled, seeming to savor the greatness of the knish." The candidate then chokes on his knish.
In America, the knish continued to change. Knishes were always relatively small in the Old World, but in typical American fashion, they grew to mammoth proportions and also shrank to miniature hors d'oeuvre versions. Standard European fillings consisted of savory potato, kasha, chopped meat, liver, cabbage, and curd cheese. Modern variations include beans, broccoli, mushroom, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potato, pizza, and even tofu. Sweet cheese, cheese and fruit, and chocolate cheese f
illings have become commonplace. Although the filling can be sweet, knish pastry is always savory. Many New York knish shops have become more Hispanic or Russian than Yiddish.
Since the knish was something of an undertaking to prepare, homemade knishes practically disappeared in America in the years following World War II and were replaced by knishes conveniently purchased from carts, knisheries, and appetizing stores, and, in frozen form, from grocery stores. By the end of the century, however, as the flavor of commercial knishes declined and prices soared, more people returned to homemade knishes. The knish even gained inroads outside of New York among non-Jews. In some areas of the country, knishes appear at markets and cafeterias alongside empanadas and piroshki. Knishes have also become a prominent snack in Israel. The knish remains evocative of Ashkenazic cooking.
Ashkenazic Filled Pastries (Knishes)
about 8 large or 36 small knishes
[PAREVE or DAIRY]
Pastry:
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons shortening or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
About 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
2½ to 3 cups Ashkenazic pastry filling, such as potato, kasha, or cheese (see Filling/Fullung (Ashkenazic Pastry Fillings))
Egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)
1. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, shortening, and salt. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. On a lightly floured surface, knead lightly until soft. Divide into fourths, shape each into a disc, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
