Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  Unquestionably, the favorite type is a butter scone, vajas pogácsa, which is both savory and sweetened (édes vajas pogácsa); it is similar in texture to a cookie, but not as sweet. The original versions were made from a yeast dough, but cooks in the early twentieth century developed a modern baking powder version. Vajas pogácsa are not a dessert, but rather a treat to eat with coffee or tea. In many Hungarian households, no Sabbath would be complete without at least one type of baked good for family and guests to nosh, and slightly sweetened pogachel are the favorite.

  In Hungary, pogácsa are sold at practically every bakery and are commonly made at home. In America and Israel, unlike various other traditional Hungarian baked goods, pogácsa are little known outside the Hungarian community. In America, they can primarily be found in Hungarian bakeries and markets, such as those of the Satmar Chasidim in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

  Hungarian Jews enjoy pogácsa—round, lightly sweet, rich scones on the Sabbath—and for a special snack during the week.

  Hungarian Yeast Butter Scones (Édes Vajas Pogácsa)

  about twenty 2-inch scones

  [DAIRY]

  1 package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast or 1 (0.6-ounce) cake fresh yeast

  3 tablespoons warm milk

  1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

  About 3½ cups (18 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

  ½ teaspoon table salt or 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  1 to 6 tablespoons confectioners' or superfine sugar

  ½ cup quark, gevina levana (Israeli white cheese), or sour cream

  2 large egg yolks

  Egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water)

  1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth, about 5 minutes. Gradually blend in the flour and salt, about 2 minutes. Beat in the sugar, about 2 minutes. Add the yeast mixture, quark, and egg yolks and stir until the mixture starts sticking together. If the dough is too thin, add a little more flour; if too thick, add a little milk. Place on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. Form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

  2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 13-by-9-inch rectangle, about ½ inch thick. From the shorter side, fold over the top one-third of the dough, then fold over the bottom one-third. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out, fold as previously, and refrigerate for another 20 minutes. Roll out into a ¼-inch-thick square. Bring the right and left sides together to meet in the center, then fold the top and bottom to meet in the center. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 2 days.

  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease the sheet.

  4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 10-by-8-inch rectangle, about ¾ inch thick. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a crisscross pattern on the surface. Using a floured 2- or 2½-inch biscuit cutter or drinking glass, cut out rounds as close to each other as possible. Reroll, score, and cut out the scraps; these will be a little tougher. Place on the prepared baking sheet in rows touching each other.

  5. Brush the tops of the pogácsa with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pogácsa to a wire rack and let cool slightly. Serve warm or cooled.

  Polpetta

  The Italian word polpetta, (polpette plural), from the Italian polpo (pulp), does not connote any specific ingredient, but rather the shape and nature of the item—a small sphere—made from mashed food. The favorite type, polpette di carne (meatballs), is made from mashed meat; polpettone is a meatloaf. Non-Jewish Italian meatballs typically contained grated cheese; Jews replaced the cheese with bread crumbs—not only stretching the meat, but also making the balls more tender—which would become the standard practice for European Jewish meatballs. Polpette alla Giudia (Jewish-style meatballs) frequently contain vegetables, especially spinach, to both extend and flavor the meat, and there are pareve versions made entirely from vegetables. One Jewish polpette from Venice consists of spinach, pine nuts, and raisins, and another includes salt cod.

  Polpette are typically served in a soup or after the pasta as a second course, at times with other meats, alongside a vegetable and sometimes accompanied by rice. In Italy, polpette and poplettone were home dishes prepared for the Sabbath and festivals, in particular, Passover, although at one time they had generally been considered too humble to offer to guests.

  Polsterzipfel

  Polsterzipfel is a jam-filled pocket cookie.

  Origin: Austria

  Other names: Austrian jam pockets, Vienna tarts.

  Polsterzipfel, meaning "cornered cushions," date back to at least the sixteenth century. To form these cookies, a rich pastry dough is rolled out, cut into squares, a little jam dropped into the center, and two diagonally opposite corners brought together over the jam. When formed into turnovers, they are called hasenörchen (little rabbit ears). The use of jam in the center differentiates polsterzipfel from similar German versions. Hungarians make a similar half-moon turnover called baratfule. The original dough was made with topfen, a soft, white cheese called quark in Germany and gevina levana in Israel. In America, cream cheese is substituted. Polsterzipfel were once common at dairy celebrations, such as a brit or baby naming.

  Austrian Jam Pockets (Polsterzipfel)

  about 48 pastries

  [DAIRY]

  1 recipe Cream Cheese Dough (see Rugelach)

  About 2½ cups apricot lekvar, prune lekvar, or fruit jam

  1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 2- to 3-inch squares. Spoon 1 teaspoon jam in the center of each square, bring 2 diagonally opposite corners together over the jam, and press to seal. Place on 2 large baking sheets lined with parchment paper or on ungreased sheets. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

  3. Bake until the edges begin to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pastries to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

  Pomegranate

  The pomegranate, which probably originated in Persia, grows on small deciduous bushy trees that thrive in subtropical and mild areas, including most of Israel. The pomegranate is technically not a fruit, but rather a berry; it consists of a tough, leathery, reddish brown skin covering a mass of small shiny arils (seed casings) and crowned by a distinctive calyx. There are two basic types of pomegranates—sweet (with varying degrees of tannin or tartness) and sour. Most pomegranates are the sweet variety, but the flavor varies depending on the subspecies and ripeness. Since pomegranates tend to split when fully mature, they are frequently picked beforehand. A white membrane divides the interior of the pomegranate into six compartments containing the edible part. Each kernel consists of a pip surrounded by a sweet-acidic juice that ranges in color from red to pink to nearly clear. The thick skin keeps the inner fruit moist for an extended period, a particular benefit in a warm climate and for ancient travelers. The arils are added whole in salads and as a garnish, and are eaten seeds and all.

  Pomegranates have inspired Jewish cooks and artisans for millennia. Here is a sixth century BCE Israelite vessel with a cluster of pomegranates featured around the base.

  The pomegranate, rimon in Hebrew, plays a significant role in Jewish literature and lore: The Bible includes it among the seven agricultural products representative of the bounty of the land of Israel; it was one of the fruits brought back from Canaan by the spies sent by Moses; it is spoken of in glowing terms six times in "Song of Songs"; adornments shaped like pomegranates were woven onto the hem of the robe of the high priest; brass images of them were part of the Temple's pillars; several towns in ancient Israel bore the name Rimon; ancient Jewish coins as well as modern Israeli ones picture them; and silver rimmonim are customa
rily used to decorate and cover the two upper handles of the Torah scrolls. Rimon yad is the contemporary Hebrew word for grenade. According to tradition, each pomegranate contains 613 seeds, corresponding to the number of commandments in the Torah, and thus serves as a symbol of righteousness and fruitfulness. Pomegranates begin ripening around August, yielding a plentiful supply just in time for Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, making them traditional holiday fare. The Rosh Hashanah simile is "May we be full of merits like the pomegranate [is full of seeds]."

  In biblical times, the fruit was eaten fresh, used to make juice, or dried. Like other juicy fruits, historically some of the pomegranate berries were spread out in the sun to dry and shrivel for ten to fifteen days to use when fresh fruit was out of season. Dried pomegranate berries, called anardana, are still common in Persian and Indian cuisines; they are added whole or ground to stews, soups, vegetables, legumes, and chutneys. The seeds are also dried and pressed to produce pomegranate oil.

  Pomegranates were foreign to Ashkenazim, but were extremely important in central Asia and Sephardic culture from the onset. When the Moors invaded Iberia in 711, they found a Jewish community on a hillside in southern Spain, which they named Gharnata al Yahud (literally "pomegranates of the Jews"); this city later became Granada, which is generally referred to as Rimon in Jewish literature. In the Near East, pomegranate seeds (sometimes with slivered almonds) are tossed with a little honey and orange-blossom water to make a simple refreshing dessert.

  More important in cooking, however, is the juice, which is used straight or boiled down to a thick syrup. Pomegranate juice is used in central Asia to add tartness to food or to marinate meat; it is also simply enjoyed as a refreshing drink. Before the arrival of lemons and later tomatoes in the Mediterranean and Asia, pomegranate juice served as one of the main souring agents, a role it still plays in many stews, soups, sauces, and purees in Georgia, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Syria. The juice is also fermented into a wine.

  (See also Pomegranate Molasses)

  Pomegranate Molasses

  Fresh pomegranates have a relatively short season, lasting only from August through early November. Middle Easterners long ago learned to boil down the juice, thereby greatly extending its availability and versatility. Pomegranate juice can be cooked to the consistency of maple syrup; this liquid is generally known as pomegranate syrup and is called sharab al-rumman in Arabic. Sharab is most commonly diluted in water, seltzer, or lemonade and served as a beverage, but it is also delicious in marinades and vinaigrettes.

  More frequently for cooking, the pomegranate juice is further reduced to a thick, blackish, sweet-sour concentrate with the consistency of molasses. Real pomegranate molasses or pomegranate concentrate—rob-e anar in Persian, dibs rumman in Arabic, and nar eksisi in Turkish—is made without added sugar, resulting in a rather tart concentrate; the sweetness is controlled by varying the amount of sweet and sour pomegranates. Today, however, many brands of pomegranate concentrate include sugar and/or lemon juice to adjust the sweetness and control the consistency. Narsharab, the name for the pomegranate molasses widely used in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan, is typically made in the Turkish style with sour pomegranates. Since the intensity and flavor of pomegranate molasses vary widely from batch to batch and brand to brand, it is impossible to give a precise amount in recipes, so cooks need to adjust it to taste.

  Pomegranate molasses, available at Middle Eastern stores, is widely used as a souring agent—often in combination with garlic, cilantro, parsley, and tomato sauce—in stews, sauces, vegetables, and savory fillings. In the Caucuses and the Levant, it is traditionally used only in savory dishes. Most homes in these areas keep a bottle of pomegranate molasses on hand at all times to add a fruity acidity to dishes. Pomegranate molasses is essential for muhammara (Turkish red pepper relish), bazargan (Syrian bulgur relish), and Georgian marinades and sauce for shashlik (shish kebab).

  Poppy Seed

  Mohn is the German and Yiddish word for the poppy plant and its seeds, the word perhaps deriving from mond (German for "moon"). The poet Paul Celan (a pseudonym for Paul Antschel) was born to a Jewish family in what was in 1920 Romania and is now part of Ukraine. His parents perished in Nazi concentration camps; he spent much of the war in labor camps. In 1952, Celan entitled his acclaimed second book Mohn und Gedächtnis (Poppy and Remembrance). The title and contents reflect the author's feelings of senselessness at the suffering and death during the Holocaust, as well as the inability to negate or even ameliorate memory. Celan understood that the language, culture, and cuisine of a society, even one tainted and perhaps disqualified by murderers, indelibly remained a part of his life and of the Jewish community. The suggestive word mohn, therefore, is symbolic and representative of the situation of both the author and his people. The poppy plant provides opium, a narcotic inducing forgetting, yet its seeds conjure up the lost world of his youth, filled with poppy seed pastries and poppy seed—topped Sabbath challah he could never forget.

  Although once considered a native of western Asia, evidence now points to a southwestern European origin for the poppy and a gradual move eastward during the Bronze Age to Asia. The earliest seeds were discovered in caves in Spain, while tellingly no poppy seeds have been discovered in Egyptian tombs or ancient Mesopotamian sites. The earliest proof of the presence of opium in Egypt and the Levant appears in the late Bronze Age (around 1300 BCE), the time of the Judges, in the form of bilbils, ceramic storage jars imported from Cyprus. Not only were these containers shaped like the capsules of poppies, but tests on substances inside revealed opium. Claims of the earlier existence of opium in Egypt have been disproved. The bilbils and their contents were imported from Crete. The actual poppy plant, called pereg in Hebrew and khash-khash in Farsi and Arabic, probably arrived in the Near East much later with the Greeks or even Romans.

  The poppy sprouts large red flowers bearing tiny seeds—purportedly nine hundred thousand seeds in a pound. The Dutch poppy produces dark blue seeds. The seeds of the Indian poppy have a pale cream color. The alkaloids that produce opium are not found in European varieties. And although the Elaine character in the television show Seinfeld tested positive for drugs after eating poppy seed muffins, modern testing can now easily determine the difference between the seeds and the drug.

  When roasted or steamed, poppy seeds have a mild, nutty flavor. Grinding them releases the flavor more fully. Many European homes possess a large brass mortar and pestle, frequently handed down for many generations, in which to pound the family's poppy seeds.

  Americans tend to relegate poppy seeds to a garnish for breads and rolls, missing the full possibilities. In northern India and Turkey, the seeds are roasted and ground to make various sauces to flavor fish and meat. In Slavic regions, they are used in fish and vegetables dishes. In the Mediterranean, they are mixed into salads, pasta, and tuna fish. In Venice, poppy seeds are added, along with chestnut puree, dates, and nuts, to charoset. Lithuanian Jews once made a pareve milk substitute from the oil-rich poppy seeds and water.

  Nevertheless, it was in central Europe that the poppy seed achieved its highest degree of popularity and usefulness, becoming essential in Austrian, Czech, German, and Hungarian cuisines. Many central and eastern Europeans would grow and harvest their own poppy seeds each year. Poppy seed oil was the predominant oil in many parts of the region. Poppy is a popular filling for numerous cakes and pastries, including makosh (pastry rolls), mohn torten (poppy cakes), mohn kuchen (coffee cakes), strudel, kichlach (egg cookies), and mohnplatzen (cookies representing Haman's pocket or hat), as well as puddings and confections, notably mohnlach (poppy seed candies). A favorite Hungarian comfort dessert is mákos metélt (noodles with poppy seeds and sugar), called mohn nudeln in Austria.

  Seeds—particularly sesame and poppy—are a symbol of fruitfulness and are therefore commonly sprinkled on Sabbath and Rosh Hashanah challahs. The similarity of the German word mohn to the name Haman led to these seeds' becoming the most common ingredie
nt in Ashkenazic Purim dishes. The most famous poppy seed—filled pastry is the hamantaschen.

  (See also Filling/Fullung (Ashkenazic Pastry Fillings) and Pletzlach)

  Potato

  The white potato is now such an intrinsic part of Ashkenazic cooking that it is difficult for many to comprehend that this tuber is actually a relatively recent addition to the European and Jewish pantry. Both the white and sweet potatoes, two unrelated tubers, are indigenous to the Andes Mountains of South America. The Incas cultivated the sweet potato, a member of the morning glory family, more than five thousand years ago and, long before the arrival of Europeans, it had spread as far north as the southwestern United States. Columbus found the sweet potato in the Caribbean during his first voyage and brought it to Spain in 1493, where it was called batata, the Taino word for "tuber," and soon planted it in many parts of Iberia. For the following century or so, European references to batata were to the sweet potato. Columbus never saw a white potato, which had yet to make its way that far eastward or even to Central America.

  The thousands of cultivated varieties of white potatoes are generally classified in North America as russet (baking) and waxy (boiling); these groupings are based on starch content and shape. The white potato, perhaps native to Peru or Chile, is a member of the nightshade family related to tomatoes and peppers. It flourished in the difficult conditions and poor soil of the higher elevations of the Andes, exhibiting a hardiness that would eventually make it the world's predominant vegetable and fourth-largest food crop, following three grains—corn, wheat, and rice. During its initial period in both America and then Europe, however, this knobby tuber ran a distant second to the sweet potato in popularity.