Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  2. In a clean large pot, bring the bones, onions, turmeric, peppercorns, and 8 cups cold water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer, occasionally skimming the scum from the surface, for at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours.

  3. Remove any meat from the bones, shred, and add to the soup. Discard the bones. Add the salt and hawaij and simmer for about 5 minutes. The soup can be prepared ahead to this point and stored in the refrigerator for 2 days, then reheated.

  Reshinke

  Reshinke is an Ashkenazic celebration cookie with two coils of dough forming a decorative border.

  Origin: Poland

  Other names: chosnbroyt.

  Reshinke is an elaborate cookie prepared for a brit or wedding. It most likely derived from the Sephardic twisted cookies reshicas/reshikas and roskitas (little coils), perhaps traveling by way of Romania into Poland during the Ottoman domination of the Balkans. They were first mentioned in Kraków in 1595, in a community statute concerning weddings. A 1619 letter from Prague in regards to a brit reveals their presence in central Europe as well.

  A reshinke consists of a large flat cookie surface, either circular or rectangular, with two intertwined twists of dough forming a decorative border. Typically, a whole almond was inserted in each section of the twist. Another strip of dough was used to spell out the words "mazel tov" in the center of the cookie. More elaborate versions also featured additional dough formed into small flowers and wreaths. Colored sugar (matshik) was sprinkled over the entire surface.

  After a brit, the cookie was offered to the guests as part of the celebratory feast, except the "mazel tov" section, which was customarily reserved for the kimpetorn ("indulgence" in Yiddish, the term used for a new mother, usually confined to bed). The custom of the reshinke faded with the destruction of the European Jewish communities during World War II.

  Revanada de Parida

  Revanada de parida is fried egg-and-milk-soaked bread similar to French toast.

  Origin: Spain

  Other names: French: pain à la Romain, pain perdu, tostées dorées; German: arme ritter; Hungarian: bundás kenyér; Italian: fette di pan carré; Spanish: sopas doradas, torriga.

  The concept of frying slices of milk-soaked bread dates back at least to ancient Rome, where Apicius, in his work De re Coquinaria Libri Decem (Cuisine in Ten Books), written around 400 CE, recorded this recipe: "Aliter dulcia [another sweet]—break fine white bread, crust removed, into large pieces, which soak in milk. Fry in oil, cover with honey, and serve."

  The primary difference between Apicius' aliter dulcia and modern French toast is the absence of eggs, which were a rarity in Roman cooking. Egg toast may have originated in medieval Spain, influenced by the Moorish tradition of sweet egg-rich dishes. During the late medieval period, as chickens and eggs became increasingly prevalent in the rest of Europe and sugar arrived from the Middle East, the dish spread throughout western and central Europe and first became popular as dinner fare. However, as in many medieval European dishes, almond milk or juice was initially used instead of cow's milk.

  Sephardic Jews, who left Iberia in 1492, called the dish revanadas de parida (slices of birth), perhaps because it was considered healthy fare for new mothers and invalids. There is also a Passover version made with fried matzas.

  The Oxford English Dictionary states that the term French toast initially appeared in 1660 in The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May (London), although in that recipe the stale bread was actually soaked in a mixture of wine and orange juice, not eggs or milk, and its name reflected the use of "French bread," rather than a Gaelic origin. The English referred to the egg-soaked version as panperdy and eggy bread. Initially, Americans variously called the dish egg toast, Spanish toast, American toast, and, according to Fannie Farmer in the original edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (Boston, 1896), German toast. Among the foods that Mark Twain yearned for while on a steamer in A Tramp Abroad (Hartford, CN, 1880) was "American toast."

  The Neighborhood Cook Book by the Council of Jewish Women (Portland, Oregon, 1914) included separate similar recipes for "French toast" and "German Toast." The terms German toast and Spanish toast, however, lost favor during World War I and French toast emerged as the common American name of the dish. In addition, French toast shifted from dinner fare to a breakfast and brunch food.

  Sephardic French Toast (Revanadas de Parida)

  6 pieces

  [DAIRY]

  4 large eggs, lightly beaten

  1¼ cups half-and-half or whole milk

  3 tablespoons sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)

  6 (¾- to 1-inch-thick) slices bread (about 6 ounces total)

  ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter

  Atar (Middle Eastern Sugar Syrup (Atar/Shira)), arrope (Sephardic Raisin Syrup (Arrope/Arrope De Pasa)), or honey, for drizzling

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, half- and-half, sugar, vanilla, salt, and, if using, cinnamon. The taste will be improved if the custard is allowed to stand, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.

  2. Dip the bread in a single layer in the custard and let stand for about 30 seconds per side. Transfer to a wire rack to let stand for about 3 minutes.

  3. In a large skillet or griddle, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. In several batches, add the bread and fry, turning once, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Drizzle the syrup over the toast.

  Rice

  Rice, a native of Southeast Asia, follows only corn as the most widely cultivated grain in the world. However, whereas much of the corn crop is used for animal feed and to produce industrial chemicals, almost all of the rice is consumed by humans. Rice has numerous attributes—it is nutritious, easily digestible, high-yielding, reliable to grow, easy to process, and, unlike most grains, it does not need to be ground into flour for practical usage. Rice is typically started in seedling beds, then transplanted to flooded fields that are drained before harvest. The more than seven thousand varieties of rice are defined by four basic characteristics: size (long, medium, and short grains), texture, color, and aroma. Long-grain rice expands in length during cooking, while short-grain varieties maintain their shape. Each category possesses distinctive characteristics that make it specially suited for a particular type of cooking. Each Jewish community adopted the local rice varieties as well as the local methods of preparing rice.

  Fields in China and India have produced this grain for at least five thousand years and it serves as the primary food of nearly half the human race. Indians eat rice at practically every meal, while wheat products are occasional or even rare. More than twenty-three hundred years ago, rice (berenj in Farsi) spread westward to Persia, where it became a beloved food and was incorporated into a wide variety of dishes. The preferred Persian rice is a long-grain variety called domsiah (black-tailed), which is rather low yielding. There are also two less desirable but prominent varieties, Sadri and Champa. No Persian celebration is considered complete without rice and usually two or more dishes made from it are served.

  Contact with the Persians brought rice, orez in Hebrew, ultimately from the Tamil word for rice, arisi, to Israel during the early Second Temple period and, by Roman times, Israeli rice had become an important export of which the Jerusalem Talmud boasted, "There is none like it outside Israel." Suggestions in the Talmud for the blessing over this grain included "Who creates delicacies to delight the soul of every living being." The Talmud noted that several rabbis included rice along with beet greens on the Passover Seder plate. After conquering Persia, Arabs learned how to grow rice (ar-ruzz in Arabic, also from the Tamil). As they vanquished swaths of Asia, North Africa, Sicily, and Spain during the ninth and tenth centuries, they introduced rice cultivation and advanced irrigation techniques that made it possible to grow this water-loving grain throughout much of the Mediterran
ean. In the Arabic world, with the exception of the couscous-loving Maghreb, rice has long been a staple of the diet. By the tenth century, Egypt emerged as the largest producer of rice outside of the Far East. A favorite medieval Arabic way to eat rice was warm with melted butter and sugar or milk. For meat meals, Jews substituted oil for butter and commonly added onions and garlic.

  Since its arrival in Spain, most of the rice (arroz in Spanish and Ladino from the Arabic) grown in the country has been the nearly round short-grain type, which absorbs flavors easily, unlike the firmer, fluffy long-grain varieties more common in Persia and the Ottoman Empire. Rice quickly became an integral part of Sephardic cuisine and was served practically every day in many households. Following the expulsion from Spain in 1492, each group of exiles adopted additional rice dishes in the region where it had settled, and since most Sephardim continued to speak Ladino at home, the new rice dishes usually had Ladino names. Frequently, however, they had to substitute long-grain rice for their preferred short-grain.

  Members of Alexander the Great's Indian campaign made note of rice, but it only reached Europe during the Arab invasions at the beginning of the ninth century and began spreading to non-Muslim areas of the continent in the fourteenth century. Rice became a fundamental part of the cuisine only in Italy and Spain, where it was used to create classic fare such as risotto and paella. In the fifteenth century, rice was widely planted in the Po Valley of Italy and thereafter rivaled wheat as the staple of Lombardy. Around that time, Sephardim fleeing from Spain, as well as Jews exiled by the Spanish from Sicily in 1493, introduced their rice dishes to northern Italy.

  Rice became traditional Friday night fare in most Mizrachi and Sephardic communities. Medieval Arabs utilized large amounts of saffron and turmeric to give food a yellow color, their traditional symbol of joy and happiness. This practice influenced not only Jews in the Middle East but also Sephardim and, beginning in the fifteenth century, Italians. For centuries, golden rice, called ruz bi zaffaran (rice with saffron) in Arabic, riso col zafran in Italian, and arroz de Sabato (Sabbath rice) in Ladino, has been a Friday night and holiday tradition in Middle Eastern, Italian, and Sephardic communities. The Bene Israel of Mumbai flavor their yellow rice (nariel chawal) with coconut and cardamom.

  The practice of adding a little tomato sauce to rice—the dish is called arroz con tomat (rice with tomatoes) and often simply arroz—developed among Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire after that area embraced the American tomato in the sixteenth century. Syrian Jews call rice and tomato casseroles riz espanie (Spanish rice), since it was Sephardim who popularized the concept in the Middle East. Whereas yellow rice was customary for the Sabbath, rice cooked with tomato sauce once served in many households at both lunch and dinner and was far more common than plain white rice (arroz blanco). Traditional at Sephardic weddings and other special occasions is arroz de bodas, rice mixed with green grapes or golden raisins and pine nuts or slivered almonds.

  Most Europeans, however, treated rice with indifference. In general, the farther north in Europe, the less rice was eaten. Rice entered Ashkenazic cooking rather late and even then was only incorporated into a few dishes, primarily dairy puddings, pareve kugel, and meat stuffings. Rice and raisins became a traditional Purim pairing. Medieval Ashkenazim, who rarely if ever saw rice, forbade its consumption on Passover, while Italians, Sephardim, and Mizrachim continued to permit it. Many Italians feature risotto with artichokes as the appetizer for the Passover Seder meal.

  Rice remains a fundamental side dish around the Mediterranean and in modern Israel, where it is prepared plain or flavored with herbs, chickpeas, orzo, or pine nuts. It is commonly used to fill dolmas (stuffed vegetables) and to prepare various types of pilafs and puddings; it is also paired with lentils for mujaddara. The Bene Israel serve malida (a sweetened rice, coconut, and fruit dish) at all festive occasions. Rice proved uneconomical to grow in modern Israel, so supermarkets feature imported Indian long-grain basmati and Patna rice, along with many other types.

  Rice is primarily consumed in an unprocessed form, simply husked and cooked, but is also milled to make rice flour, which is available in fine and coarse grinds. Flour from polished white rice is rather bland, while that from brown rice has a slightly nutty flavor. In Persian cuisine, rice flour is used for noodles and nane berenji (rice-flour cookies), which are enjoyed after important meals.

  (See also Arroz, Bachsh, Biryani, Bomba, Chelow/Polow, Malida, Mujaddara, Palau, Pilau, Plov, Risotto, Sutlach, Tabyeet, Tachin, and Timman)

  Rice Pudding

  Like other grains, probably the earliest way of preparing rice was boiling it in water until it became a thick consistency. Romans added goat's milk to cooked rice, but not sweeteners, and ate it as a savory dish. The Byzantine doctor Anthimus (c. 500 CE) prescribed "oryza" (Greek for "rice") made from imported grains for upset stomachs. He directed, "Boil rice in fresh water. When it is properly cooked, drain off the water and add goat's milk. Put the pot on the flame and cook slowly until it becomes a solid mass. It is eaten like this, hot not cold, but without salt and oil."

  Perhaps the Chinese were the first to make sweetened rice, although they did not use milk. With the addition of goat's milk or almond milk and honey or sugar, a practice probably originating in Persia, rice porridge was transformed into rice pudding. Rice puddings, first mentioned in medieval Middle Eastern medical texts, have long been recommended for the infirm, infants, and elderly. The rather simple concept of sweetened rice cooked with milk spread to every corner of the globe where this grain was enjoyed, and rice pudding became one of the world's favorite comfort foods, although the rice varieties, cooking methods, and flavorings vary widely. Some puddings are made from whole grains, while others are made from rice flour. Some are relatively plain and others are enhanced with fruits, spices, and various flavorings. Some are watery, while others are thick or custardy. Local forms made their way into Jewish cooking.

  An anonymous, untitled Andalusian cookbook of the thirteenth century included a recipe for "Rice Dissolved with Sugar." It directed, "Wash what you want of the rice and cook it as usual. Then take it to the hearthstone and leave it a while and when it is ready and has become mushy, mash it with a spoon until it dissolves and not a trace of the grain remains. Then add ground white Egyptian sugar and stir it vigorously. Add sugar bit by bit until its sweetness dominates and it becomes like dissolved fanid [a sugar candy]. Then turn it onto a platter and make a hole in the center and fill with fresh butter or with oil of fresh sweet almonds. If you cook this with fresh milk instead of water, it will be more delicious and better." Sephardim of that time most certainly prepared similar rice dishes.

  Medieval Persians cooked several types of rice pudding, including shir-berenj (milk-rice), consisting of whole rice kernels cooked for an extended time to produce a creamier texture. In addition, Persians developed a version known as shola, consisting of rice flour, almond milk, sugar, and rose water or orange-blossom water. For special occasions, it was tinted yellow with saffron (shola-e zard). The Persian-influenced Mughals introduced rice-flour puddings called firni/phirni to India, substituting cow's or coconut milk for the almond milk and slow-cooking them in kulhars (earthenware cups). In addition, Indians enjoy rice puddings made from whole grains, called kheer and, in the south, payasam.

  With the collapse of Byzantium and arrival of the Turks, rice emerged as a more important part of Greek cuisine and rizgalo (rice pudding), typically flavored with citrus zest and cinnamon, became a popular treat. In Italy, rice pudding (budino di riso), typically flavored with citrus zest and raisins, was initially considered a health food and was served to invalids. During the Renaissance, primarily due to Arabic culinary influences, European cookery and puddings began evolving. With the advent in Europe of custard, Europeans began adding eggs, producing a firmer, more custardy rice pudding. Rice puddings, made from rice imported primarily from Spain, had appeared in England by the end of the sixteenth century. Baked rice puddings emerged in
Europe in the seventeenth century.

  Among Ashkenazim, rice was occasional, minor fare. Those from central Europe and Romania enjoyed baked rice puddings and pareve rice kugels for the Sabbath and stovetop dairy rice puddings. The Jewish Manual (London, 1846), included the recipe "A Nice Rice Pudding for Children," a baked dish, and "Rice Custard"; neither of the puddings contained eggs. Jewish Cookery (Philadelphia, 1871) provided three rice puddings: a stovetop dairy pudding, a pareve variation incorporating eggs and baked in puff pastry, and a baked dairy pudding.

  Among Sephardim, rice was both an everyday food and celebration delicacies. Rice pudding was a standard everyday Sephardic dessert, served both hot and cold and at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The Sephardic arroz con leche is typically flavored with citrus zest and cinnamon. Dairy rice pudding is traditional on Shavuot; on this holiday, Middle Easterners customarily decorate the synagogue with an abundance of rose petals (hence the name "the Festival of Roses"), so rose water in the pudding takes on an added significance.

  (See also Kheer, Kugel, and Sutlach)

  Risotto

  Risotto is short-grain or sometimes medium-grain rice cooked in a meat or vegetable broth until creamy but the grains are still separate and slightly al dente.

  Origin: Italy

  In the fifteenth century, rice (riso) was widely planted in northern Italy, and people became avid consumers. The three major rice-growing regions in Italy—Lombardy, Veneto, and Piedmonte—primarily produce short-grain rice. A special form of rice cookery, risotto, originated in the center of Italian rice culture, Lombardy, and by the nineteenth century, every northern part of the country had developed its own version. The most famous risotto is risotto alla Milanese, which contains white wine and saffron. Risotto is prepared similar to the Spanish style of cooking rice, in which the grains are never rinsed, but are first sautéed with onions in fat before liquid is added; this is unlike most forms of Asian cookery, where the raw rice is rinsed to remove the surface starch. The common denominator in every good risotto is that it be mantecato (creamy); the texture is produced from the starch and not the addition of cream. To achieve the desired consistency, some recipes require stirring throughout the cooking process, while simpler versions only call for occasional stirring.