Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  Originally, anyone, man or woman, conversant with the regulations of ritual slaughter could perform this act. However, around 1220, Ashkenazim restricted the performance of slaughter to only an adult male and a designated communal official, the shochet. Not just anyone, however, could be a shochet—the position required a pious and sensitive person who had been specially trained in both anatomy and Jewish law, and had been tested and regularly retested for the role. Before performing shechita, the shochet recites a benediction, reminding himself of the divine presence and the gravity of his act. When the shochet ages, before his hands begin to shake, he retires.

  Shirini

  Shirini is a Persian cookie.

  Origin: Persia

  Other names: naan-e shirini-ye khoshk, naan-e shirini.

  Persians enjoy an assortment of cookies and various firm treats called shirini khoshk (dry sweets) and shirini tar (moist sweets), which are typically served with tea (naan-e chai). Popular cookies include naan-e shirini (sugar cookies), naan-e ardi (flour cookies), naan-e keshmeshi (raisin cookies), and naan-e gerdooi (walnut cookies). While many modern versions call for butter or clarified butter, earlier recipes used oil because dairy products were once rare in Middle Eastern Jewish baking.

  The favorite Persian cookie is naan-e berenji, meaning "rice bread," also known as shirini berenji, and called naan-berenji by Kurds. These delicate cookies are usually bright white, but are occasionally tinted yellow. Some bakeries extrude the dough into simple flower shapes, while home bakers might press a pattern into the top.

  Naan-e nokhodchi, also known as shirini nokhodchi, is another important cookie, similar to shortbread, but a little crumbly and less dense. Moist and subtly sweet, they have a slightly nutty flavor from the chickpea flour. Nokhodchi are frequently perfumed with rose water and sprinkled with ground pistachios, producing a harmonious blend of flavors. Persians have a special traditional clover-shaped cutter for these.

  Naan-e berenji and naan-e nokhodchi are traditionally served on Purim and Passover and at weddings. Persians never accepted the Ashkenazic restrictions against eating rice and legumes on Passover. Other shirini (sweets) typical at a Persian wedding include noghl (Jordan almonds), sohan asali (honey almonds), toot (mulberry-shaped almond paste), naan-e badami (almond cookies), and baklava. More recently, some Ashkenazim in Israel have begun making berenji with poppy seeds for Purim, combining the Ashkenazic tradition of mohn with a cookie from the location of the Purim story.

  Persian Rice Flour Cookies (Naan-e Berenji)

  about 40 small cookies

  [DAIRY or PAREVE]

  1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened; coconut oil; or vegetable oil (not canola oil)

  2/3 cup superfine sugar or 1¼ cups confectioners' sugar

  4 large egg yolks or 2 large eggs

  1 tablespoon rose water, 2 teaspoons orange-blossom water, or 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  1 to 3 teaspoons ground cardamom (optional)

  About 2½ cups (12.5 ounces) rice flour or cream of rice

  About ¼ cup poppy seeds or finely chopped pistachios for sprinkling (optional)

  1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Add the rose water, salt, and, if using, cardamom. Gradually add the rice flour and beat until smooth, soft, and thick. (If using the oil, you can process all the ingredients in a food processor fitted with a metal blade until smooth.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease the sheets.

  3. Shape the dough by about 2 teaspoonfuls into 1-inch balls, place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, and press to flatten to a ¼-inch thickness. If using, lightly sprinkle with the poppy seeds.

  4. Bake until set but not browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Do not overbake, because overbaking changes the taste and texture. Let the cookies stand until firm, about 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

  Shkanah

  Shkanah is a dish of baked beans cooked overnight for Sabbath lunch.

  Origin: Spain, Netherlands

  Other names: skhina.

  "After passing Saturday as a Sabbath of rest from our journey, eating with the Jews their hot baked beans, swimming in marrow from the bones of beeves, called skanah, with roasted meats and eggs, which had lain in the oven since Friday afternoon, all fat and savory, (the constant Sabbath dinner of all Jews in this country), and taking another night's rest, we were quite refreshed, and concluded to occupy our time to the best advantage." (From an account of Captain James Riley's stay with a Jewish family during a trip to Morocco in Sequel to Riley's Narrative [Columbus, 1851].)

  In the sixteenth century, Sephardim brought their long-simmered Sabbath stews to the Netherlands, then under Spanish rule, including one made with fava beans, which was known as shkanah, from an Arabic word meaning "hot." In the Netherlands, shkanah was enriched with honey and goose fat rather than the olive oil of the Mediterranean. Shortly thereafter, the Pilgrims, who did not go directly to Plymouth Rock from England, spent a decade in Leyden in the Netherlands before seeking religious freedom in America in 1620. During their stay in Holland, the expatriates came in contact with the descendants of Sephardim, a new experience for the English as the Jews had been expelled from England in 1290 and would not be officially permitted to return until the mid-seventeenth century. Being members of a fundamentalist sect, the Puritans observed Sunday as a day of rest and, therefore, refrained from cooking. Accustomed to the rather dull fare of their native England, they took a special interest in the exotic Sabbath dishes of the Jews. The British certainly had no previous history of baking beans.

  In America, the immigrants substituted native white haricot beans for the fava beans, molasses for the honey, and bacon for the goose fat. The Pilgrims' synthesis of shkanah and American produce emerged as New England or Boston baked beans, a traditional Sunday dish placed in the oven on Saturday and left to simmer until after church services the following morning. Thus a descendant of an ancient Jewish Sabbath stew became an American standard. For several centuries, baked beans remained a local Boston specialty. The first recorded American recipe for the dish which contained no mention of sweeteners, appeared as late as 1829 in a cookbook from Boston by Lydia Maria Child, entitled The American Frugal Housewife.

  Shlishkes

  Shlishkes is a dish of potato dumplings tossed with sautéed bread crumbs.

  Origin: Hungary

  Other names: krumplinudli, nokedli.

  Shlishkes is a Hungarian variation of the kartoffel kloese, a central European potato dumpling. It is similar to the Italian gnocchi di patate, although shlishkes is firmer and does not have ridges. The dish originated as a means of using any leftover mashed potato dough from making the popular gombotzen (plum-filled dumplings), by boiling small dough pieces, then sautéing them. Whereas their non-Jewish neighbors typically coated similar potato dumplings with grated hard cheese, Hungarian Jews, who most commonly served the dumplings at a meat meal, substituted browned bread crumbs. Sautéed onions are also sometimes added. A popular baked or pan-fried version of these dumplings is called bilkas or bilkalekh; matza cake meal is substituted for the flour during Passover.

  In the nineteenth century, shlishkes became a cherished Friday night treat in some Hungarian homes. A recipe for "Shlishkas" was recorded in The Jewish Examiner Prize Kosher Recipe Book (Brooklyn, 1937). Around this time, the dish was widely adopted by eastern European Jews in Brooklyn and Queens, becoming a popular Friday night and holiday side dish. Shlishkes remain common in New York City's haimish kosher take-out stores and at some weddings and bar mitzvah smorgasbords.

  (See also Gombóc)

  Hungarian
Potato Dumplings (Shlishkes)

  6 to 8 servings

  [PAREVE or MEAT]

  2 pounds (4 large) baking (russet) potatoes, peeled and sliced

  1 tablespoon shortening, vegetable oil, or schmaltz

  2 large eggs

  About 1 teaspoon table salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt

  About 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour

  Topping:

  3 tablespoons vegetable oil or schmaltz

  1 cup fresh bread crumbs

  1. Place the potatoes in a large pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. Mash the potatoes with the shortening. Blend in the eggs and salt, then add enough flour to make a soft dough.

  2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into ½-inch-thick ropes. Cut the ropes into 1- to 1½-inch pieces.

  3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the dough pieces and stir to prevent sticking. Boil until they float to the surface and are firm, about 5 minutes. Drain.

  4. To make the topping: In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and sauté until golden, about 1 minute.

  5. Stir in the shlishkes. Serve warm.

  Sigd

  For more than two millennia, the land lying to the west of the Red Sea served as home to a group of black Jews known to the Ethiopians by the derogatory term of Falasha ("wanderers" in Geez). They called themselves Beta Israel ("House of Israel").

  When the Beta Israel lived in Ethiopia, they expressed their yearning for the land of Israel and devotion to the Torah in a special mass celebration, the festival of Sigd (meaning "prostration" in Amharic, related to the word for the Temple, Mesgid), held fifty days after Yom Kippur. For thousands of years on the twenty-ninth day of the month of Cheshvan (usually in mid-November), the Beta Israel purified themselves with water, dressed in their finest clothes, traveled from their villages, frequently a three-day trek, and at dawn, began to ascend a grassy hilltop, reminiscent of Mount Sinai as well as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Kesim (ritual leaders) would head the assemblage, followed by honored members carrying Orit, Torah scrolls written in their language of Geez. The people fasted for the first half of the day. On the mountain, the assemblage prayed and the Kesim read from the scrolls and recited Nehemiah, chapters 8 and 9, relating the details of the return to Zion from Babylonia, including the verse, "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet." In the afternoon, the people would descend from the mountain and break their fast with a joyous communal meal accompanied with much singing and dancing. The fast was typically broken with misvaot (from the Hebrew word miztvot, "commandments"), breads blessed by a Kes.

  In the 1980s, Ethiopians in Israel began to celebrate Sigd. It was recognized as an official state holiday in 2008. Today, Beta Israel from across Israel, from the total population numbering about eighty thousand, gather in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, overlooking the Temple Mount. The Kesim, dressed in simple white robes and prayer shawls, are each accompanied by an assistant holding a brightly colored umbrella over his head. Many of the worshippers fast half of the day, recite Psalms, then listen to the Kesim read from the Orit scrolls. The current site and size of the crowd no longer supports a communal meal, but many Ethiopian families bring their own food, while vendors nearby sell supplies from stalls. The Sigd meal features injera (pancake bread), dabo (honey buns), or pita along with a vegetable wot (stew) and plenty of coffee—drinking three cups is considered lucky.

  Simchat Torah

  At the conclusion of the holiday of Sukkot falls a separate series of holidays, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. In Israel, they occur on the same day, but outside Israel, they are celebrated as two separate days. Shemini Atzeret (The Eighth Day of Assembly) is a Biblical festival concluding the extensive holiday period that begins nearly a month earlier with Rosh Hashanah. In recognition of the approaching winter, a special prayer for rain in Israel is recited, which is continued until Passover.

  Simchat Torah (literally "Happiness of the Torah") is a relatively late creation; it emerged only around the ninth century CE. Its source lies in the ancient and enduring Jewish tradition of publicly reading from a Torah scroll in a cycle that begins and ends on Simchat Torah. The tradition in Israel was to read the Torah in a cycle of three and half years, with the conclusion of the seventh year corresponding to the Hakhel ceremony at the end of the Sabbatical year. In Babylonia, where the Sabbatical year was not in force, a one-year cycle developed, concluding with the second day of Shemini Atzeret. The name Simchat Torah is not mentioned in the Talmud, but occurs first in the post-Geonic literature (after 1040 CE, the end of the nearly 450-year-period when the heads, called a gaon—"pride of" in Hebrew—of the two most important Babylonia academies served as the spiritual leaders of world Jewry). Eventually, the Babylonian custom supplanted the Israeli one. Still, in the thirteenth century, Benjamin of Tudela reported that there were two synagogues in Cairo, one for those following the Babylonian customs and the other for those adhering to the Israeli customs.

  Simchat Torah, along with Purim, is one of the two most uninhibitedly joyful occasions on the Jewish calendar, replete with singing, dancing, and feasting. Rabbi Joseph Caro wrote that the inspiration for the Simchat Torah celebration came from King Solomon, who made a large feast after God granted him great wisdom. Simchat Torah feasts should be particularly festive and not simply a nibble and an overabundance of alcohol. Simchat Torah fare, similar to that of Sukkot, is intended to reflect the bounty of the harvest and includes thick soups and stews incorporating seasonal produce and filled foods—such as stuffed chicken, stuffed veal breast, stuffed vegetables, and filled pastries, including knishes and strudel—symbolizing abundance. In addition, filled food is symbolic of a Torah scroll, which is covered on the outside and the essence is inside. Particularly widespread among Ashkenazim is stuffed cabbage, whose shape resembles a Torah scroll. In Israel, Turkish Delight and candied apples have become popular treats.

  Singara

  Singara is a fried filled pastry.

  Origin: India

  Singara, the Bengali version of a samosa, is a synthesis of southern Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines. The original dish was a triangular turnover, but today it is more commonly formed into a cone shape, which is attractive although more difficult to form. The filling can be savory—including spiced vegetables (sobj), mashed or fried potatoes (aloo), and lamb (gost)—or sweet (mishti). The sweet ones are commonly served on Hanukkah as well as at the meal following Yom Kippur. The favorite sweet filling is a form of semolina halva, which Cochinis also use to make fritters called neyyappam.

  (See also Sambusak)

  Siyyum

  Siyyum (Hebrew meaning "finishing/conclusion") denotes the completion by individuals or groups of the study of an entire Jewish work of scholarship, such as the Five Books of Moses (Siyyum ha-Torah), a tractate of the Talmud (Siyyum ha-Sefer), or the entire six subdivisions of the Talmud (Siyyum ha-Shas). An annual public Siyyum ha-Torah occurs on Simchat Torah, a time of great joy and celebration. A siyyum is also observed for the completion of writing a Torah scroll (Siyyum Sefer Torah). These achievements are marked with a communal sharing of food in a home or synagogue, ranging from a simple bottle of schnapps and some cookies to a seudat mitzvah consisting of a sit-down repast. There is a tradition for firstborn males to fast on the day before Passover, but they are exempt if they attend a siyyum. Therefore, many synagogues commonly hold a siyyum on that morning.

  Sofrito

  Sofrito is a meat or poultry stew cooked in a small amount of liquid.

  Origin: Spain

  The term sofrito, from the Spanish sofreir (to fry lightly), encompasses a variety of subtle savory Hispanic and Italian seasoning bases and sauces built on sautéed vegetables and spices. In Latin America, it means an onion-based flavoring, which in many countries is enhanced with bell peppers and tomatoes. Among Sephardim, it refers to a method of simmering pieces of chicken, veal, beef, o
r lamb in a small amount of seasoned liquid, a procedure somewhat different from both stewing and braising and actually more akin to the methods used to prepare Hungarian paprikás and Moroccan tagine.

  Sofrito is slow-simmered so that all the ingredients meld with a minimum of liquid, resulting in very tender meat in a thick, flavorful sauce. After small pieces of meat or poultry are browned in a little oil, some garlic and/or onions are added and sautéed—hence the name sofrito. The presence and amount of garlic or onion varies. Some cooks mince the garlic and onion, while others use whole cloves and whole tiny onions. The dish is typically enhanced with lemon juice or vinegar, while turmeric gives it a vibrant yellow hue. For tartness, some Turks substitute sour plum juice for the lemon. Syrians generally favor a zesty rendition made with a spice blend called baharat, while Egyptians prefer a milder version, perhaps with a little allspice and/or cardamom. Deep-fried potatoes are frequently added, as they maintain their shape and texture during the extended cooking time.

  Since it holds up like a Sabbath stew, sofrito became a traditional Friday night entrée in many Sephardic families from the eastern Mediterranean; it was typically made with chicken by wealthier families and perhaps beef brisket by the less well-off. Any leftovers were enjoyed cold on Saturday or Sunday. However, today some families leave the sofrito on a hot plate overnight to enjoy warm for Sabbath lunch instead of hamin/adafina (Sabbath stew). Syrians serve it, using veal or chicken, with potatoes (sofrito batatas) on Sukkot, as it is a warming one-dish meal that is easy to transport outside to the sukkah. Sofrito is usually accompanied with rice.

  Sephardim brought sofrito to Israel, where it became a popular comfort food. Small old-fashioned restaurants in Jerusalem's Machaneh Yehudah market offer it only on Fridays and it is intended to be taken home and left on a platta (electric hot plate) for the evening meal.

  Sephardic Meat in Thick Sauce (Sofrito)

  6 to 8 servings

  [MEAT]

  3 pounds boneless beef, veal, or lamb shoulder, beef brisket, or beef shank or veal shin, cut into 1¼-inch cubes; or 8 to 12 chicken thighs and drumsticks