The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home
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Where these émigrés have settled, their food markets have become a gathering place serving new Americans ethnically identifiable as Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Latvians, Romanians, Georgians, Lithuanians, Serbians, Bosnians, and Armenians, to name a handful.
Even though the vast majority of Eastern Europeans who arrived were non-Jewish, centuries of common geography with the Ashkenazic Jews resulted in shared—or at least overlapping—culinary traditions. Many of the specialty goods needed to make traditional Jewish deli dishes—the ingredients not likely to be found at a national grocer or even at your favorite farmers’ market—can be obtained at these ethnic food stores.
But where to find these Russian markets (the blanket label we use for want of a better term)? One clue: signs written in Cyrillic lettering, the alphabet of the Russian language. Another telltale sign is in the name of the place. If there is a store with “Odessa” or “Moscow” or another Slavic city in the name, by all means inquire further. Other hints are broad geographic designators such as “European Market,” “Euro Foods,” or “International Deli.”
Naturally, you have to take a look inside. If your instincts steered you right, the shelves (and cold cases) will serve as a great resource for Jewish deli cooking. Basic but otherwise hard-to-find staples readily found here will include: kasha, farmer cheese, canned fish, and hearty dark breads. Pickles will encompass far more than cucumbers: Think pickled tomatoes, squash, mushrooms, and, of course, cabbage. Find roasted red peppers by the jar and many of the condiments made with them, such as Ajvar and lutenica. Also in the aisles: walnuts, sour cherries, rose hips, apricots, and currants, either fresh, as fillings for desserts, or as preserves. Poppy and caraway seeds, caviar, and European chocolate will all be priced less than at your local supermarket.
But the most beguiling bounty at the Russian market is in the cold case. There visitors can find smoked fish of all sorts: trout, salmon, mackerel, sturgeon, and whitefish. Also look for basturma, the old-style air-dried beef that is a predecessor to pastrami. Another treat is evreiskaya, a Jewish-style Russian dry salami, or cervelat, an all-beef summer sausage. In addition to farmer cheese, you’ll find half a dozen different fetas and Goudas.
So, grab a basket and take advantage of the availability and value the Russian markets offer. They are a surefire ticket to creating Yiddische deli dishes the Old-World way.
Selected Bibliography
Cook’s Illustrated Magazine Editors. Baking Illustrated. Brookline: America’s Test Kitchen, 2004.
Deutsch, Jonathan, and Rachel D. Saks. Jewish American Food Culture. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Gergely, Anikó. Culinaria Hungary. Potsdam: H. F. Ullmann, 2008.
Glezer, Maggie. A Blessing of Breads: Recipes and Rituals, Memories and Mitzvahs. New York: Artisan, 2004.
Goldberg, Molly, and Myra Waldo. The Molly Goldberg Cookbook. New York: Doubleday, 1955.
Goldman, Marcy. A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking. New York: Broadway Books, 1998.
Goodman, Matthew. Jewish Food: The World at Table. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005.
Greenstein, George. Secrets of a Jewish Baker. Freedom: The Crossing Press, 1993.
Hamelman, Jeffrey. Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
Koerner, András. A Taste of the Past: The Daily Life and Cooking of a 19th Century Hungarian Jewish Homemaker. Hanover: University Press of New England, 2004.
Labensky, Steven, Gaye G. Ingram, and Sarah R. Labensky. The Prentice Hall Dictionary of Culinary Arts. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.
Lang, George. The Cuisine of Hungary. New York: Bonanza Books, 1971.
Leonard, Leah. Jewish Cookery. New York: Crown Publishing, 1949.
Levy, (Mrs.) Esther, The First Jewish-American Cookbook. Minneola: Dover Publications, 2004. Originally published as Jewish Cookery Book (Philadelphia: W. S. Turner, 1871).
London, Anne, and Bertha Kahn Bishov. The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook. New York: World Publishing, 1971.
Lowenstein, Steven. The Jews of Oregon, 1850–1950. Portland: Jewish Historical Society of Oregon, 1988.
Marks, Gil. Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
Metzger, Christine. Culinaria Germany. Potsdam: H. F. Ullmann, 2008.
Nathan, Joan. Jewish Cooking in America. New York: Knopf Books, 1998.
Nathan, Joan. Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook. New York: Schocken, 2004.
Ruhlman, Michael, Brian Polcyn, and Thomas Keller. Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005.
Sahni, Julie. Classic Indian Cooking. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1980.
Sax, David. Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of the Jewish Delicatessen. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 2009.
Schwartz, Arthur. Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008.
Sheraton, Mimi. The German Cookbook. New York: Random House, 1965.
Stewart, Martha. The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Every Day. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1995.
Trutter, Marion. Culinaria Russia: Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan. Potsdam: H. F. Ullmann, 2007.
van Cleef, Henny. The Israeli Table Kitchen. Translated by Theresia Riggs. Kearney: Morris Publishing, 2003.
von Bremzen, Anya, and John Welchman. Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook. New York: Workman Publishing, 1990.
Wirkowski, Eugeniusz. Cooking the Polish-Jewish Way. Warsaw: Interpress Publishers, 1988.
Ziedrich, Linda. The Joy of Pickling: 250 Flavor-Packed Recipes for Vegetables and More from Garden or Market. Boston: Harvard Common Press, 2009.
Metric Conversions and Equivalents
METRIC CONVERSION FORMULAS
to convert multiply
Ounces to grams Ounces by 28.35
Pounds to kilograms Pounds by .454
Teaspoons to milliliters Teaspoons by 4.93
Tablespoons to milliliters Tablespoons by 14.79
Fluid ounces to milliliters Fluid ounces by 29.57
Cups to milliliters Cups by 236.59
Cups to liters Cups by .236
Pints to liters Pints by .473
Quarts to liters Quarts by .946
Gallons to liters Gallons by 3.785
Inches to centimeters Inches by 2.54
APPROXIMATE METRIC EQUIVALENTS
weight
1⁄4 ounce 7 grams
1⁄2 ounce 14 grams
3⁄4 ounce 21 grams
1 ounce 28 grams
11⁄4 ounces 35 grams
11⁄2 ounces 42.5 grams
12⁄3 ounces 45 grams
2 ounces 57 grams
3 ounces 85 grams
4 ounces (1⁄4 pound) 113 grams
5 ounces 142 grams
6 ounces 170 grams
7 ounces 198 grams
8 ounces (1⁄2 pound) 227 grams
16 ounces (1 pound) 454 grams
35.25 ounces (2.2 pounds) 1 kilogram
volume
1⁄4 teaspoon 1 milliliter
1⁄2 teaspoon 2.5 milliliters
3⁄4 teaspoon 4 milliliters
1 teaspoon 5 milliliters
11⁄4 teaspoons 6 milliliters
11⁄2 teaspoons 7.5 milliliters
13⁄4 teaspoons 8.5 milliliters
2 teaspoons 10 milliliters
1 tablespoon (1⁄2 fluid ounce) 15 milliliters
2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) 30 milliliters
1⁄4 cup 60 milliliters
1⁄3 cup 80 milliliters
1⁄2 cup (4 fluid ounces) 120 milliliters
2⁄3 cup 160 milliliters
3⁄4 cup 180 milliliters
1 cup (8 fluid ounces) 240 milliliters
11�
�4 cups 300 milliliters
11⁄2 cups (12 fluid ounces) 360 milliliters
12⁄3 cups 400 milliliters
2 cups (1 pint) 460 milliliters
3 cups 700 milliliters
4 cups (1 quart) 0.95 liter
1 quart plus 1⁄4 cup 1 liter
4 quarts (1 gallon) 3.8 liters
length
1⁄8 inch 3 millimeters
1⁄4 inch 6 millimeters
1⁄2 inch 11⁄4 centimeters
1 inch 21⁄2 centimeters
2 inches 5 centimeters
21⁄2 inches 6 centimeters
4 inches 10 centimeters
5 inches 13 centimeters
6 inches 151⁄4 centimeters
12 inches (1 foot) 30 centimeters
COMMON INGREDIENTS AND THEIR APPROXIMATE EQUIVALENTS
1 cup uncooked white rice = 185 grams
1 cup all-purpose flour = 140 grams
1 stick butter (4 ounces • 1⁄2 cup • 8 tablespoons) = 110 grams
1 cup butter (8 ounces • 2 sticks • 16 tablespoons) = 220 grams
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed = 225 grams
1 cup granulated sugar = 200 grams
OVEN TEMPERATURES
To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32 from Fahrenheit, multiply the result by 5, then divide by 9.
description
fahrenheit
celsius
british gas mark
Very cool 200° 95° 0
Very cool 225° 110° 1⁄4
Very cool 250° 120° 1⁄2
Cool 275° 135° 1
Cool 300° 150° 2
Warm 325° 165° 3
Moderate 350° 175° 4
Moderately hot 375° 190° 5
Fairly hot 400° 200° 6
Hot 425° 220° 7
Very hot 450° 230° 8
Very hot 475° 245° 9
Information compiled from a variety of sources, including Recipes into Type by Joan Whitman and Dolores Simon (Newton, MA: Biscuit Books, 2000); The New Food Lover’s Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst (Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s, 1995); and Rosemary Brown’s Big Kitchen Instruction Book (Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, 1998).
Acknowledgments
Honestly, if we had known up front how much work would be involved, this cookbook probably would have been pushed aside for other less rigorous pursuits. And though the laboring oar was borne by the two of us, this was a group effort for sure.
From beginning to end, there has been Jean Lucas, our editor, along with the rest of the ever-positive crew at Andrews McMeel. They supported our vision about what this book ought to be and helped us produce a beautifully designed and useful volume.
We are also grateful to Diane Morgan. Diane is a gifted and prolific cookbook writer in her own right who somehow found the time to step in and help us with the huge task of organizing the book and overseeing the first edit. Diane also happens to teach a food-writing course every year or two, which was invaluable in helping plant the seed from which this book sprouted.
We are indebted to Andrea Slonecker for, among other things, her pretzel expertise, turning Michael’s family keegal formulation into a real recipe, and, most of all, helping Nick develop recipes when he decided he just had to open another restaurant in the middle of writing a cookbook. Thanks, also, to Deena Prichep for her Jewish-hippie-pescatarian insights and recipe wrangling. Further thanks to others who contributed to the book: Nach Waxman, Joan Nathan, and Sharon Lebewohl, whose love of deli is evident in these pages.
We had what seemed like a legion of willing testers and tasters to whom deepest thanks are owed. We are especially grateful to Jolene George and Liz Crain for taking on many of the book’s comparatively technical bread recipes; and not least to the crew on Nick’s popular food and restaurant forum, PortlandFood.org, including VJ Beauchamp, Jamie Green, Nadine Fiedler, Jill R. Oppenheim, Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, Jennifer Perrella, Ben Wolff, Pamela Wilkinson, Kathy Mayers, Carin Moonin, Kris Pennella, Kristi Van Damme, Eva Bernhard, Judy Pohutsky, Keith Orr, and Sarah Sugarman.
Also due evolutionary credit is David Sax, author of Save the Deli. After reading David’s book and getting to know him, it occurred to us that we needed to close the circle that David had begun to draw.
Of course, this book would not exist without the handful of folks who have been foresighted and gutsy enough to buck a longstanding downhill trend by opening Jewish delicatessens over the last several years: Noah Bernamoff, Rachel Cohen Bernamoff, Zane Caplansky, Evan Bloom, Leo Beckerman, Jeff Sanderson, Josh Marcus, Barry Koslow (and his business partners), and Ken Gordon.
Michael also wants to extend thanks to his many professional colleagues who have supported his odd dual passions: judge by day and writer by night. Particular gratitude is due Multnomah County Circuit Court Trial Court Administrator Doug Bray. Among writers and editors who have worked with Michael, no one has been more influential and appreciated than Karen Brooks.
Special thanks to Kelly Zusman for her edit of the book’s introduction; Joshua Brody and Juliana Grenzeback for their scouting mission; Gil Marks and Ted Merwin for their scholarship and help and Tim Healea for the sourdough starter recipe.
Michael’s final thanks go out to his close friends and family who have put up with him, at a minimum, for decades. The immediate family: Ma and Dad; Steve and Diane, Amanda, Natalie, Cassidy, and Jake; Auntie and Uncle Mel, Bruce, and Lisa; Grace Maritka; and the memories of David and Rose Fertig and Abe and Edith Zusman. The longest-time friends: Gerry Birnbach, David Richenstein, Vince Bernabei, Karl Weist, James Greenblatt, Michael Evans, Victor Richenstein, The Coasters, and the poker circle.
Nick would also like to thank the several online communities and friends that helped him reconnect with his culinary heritage, ultimately leading to Kenny & Zuke’s and this book. In particular, it was on eGullet where he first got excited about making artisan pastrami, rugelach, and knishes. The folks at PortlandFood.org, starting with the founding members—Jill-O, Ducky, Amanda, Aristo, and Dimsumdiva—have always been a wonderful sounding board, both encouraging and grounding him. And finally to the folks at LTHForum, the best food forum in the country, a hearty Midwestern thank-you.
Nick has the deepest gratitude, of course, to his friends, family, and, especially, his wife, Lisa, who have supported him in both large and small ways so that his hobby could be his profession.
Both Michael and Nick would like to thank the benefactors of B’nai B’rith Summer Camp.
About the Authors
Nick Zukin (right) is the “Zuke” in Kenny and Zuke’s Delicatessen and a prominent Portland, Oregon, food blogger. He approached “Kenny” Gordon in 2005 with a recipe for killer pastrami and the dream of connecting with his heritage. The proposition: open a Jewish deli specializing in house-made pastrami and hand-rolled bagels. After testing the waters selling at the farmers’ market and pop-up brunches, Nick helped open the first of a new wave of Jewish delicatessens focused on producing artisanal eats. Ever versatile, Nick debuted a solo venture in 2012, Mi Mero Mole, a restaurant specializing in Mexico City street food.
Michael C. Zusman (left) is a state court judge by day and a freelance restaurant and food writer at night. His culinary observations and insights have appeared in multiple publications in Portland, the city where he was born and raised. Michael is also a serious amateur baker and supplied the bread and bagel recipes used by Kenny and Zuke’s. He is a travel fanatic, too, chalking up frequent flyer miles to destinations around the United States and the world, usually with an eye on what's best to eat.
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The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home text copyright © 2013 Michael C. Zusman and Nick Zukin. Photographs copyright © 2013 Caren Alpert. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever wit
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ISBN: 978-1-4494-4132-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013937457
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Photo credits: see here courtesy of Michael C. Zusman; see here courtesy of Nick Zukin; see here and here Library of Congress
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Food Stylist: Heidi Gintner
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