1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (112 page)

Naturally, latkes engender arguments among proprietary cooks and their offspring. Thick, with a lovely, pulpy and savory interior, or thin and all crackle, with virtually no soft insides? And what garnish?

Fresh, homemade applesauce seasoned with cinnamon and served at room temperature is the best answer, although many opt for sour cream, a cold and overpowering mistake. If mini-latkes are to be passed at cocktail hour, a dab of red or black caviar, or minced smoked salmon and a tip of sour cream are excellent amendments.

Where:
In New York
, Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse, tel 212-673-0330,
sammysromanian.com
; Russ & Daughters, tel 212-475-4880,
russanddaughters.com
;
in Houston
, Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen, tel 713-871-8883,
kennyandziggys.com
;
in Boynton Beach, FL
, Flakowitz, tel 561-742-4144,
flakowitzofboynton.com
;
in San Francisco
, Suppenküche, tel 415-252-9289,
suppenkuche.com
.
Further information and recipes:
From My Mother’s Kitchen
by Mimi Sheraton (1979);
The Book of Jewish Food
by Claudia Roden (1996);
cookstr.com
(search classic potato latkes levy);
foodandwine.com
(search killer potato latkes).
Special event:
Annual Latke Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY, December,
greatperformances.com
.

A celebratory cake symbolic of a sweet year ahead.

An essential component of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, known generally as the Jewish New Year, a honey cake (
lekach
in Yiddish, derived from the German
lecke
, for lick) is meant to symbolize a sweet year ahead. Slices of
apples dipped in honey, the other food tradition most associated with Rosh Hashanah, are served for this same reason.

Dark, moist, and mysteriously haunting, made with burnished honey, aromatic spicings of cinnamon and cloves, grated orange rind, and strongly brewed black coffee, honey cake is also eaten the year round. It’s a dessert with a history—honey cakes were baked by Jewish slaves in Egypt (they were among the sacrifices sealed in the pharaohs’ tombs), and biblical references in Exodus liken the taste of manna to that of honey cake.

Reminiscent of
lebkuchen
, the German-style gingerbread first popularized around the thirteenth century, the cake is simple and delicious. If left to sit for a couple of days after baking, its flavors will intensify; well wrapped in foil and stored in a cool spot, it can keep for weeks. Enjoy it thickly sliced and spread with fresh cream cheese. No need to wait for Rosh Hashanah.

Makes one 9½
x
5½-inch loaf

2 cups dark honey

¾ cup black coffee, brewed double strength

3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil, preferably peanut

4 extra-large eggs

¾ cup sugar

3½ cups sifted all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

Grated zest of 1 orange

Grated zest of 1 lemon

10 or 12 whole blanched almonds (optional)

1.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter a 9½-by 5½-by 3-inch loaf pan. Cut clean brown paper, wax paper, or parchment to fit the bottom and sides of the pan and butter one side. Place the unbuttered side of the paper against the pan.

2.
Put the honey in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and slowly bring to a boil over low heat. Set the honey aside and allow it to cool, then stir in the coffee and oil.

3.
Beat the eggs with the sugar in a large bowl until light and thick and the mixture forms a ribbon when drizzled into the bowl. Stir in the honey-coffee mixture. Resift the flour, along with the salt, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, and ginger, into the batter. Add the citrus zests and fold the flour and zests in gently.

4.
Pour the batter into the lined pan. If you like, make a pattern on top with the almonds.

5.
Bake until the top is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 1¼ to 1½ hours. Let the cake cool in the pan, then invert it with the paper intact (peel off just what is necessary each time you slice the cake). This cake will develop more flavor if it is left uncut for 24 hours. It keeps well in an airtight container at a cool room temperature for 2 weeks.

Where:
In New York
, E.A.T., tel 212-772-0022,
elizabar.com/EAT-C25.aspx
; Citarella at multiple locations,
citarella.com
; Breads Bakery, tel 212-633-2253,
breadsbakery.com
.
Retail and mail order:
In New York
, in fall during the High Holy Days, Eli Zabar, tel 866-354-3547,
elizabar.com
;
in Ann Arbor, MI
, Zingerman’s, tel 888-636-8162,
zingermans.com
.

Holiday matzo, “watched” by a rabbi and baked by his congregation.

It looks like cardboard, and to some it tastes … not so different. But matzo is probably the most elemental, simple bread the world has ever known. In its truest, most authentic form it consists only of flour and water. No salt. No yeast. No fat. No flavorings.

Forget modern, merchandised matzo seasoned with garlic, poppy seeds, or salt. Matzo stands for neutrality, affording comfort to tired palates in need of refreshment between samplings of cheese or caviar, wine or chocolate, and soothing agitated stomachs the world over. To devotees, the crackers are year-round staples, fine substitutes for pricey English water biscuits, and most welcome for the various spreads—butter, or schmaltz sprinkled with coarse kosher salt—and cheeses they accommodate. Matzos are also the essential accompaniment to gefilte fish (see
listing
) or, prepared as
matzo brei
(see
listing
), are breakfast staples in and of themselves. A flourlike cracker meal or finer cake meal that is made from ground matzos becomes matzo balls, delicate Passover sponge cakes, pseudo-bagels, or the golden, puffy pancakes known as
chremsel
, so lovely sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.

The plainness of matzo, of course, harks back to its biblical origins, a story that is celebrated every Passover. When the Jews were freed from slavery by the pharaoh in Egypt, they left so quickly that they did not have the time to make leavened bread. As a reminder of that long suffering, during the symbolic eight days of Passover, Jews may not eat anything that is leavened—hence matzos, arguably the one food common to Jews of all backgrounds, be they Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Italian, or Mizrachic.

Although most Passover matzos are nationally branded (for example, Horowitz Margareten or Streit’s) and mass-produced according to religious law, the most special holiday matzos are known as
schmura
(watched) matzo. A rabbi observes wheat growing in the field in order to ensure that it is harvested as soon as it is ripe, before rain dampens it and begins the process of fermentation. The harvested grain is taken to Hasidic communities to be ground into flour in special bakeries where it is baked by volunteers from the congregation. The flour is mixed with water just before it is to be rolled out, and the dough is distributed to rows of bakers who, with long, slim rolling pins, form circles that are
pin-pricked so they will not rise and crack when baked.

To avoid fermentation of any part of the dough—believed to begin after nineteen minutes—every seventeen minutes all action stops, rolling pins and boards are sanded or replaced, and the rolled matzos are slid into vast wood-fired ovens that operate only from January until a few days before the beginning of Passover. Baked to parchment crispness, with beautifully seared edges that suggest the antique patina of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the flat, round matzos have a rich, brown, wheaty look and a flavor and crackling texture very close to that of Scandinavian crispbreads.

As might be expected, such a labor-intensive product fetches a special price, somewhere around $20 a pound, which nets about eight boards. Many people buy only two or three of these rounds for use in the seder ceremony. Sadly, packaged schmura matzo, even imported from Israel, is never as crisp or as brightly savory as the type freshly made by local communities.

Where:
For the best schmura matzos, check local synagogues and Hasidic headquarters in Brooklyn, Miami, Los Angeles, and other cities with large Jewish communities.
Mail order:
streitsmatzos.elsstore.com
.
Further information and recipes:
From My Mother’s Kitchen
by Mimi Sheraton (1979);
The New York Times Jewish Cookbook
edited by Linda Amster (2003);
The Book of Jewish Food
by Claudia Roden (1996).

Thou shalt make lemonade out of lemon, and out of matzo,
matzo brei.
So the commandment
should
go, for in this eggy, peppery, and buttery dish, the crisp-edged cracker is softened into a deliciously nurturing breakfast. Matzo brei may have attained gourmet heights in the mid-1990s, when Manhattan’s bygone Lobster Club served it with sautéed earthy mushrooms for brunch, but for the most part, it is a homey, plain, and very simple pleasure.

Treated similarly to French toast, the traditional Passover bread is first broken into pieces (making it
brei
in German-derived Yiddish) and then moistened, glossed with beaten eggs and salt and black pepper, and slowly fried in butter.

Variations include using milk for moistening, and frying in a vegetable oil such as corn, sunflower, or safflower oil, or (if the milk isn’t being used) in the rendered chicken fat called schmaltz. Should the dish be broken up as it fries, to encourage a non-uniform texture, or cooked as a solid, one-piece pancake to be cut into wedges for serving? The answer depends on the family, but fickle deviations such as garnishes of peanut butter, jelly, cinnamon sugar, or maple syrup are best ignored.

Serves 2 to 4

5 matzos

3 cups boiling water

4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

Cottage cheese, for serving (optional)

1.
Break the matzos into 1½-to 2-inch squares. Place the matzos in a large heatproof bowl, preferably with a handle so draining will be easy.

2.
Pour the boiling water over the matzos, then drain them immediately and very thoroughly in a sieve or colander. Do not stir the matzo pieces or let them stand. They should be only slightly moistened, not soggy, so they will absorb the egg but not be mushy.

3.
Return them to the bowl and add the eggs, salt, and pepper. Matzos have a bland flavor, so plenty of salt and pepper will be needed. Toss the matzos lightly with a fork until all of the pieces are well coated with egg and the seasonings are distributed evenly.

4.
Heat the butter in a heavy 10-to 12-inch skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium heat until hot and bubbling but not brown. Add the matzo mixture to the skillet and cook until the bottom begins to brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Using a spatula, turn pieces of the matzo brei over (it is not necessary to keep it in a pancake shape).

5.
Keep turning the matzo brei until all sides are a light golden brown, about 10 minutes. A jumble of golden brown and slightly golden and tender pieces is the ideal. Taste for seasoning once as the matzo brei cooks, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Serve the matzo brei on a heated platter or individual plates, with cottage cheese on the side, if you like.