There’s a new cookbook about shmaltz! (More details to come soon on JCarrot.) In the meantime check out this first look. [Eater]
Brisketlab. We really live in a wonderful world, when places like this exist. [Serious Eats]
Eight desserts for eight nights of Hanukkah. Personally, we love the marshmallow dreidels. [Serious Eats
Some seriously wacky bagel flavors are coming out of The Bagel Store in Williamsburg. Sweet potato bagel? French toast bagel? What kind of schmear goes with that anyway? [Serious Eats]
As winter slides in and makes itself comfy in New York for the next couple of months, locals are — as ever — on the lookout for interesting new edibles in the Hanukkah spirit, even as they pick up boxes of staunchly reliable latkes from Zabars and Russ & Daughters.
Thank goodness for 606 R&D — quite possibly the only hip new Brooklyn restaurant to be serving up a split powdered sugar donut and raspberry jam ‘sandwich’ in honor of the holiday. Not to mention a special potato pancake appetizer served with a dollop of creme fraiche and a slaw of beet, apple and celery root. And while these are definitely special holiday items, stop by 606 R&D year-round for delicious classic cake donuts (inspired by Dreesen’s Famous Donuts in the Hamptons and made by a Kickstarter-funded donut robot) and some extremely tasty latke cousins (try the carrot parsnip pancakes or the cauliflower pakoras).
So what’s the story behind the marriage of such inventive culinary whimsy with such old world Brooklyn Jewish sensibilities?
If you’re going to take advice from someone on how to make a proper latke, that person should be Melissa Clark. [New York Times]
Everything you ever wanted to know about hosting a latke party. [Serious Eats]
Latkes goes modernist. [Saveur]
Try them with….brown butter and cinnamon applesauce. [Serious Eats]
Looking to celebrate the holiday of oil without covering your kitchen in it? Here’s a great list of events. [Serious Eats]
While we’re mourning the loss of the landmark Stage Deli, another deli is in trouble. Sarge’s experienced a serious fire this week but hopes to reopen. [Grub Street
New York is hosting the most bad ass latke throwdown there is. Serious Eats has some free tickets to win! [Serious Eats
Eight oil-fried gourmet foods for Hanukkah including: Panko latkes, Sweet potato parsnip latkes with feta and leeks, not to mention zeppole. YUM! [Food52]
Kutsher’s is serving eight different latkes for eight nights of Hanukkah. Offerings include pastrami smoked duck, pear butter, and sour cherry latkes” as well as a Peking duck, cucumber, scallion, and sesame hoisin variety on the last night. [Grub Street]
This is how they’re doing matzo ball soup in San Francisco this year:
First, get an overnight delivery of wood pigeon flown in fresh from Scotland. Actually, first make sure the birds were shot in the wild. With tiny buckshot pellets. Then slow poach the breast meat in a sweet, salty brine. Give it a crust of black pepper and coriander.
For the broth, make it using the pigeon bones, then reduce it by half to make it oh-so rich. As for the matzo balls, construct them with homemade matzo, fresh local eggs, toasted caraway seeds and a touch of soda water.
And there you have it: “Wood pigeon pastrami with caraway dumplings in a double consommé” — or, as chef David Bazirgan calls it, “my take on matzo ball soup.”
Only in Brooklyn: Jami Attenberg, author of the critically-acclaimed and food-heavy novel “The Middlesteins,” makes pickles with Jeffrey Yoskowitz of the Gefilteria, a “boutique purveyor of Old World Jewish foods” [Vol. 1 Brooklyn]
A lively profile of “Tel Aviv’s favorite foodie” Gil Hovav, who makes his English cookbook debut writing as the devout (and imaginary!) orthodox woman Rebbetzin G. H. Halperin [Haaretz]
The humble bagel-and-schmear gets an explosive, dub-steppy twist in a homemade commercial for Brooklyn’s Bagelteria [Grub Street]
A beautiful and colorful vegetarian Thanksgiving table with golden beet salad, buckwheat-squash tart, and a fall greens sauté from the couple behind Sprouted Kitchen [NYTimes Well Blog]
If you’re stuck at home today, try making your own challah. Here’s a simple recipe. [The Daily Meal]
Are you a latke expert? Ready to throw down in a huge latke competition? Enter your recipe here. [Edible Manhattan]
Deb Perlman’s mushroom bourguinon, a perfect fall, vegetarian, Shabbat dish. [Food 52]
Try an Egyptian twist on falafel — made with fava beans. [Saveur]
A taste of the American South comes to Tel Aviv. [Tablet]
The New York Daily News broke the sad news yesterday: the last H & H Bagel shop (on West 46th St.) is now closed. Legal troubles and economic woes are to blame. Oy. [New York Daily News]
College Prowler ranks the best Kosher campuses. Brandeis is not (quite) first. [College Prowler]
Everything you would ever want to know about making the perfect classic latke. [Serious Eats]
If you’re looking for more innovative latke recipes, here are five. [The Kitchn]
And what to serve with those latkes? Here are some suggestions, including a delicious recipe for Orange Olive Oil Cake with Candied Walnuts. [Serious Eats]
A menorah made of chocolate that you can eat? Yeah, we’re pretty excited about it too. [New York Times]
Get that frier ready! Jewish fried treats from around the globe, one for each of the eight nights. [Philadelphia Jewish Voice]
Yotam Ottolenghi, the London-based Israeli chef and master of vegetarian cuisine isn’t a veggie himself, but his cookbook “Plenty”, “is among the most generous and luxurious nonmeat cookbooks ever produced,” says Mark Bittman. [New York Times]
Let the latke recipes start! Here’s one for apple and cheese-stuffed ones. [The Kitchn]
With the opening of Kutsher’s Tribeca, and their attempt to serve “gourmet” gefiltefish, one writer wants to know, can Jewish food go gourmet? [New York Magazine]
Matt Rees takes a very close look at Ariel Sharon’s eating habits and what they meant. [Salon]
Where can you get great shakshuka in New York City? Lauren Shockey dishes on the places. [Village Voice]
Josh Ozersky and Mark Bittman duke it out on the issue of industrial food. [Time]
The end is near for H&H. The bagel plant now faces eviction. [Eater]
Is your latke recipe the best? Put it to the test at the Edible Manhattan and Great Performances contest. [Edible Blog]
For many of us, Jewish holiday foods hold special meaning because we eat them only once a year. But some of these foods are worth taking a second look at beyond the holiday. They can provide wonderful opportunities for culinary invention at moments when we feel less bound by tradition. Simple, classic dishes that we have made countless times are often the best dishes for variation, particularly for beginning cooks. They provide the basic recipe structure many cooks crave, but leave room for innovation as well. Latkes fall cleanly into this category: classic, simple, delicious — and easy to reinterpret.
During Hanukkah latkes are almost always eaten at dinner, or maybe left over with lunch, but recently they have been popping up on brunch menus in New York City. Often they appear under another name, but they are latkes nonetheless. The popular brunch spot Prune calls them “potatoes rosti,” while others refer to them as hash browns, or otherwise. The pan-fried potato pancakes provide depth of flavor and crunch (and let’s be honest, a curative to Saturday night’s festivities) to any brunch plate. They also add a delightful taste of Jewish tradition to an otherwise average Sunday.
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