A sweet and earthy treat for the Shabbat (or Thanksgiving) table
In her renowned cookbook, Jewish Cooking in America,
Joan Nathan shares the memories of "Jewish homesteader," Sophie Trupin,
recalling her life as a Jew on the American frontier:
"I was busy in the kitchen, carefully scooping out the
eggs encased in layers of hardened coarse salt. I then began peeling pounds of
potatoes, which my mother would grate on the fine side of the grater. My mother
was making a huge potato kugel, made from fresh potatoes, onions, eggs, a little
flour, and baked with plenty of goose fat. It wasn't Friday night, but my mother
put a white linen tablecloth over the oilcloth-covered dining table."
Sophie's austere frontier life likely resembled that of her ancestors in Europe, where her mother's kugel recipe originated. According to food historian Rabbi Gil Marks' The World of Jewish Cooking, Jews have been making these starchy baked puddings since the seventh century.
But it was the Jews of Rhineland who perfected the notion of cooking bread dumplings inside Shabbat stew, and eventually outside of the stew pot in round, covered dishes. Kugel got its name from the word koogel (German for "ball"), which referred to the kugel's shape.
"I was busy in the kitchen, carefully scooping out the
eggs encased in layers of hardened coarse salt. I then began peeling pounds of
potatoes, which my mother would grate on the fine side of the grater. My mother
was making a huge potato kugel, made from fresh potatoes, onions, eggs, a little
flour, and baked with plenty of goose fat. It wasn't Friday night, but my mother
put a white linen tablecloth over the oilcloth-covered dining table." Sophie's austere frontier life likely resembled that of her ancestors in Europe, where her mother's kugel recipe originated. According to food historian Rabbi Gil Marks' The World of Jewish Cooking, Jews have been making these starchy baked puddings since the seventh century.
But it was the Jews of Rhineland who perfected the notion of cooking bread dumplings inside Shabbat stew, and eventually outside of the stew pot in round, covered dishes. Kugel got its name from the word koogel (German for "ball"), which referred to the kugel's shape.
Today, inter-family debates rage over the best kind of kugel. Some people swear by a savory potato kugel, filled with sautéed onions and schmaltz. Others prefer a rich lokshen (noodle) kugel, stuffed with cheese and either sweetened with raisins and cinnamon, or made savory with sour cream. Still others scoff at any kugel except the simultaneously sweet and peppery Yerushalmi kugel, which Marks says was popularized by the Hasidim of Jerusalem in the late 18th century, who migrated to Israel from Eastern Europe.
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