I seem to have a hot line.
As the Jewish High Holidays approach, I start getting phone calls – from my family, my friends, my mother’s friends … even strangers!
“Can I make the brisket ahead and freeze it?” “How about the kugel?” “How can I rescue my burnt honey cake?” (Yes and yes to the first two and “Do you have a dog?” to the third.)
Whoever invented the freezer should get the Nobel Prize. Imagine expecting a houseful of company and having to make everything at the last minute. The freezer is your friend.
Here’s your game plan: Cook. Freeze. Relax.
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, begins at sunset on Sept. 15 with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, following on Sept. 24. Yom Kippur is a day to atone, repent and make amends. It is also a day of fasting, and if that were all I had to say about it, this would be a really short column. But fortunately, all good fasts must come to an end, and the lovely tradition of break-the-fast follows.
Usually the meal is dairy, as befits ending a day of fasting, and the menu might include bagels, lox and fixings, salads, fish and vegetarian dishes, quiches, and/or various cheese casseroles, but I’ll bet you’d be hard pressed to find a break-the-fast without a kugel.
A kugel is a baked pudding with a starchy base – potatoes or noodles are most common – bound with eggs, enriched with fat (butter, margarine or oil), and peppered with an endless variety of colorful and tasty additions, such as vegetables, fruit, and/or cheese.
According to tradition, the kugel is Sabbath fare, imbuing it with almost mystical qualities. Its origins can be traced to the Middle Ages, when it was cooked along with the Sabbath stew.
While today a kugel is usually served as a side dish, in the villages of Eastern Europe, where meat was rare and expensive, a starchy kugel might become a filling meal.
Some assembly required – true for swing sets and true for kugels – but for the most part, kugels are…
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