Kashe varnishkes (sometimes Americanized as kasha varnishkas) is a traditional dish of the American-Jewish Ashkenazi community. It combines kasha (buckwheat groats) with noodles, typically bow-tie shape lokshen egg noodles.
Buckwheat groats (gretshkes/greytshkelach or retshkes/reytshkelach in Yiddish) are prepared separately from, and then fried together with, lokshen and tsvibelach (onions) in schmaltz (poultry fat). Sometimes briye (chicken or beef stock) is used in the preparation. [1]
Kasha varnishkes are part of the cuisine introduced as Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Eastern Europe fled Europe due to rising antisemitism and pogroms and sought refuge in the United States and other countries. They brought with them food of their tradition including kasha varnishkes to America, and it became widely popular in the American Jewish cuisine and community. [1] The name and the dish varnishkes as a whole seems to be a Yiddish adaptation of the Ukrainian vareniki ( varenyky , stuffed dumplings). Buckwheat came to Ukraine and became one of the most common fillings of Ukrainian dumplings. This dish was enhanced by emigrating Jews in the Ashkenazic manner. [2]
One of the first records of the dish is in an 1898 Yiddish play Die Mumeh Sosye (Aunt Sosya) by Abraham Goldfaden. [2] A recipe published in a Yiddish American cookbook in 1925 shows kashe-filled noodles or dumplings, rather than the simpler kashe with farfalle. [3] [4] Food writer Gil Marks proposes that the dish was developed in New York City in the late nineteenth century through cultural exchange with Italian pasta makers. [2] An increase in access to and ease of using dried pasta by the mid-twentieth century also likely contributed to a shift to the now standard farfalle. [5]
Potato pancakes are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg or applesauce, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasonings. They may be topped with a variety of condiments, ranging from the savory, to the sweet, or they may be served plain. The dish is sometimes made from mashed potatoes to make pancake-shaped croquettes. Some variations are made with sweet potatoes.
Polish cuisine is a style of food preparation originating in and widely popular in Poland. Due to Poland's history, Polish cuisine has evolved over the centuries to be very eclectic, and shares many similarities with other national cuisines. Polish cooking in other cultures is often referred to as à la polonaise.
Pierogi or Pierogies are filled dumplings, made by wrapping unleavened dough around a filling, and occasionally flavored with a savory or sweet garnish and cooking in boiling water.
A knish or is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish snack food consisting of a filling covered with dough that is typically baked or sometimes deep fried.
Kugel is a baked casserole, most commonly made from lokshen or potato. It is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish, often served on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. American Jews also serve it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions centred around Shabbat. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the entire world.
Farfel is small pellet- or flake-shaped pasta used in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. It is made from a Jewish egg noodle dough and is frequently toasted before being cooked. It can be served in soups or as a side dish. In the United States, it can also be found pre-packaged as egg barley.
In English, kasha usually refers to the pseudocereal buckwheat or its culinary preparations. In Eastern European cuisine, kasha can apply to any kind of cooked grain. It can be baked but most often is boiled, either in water or milk, and therefore the term coincides with the English definition of 'porridge', but the word can also refer to the grain before preparation, which corresponds to the definition of 'groats'. This understanding of kasha concerns mainly Belarus (каша), the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and the Republic of Moldova, Russia (каша), Slovakia, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine (каша), where the term, besides buckwheat, can apply to wheat, barley, oats, millet, rye and even rice. Kashas have been an important element of Slavic diet for at least 1,000 years.
Kreplach are small dumplings in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine filled with ground meat, mashed potatoes or another filling, usually boiled and served in chicken soup, though they may also be served fried. They are similar to Polish pierogi, Polish and Ukrainian uszka, Russian pelmeni, Italian ravioli or tortellini, German Maultaschen, and Chinese jiaozi and wonton. The dough is traditionally made of flour, water and eggs, kneaded and rolled out thin. Some modern-day cooks use frozen dough sheets or wonton wrappers. Ready-made kreplach are also sold in the kosher freezer section of supermarkets.
Gribenes or grieven is a dish consisting of crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions.
Vorschmack or forshmak is an originally East European dish made of salty minced fish or meat. Different variants of this dish are especially common in Ashkenazi Jewish and Finnish cuisine. Some varieties are also known in Ukrainian, Polish and Russian cuisine.
Sephardic Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Sephardi Jews.
Israeli cuisine primarily comprises dishes brought from the Jewish diaspora, and has more recently been defined by the development of a notable fusion cuisine characterized by the mixing of Jewish cuisine and Arab cuisine. It also blends together the culinary traditions of the various diaspora groups, namely those of Middle Eastern Jews with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, and Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe.
Chicken paprikash or paprika chicken is a popular dish of Hungarian origin and one of the most famous variations on the paprikás preparations common to Hungarian tables. The name is derived from paprika, a spice commonly used in the country’s cuisine. The meat is typically simmered for an extended period in a sauce that begins with a roux infused with paprika.
Potatonik may refer to two distinct potato-based dishes derived from Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. One version is a hybrid between potato kugel and bread, containing shredded potatoes and onions as well as ample flour and leavened with yeast. Another dish, apparently unrelated but called by the same name, is essentially a very large latke meant to be cut into wedges at the table. It is also known as geribinik.
Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that was developed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, and their descendants, particularly in the United States and other Western countries.
Lokshen, also known as Itriyot, locshen, lockshen, or Jewish egg noodles, is the common name of a range of Ashkenazi Jewish egg noodles that are commonly used in a variety of Jewish dishes including chicken soup, kugel, kasha varnishkes, lokshen mit kaese, and as a side dish to Jewish brisket, sweet and sour meat balls, apricot chicken, and many other dishes. They may also be served with melted butter or a simple tomato sauce. In the United States, lokshen are also used as the basis for various casseroles and baked dishes including tuna noodle casserole, and both sweet and savory lokshen kugels.
Lokshen mit kaese, (Yiddish: לאָקשן מיט קעז lokshn mit kez), also known as (Hebrew: איטריות וגבינה itriyot v’gvina), Jewish mac and cheese, lokshen with cheese, or Jewish egg noodles with cottage cheese, is an Ashkenazi Jewish dish popular in the Jewish diaspora particularly in the United States, consisting of lokshen, or Jewish egg noodles that are served with a cheese sauce typically made with cottage cheese and black pepper, and sometimes farmers cheese may be used in place of the cottage cheese, and sour cream, butter, caramelized onions, garlic, tomatoes, mint, currants, parmesan, and other ingredients may be added. Sometimes a sweet variety is made with cinnamon sugar. It has been compared to a deconstructed noodle kugel and is considered by many to be a Jewish comfort food.
Noodle kugel, also known as lokshen kugel or kigel, is an Ashkenazi Jewish casserole that is traditionally served as a side dish and popular variety of kugel made with lokshen noodles and either a variety of dairy or pareve ingredients, often served on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.