Latkes are a simple form of potato preparation, as potato dishes go. But simplicity in cooking, as the food writer Richard Olney wrote, is a complex thing. I have had rubbery latkes, starchy latkes, undercooked latkes and latkes so greasy that two of them could run a diesel engine for a week.
With the no-carb craze sweeping the nation, Atkins Diet adherents make sure to avoid pasta and potatoes, but when the High Holidays roll around, even purists are tempted by succulent Jewish breads.
As most people know, challah is the braided egg-rich loaf of bread that we traditionally eat on the Sabbath and holidays — two loaves of challah at each of the three Shabbat meals.
Our family celebrates all of the Jewish holidays together, but Purim seems to be everyone\’s favorite.
It\’s that time of year, when Coca-Cola substitutes sugar for high-fructose corn syrup to guarantee that \”Coke is it\” at Ashkenazi seders.
Two weeks ago I got an actual SOS from a ship. Tova and Rabbi Zvi Dershowitz, en route to the Philippines on the Holland America cruise ship M.S. Rotterdam, were requesting a Persian Purim menu and recipes for the ship\’s executive chef.
Wendy Belzberg is as comfortable swapping brisket recipes as she is discussing quantum physics. However, because of her strong Jewish background, many – but by no means all – of the questions she receives tend to have some Jewish content. Don\’t expect a traditional response; she can be extremely controversial and, on more than one occasion, has had to write from a safe house to hide out from irate rabbis.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on Sunday, Oct. 8, during which time a strict fast is observed.
Real whipped butter. There\’s only one time of year you\’ll find it in my refrigerator — Pesach.
On the first day of Tishri, Sept. 10, the Jewish New Year begins at sunset.
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