MMMM Jew Bread

Challah Bread

It is that time of the year again. Us jews will repent and reflect on the year and fast for a day. We are light weights in our dedication to fasting when you compare us to Islamics and their month longish fast.  In my family we would sneak out of temple and get some slurpees from 7-11 mid-service. High holy day services where held at the old high school in the center of town due to high numbers of attendees. If we went on any day of the year….this was the big one to go to.  You made up for a year of wrong doings and lazy mitzvahs simply through 10 days of reflection and one day of no eating. We would indulge in brisket, mashed potatoes, veggies and hallah bread at sundown. Never had I felt more famished, except on the years where I snuck Entenmanns soft chocolate chocolate chip cookies from the kitchen.

Now I celebrate in VT, converting friends to Judaism for a day and night. This year I was determined to make my very own hallah bread, mostly because it is hard to find. Hallah is the traditional Jewish Sabbath and holiday egg bread. On special occasions we say a blessing over two loaves of bread to symbolize the bread that was given to jewish children on friday nights during the exodus from Egypt. The braided version symbolizes love (intertwined arms) and each braid typically symbolizes truth,peace, and justice. The round loaves are used for Rosh Hashanah to symbolize having no beginning and no end.  I used a recipe from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden cookbook my sister got me for Christmas…. yes think that through. Damn you inter religious family. After careful research on how to braid the bread, because I clearly didn’t learn how to do hallah braids at tap and jazz, and having my friend read the instructions out loud as I braided, I had a delightful looking bread, well the second one...the first one looked a bit nuclear in shape. If you find yourself with excess bread, it is a well known fact that stale hallah bread makes the ultimate french toast!

Some Radical Salsa

A great movie to watch in your free time is the 3 Ninjas, about three pre-pubescent boys who are  ninjas and have been trained by their Japanese grandfather during their summers. As predicted, there is an almost chubby one, thus a film filled with food references. They get kidnapped and the kidnappers must conjure up some food for the three boys. Obviously the best food for a night in with your kidnappers is chips and dip...not too messy at all.

Fester: Marcus, score us some nacho chips and some radical salsa.

Marcus: Dude!

We are a week into school and Labor day presents a nice three day retreat to summer. Weather has kicked up to the 90’s and swimming in various holes has taken over my after school commitments.

With the three day weekend rolling out, what a perfect time to make something that requires a bit of time I very well won’t have soon. With the garden in peak condition, it is salsa-making time. Last year I made salsa that was far too hot. I had challengers arrive with steel tongues and leave coughing and crying. I have six jars in my cupboard, which I will undoubtedly give as gifts to a person I don't really like but feel obligated to give a gift to around the holidays. This year's salsa making was to be different. This year was to bring joy and tastiness. This year would not cause pain. This year was to be edible.  There is nothing like a batch of fresh salsa anytime during the year. Cilantro called in sick in this salsa because to me it tastes soapy and terrible. I didn’t use exact measurements, just what came out of the backyard.

Where are those Pickles for My Dorito and Cheese Sandwich?

Forever I have seen those mini cucumbers for sale and wondered what people did with them. I was obviously drawn to them because I am a short human and these are short cucumbers…fate. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I wanted some crisp Jewish pickles from the streets of NY or table at Katz’s Delicatessen. I wanted the ba-tampte half sour pickles I grew up putting on my Doritos and cheese sandwiches. 

My Dad kept these a staple in our childhood fridge.

Living in the almost sticks of VT, jews don’t exist, and so rarely do our delicious and sometimes creepy products....except for Manischewitz wine....it is everywhere! For 6 years I have been limited to dill or bread and butter or creepily sandwhich stack pickles.  I longed for the crisp, green, garlicky delight of a half sour pickle. Watching Jersey Shore on Thursday and seeing Snookie walk in and immediately ask if the guys bought pickles was clearly a sign that I needed to make some damn jew pickles...and clearly get cable so I could enjoy more Jersey Shore. After researching various recipes, particularly Tommy J’s ,and ingredients on the ba-tampte label, I did pickle making, all of which took 15 minutes from start to finish. I am left with a 2 day wait of fermentation and then the tasty oasis of half sour will fill my inner soul. The best part of half sour pickles is you need no fancy heated canning supplies, just a jar and a cool dark space. Make sure you are using clean supplies and tools so as not to get any bacteria growths in your pickle jar, if things look funked in a day or more, throw out immediately

Mission: Soup Dumplings

Soup Dumplings

Soup Dumplings. Not Dumpling Soup. Soup Dumplings. The soup is actually inside the dumpling. Little crimped packages of hot Asian pork and shrimp soup delicacy The biology of the dumpling is a thicker wrapper than a wonton rolled into a circle with a meat mixture (or veggie) ball in the middle surrounded by soup and cinched up. The result being a dumpling that you (with much bravery) bite the to off of and get a mini spa treatment of steam to your face. Blow and allow to cool and then stuff the entire dumpling in your mouth. Upon biting down you will instantly enter a mode of confusion. How can this be? Soup exploding out like that gum with the liquid in it. Hot and delicious and gingery and meaty and salty all in one bite? Then a slow understanding and acceptance of the soup dumpling begins and you try to figure out why you didn’t order more…because 8 is not nearly enough.

My sister Meg introduced me to these on one of our traditional trips to China Town. We first went to Joe’s Ginger and of course, after having these orgasmic tumors of meat and soup, we needed to do it again. Joe's was a small, dimly lit, cozy and very delightful place. Service was great and food was better. Next trip was to the electrically designed Shanghai Café. This place was unforgettable not only for the amazing food, but also that it looked like a restaurant trying to be from the future but it hired a designer that thought robotic 80’s were coming back in the future. Fluorescent lights rimmed the molding and the entire restaurant was basically silver. Both places roll out double bamboo steamers filled with 8 soup dumplings steamed to perfection. At 6 bucks a pop you can imagine a whole meal of these would be sufficient.

There had to be a way to replicate this. Aha! Of course Epicurious had a recipe for shanghai soup dumplings. With a Chinese grocer nearby I bought a bamboo steamer and got down to work. Originally I used dumpling wrappers pre-made, left out the shrimp (when I was still in a fishobic state of being) and bought chicken broth instead of starting my own base with chicken parts. This is a quicker way to do dumplings and mine came out quite tasty.

French Onion Soup

Thanks Betsy for setting up Fried Family last summer!

This is my first entry on Fried Family, mostly because my brain has been fried these last months. I plan to post at least a couple times a month, in the future with pictures.


The subject is French Onion Soup--probably my favorite soup to order anywhere, especially in winter, simply because of the rich onion flavor, the crunchy crouton bread that soaks up the broth at the bottom of the crock, and the layer of melty cheese on top.

Bets--we thought this would be a big hastle. I agree it would be tricky for a crowd, but for two, in 4' ramekins, it was a cinch. The most time intensive part was waiting for the onions to soften into a gooey mess (Bitman says 30 minutes!), but otherwise it was pretty low maintence. I made my own croutons by sauting cubed bagette bread in olive oil until browned.