Although I’m not Jewish, my husband was raised Jewish and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Jewish foods over the years.  I’ve also heard stories of all the wonderful food he enjoyed in New York City and Long Island as he grew up.  Reading Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking evoked warm memories of these foods and stories.  Schwartz's stories and reflections are interesting and informative.  His recipes are even more compelling, ranging from classic street fare such as the Potato Knish (description and recipe below), the diner special of Boiled Flanken, to several variants of the ever enduring Kugel.  If you are familiar with Jewish food,  Schwartz’s cookbook will bring you home and if you’re unfamiliar with Jewish food this book is the perfect introduction. 

Potato Knishes

From Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking by Arthur Schwartz, Ten Speed Press, 2008.

Knishes as we know them today were probably created in New York, modeled after an unknown European prototype. According to Eve Jochnowitz, a culinary ethnographer, in a piece by Erica Marcus in Long Island’s Newsday, “The knish probably had its origins in Western Europe and...it accompanied the Jews eastward when, in the fourteenth century, they were expelled from France.” This dating, says Jochnowitz, explains why early European references to knishes have them stuffed with meat or cabbage: the potato didn’t make its way from the New World to Europe until after Columbus’ journey in the late fifteenth century.

Maybe Jochnowitz is right. I don’t think so. She certainly is correct that “those Eureka moments—like that shish kebab was invented by William the Conqueror’s wife—are almost never true.” Still, the Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery on Houston Street, one of the few Lower East Side businesses still left from immigrant days, claims to have created them. And there are other stories as well.

Whatever their origin, they apparently did not exist as they are today in anyone’s Old Country. The word itself is related to the Italian word gnocchi, the Austrian word knoedel, and the Yiddish word knaidlach, all of which are kinds of dumplings. My sketchy etymological research on this produced the word lump as the meaning of the gn and kn root.

The New York knish is a kind of dumpling, too, a baked dumpling, like people call apples baked in pastry “apple dumplings.” It is stuffed pastry. The traditional New York fillings are potato and kasha (buckwheat groats), although the old-timers of my youth also liked dusty, dry liver-filled knishes. These are nearly impossible to find today. That palate and that taste are gone. Today we have fillings like spinach and broccoli, which are blended with the potato. I’m told by Les Green, the owner of Mrs. Stahl’s Knishes, that the popularity of broccoli is about to exceed pure potato. Sweetened cheese knishes have been around for decades—Yonah Schimmel started baking them. But, as Erica Marcus notes, at least there are no sun-dried tomato knishes—yet.

In the classic delicatessen knish, the pastry encloses only the bottom and sides of the filling, leaving the top of the filling exposed. But there are various styles, including a strudel style in which the filling is made into a pastry-wrapped roll that is sliced. The first knishes were baked, as most delicatessen knishes are today.

To form classic, open-topped knishes, make the rolls as instructed below and cut into 2-inch pieces. Take the piece of dough that is overlapping on the side and twist it so it now covers one of the open ends of the slice. Dab the end with a bit of egg wash and bring it back up to meet the side of dough. Push the knish into shape and bake as directed below.

Potato Knishes

Makes about 4 dozen

Potato Filling

• 5 pounds russet (baking) potatoes
• 1 tablespoon salt, or more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups coarsely chopped onions (about 6 medium onions), fried in peanut, corn, or canola oil or Schmaltz or a combination until medium brown

Dough

• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup canola, peanut, or corn oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Egg Wash
• 1 egg, beaten well

To make the filling, peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks, and place them in a large pot. Cover with cold water by about an inch and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Boil the potatoes until very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the chunks. Drain immediately in a colander.

Using a food mill with the medium blade or a potato ricer (do not use a food processor), work the potatoes into a smooth puree. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the salt and the pepper. Stir the onions into the mashed potatoes. Taste and adjust the seasoning (I like mine peppery), then cover tightly and refrigerate until chilled.

To make the dough, in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the water, oil, eggs, salt, and pepper. Process briefly to mix well. Add 3 cups of the flour and the baking powder. Process again until the dough is smooth.

Flour a work surface with some of the remaining 1/2 cup flour and scrape the dough out onto this surface. Knead the dough briefly, just a minute or so, to incorporate just enough additional flour to make a dough that is just slightly sticky. Wrap the dough in wax paper or plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator before rolling it out.

To make knish logs, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out one piece at a time to an 18 by 8 inch rectangle. The long side of the dough should be facing you. With your hand, take enough cold potato filling to make a long, approximately 2-inch-wide roll of potato along the long side of the dough, about 2 inches up from the bottom edge. Bring the bottom edge of the dough over the potato roll and brush the upper edge with egg. Bring the upper edge of the dough over the egg-washed edge. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Transfer 2 rolls to each baking sheet, seams down. Brush the logs with beaten egg.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Bake the rolls until golden, about 50 minutes.

To serve, cut the rolls into crosswise pieces about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. 

About Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking

Arthur Schwartz knows how Jewish food warms the heart and delights the soul, whether it's talking about it, shopping for it, cooking it, or, above all, eating it. JEWISH HOME COOKING presents authentic yet contemporary versions of traditional Ashkenazi foods--rugulach, matzoh brei, challah, brisket, and even challenging classics like kreplach (dumplings) and gefilte fish--that are approachable to make and revelatory to eat. Chapters on appetizers, soups, dairy (meatless) and meat entrees, Passover meals, breads, and desserts are filled with lore about individual dishes and the people who nurtured them in America. Light-filled food and location photographs of delis, butcher shops, and specialty grocery stores paint a vibrant picture of America's touchstone Jewish food culture.

Available at Amazon.com