Conference turris::cooks

Godfrey's out on Rt 1 in Suagus used to make a pretty good knish when I 
was living closer to the city.  You might give them a try.  I'm
surprised that you can't find any knishes closer though.  I used to eat
them in Boston a lot, (there was a great deli on Washington Street) and
I thought the Cambridge Crowd would have them. 

					>>>==>PStJTT

	Main Street Deli in Maynard has knishes, and not too bad{
    	I buy my perogies frozen in the supermarket - Mrs. T's - only
    	come with potato and cheese filling, but are really super when
    	boiled, and then pan-fried in peanut oil and basil.
    
    	Life's too short to spend it making perogies one at a time.
    
    	Nominee for best perogies in the free world:
    
    		The Ukraine, St. Mark's Place, NYC.
    
    					Mark, formerly of 49th St.
    

    Have you tried asking about places in IAGO::BAGELS?
    

    3 1/2 c flour
    2 t baking powder
    (1 t salt)
    2 beaten eggs
    1 c warm water
    1 lb farmer's cheese (I usually use ricotta instead)
    2 more beaten eggs
    (1 t salt)
    1 T chopped chives (optional - I use them)
    2 c heavy cream
    1 stick butter or margarine
    
    Sift flour, baking powder (and salt) into a large bowl.  Make a
    well.  Add 2 eggs and water and stir to make a soft dough.  Turn
    out onto a floured surface and knead until elastic.  Cover with
    bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
    
    Put cheese in bowl and blend in two eggs, (salt) and chives to make
    a smooth mixture.
    
    Roll dough to 1/16" on lightly floured surface and cut into 4" squares.
    Place a rounded tablespooonful of cheese mixture in center of squares
    and fold over to seal.
    
    Bring a kettle of (salted) water to boiling.  Add a few pastries
    at a time and cook until they float.  Remove with a slotted spoon
    to a 10-cup casserole dish (you can do this ahead of time).
    
    One hour before serving, remove casserole from refrigerator and
    let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.  Pour cream over pastries
    and dot with butter or margarine.
    
    Bake in moderate (350 oF) oven 30 minutes or until pastries are
    golden.
    
    Makes 12 servings.
    
    
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    
    I think this is the Polish variation of pierogis.  My Russian friends
    prefer theirs boiled (as above) and then fried in butter instead
    of baked.  You can also fill them with mashed potatoes (my husband's
    Russian Jewish grandmother made them this way), chopped liver, chopped
    mushrooms, etc.  They ARE a lot of work to make, though!

You can buy knishes at The Butcherie on N. Harvard Street in Brookline.

Rubin's Deli in Brookline also carries them I think.  

I've also seen knishes at the Broadway Supermarket on Broadway near 
Ware Street in Cambridge.

Kathy

    Myer's Kosher Kitchen on Shirley Ave in Revere, MA makes a great meat
    knishe.  Several supermarkets carry them.  If you go into Myer's ask
    for Gary, tell him you read about his knishes in this conference, and I
    promise you he'll give you a freebie to taste for yourself. (If he
    doesn't, tell ME and I'll deal with him myself; I'm his wife!!!)
    
    Judy
    

    I'm also looking for a knish recipe.  Potato knishes primarily, but
    any kind will do.  It seems as though everyone who responded to this 
    note knows where to buy them, but not how to make them.
    
    I tried looking in IAGO::BAGELS (as suggested in .3?), but that node
    seems to be gone.
    
    
    				-David

Easynotes.lis shows BAGELS to be on:

Jewish Issues                   TAVENG::BAGELS                               893

    RE: -.1
    
    Nothing in TAVENG::BAGELS.  Still looking...

     
     After some very lengthy negotiations, I persuaded my mother to share
     with us her recipe for Knishes, however I think I'll have to ask you
     to treat this material as strictly confidential - she might not share
     any more secrets with me...
     
     The recipe I am about to give you comes from my father's mother, who
     taught my mother the theory. When my mother came to the practical
     implementation - I was about 5-6 - she begun preparing the dough in a
     kind of defending her doctoral thesis: my father was standing to the
     right of the green table, her father on the left and everybody was
     giving her advise.
     
     My mother succeeded at that memorable occasion and since then we all
     had to agree that "even though the last time she made knishes they
     were wonderfull, THIS time, she has even improved her own record".
     
     Though my mother taught my wife the secret of Knishes, she is keeping
     the monopoly making them. And we keep her practicing her skills, so
     this form of popular art is not lost.
     
     Knishes are a typical Jewish food, from Ashkenazic (East European)
     origin. They consist of a very thin dough, related to the dough for
     strudel, with different fillings, the most usual ones are either
     potatoes or cheese.
     
     Knishes are usually traditionally prepared for Shavuoth (Pentecostes)
     the feast that conmemorates the giving of the Law in Mount Sinai, as
     well as the presentation of the first fruits to the Temple. Shavuoth
     falls 7 weeks after Passover, i.e.: by the end of spring.
     
     Tradition says that after fleeing Egypt, all the people, men and women
     alike, were gathered at the base of Mount Sinai to receive the Law.
     They left very early in the morning for that crucial event, and when
     they came back, changed from a bunch of freed slaves into a nation
     with a Law and a Constitution, the only thing that was available to be
     served for lunch, without lengthy preparations, were dairy foods.
     Therefore we serve in Shavuoth dairy food.
     
     Potato or cheese filled knishes, covered with a generous dollop of
     sour cream, are also a dairy food. Since Jews are supposed not to mix
     dairy foods with meat, I don't remember having seen ever any meat
     knishes at traditional homes, but...
     
     Oh, before I forget, it is strictly permissible to make knishes even
     if it is not Shavuoth...
     
     
     Let's begin with the fillings:
     
     Potato Knishes:
     
     1 large onion, diced to .5cm x .5 cm pieces, fried until golden brown.
     1 1/4 Kg Potatoes, boiled and pure'ed.
     Salt and pepper.
     
     Mix the golden onions with the mashed potatoes, adding some of the oil
     the onions were fried in, add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
     If in doubt about proportions, I would lean to add more fried onions
     than be short with them.
     
     
     Cheese knishes:
     
     1/2 Kg "Yddishn Kaze" == Jewish cheese, a soft white cheese, similar
         to what is called "quark" by the germans. It can be substituted by
         a soft creamy white cheese, like riccota, but it should be more
         salty than ricotta
     1 egg for consistency.
     Salt, pepper (and if you follow the Polish Jews' tradition, 1/2 a
          glass [125g] sugar).
     Optional: 1 large onion, diced and fried until golden brown.
     
     Dough:
     
     1/2 Kg white flour
     1 egg
     3-4 T oil
     Water, lukewarm, as necessary.
     
     [The above amounts for the dough would be enough for the amount of
     cheese filling or for the cheese filling, if you want to make them
     both, you'll have to double the dough amounts.]
     
     Mix half of the flour with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, and
     knead with your hands, adding the remaining flour until you get a very
     soft dough. Let the dough rest for some time, about half an hour. Cut
     with a knife in four. Take each fourth separately.
     
     Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface and thin the dough with a
     rolling pin until it is (almost) transparent.
     
     In order to make the dough thinner, my mother puts her hands under the
     dough, palms down, open fingers, and with very soft movements she
     separates her hands, thinning the dough. There are no problems if you
     make a hole, since you will roll the dough, the hole will be covered.
     
     By now you should have a paper thin dough, almost round, some 45 cm
     (1 1/2 ft) in diameter. Spread a little oil over the dough.
     
     Along one side of the dough, spoon the filling, making a line about
     3cm thick and 3 cm high. The filling should stretch for about half of
     the perimeter of the dough. Roll the dough, beginning from the filling
     side, and making a roll about 45-50 cm long. Close both ends. Repeat
     until you are out of dough and/or filling.
     
                        <------45cm------>
                        ==================       = 2.5 cm

     Preparation of the individual knishes.
     
     Using your the edge of your hand as a knife, moving it back and forth
     accros the roll, cut it in pieces about 5 cm (2") long. The rolling
     back and forth will also close the pieces so no filling spills out.
     Now take each piece of roll and flatten it in your hands so that
     instead of a cilinder 5 cm long you get a flat cilinder of less than
     one inch.
     
                        <------45cm------->
     
                        ================ ==
                                        ^
                                       Cut
     
                        >==< flaten to one inch
     
     Each roll should give you 9 to 10 knishes. Think about 3 to 6 knishes
     "per capita".
     
     Put the knishes side by side, with 1-2 cm space between them, on an
     oiled pan, paint with some oil on the top of each one. Cook on a
     medium to hot oven, until golden brown. (Don't let them burn).
     
     Serve, as we said before, with sour cream.
     
     When making both potato and cheese knishes, in order to differenciate
     among them, my mother does an upwards peak in the center of the cheese
     knishes and a downwards deppression in the center of the potato ones.
     
     Please share with me the results you may get with this recipe; my
     mother as many mothers, cooks by feeling and approximate meassures,
     and quite a few times, she has forgotten to give an ingredient or
     proportion, so "caveat ..."
     
     Now, if you are in a hurry, or you are not a purist, I believe that
     you would get very aproximately results using filo dough, but please,
     please, don't let my mother know...
     
     Enjoy,
     
     Juan-Carlos Kiel
     DEC Israel

re: .13

I'd like to try making this, but using my pasta machine to roll out the
dough.  Do you think this would work?

I would have to divide the dough into more than four pieces.  I could
produce sheets of dough 5 inches wide and 18 inches long.  Then, I could
put the filling on the narrow end and roll up.  By cutting it in two,
I would have two knishes.

What do you think?

Karen

re: .14

>I'd like to try making this, but using my pasta machine to roll out the
>dough.  Do you think this would work?

Well, trial and error was the first approach to science..

I don't know if it will work. One of the secrets in knishes is making
the dough really paper thin and transparent. But if worst comes to worst,
you can allways take the dough out of your pasta machine and finish it
by hand...

Regards,

Juan-Carlos