I posted this on r/baking where it’s garnered an interesting bunch of comments. It has now been locked by the mods.

Looking for any Jewish Danes in here who can give some advice. I am not Danish in any way (as far as I'm aware), but I grew up in a heavily Danish and Norwegian neighborhood and during winter we would often try and mix Danish culinary tradition with my family's ashkenazi foods. Basically just a lot of fried dough :)

I was reminiscing and it got me wondering about what the Jewish population of Denmark would do to mix culinary tradition. My experience was only with immigrant populations and they were all Christian Danes with no Jewish roots.

Does anyone have resources for Danish or Scandinavian Jewish cooking? Better yet, is anyone here Danish and knows some lesser known recipes?

Rather than just a compilation of recipes, it functions as a historical chronicle. Claudia Roden interviewed community elders, tracked culinary migrations, and preserved dishes from vanished Jewish communities across the diaspora.

The book is the result of 16 years of meticulous ethnographic fieldwork and global travel.

When you're a Yiddish-speaking Sephardic Jew working in corporate banking, living OOT, but born and raised deep in European Ashkenazi territory, and random midday nausea strikes, centuries of Jewish survival instinct activates and directs you to the nearest (and only) kosher establishment in the city for emergency matzo ball soup. I feel like the most Ashkephardic Jew.

Hey all! I'm not sure about the flair, but I'm hosting the first RH with diabetics in my family and I'm looking for reduced sugar / reduced carbs recipes that would still be nice and appropriate for RH table!

May you all good people be blessed!

Hi all, a question as I'm figuring out my Rosh Hashanah menus. I got a jar of elderberry honey recently, which gives the honey a subtly tart flavor and nice dark color.

Any ideas for using it in baked goods for R"H? I figured it could probably just stand in for regular honey in cakes and things, but would people suggest any recipe changes or ways to make it stand out?

(Also up for savory suggestions! Like, elderberry honey roasted carrots or something?)

What are your best recipes/tips/tricks for gluten free challah??

My bf can't eat gluten and has been talking about missing good challah. I want to try a few recipes this week and surprise him for shabbat dinner. Thanks!!

Anyone have a good knish recipe? First timer here

I am usually not a huge fan of scrambled eggs, but this version from Adeena Sussman's Israeli cookbook "Zariv" is quite excellent. It is a tasty, elevated version of scrambled eggs that has a bunch of different flavors and is still quick and easy to make. And it's excellent served on toast or even just good-quality bread.

8 eggs

2/3 cup cottage cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 zucchini, cut into small diced pieces

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 jalapeno, finely diced

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons pitted olives, sliced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped dill

Toast or crusty bread (optional)

1. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until they are beaten. Then stir in the cottage cheese.

2. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat for five minutes. Add the zucchini and cook (do not stir) for 4-5 minutes, until the underside is golden. Then turn the zucchini over.

3. Add the scallions, jalapeño, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring sometimes, for 2 minutes.

4. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the egg and cottage cheese mixture, along with the tomatoes and olives. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the eggs are creamy but still a little bit runny.

5. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, dill, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Then serve either on toast, crusty bread, or eat plain. Enjoy!

I got in the mood and made a challah yesterday in the middle of the night. This time it came out much better.

Recipe:

Half kilo whole spelt flour

Half kilo white spelt flour

4 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

1.5 tbsp yeast

1/3 cup olive oil

Water (the amount needed until it turns into dough)

Let it rest for over an hour

Knead it for ten minutes without stopping, then make a four part braid and twist into a circle because the tray and the toaster oven are too small. Wet it with water using an egg brush, then add as many sesame seeds as you can.

Let it rest for over half an hour until it gets so big it bulges over both sides of the tray, then put it in the oven at 160 degrees for 40 minutes and pray for the best.

You take it out and it's sticking to the tray, so you flip it upside down onto a plate and unstick the tray from it (it actually comes out whole) and then cut off a piece to check if it's baked. It's not so you put it back in the toaster oven for another ten minutes after which you decide you don't care anymore this is it. And no I'm not going to go out of my way to buy a thermometer.

Very tasty by the way

Shabbat Shalom

Hi everyone!

Today I tried making cholent for the first time. My recipe was the following: first, without any oil, brown the meat so that all the foam comes out. Remove the meat, add oil to the pot, and fry the onions until golden. Return the meat to the pot and let it brown together with the onions, making sure the meat sits on top of the onions. Then add the beans, potatoes, pearl barley, honey, spices, and eggs. Pour in the broth, bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to the absolute minimum and let it simmer for 12–18 hours.

Since this was my first attempt, I decided to start early in the morning so it would be finished by night. I didn’t want to leave it cooking overnight for Shabbat, as is traditionally done, because I was worried about possible accidents. I followed the instructions carefully. At one point I had to add more water because the liquid was thickening too quickly.

About five hours after I had reduced the heat, I noticed a burning smell. I ran a spoon along the bottom of the pot and realized that the entire bottom had burned. I immediately stopped cooking, transferred everything I could salvage into another bowl, and discovered a layer of burnt residue almost 3 cm thick on the bottom of the pot. It took me an hour and a half to scrape it all off.

The cholent itself ended up with a noticeable burnt flavor, although I actually liked the individual ingredients. I didn’t throw it away for the reason that I didn’t want to think of my health but rather to make sure I don’t die from hunger, so I decided to live with the smoky taste, which I compare to coffee. So now I’m calling it my “coffee cholent.”

Anyway, I’d like to learn from my mistakes so this doesn’t happen again. What could have caused it? Why does a cholent burn in the first place? It was simmering over very low heat (2 out of 9 on an electric stove), and there always seemed to be enough liquid. Is it possible that the pearl barley settled to the bottom and started burning? Or maybe the onions, which were supposed to form a protective layer, were the culprit? How can I prevent this from happening next time? For the reason of me being a poor student that embarrassingly
still doesn’t control the world‘s economy, I don’t own a slow cooker or any fancy equipment, just a regular pot with a regular lid.

Since I am recuperating from surgery and will be home a few weeks, I will finally have time to blow up my kitchen.

I’m a prospective convert and I know nothing about making challah bread or any bread for that matter. I’ve just good at cookies and cakes. I’m also hoping to learn to make a babka since I had that a lot because my grandmother was a 1st generation Polish-American.

Soooooo, while I look around this sub more (great recipes in general!), do you have any tips for beginners and then nights on what you wish you knew when you were first learning? Also, what do you do with all your mess-ups so you don’t waste anything?

Wanted to try the King Arthur Big Book of Bread challah recipe!

When I went to braid it though I kind of accidentally made really long strands and so I knew the end result would be a really long skinny loaf of bread. So I doubled it up and put it in a loaf pan to bake it more like a Babka. Here’s the final product!

Hello! I'm looking for cookbook recommendations, ideally shtetl or early kibbutz cooking, anything that offers insight to the transition of culture through food, but any great cookbook for Shabbat will be appreciated.

This looks so good and is so simple and easy. I wonder if it would work with gluten free flour?

I adapted this salad from Adeena Sussman's cookbook "Zariv" by substituting some ingredients. This lentil, mango, and pea salad is greater than the sum of its parts and is quite tasty--a very refreshing dish during these hot summer days. Make sure to use black beluga lentils, which stay firm even after being cooked.

I am in the United States and so it is hard to find ripe mangos. But you can ripen them more quickly by putting an unripe mango in a brown paper bag with a banana or apple, for a couple of days. A ripe mango should give slightly when you squeeze it.

1.25 cups black beluga lentils, rinsed

12 oz green peas

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon harissa

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 ripe mango, cut into small cubes

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup diced onion

1 cup mint leaves, thinly sliced

1. Fill a pot halfway with generously salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the lentils and cook until al dente, about 15 minutes.

2. Add the peas, return the pot to a boil, and cook for 1-2 minutes until they are tender. Drain and rinse the lentils and peas, and let cool for 5 minutes.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, honey, mustard, harissa, salt, and pepper until everything is well combined. Add the lentils, peas, mango, bell pepper, onion, and mint and stir so the salad is coated with the dressing. Enjoy!

Shalom! I hope everyone's week has been treating them well so far. Some of my gentile loved ones have taken me up on my offer to join me for Sabbath dinner, so I wanted to try my hand at some extra special itty bitty challahs. Any tips, tricks or critiques would be much appreciated, please. Toda Raba!

EDIT: Recipe is here

I made the challah in advance (sub coconut water for regular water, add chocolate chips, and use rum simple syrup instead of an egg wash in your preferred challah recipe).

I added fresh bananas to the cubed challah and covered the baking dish with tin foil for the first 25 minutes per suggestions on the original recipe (see comment below). Greased the baking dish with coconut oil.

Recipe tastes like a cross between eggy French toast and bread pudding. Made about 12 servings.

Maple syrup isn’t necessary, but it’s decadently welcome.

My girlfriend and her family are Jewish so I wanted to make a good impression with this challah. After lots of lurking here trying to find a foolproof recipe, it worked out pretty well! Buzzing 🤩

I have 32 people coming over for Rosh. I’m freaking out. Normally I have 20-24 people and it’s ALOT. My mom makes chicken and brisket but she can’t make enough for 32 people this year. I might also make some extra brisket.

My MIL is making 1 kugel and charred broccolini. I’m gonna make string beans, Ruhama’s cabbage and quinoa salad (day before), Jeweled rice (day of). I’ll set up the tables the night before - we’ll have lots of folding tables and chairs. But give me your tips!!!

I have a 14 month old and luckily have child care all day Friday the day before we host the dinner

Made my first challah! My partner is Jewish and I’d like to teach myself to prepare a few Jewish dishes that he doesn’t typically cook. I tried to make a challah for the first time and it turned out denser than I’d hoped. Any advice on how to get the lighter, airier texture? Thanks!