The flight of the Lokshen Kugel

Noodle Kugel by Stuart Spivack http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/250163117/

Some posts develop a life of their own. As I was walking to work this morning I was thinking about packing for my trip. When I was last through Newark security I was forced to sacrifice several sheckels worth of beauty products to the gods of homeland security. I know I for one feel safer knowing no one on the plane will be able to stand up and yell "FREEZE" and run around gelling and moussing the passengers into submission. This is a little manuever known in a small fragment of the terrorist community as "Hairjacking". But enough about former personal indignities. I am certain that Aveda appreciates the money I had to pump into the American economy replacing my cosmetics with them. And I am nothing if not a patriot when it comes to hair care. It's all Aero-lac under the bridge. OK- I'm a little bitter, but if my sacrifice makes you laugh- it's ok. Laugh dammit- or my loss is an empty one...

As I mentioned I am bringing food to Detroit- in case they ran out of food in the midwest. Which is about as likely as death by hairspray. One of the items I am taking is a kugel. For the poor souls who may be that much poorer for never having met a kugel- a bit of education from Wikipedia "Kugel (Yiddish: קוגל kugl or קוגעל, pronounced either koogel with the "oo" like the "oo" in "book or "look", is any one of a wide variety of traditional baked Jewish side dishes or desserts. It is sometimes translated as "pudding" or "casserole".

Kugels may be sweet or savory (salty). The most common types are made from egg noodles (called lokshen kugels) or potatoes and often contain eggs, but there are recipes in everyday use in modern Jewish kitchens for a great diversity of kugels made with different vegetables, fruit, batters, cheese, and other flavorings and toppings.

The first kugels were made from bread and flour and were savory rather than sweet. About 800 years ago, their flavor and popularity improved when cooks in Germany replaced bread mixtures with noodles or farfel. Eventually eggs were incorporated. The addition of cottage cheese and milk created a custard-like consistency which is common in today's dessert dishes. In the 17th century, sugar was introduced, giving home cooks the option of serving kugel as a sweet side dish or dessert. In Poland, Jewish homemakers sprinkled raisins, cinnamon and sweet farmer's cheese into noodle kugel recipes. Hungarians took the dessert concept further with a hefty helping of sugar and some sour cream. Most sweet Kugels are served cold or at room temperature. "

So here's the dilemma- if security at LaGuardia cannot tell hair gel from plastic explosives- what will they make of the 2 lb Kugel from Russ and Daughters? It weighs like a brick and if it were not for its noodly yellow raisin studded exterior would resemble nothing so much as the plastique Alan Rickman was so dead set on getting back from Bruce Willis in "Die Hard". In this case more of a reference to cholesterol plaque gathering on arteries than any sort of bomb but I would be dealing with people who see danger lurking in every corner of the Walgreen's. I figure they can wand it- or try and wrest it from my cold, rigid corpse. I am not going to Detroit if the kugel can't come too.

Worst case scenario- I make one when I get there

I needed help on this- I did not HAVE a kugel recipe I could stand behind- and I worried that if I offered one here I had to offer the BEST kugel I could find to all the intrepid folks who might read this and want to try and make their own. So I called my guru of Jewish Holiday cooking- a woman whose mandel bread I brave the Long Island Railroad for on EVERY Jewish holiday- it's just that good. My friend Miriam's mom and my surrogate stand in mom- Nina Hertzson. I love Nina. She has always come through for me- my favorite Nina thing is that for ten or so years after my divorce, when I arrived at Miriam's for any event she would come up to me and move the hair out of my eyes (it was always in my eyes- more of a function of gravity than style) and would say-"So, are you seeing anyone?" Even if the man I was seeing at the time was standing next to me at that moment. It may have been just a question in her mind as to whether, with this particular hair-do I could see ANYONE. Or perhaps it was that inevitably the man with me was not Jewish and therefore, slightly less than visible- at least as someone I SHOULD be seeing. As I said- I love Nina- and by these words- I have always felt that she loved me too. I stopped wearing bangs about 6 years ago- so she doesn't move my hair anymore- I kind of miss it.




Portrait of Nina Hertzson in the style of the illustrious Al Hirschfeld- illustrator extraordinaire, shamelessly imitated by Melanie Nerenberg (that's me) for Nina on the occasion of her birthday.

So here is a kugel that comes with the Nina Hertzson seal of approval- good enough for anyone- and all of you- try it.

Joan Glazier's Noodle Kugel (courtesy of Nina Hertzson)

preheat oven to 350 degrees

grease the bottom of a large roaster pan

Kugel

6 eggs
1/4 lb. melted unsalted butter
8 ounces whipped cream cheese
1/2 c. sugar
15 oz box of raisins (optional)
2 t. salt
1 lb. broad egg noodles cooked and drained
1 pint sour cream

Topping

3 - 4 cups crushed corn flakes
1/4-1/2 lb. melted butter (Nina says- you might want to use less... the inference here that you SHOULD, but at your own risk)
1 cup sugar
2 T Cinnamon (I think this should be included... not in Nina's original recipe but... again a SHOULD.. with the same disclaimer)

Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a blender or food processor until smooth and pour into prepared pan. Add raisins, salt sour cream and noodles and mix. In a separate bowl mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle on the top ( wu den? On the bottom?) (wu den is "what then" in Yiddish- the equivalent of no, DUH in English)

Cover pan with tin foil and bake 70 minutes. Bake 20 additional minutes until topping is crispy and slightly browned.

If you are like Syd and I you will bake it until the edges are really dark and crunchy- that's the part we like best. Back at Camp Ella Fohs the cook (known only as "Papa") on the senior citizen side of the camp was preparing to discard all the crunchy edges of a very large pan of noodle kugel (too hard for the seniors to chew... poor devils) as Syd and I walked by- needless to say Syd and I put a very quick stop to that and I remember very fondly in those devil may care Pre- Atkins days (we didn't know what a carbohydrate WAS back then and cholesterol was an ingredient in hair care products... (sigh) THOSE were great days) we sat in the mid-summer sunshine and feasted on crunchy noodle pudding edges until we couldn't breathe. Syd was the swim counselor that year- had she tried to get in the water after that meal she would have sunk to the bottom of Lake Wellington and remained there.

One more thing I love about writing here is I learn things while researching- Wikipedia yielded up two pieces of information I found very interesting- "Amongst South African Jews, the word "kugel" was used by the elder generation as a scornful term for a young Jewish woman who forsook traditional Jewish values in favor of those of secular high society, becoming overly materialistic and excessively groomed; the kugel being a plain pudding garnished as a delicacy."

As I move through my new job, all the dressing up and working really hard to be worthy of all the recent gifts the universe has washed up on my personal shores, I worry about being.... noodles dressed up as kugel. And wonder also which of us- me or the pudding- may be turned back as we take this journey.

And then the second piece of Wiki-wisdom: Some Hasidic Jews believe that eating kugel on the Jewish Sabbath or holiday brings special spiritual blessings. I would agree- and doubly so when when eaten at the beginning of a new year, and a new life, with good friends. The kugel and I will be just fine. :) X