About Noodle Kugel
Kugel is a popular Jewish side dish and dessert with a long history and many iterations. It has ingrained itself into Jewish culture not only as a dish but as humorous slang. The dish is incredibly easy to make and a staple at the Jewish dinner table. Does this Spark an idea?
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Identification
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Kugel is a traditional Jewish casserole (or pudding) served as a dessert or a side dish. It is most commonly made by combining a starch (like egg noodles) with a thickening agent (like butter, eggs, cottage cheese and sour cream) and baked in the oven. It can be either sweet or savory, often featuring ingredients like raisins, fruits and cinnamon.
Who Eats It and When
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Pronounced "koo-gel," this Jewish delight often makes an appearance on the Sabbath (or Shabbat) and various Jewish holidays. It is a dish mainly consumed by Ashkenazi Jews who descend from Eastern Europe. Hasidic Jews consider the consumption of kugel to be a a particular blessing on Shabbat.
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History
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Kugel, a Yiddish word meaning "ball," was first mostly made from bread and flour. In the 1200s, German Jews began to substitute bread with other starches, like noodles or farfel, and eggs and cottage cheese were introduced to give the kugel a creamier texture. Only later (around the seventeentth century) did cooks introduce sweet ingredients like sugar and raisins to create the kind of kugel modern Jews know best.
Kugel and the Bunt Pan
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In the 1950s, the bunt pan was created by H. David Dalquist with the specific intention of using it for cooking Kugel, though it went on to be used for many other dishes.
Simple Recipes
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A simple sweet kugel combines cottage or cream cheese, apples and/or raisins, sugar, cinnamon, butter and wide egg noodles all baked in a rectangular, well-greased pan. Savory kugels can be very similar and can combine salt, cheese, matzo, potatoes, onions and various vegetables like carrots, spinach or zucchini.
Kugel in South Africa
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South Aftrican Jews have appropriated the word "kugel" to refer to young Jewish females who shirk traditional values in favor of assimilating into high class gentile society. It bears associations of being too focused on grooming and material things and is often used by older generations. These days, it is rarely used as a serious insult.
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