How to Prepare Hanukkah Food

Hanukkah is the festival of lights that is celebrated by the Jewish faith for eight days. It symbolizes the time in Jewish history when oil that should only have burned for one night lasted eight nights. Unlike most holidays celebrated with one big feast, Hanukkah spans eight nights, providing more get-togethers and the need for more snack items. Read on to get ideas for preparing Hanukkah food.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Beef brisket
• Potatoes
• Onion
• Oil
• Applesauce
• Sour cream
• Honey
• Sugar cookie recipe
• Icing
• Colored sugar

1. Bake a beef brisket early in the week of Hanukkah so that the family can have sandwiches made from this traditional Hanukkah meat. Beef tongue is another popular delicacy with the elders of the group.
2. Fry latkes for at least one evening of the Hanukkah celebration. Shred potatoes and onion and form into patties to fry in oil. Serve with applesauce or sour cream to preserve tradition.
3. Prepare noodle kugel in the customary way to satisfy the traditional members of the family. This is a noodle pudding and some good recipes for this dish can be found on the Virtual Jerusalem website.
4. Pay homage to the item that is so important to Hanukkah and use oil to fry balls of dough and drizzle them with honey. The honey symbolizes sweeter days ahead.
5. Bake cookies in the shapes of a Dreidel, a menorah and Star of David. Use a traditional sugar cookie recipe and buy cookie cutters in these shapes from a kitchen wares store. Decorate with white and blue icings (traditional Hanukkah colors) and colored sugar.

Tips & Warnings

• Most Hanukkah foods can be prepared ahead of time so that you are not cooking at the last minute. The only items that should be prepared just before eating are the fried foods.
• Never cook dairy and meat products together for Hanukkah. This practice would violate kosher food restrictions.