How Jewish food became NYC’s signature dish – New York Daily News

Every city has a blue plate special.

In Chicago, it’s deep dish pizza. In New Orleans, it’s gumbo. But New York is too big and too diverse.

Not a single signature dish. There are dozens of varieties, and many are served with sour pickles.

This concludes June Hersh’s Iconic New York Jewish Food: A History and Guide with Recipes.

Others can justifiably claim a slice of folded pizza as the city’s iconic meal. increase. But Hirsch doesn’t have it.

“Many foods associated with New York City have Eastern European roots and their voices are imbued with Yiddish accents,” Hersh claims.

Their fascination, she says, is universal across at least those five provinces.

“Order a bagel with cream cheese schmear from a bodega and you don’t need a translation,” writes Hersh. “New Yorkers embraced Jewish food, and Jewish food changed New Yorkers.”

Her interesting books are divided by type of food. Bagel is her one chapter, lox another, and a few more chapters covering smoked fish, meat, knives, and other treats, not all of which are popular outside the city.

But before she can set the table, Hersh sets the scene.

Her book begins in the late 19th century, when waves of Eastern European Jews began arriving in New York City, joining a small influx of German immigrants.

“In 1880, there were about 60,000 Jews in New York City,” she said. “By 1914 it had swelled to 1.5 million… These immigrants, unlike the German wave, came in whole families. They were slow to assimilate and often adhered to dietary laws.”

So it was necessary to create a unique space in the New World, one of butchers, bakers and Shabbat winemakers, not to mention delicatessens, dairy restaurants and appetizers.

The last, according to Hersh’s account, was a singular New York institution, a bit of a sleight of hand that turned adjectives into nouns.

In this case, the word appetizing did not describe the store’s appearance — many were certainly attractive — but what it sold: pareve, neither meat nor dairy, and therefore any Whether you’re looking for a wide range of kosher foods or just about anything you can think of. .

“At its peak in the 1930s, there were 500 such stores,” writes Hersh.

So what could you get there? what are you looking for?

A typical store also sold smoked fish (sturgeon, sable, salmon, whitefish) and penny candies. But there might also be pickles, sauerkraut and canned sardines.Nuts, dried fruit and dried mushrooms were kept in bins. Others offered breads and cookies ranging from glossy challah to sweet rugalak.

Hersh claims that the realm’s queen has remained Russ & Daughters in E. Houston South since 1920. Continuing the Sons tradition, we will elevate female heirs to equal partnerships.

Hirsch doesn’t hesitate to call Russ and Daughters “the best ever,” but uptown stores like Barney Greengrass, Murray’s Sturgeon and The Byrds have loyal customers for generations. I admit that I am Readers are encouraged to dine and decide for themselves.

The Dairy Restaurant is another New York institution, perfect for diners who want to stay kosher and crave (but don’t want to make) the occasional cheese blintz. These restaurants did not serve meat. An ardent follower was Leon Trotsky, a revolutionary who attended his Dairy in the Bronx Triangle.

“The self-proclaimed Marxist didn’t tip because he felt it was an insult to the waiter,” Hirsch says. “In turn, the waiter retaliated with insults, accidental spills of hot soup, and insults.”

The Dairy Restaurant outlasted Trotsky’s, but not by much. Some once thrived, like Ratner and Rapoport, but both are now gone. One of the only survivors is East He Village’s B&H, which has been serving latkes and sour cream since 1938.

“A sign of the times is the current ownership, which consists of Polish Christian women, Muslims and Mexican men. This sounds like the basis for a politically incorrect joke,” Hersh wrote. I’m here. “But this team maintains standards and menus that make B&H the destination.”

But as great as dairy restaurants, appetizers, pickle and knife shops are, only New York food is the perennial star of a great show.

Hi, I’m Deli!

The classic Jewish delicatessen—gold-jacketed waiters, tables full of kibitzers, mile-high sandwiches—is a purely Jewish-American invention. In Minsk, no one ordered a tongue sandwich and Dr. Brown’s Serley soda.

As immigrants found a foothold in their new country, they, and especially their children, sought a place to rest after a long day in the sweatshops. They wanted a cup of tea, nosh.

Delicatessen filled their stomachs. And for these new Americans, it met other needs.

“The deli has become more than a place to grab a bite and buy a half-pound of salami,” writes Hersh. “It has become a therapist’s office, a lifeline to news from home, a cultural haven for poets and writers, a debate club and a social hall where they gather, feel judgment and fear. It’s now a place where you can converse in Yiddish without being judged or judged as an outsider.

It truly was a home away from home.

what was the best? Hirsch is too smart for him to take sides there. She mentions great things like The Stage, Carnegie, Benz, Lindy’s, and Pastrami Her Queen, but there are still a few left. The still-thriving Katz’s, where she can stand in line for an hour before entering this pastrami palace, deserves a special mention. Additionally, she provides trivia. Why does the sign say “Katz’s — That’s All”?

Decades ago, when the owner hired a sign maker, he asked what it was supposed to say. His boss probably said, “Katz’s. That’s all.”

Like a Katz sandwich, this book is impressively packed. There are color photo inserts of mouth-watering meals, great era photos, and ads like ‘Send salami to the boys in the army’.

There are also authentic recipes. (“No deconstructed Knish or jalapeño his matzo his balls here,” he promises Hersh.) The instructions are simple, but there are still a few surprises. Like the trick to making a truly classic egg cream, you’ll need Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, seltzer, and half or half milk, of course.

The book includes tips such as when to stop by Acme Fish to purchase deluxe lox at wholesale prices. Find the schedule for tours of the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys factory and the location of a Manhattan bookstore that specializes in pickle lore.

End your trip with a stop at Katz and sit at the table where ‘When Harry Met Sally’ was filmed. And don’t be afraid to declare, “I’ll get what she’s got.”

Because whatever it is, you know it will work.