NEW YORK — It happens every year. Yom Kippur services conclude, and 15 minutes later, you’re dashing in the door only seconds ahead of a hungry crowd.
People are polite, but ready to pounce. Like magic, they expect you to feed them — immediately.
With no time to whip up an elaborate spreadt, many hosts fall back on Jewish fast food: bagels and lox, herring and sour cream, sliced tomatoes and onions, and a chilled cucumber salad.
There are reasons why this menu makes sense after fasting. Fish and vegetables are lighter on the stomach than meat. Smoked fish allows the body to replenish lost salt.
But after fasting for 24 hours, people need something to fill their spirit and bellies — an assortment of piping hot kugels would particularly hit the spot.
Besides their perennial popularity, kugels offer distinct advantages for break-the-fasts. They are easily prepared, can be made in advance and are almost foolproof. Their biggest selling point is that hosts can reheat them.
Adored by Ashkenazim, kugels are a bright spot in Jewish culinary history. A type of pudding, sometimes baked for hours, kugels may date back to the beginning of the last millennium.
Made from bread and flour, the first kugels were plain, and salty 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, similar to today’s dish.
In the 17th century, sugar was introduced, giving home cooks the option of serving it as a side dish or dessert. In Poland, Jewish women sprinkled raisins and cinnamon into recipes. Hungarians took the dessert concept further with a hefty helping of sugar and a dollop of sour cream.
While less renowned than their sweeter cousins, savory kugels always existed. Early noodle recipes called for onions and salt and were tasty at room temperature. Over the centuries, inspired cooks have skipped the noodles, substituting potatoes, matzah, carrots, spinach or cheese.
But in America, noodle pudding has always reigned supreme. Today many people crown casseroles with corn flakes, graham cracker crumbs, ground gingersnaps or caramelized sugar. Inspired cooks may layer the dish with sliced pineapples or apricot jam.
Yet everything that’s old is new again. With bread pudding recipes so trendy in gourmet magazines today, kugel is being brought back to bread, its roots. Those in the know realize that, like French toast, the best bread puddings start with challah. A challah-custard kugel will consume any leftover braids from Rosh Hashanah.
“Kugels are the ultimate Jewish comfort food, says a writing teacher from Manhattan, who would never break the Yom Kippur fast without one. Tired and hungry, her family appreciates a warm casserole.
“After such a solemn day, they deserve a dish that’s creamy, luscious and good.”