Yerushalmi Kugel (), also known as Jerusalem kugel, is an Israeli

kugel Kugel ( , pronounced ) is a baked casserole, most commonly made from lokshen ( ) or potato ( ). It is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish, often served on Shabbos and Jewish holidays. American Jews also serve it for Thanksgiving dinner. Etymo ...

originating from the local Jewish community of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in the 18th century. The dish is served on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

and on

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. ...

History

Yerushalmi Kugel is said to have been created in Jerusalem during the 1700s by local

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

, followers of the

Vilna Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman''), also known as the Vilna Gaon ( ''Der Vilner Goen''; ; or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym Gr"a ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu": "Our great teacher Elijah"; Sialiec, April 23, 172 ...

, a Jewish religious scholar.

Overview

Jerusalem kugel differs from other traditional Ashkenazi style

noodle kugel Noodle kugel ( , pronounced ), also known as lokshen kugel or kigel, is an Ashkenazi Jewish casserole that is traditionally served as a side dish and popular variety of kugel made with lokshen noodles and either a variety of dairy or pareve ingre ...

s in a number of ways. Nonetheless, it has become a staple of Ashkenazi foods. Jerusalem kugel is always made with thin egg noodles, similar in appearance to spaghetti. The defining ingredient of Jerusalem kugel is

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

, which is uncommon in other varieties of kugel, and which can give it what the ''New York Times'' food writer

Melissa Clark Melissa Clark is an American food writer, cookbook author and ''New York Times'' columnist. She is the author of over 40 cookbooks and has received multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation and IACP (International Association of Culinary ...

has described as a "sinus-clearing" potency. It is made with a sauce similar to caramel, which the noodles are then coated with and then seasoned with black pepper before being placed in a baking pan (either a pan with a hole in the middle similar to a Bundt pan, or a round and flat pan similar to a

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

pan), and placed in the oven to bake. Jerusalem kugel does not typically contain dairy and is

pareve In ''kashrut'', the dietary laws of Judaism, pareve or parve (from for "neutral"; in Hebrew , ''parveh'', or , ''stami'') is a classification of food that contains neither dairy nor meat ingredients. Food in this category includes all items tha ...

References

{{Tourism in Jerusalem Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Jerusalem Culture of Jerusalem Israeli cuisine Jewish noodle dishes Kugels Noodle dishes Old Yishuv Pasta dishes

History

Overview

See also

References