What Did You Have for Dinner?

[SfanGoch]

I'm weird like that. I'm an amateur historian and I do a lot of personal research on civilizations and population movements throughout Central Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Fascinating stuff the deeper one delves into the subject.

Wow, I wasn't the only one who likes them with ketchup! There's a type of bierock that's a favorite of Jewish people from Eastern Europe. No meat, no cabbage, just carmelized onions in the center. Sort of like a stuffed bialy, only bigger and rounder. I get those at a couple of kosher bakeries around Lee Ave. in the Williamsbug section of Brooklyn, which has a large Hasidic population. The best place is Moishe's Bakery on Grand St., in the Lower East Side. The old lady who owns the place loves to chat and she knows my neighborhood because her family used to attend synagogue there years ago. Her ruglach and strudels are the best. It's like visiting your grandmother and getting charged for what she makes.  

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, SfanGoch said:

 Here's a recipe for old-style strudla. This is probably the way your mother used to make it::

Strudla
Dough: 4 cups flour, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 1/4 cups warm water
Mix ingredients and knead well. Cover and let stand 1 hour.
Base: Potatoes and/or cooked meat, 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/4 cup butter, bacon grease
Roll out dough paper thin. Spread with thin layer of melted bacon grease. Roll up loosely (as for cinnamon rolls).
Cut rolls into 1 inch lengths. Dice potatoes and place in heavy skillet with onion and butter. Cover potatoes with
water and bring to a boil. Layer strudla on top of potatoes in skillet. Cover when boiling and simmer 30 minutes.
Do not remove cover during cooking time or strudla will set.

 

Sounds pretty close except for the fact that it wasn't done in a skillet & she didn't break the cooking up into 2 parts.

It was kind of a one pot affair where you just threw all of the ingredients into a pot & let it go.

I'm sure that all of these recipes were modified over the years & most likely simplified to coincide with a busy household.

I had read a recipe for these strudla from an old German cook book some time ago where the ham & potatoes were diced and rolled up in the strudla much like a cinnamon roll or a sweet strudel.

My guess was that this was probably a more traditional way of doing it & over the years people simplified it.

throwing sliced ham & cubed potatoes in a pot was easier than dicing everything & rolling it into the strudla.

 

I will try some of the aspects of the recipe you posted the next time I try them.

I haven't discussed any recipes with my mother lately, so there's a possibility I might have missed something.

They were tasty though!

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

14 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

I'm weird like that. I'm an amateur historian and I do a lot of personal research on civilizations and population movements throughout Central Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Fascinating stuff the deeper one delves into the subject.

Wow, I wasn't the only one who likes them with ketchup! There's a type of bierock that's a favorite of Jewish people from Eastern Europe. No meat, no cabbage, just carmelized onions in the center. Sort of like a stuffed bialy, only bigger and rounder. I get those at a couple of kosher bakeries around Lee Ave. in the Williamsbug section of Brooklyn, which has a large Hasidic population. The best place is Moishe's Bakery on Grand St., in the Lower East Side. The old lady who owns the place loves to chat and she knows my neighborhood because her family used to attend synagogue there years ago. Her ruglach and strudels are the best. It's like visiting your grandmother and getting charged for what she makes.  

Not only did we eat them with ketchup, but we would throw the leftovers in the fridge & eat them cold.

I believe that I like them cold better!

Kind of like the German sausage!

 

Another thing that my mother used to do with everything from leftover knoephla to strudla & even egg noodles was cut them up & scramble them together with eggs!

She would use it as either a side dish, or a complete meal

 

The kids used to put ketchup on that too!

 

Steve

Edited August 13, 2018 by StevenGuthmiller

[gtx6970]

dang, Im hungry
 

Myself and my oldest daughter are in Arizona. Wife and youngest daughter are still in Ky ( but not for much longer ) 

Been quick meals for us the last 2 weeks or so . So nuttin fancy

[SfanGoch]

My parents did the same with those kinds of leftovers.Important ingredient for everything is smalec, made from bacon which was cut up into little pieces and fried until crispy and brown. In essence, lard. It was left to cool and the bacon and grease were stored. Great on pasta, pierogi, kluski (dumplings), mixing with scrambled eggs and on boiled potatoes. Older Poles will spread it cold on on black bread, Lithuanian, Polish or Jewish rye and chow down. 

[NYLIBUD]

A few belly burners,and a Diet Coke.

[SfanGoch]

A Diet Coke with belly bombers.....right. That's an exercise in futility if you're trying to avoid the extra calories. Did you have onion rings? They closed the four White Castles near me. Now, I gotta go all the way to Sunnyside.

[StevenGuthmiller]

31 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

A Diet Coke with belly bombers.....

Yeah, that always confused me as well.

I had a half of a chocolate cake with Haagen Dazs ice cream, hot fudge & wait for it...........a glass of skim milk!

 

Steve

[SfanGoch]

I used to crack up whenever someone ordered an Italian sausage hero with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, extra white sauce and extra BBQ sauce from the Greek food wagons when I worked in the city. Then, with a self-satisfied grin, they'd tell the guy, "Oh, and a Diet Coke!" and glance around to make sure anyone standing near the wagon knew they were health-conscious.

[mikemodeler]

El Pollo Loco here in Burbank CA. Vacation time has meant trying food from places not found on the East Coast, although we did do Jersey Mike's for lunch as we were hungry and it was the first place we found.

[StevenGuthmiller]

9 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

dang, Im hungry
 

Myself and my oldest daughter are in Arizona. Wife and youngest daughter are still in Ky ( but not for much longer ) 

Been quick meals for us the last 2 weeks or so . So nuttin fancy

Doesn't take long to make strudla & ham!

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, SfanGoch said:

I used to crack up whenever someone ordered an Italian sausage hero with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, extra white sauce and extra BBQ sauce from the Greek food wagons when I worked in the city. Then, with a self-satisfied grin, they'd tell the guy, "Oh, and a Diet Coke!" and glance around to make sure anyone standing near the wagon knew they were health-conscious.

And then you get the people who will say that they are afraid of all of that sugar in regular soda.

But they are somehow entirely confident that the "chemical" sweeteners in diet pop will not have them waking up some morning with six toes on one foot & a craving for earth worms!

 

Steve

[peteski]

10 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

My parents did the same with those kinds of leftovers.Important ingredient for everything is smalec, made from bacon which was cut up into little pieces and fried until crispy and brown. In essence, lard. It was left to cool and the bacon and grease were stored. Great on pasta, pierogi, kluski (dumplings), mixing with scrambled eggs and on boiled potatoes. Older Poles will spread it cold on on black bread, Lithuanian, Polish or Jewish rye and chow down. 

You reminded me of something I used do back in Poland when walking (with couple of buddies) back home from grade school.  (yes, we walked couple of kilometers, with no supervision, or school buses ,or crossing guards).  Anyway, my Grandma used to pack lunch for me, which usually consisted of couple of small bulkie rolls with smalec (lard). The lard had skwarki (little pieces of bacon leftover from the melting process) in it for a bit of a crunch.  I didn't eat them at lunch break. I kept them until about half way back home where there was a little vegetable stand.  Among other things they had an oak barrel full of delicious sauerkraut!  I would ask the lady for about 2 pennies worth of sauerkraut.  She would put a piece of wax paper on the old fashioned scale and with wooden tongues put down a pinch of the kraut. I woudl then take it off the scale, open up my lardy rolls and make them into a lard and kraut sandwich.   Those were delicious!

[SfanGoch]

I'm making you an honorary Greenpoint Native. You fit right in. Now, I'm going to apply for dual American-Polish citizenship for myself and my son. I found out that anyone with a Polish heritage can do this. 

[peteski]

2 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

I'm making you an honorary Greenpoint Native. You fit right in. Now, I'm going to apply for dual American-Polish citizenship for myself and my son. I found out that anyone with a Polish heritage can do this. 

Thanks Joe!  And go 4 it! 

[NYLIBUD]

Actually it was a lite beer.

[SfanGoch]

Great taste or less filling?

[Mike999]

21 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

El Pollo Loco here in Burbank CA. Vacation time has meant trying food from places not found on the East Coast, although we did do Jersey Mike's for lunch as we were hungry and it was the first place we found.

If you're in Burbank, I hope you hit Burbank House of Hobbies.  And AutoBooks on Magnolia Ave., where Jay Leno sometimes drops by to browse.  I used to like eating at a little burger shack named Norm's, also on Magnolia.  

[mikemodeler]

15 hours ago, Mike999 said:

If you're in Burbank, I hope you hit Burbank House of Hobbies.  And AutoBooks on Magnolia Ave., where Jay Leno sometimes drops by to browse.  I used to like eating at a little burger shack named Norm's, also on Magnolia.  

Drove past it and it was closed at the time (only open 10-7) so maybe in October when I am out that way again. Wish I could've made it, looked like a cool place !

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

The college kids are coming back to town, so starting this weekend, the restaurants in town will all be full to overflowing!

The wife and I decided that a nice "stay at home" cheese board would be nice.

Several different cheeses & meats along with some roasted red pepper bruschetta and caprese salad, a little wine and beer & we lived like royalty!

 

Steve

 

 

[NYLIBUD]

Tuna/mayo on rye,with a bowl of tomato soup,and crackers.Great meal when it's raining or snowing.Mmmmmm.

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, NYLIBUD said:

Tuna/mayo on rye,with a bowl of tomato soup,and crackers.Great meal when it's raining or snowing.Mmmmmm.

My wife would "almost" agree.

Grilled cheese with tomato soup is one of her favorites.

 

Steve

[vintagedragcrazy]

Not today but yesterday I made cheese stuffed manicotti and the first time I've made or had a caprese salad and was awsome!!!

vince

[StevenGuthmiller]

A couple more recent meals.

 

"Chicken Paillard".

 

 

 

"New England Style Fish Cakes".

 

 

Steve

 

 

[peteski]

Nice!  the last 2 look delicious and healthy!  And no cheese (I'm not a cheese person - I prefer cheese-less dishes).