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2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2019
Beyond latke: Branching out for Hanukkah
By Sharyn Jackson
Margoe Edwards/Dreamtime-TNS
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
There’s more to Hanukkah food than latkes.
Jewish holiday meals are
often oozing with symbolism,
and Hanukkah is no excep-
tion.
The festival, which begins
this year at sundown on Dec.
22, celebrates ancient Jews’
victory over an oppressor and
commemorates a miracle in
the aftermath of battle. In the
desecrated Temple in Jeru-
salem, enough oil to light a
candelabra for only one day
astonishingly burned for eight.
On holiday tables world-
wide, foods fried in oil repre-
sent the marvel that occurred
that week more than 2,200
years ago.
“Many Jewish holidays
have symbolic foods, which is
part of what gives Jewish rites
of passage a lot of sensory
memory and pleasure about
them,” said Alana Newhouse,
editor of the 2019 “The 100
Most Jewish Foods.”
In America, perhaps the
most visible of those symbolic
deep-fried foods is the latke,
a pancake of grated potatoes
and onions, bound with egg
and fried to a crisp like a hock-
ey-puck-sized hash brown.
Ashkenazi Jews from Central
and Eastern Europe popular-
ized the dish, now available
on many American delis’ and
diners’ year-round menus,
served with sour cream and
applesauce.
“It’s very hard to eat a latke
and not think about grease,”
said Newhouse.
But a potato isn’t the only
ingredient worth frying. All
manner of fritters, both sweet
and savory, would be right
at home at a Hanukkah
dinner. Breaded proteins and
deep-fried doughs also work.
Sufganiyot, jelly doughnuts
brought to Israel by Polish
Jews, are a Hanukkah staple
in that country and, increas-
ingly, here.
“It was interesting to me to
learn just how much Jews fry
food, both for Hanukkah but
also year-round,” said Leah
Koenig, the author of sev-
eral books on Jewish cooking,
including the encyclopedic
“The Jewish Cookbook,” which
has a whole chapter on fritters
and savory pastries eaten by
Jews all over the globe. “There
are a lot of things that are
latke-adjacent.”
While she stays true to her
family’s latkes-and-brisket
tradition, Koenig recommends
an international Hanukkah
meal of Roman-style fried
artichokes, and green-fl ecked
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California-raised, Israel-
based cookbook author
Adeena Sussman also uses oil
as her guide for the holiday.
In her book “Sababa: Fresh,
Sunny Flavors From My Is-
raeli Kitchen,” fi nd recipes for
her Hanukkah favorites, such
as broccoli and cottage cheese
pancakes, pistachio-lemon
bars made with both olive
and coconut oils, and Moroc-
can deep-fried fl ower-shaped
pastries called shabakia.
She also suggests making a
bread spread of garlic confi t,
which can be used in salad
dressing or as a rub for a roast
chicken. “The resulting garlic
oil, fragrant yet mild, is a mul-
tiuse Hanukkah miracle of its
own,” she said.
For a holiday main course,
try Sussman’s sesame schnit-
zel, a crisp chicken cutlet
that’s been seasoned with
dukkah, an Egyptian hazelnut
and spice blend that’s also
delicious atop hummus.
In Israel, jelly doughnuts
are a “major craze,” said Suss-
man, “with bakeries attempt-
ing to outdo one another with
outlandish fl avors like dulce
de leche and nutella-fi lled
doughnuts, or assorted syrups
injected into the doughnuts
with plastic syringes.”
But while they’re iconic,
they’re not to everyone’s lik-
ing. In “The 100 Most Jewish
Foods,” subtitled “A Highly
Debatable List” for good
reason, famed Israeli-English
chef Yotam Ottolenghi called
the doughnut “a greasy, tacky,
sugary oddball, injected with
smooth, gummy red jam that
hasn’t seen a single berry
in its life: This could easily
be shortlisted for the worst
Jewish foods, quite possibly
topping the list.”
For a twist on the jelly
doughnut, skip the jelly, go
smaller, and try bimuelos,
doughnut-hole fritters that
originated as a Hanukkah
dessert among Sephardic
Jews in pre-Inquisition Spain.
And, with his remarkable
story as a backdrop, he was
chosen to carry the U.S. fl ag
Continued from Page 1B
at the opening ceremonies in
As the rules required, he
Beijing.
wrote an essay on his life
He won the U.S. Title in the
story and not long after was
1,500 in 2009 and 2010 and
accepted. He could not have
with a third-place fi nish in
imagined what would come
the 5,000 meters qualifi ed for
next.
the London Olympics.
Soon, he was on his fi rst
Through it all, with help
airplane ride, a trip to Mas-
from HBO, Lopez was reunit-
sachusetts to learn of such
things as hot running water, ed with his family in Africa
and arranged to sponsor two
in-room light switches and
younger brothers who are
McDonald’s. At school, he
now running collegiately. He
started running, and was
good at it, earning a scholar- started a foundation aimed at
providing aid to those is need
ship at Northern Arizona.
With an elevation approach- in his native South Sudan.
At 34, he’s still running,
ing 7,000 feet, Flagstaff is a
winning the 10,000 at the
well-known training site for
2018 U.S. Championships.
long-distance runners.
With an unfailingly posi-
And Lomong thrived there.
In 2007, not long after our tive attitude and a perpetual
smile, Lopez knows how
interview, he won the 1,500
fortunate he is, especially
meters at the NCAA cham-
considering his journey.
pionships. A month later, he
“It’s great, it’s amaz-
became a U.S. citizen.
In 2008, Lomong made the ing,’’ he said back in 2010.
“Again, why me? I am just so
U.S. Olympic team with a
surprise third-place fi nish in blessed.’’
Then there was a freckle-
the 1,500 meters.
faced, redheaded 11-year-old
boy with an astonishingly
terrifi c attitude who I inter-
viewed in 1998 at his family’s
home in Keizer, near Salem.
You see, Kacey McCallister
has no legs. When he was 5
years old, they were severed
below the knee when he was
struck by a truck.
But Kacey did not feel
sorry for himself. There was
not one word of self-pity when
I talked to him.
He loved sports and played
Little League baseball. He
was a catcher and would pro-
pel himself by scooting along,
propelled by his arms.
“I realized there was noth-
ing I could do to change it
unless they come out with
something that can grow
legs,’’ he told me back then. “I
just go with what I have.’’
As a high school senior, he
was runnerup in his weight
class at the state champion-
ships.
The attitude that Kacey
exhibited to me that day has
served him well. He’s married
with fi ve children and works
as a motivational speaker.
The message he delivers
is the same one he expressed
to me that day 21 years ago
when I asked him what ad-
vice he’d give another kid who
lost his legs.
“I’d just say ‘Don’t let
anything get you down,’ ”
Kacey said back then. “ ‘Just
play and have fun. Don’t let
anybody tell you you can’t do
anything. Just say ‘I can.’ ”
There are others I can
mention.
Hurdler Lolo Jones was
homeless growing up, Tyrann
Mathieu had a rough child-
hood and was kicked out of
LSU for marijuana-related
issues. But he has become
a leader in the NFL, both
on and off the fi eld, helping
youngsters in his native New
Orleans whose childhood
struggles he knows so well.
So many people have over-
come huge odds to succeed.
I’ve been blessed to meet and
be inspired by a few of them.
PERSIMMON
Todd
541.786.5095
627 E. Arch St, Union, OR 97883
chicken, green onion and
ginger fritters from Calcutta
called arook tahine. In fact,
with recipes for Turkish leek
fritters, Italian sweet rice frit-
ters and Syrian herb omelet
fritters, you could put together
a “global latke table,” Koenig
said.
Iraqi Jews will eat savory
handheld turnovers, called
sambusak, on Hanukkah.
Stuffed with a cheese fi lling,
the easy-to-make pastries can
be baked. But fried in oil, the
dough becomes a chewy puff
that merges with the melty
fi lling. It’s a heavenly appe-
tizer served hot.
Newhouse’s grandmother,
who hailed from Macedonia,
often made a leek-and-lamb
patty, seasoned with cinna-
mon, allspice and cayenne
pepper. Newhouse learned
later that these keftes de pra-
sa were a Hanukkah specialty
because they, too, were fried.
“It comes out of the whole
schmaltz universe of think-
ing,” Newhouse said.
INSPIRE
Rick
360.601.2067
Virginians) grows in zones 3-9. It’s a
small tree with attractive gray-brown
bark fi ssured into a checkered pattern.
Continued from Page 1B
The leaves are oval, broad and glossy.
“Fuyu” persimmons are never
Fruit is small, 1 1/2 to 2 inches, round-
astringent (puckery) even when green.
They have fi rm fl esh like an apple and a ish, orange to brown and astringent
until very soft.
round, fl attened shape, orange in color.
An old variety is “Meader” and was
“Hachiya” fruit is slightly pointed and
commonly grown. Astringent until
is astringent unless very soft.
very soft. I’m trying to grow a Meader
The American persimmon (Dispyros
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persimmon here but it is not thriving so
I suspect it should be in zone 6 or 7.
After the leaves drop in the autumn,
persimmon trees are very beautiful with
all the orange fruit still hanging on the
tree. Persimmon wood is a highly prized
hardwood related closely to ebony.
If you have garden questions or com-
ments, please write to greengardencol-
umn@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading!
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