Jewish Meat Knishes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is knish dough made of? ›

The dough is typically made from flour, olive oil, salt, cold seltzer water, and apple cider vinegar. Ingredients for the filling depend on what flavor you're making. Traditional knish is made with: Russet potatoes.

Knishes are fist-size snacks consisting of mashed potatoes wrapped in paper-thin pastry dough and then baked or fried. Other varieties include fillings made from sweet potatoes, mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, cheese, or kasha, which is made from buckwheat groats.

*Knishes can be kept in the refrigerator for 7-10 days if left in vacuum sealed pouch. Please do not freeze knishes. Place the Kugel in it's frozen state on a flat surface/tray and allow to completely defrost (thaw).

A staple of Jewish cuisine, a knish (pronounced kuh-nish) is a hearty snack of cooked carbohydrates (usually mashed potatoes) wrapped in buttery dough. Knish were brought to the US by European immigrants in need of hearty and affordable meals in their new home.

In most traditional versions, the filling is made entirely of mashed potato, kasha (buckwheat groats), or cheese. Other varieties of fillings include beef, chicken, sweet potatoes, black beans, or spinach. Knishes may be round, rectangular, or square.

noun. a piece of dough stuffed with potato, meat, or some other filling and baked or fried.

The knish, when it's done right, is just as delicious as the bagel. There's a filling of onions cooked to golden caramel in chicken fat, then painted onto a belly-hugging potato canvas. That carby mass is then wrapped in thin, pliant dough and blistered in the oven. It's great with deli mustard.

A pillow of mashed potato, wrapped in dough and deep-fried.

Knishes, Cut Open True, both knishes and bourekas (as well as bulemas and, to a degree, boyos) are stuffed pastries. However, most world cuisines feature some sort of stuffed dough. In no order other than what springs to mind: calzones, kubbeh, jiaozi, mantu, kreplach, kutab, samosas and burritos.

There's no wrong way to eat a knish, but we like ours served hot, with a side of good mustard. Enjoy one as an appetizer, midday snack, or served alongside a soup or sandwich.

Can I freeze knish? ›

Storage: Knishes can be stored in the refrigerator out of the protective package for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 year. If freezing, store knishes in the freezer upon arrival.

Reheating Instructions:

Microwave: Place knish on microwave safe plate, and heat on high for 15 seconds or to desired temperature. Conventional oven: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place knish on oven safe baking sheet and heat at 375 degrees for 5 minutes or to desired temperature.

Knish is a Yiddish word with a Russian root, knysh, "cake" or "dumpling." These petite snacks are either baked or fried, and can be round or square, with fillings that sometimes include cheese or kasha in addition to potatoes.

Hamantaschen's distinct triangular shape (as opposed to the covered, round mohntaschen) comes with a number of interpretations. Although the name refers to Haman's pockets, there's a tradition that says the biscuit is shaped like Haman's three-cornered hat. In Hebrew, they're called oznei Haman or "Haman's ears".

Schmaltz is a common ingredient in Jewish and Eastern European cooking. It's made by rendering poultry fat, usually chicken, although it's made with goose fat in some areas. It's inexpensive and tastes as rich as butter without containing any dairy.

Method for dough balls:

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the oil and gradually mix in the water to form a soft dough. It should not be sticky. On a floured surface knead the dough for a few minutes.

Like Phyllo Dough, this requires a little elbow grease; most strudel recipes call for store- bought phyllo or puff pastry, which both work interchangeably with this dough for any strudel recipe.