SEPHARDIC POTATO
AND MEAT CAKES

1 pound ground beef
1 pound potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed
3 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 t. granulated garlic, or to taste
3/4 cup flour, for dredging
Vegetable oil for frying
Wedges of lemon, garnish

Bertha Cohen and her
daughter Annabel cook
Sephardic Potato and
Meat Cakes.

Combine beef, potatoes, eggs, onions, parsley,
salt, pepper and garlic in a medium bowl. Mix
the mixture well with a large spoon or with
your hands.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high
heat. Using wet hands, form a small amount of
the mixture into a patty. Fry the patty on both
sides until cooked through and taste for
seasoning. Adjust the seasoning to taste and
form the remaining mixture into patties, about
3 inches in diameter. Dredge the patties in
flour before frying them until golden on each
side and transferring to a paper towel-lined
dish. Serve hot with wedges of lemon. Makes 8
servings.

BOREKAS

What are unique to the Jewish people,
however, are specific dietary restrictions
and guidelines. Kosher dietary laws can
take a lifetime to learn and interpret. Those
who follow kashruth to the "nth" degree,
will not, under any circumstance, eat foods
that are not kosher.
That means most restaurants are
verboten. Eating, a very social interaction,
then is limited. One may only eat with
others eating the same way, aiding to keep
a culture homogeneous. In other words,
the family that eats together stays together.
The point here is that Jewish food is
what Jewish people eat at any given time.
Even kosher food isn't as it used to be.
Many new-ish kosher cookbooks include
haute cuisine offerings. That's because of
the growing availability of kosher copycat
products that look and taste like their non-
kosher, traif counterparts (fake whipped
cream, fake shrimp, fake bacon, for
example). It's also why in some of America's
bigger cities kosher Mexican, French,
Italian and Chinese restaurants exist.

Add to the pot the growing accessibility to
all types of meats, fish and produce from
around the world and the choices become
infinite. That means compromising
ingredients and making-do — like our
ancestors did — with near-substitutes is fast
becoming needless. You want Thai
lemongrass and Japanese eggplant, these days
you can pick it up the same place you buy
peanut butter and breakfast cereal. If you
make Jewish food the old way, it's because
you want to, not because you have to.

Our family lived in Michigan and my
grandparents lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
We would spend summer vacations in Brazil
with friends and relatives who had kids our
ages. When we would visit my grandmother in
her Copacabana apartment, she would
inevitably feed us. And feed us. And feed us.
After a while we could eat no more. So
when she'd leave the room, we would toss our
half-eaten borekas from her seventh-floor
apartment window.
She usually made this quintessential
,Sephardic appetizer with potato-and-cheese
filling, but they can also be made an endless
variety of ways — with mushrooms, spinach,
;fish, cheese or even sweet ground nuts and
sugar. Now I only wish I had one of her
,potato-and-cheese stuffed pastries in my hands
right now I know it wouldn't go out any
window.

:

AMERICAN INFLUENCE

Here's the interesting part. You don't have
to look far to see how the "American"
culture is already finding its way into
Jewish cooking. Just fast-forward the High
Holy Days to Thanksgiving.
Most American Jews celebrate this
holiday like "everybody else." There's no
need to review the menu, surely you know
it by heart. Many families are adding
turkey — a decidedly American bird

OY VEY, LET'S EAT! continued on page 14

Filling:
1 pound Idaho or russet potatoes, boiled and
mashed
3 large eggs
2 cups grated Parmesan or Feta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Dough:
1 cup vegetable oil

RECIPES continued on page 15

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