I didn’t think I’d cook for the wonderful fall festival Sukkot this year (see 10-12-2019 post for more about Sukkot). But there I was at the end of the week considering some recipes I’d collected along with what I had in the fridge and freezer. During Covid one of the Jewish dishes that were shown numerous times was Jerusalem kugel. Numerous tv tour shows tromped through the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem’s old city in search of this specialized kugel. A number of chefs disseminated recipes for it online. I’d bought the appropriate noodles specifically for it when I was in the market recently. I told myself the time was right.

In addition, as Sukkot is an autumn festival, fall foods are featured. Stuffed cabbage, a totally Eastern European food – whether prepared by Jewish or Christian cooks – was not favored in my mother’s Greek Jewish kitchen. Mom was much more likely to prepare stuffed grape leaves (always meat and rice) or stuffed vegetables (especially tomatoes and green peppers). A recipe for a deconstructed stuffed cabbage caught my eye when it crossed my desktop recently. I had both cabbage and frozen ground beef. A Sukkot meal followed some pretty intense cooking, including learning at least one new skill.

Yerushalmi Kugel.* I forget on which tv travel show I saw this intriguing dish first. It always appears to be about 6” high whne finished. I guess this result was based on the diameter of the cooking pot used. Mine, prepared in my smallest dutch oven, barely reached 2”. I cannot say if this would affect the kugel’s taste.

Start by preheating your oven at 350F. Cook one 16 oz package of thin egg noodles (the width of the noodles vary according to the recipe you use); rinse and drain. In a heavy skillet, combine ½ cup of vegetable oil and 1 cup of sugar. Cook over a medium heat stirring constantly until the sugar is dark, about 11-12 minutes. Well … nothing happened quickly so I turned to YouTube (thank you very much). I raised the heat and stopped stirring watching very carefully for the color to turn. And it started stirring.

I think I did a fair job of caramelizing the sugar, though it might have been a bit too dark for the first time. It did not burn!

Quickly combine the drained noodles and the caramelized sugar, stirring constantly. Cool for at least ten minutes.

Add 5/6 beaten eggs, 1 tsp ground black pepper, and 1 ½ tsp kosher salt, stir well. Grease the bottom and sides of a 6 quart soup pot or Dutch oven and pour the noodles into the pot. Bake uncovered for two hours, or until the kugel is very dark brown and crusty on the top.

As kugels go, it was relatively easy to make (including caramelizing the sugar) and a tasty fall dish.

*Thanks to chef and cookbook author Adeena Sussman for this particular recipe.

Unconstructed Stuffed Cabbage.* In a large skillet fry 8 oz of beef bacon+ cut in 1” pieces over a medium heat until crisp and browned. Remove and set aside.

Chop one large yellow onion finely. Saute in the skillet with 2 minced cloves of garlic and one chopped medium cabbage, about 7-10 minutes, until lightly browned and softened. Remove and set aside.

Turn the heat to high and add one pound of ground beef to the skillet. Break up with a wooden spoon and cook til browned.

Add one 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp sugar (I never add sugar, it’s a real Ashkenazi taste), ¼ red pepper flakes (optional), and 2 bay leaves to the meat. I also added some red wine! Add the cabbage and onion mixture and stir to combine. Add the “bacon,” simmer for about 10 minutes uncovered. Simmer another 10-15 minutes covered. Remove the bay leaves; garnish with chopped parsley, and serve.

*In today’s jargon, this recipe was called Stuffed Cabbage Hack.

+I used turkey bacon. I suspect it does not crisp really crispy as the beef might.

Welcome the fall season with two unexpected Sukkot dishes.