October 2018 - Too Lazy To Write A Book

satofdavidpie Here’s a news flash for you: if the response to my last post is any indication, it turns out that Jews love to argue about food (among other things).

When I set out to write My Definitive And Absolutely Correct Ranking Of 40 Jewish Foods, I was really just working out my own inner feelings about my “native” cuisine. Instead, and through no fault of my own (or entirely my fault, depending on your stance on sour fish), I unleashed a Hebrew hurricane.

The story spread quickly beyond my small fan base of family members and fake Twitter followers from Russia to a much larger community of whitefish lovers and kasha defenders. True, most people seemed to find my descriptions both humorous and nostalgic, but many took great umbrage with the rankings themselves. The most common criticisms:

I ranked chopped liver way too high
I ranked chopped liver way too low
I ranked gefilte fish way too high
I ranked gefilte fish way too low

So now I’m confused.

Others were too. Steve Benowitz wrote:

Undercooked chicken? Who ever heard of a Jewish mother (or, g-d forbid, your bubbe) undercooking anything? They all learned to cook practicing on brisket, which is always overcooked.

Many wrote in about their own versions of specific recipes (sorry, none of them will make me eat pickled herring). Some added interesting ingredients, like Barbara Lee Silverman’s secret potato pancake addition: