Kashe varnishkes (sometimes Americanized as kasha varnishkas) is a traditional dish of the American-Jewish Ashkenazi community. It combines ''

kasha In English, kasha usually refers to pseudocereal buckwheat or its culinary preparations. In various East-Central and Eastern European countries, ''kasha'' can apply to any kind of cooked grain. It can be baked but most often is boiled, either in ...

'' (buckwheat

groats Groats (or in some cases, "berries") are the hulled kernels of various cereal grains, such as oat, wheat, rye, and barley. Groats are whole grains that include the cereal germ and fiber-rich bran portion of the grain, as well as the endospe ...

) with noodles, typically

bow-tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that ...

shape

lokshen Lokshen ( yi, לאָקשן ), also known as ( he, איטריות), locshen, lockshen, or Jewish egg noodles, is the common name of a range of Ashkenazi Jewish egg noodles that are commonly used in a variety of Jewish dishes including chicken so ...

egg noodles. Buckwheat groats (''gretshkes/greytshkelach'' or ''retshkes/reytshkelach'' in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

) are prepared separately from, and then fried together with, ''

'' and ''tsvibelach'' (

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

) in ''

schmaltz Schmaltz (also spelled schmalz or shmalz) is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat. It is an integral part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, where it has been used for centuries in a wide array of dishes, such as chicken soup, lat ...

'' (poultry fat). Sometimes ''briye'' (chicken or beef

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

) is used in the preparation.

Origins

Kasha varnishkes are part of

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

Jewish cuisine. The

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

communities of Eastern Europe fled Europe due to rising antisemitism and

pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

and sought refuge in the United States and other countries, and brought with them food of their tradition including kasha varnishkes to America and it is widely popular in the

American Jewish cuisine American Jewish cuisine comprises the food, cooking, and dining customs associated with American Jews. It was heavily influenced by the cuisine of Jewish immigrants who came to the United States from Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th cent ...

and community. The name and the dish ''varnishkes'' as a whole seems to be a Yiddish adaptation of the Ukrainian ''vareniki'' (''

varenyky Pierogi are filled dumplings made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savory or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water. They are often pan-fried before serving. Pierogi or their varieties are associated with the cuisines of Central, Easter ...

'', stuffed dumplings). Buckwheat came to Ukraine and became one of the most common fillings of Ukrainian dumplings. This dish was enhanced by emigrating

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in the Ashkenazic manner. One of the first records of the dish is in an 1898 Yiddish play “Die Mumeh Sosye” (Aunt Sosya) by

Abraham Goldfaden Abraham Goldfaden (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם גאָלדפֿאַדען; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yid ...

. A recipe published in a Yiddish American cookbook in 1925 shows ''kashe''-filled noodles or dumplings, rather than the simpler ''kashe'' with farfalle. Food writer Gil Marks proposes that the dish was developed in New York City in the late nineteenth century through cultural exchange with Italian pasta makers. An increase in access to and ease of using dried pasta by the mid-twentieth century also likely contributed to a shift to the now standard farfalle.

References

External links

Kasha varnishkas
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasha Varnishkas Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Buckwheat dishes Jewish noodle dishes

Origins

See also

References

External links