“משנכנס אדר מרבין באכילה”
“When the month of Adar comes, our eating increases!”
Looking to breathe new life into your mishloach manot? Try your hand at some vintage Purim recipes from the antique cookbook collection of Eli Genauer, who’s also a longtime collector of sefarim. Genauer’s collection of vintage kosher cookbooks dates back to 1907.
1. Purim Fritters
From “Dainty Dinners and Dishes.” London, 1907.
1 French roll
½ pint milk
4 eggs
Clarified sugar
“Hundreds and thousands” [sprinkles]
Salad oil
Remove the crust from the roll, cut the crumb in ½ inch thick slices, boil the milk, soak the bread in it, but do not let the slices break. Beat up the eggs in a shallow dish, dip the soaked slices of bread in eggs. Half fry the slices in boiling salad oil; remove them from the oil, dip them again in milk and eggs, then fry them till they are golden brown. Drain them on kitchen paper, arrange them on a glass or silver dish, and pour hot clarified sugar over them. Serve cold, decorated with hundreds and thousands.
2. Homontashen (for Purim)
From “What Shall I Serve?”, 1931. Rumford Baking Powder Company.
1 egg
¼ lb. melted butter
¾ cup milk
1 tsp. salt
2 ¼ cups flour
2 heaping tsps. Rumford baking powder
¼ lb. poppy seeds
1 egg
¾ cup sugar
Scald the poppy seeds and let stand until the seeds sink to the bottom of the bowl. Pour off the water and let poppy seeds drain in a fine strainer until all the water has dripped off. Then grind with the finest knife of food chopper. Fold in an egg, and work in the sugar until mixture is well blended. Mix the ingredients of the first column thoroughly, and knead well. Roll out the dough in pieces, so that each piece makes a circle about 6” in diameter. Then put a tablespoon of the poppy seed mixture in the center of each circle, draw up three sides, and pinch in form of triangle. Place on buttered pan and bake in medium oven until brown, about an hour.
Recipe makes 8 good sized Homontashen.
3. Homontashen
From “Sentinel Jewish Cook Book.” Chicago, 1935. (almost word for word same as Rumford)
2 ¼ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ lb. melted butter
¼ lb. poppy seeds
1 egg
¾ cup sugar
Pour boiling water over poppy seeds and let stand until the seeds sink to the bottom of the bowl. Drain until all the water had dripped off and grind with the finest knife of food chopper. Fold in an egg and blend well. Now mix flour, baking powder, salt, butter, egg and milk thoroughly and knead well. Roll out the dough in pieces that will make a circle about 6 inches in diameter, put a tablespoon of the first mixture in the center of the circle, draw up three sides and pinch in form of triangle. Place on buttered pan and bake in medium oven for about an hour.
4. Hamentashen with Poppy Seed Filling
From “Jewish Ledger Book of Jewish Recipes.” Hartford, CT, 1936.
Filling:
1 egg
¼ cup sugar
¼ pound poppy seeds
Dough:
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons milk
Lemon or vanilla flavoring
[To prepare filling,] pour boiling water over poppy seeds, let stand until seeds have settled at bottom, and drain. Put seeds through the finest blade of the food chopper. Add egg, stirring it in well, add sugar, and mix thoroughly. [Set aside.]
[To make the dough,] cream together the butter and sugar, and add the egg. Mix and sift flour and baking powder, and add a little of this mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Add the milk. Add remainder of the flour mixture. Add flavoring extract. Roll dough out, cut into rounds, [fill with poppy filling,] form into triangles and bake.
5. Hamantoshen
From Mrs. A. Lasky. “Ladies Aid Cookbook.” Springfield, Illinois, 1948 – Congregation Bnai Abraham
1 ½ C sugar
2 eggs
¾ C butter
4 ½ C flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
¾ C sour cream
Lemon or vanilla flavoring
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and flavoring. Fold in flour which has been sifted and dry ingredients alternatively with sour cream. Roll out thin and cut in small squares.
Filling:
1 lb. prunes and 1 lb. apricots, ground
1 C. strawberry jam
Juice of one orange
Nuts
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
Combine and put a spoonful in the center of each square of dough. Fold into triangles and seal edges tightly. Bake in moderate oven until light brown.