If my childhood food memories have a homeland, it’s New York City, with its array of readily available, American-style, Eastern European Jewish foods.
On a recent trip to that mecca of bagels, knishes and hot pastrami, I visited the Lower East Side, a Manhattan neighborhood once closely identified with Jewish immigrants and later other émigrés. Now it seems to be a neighborhood for artists and professionals.
While old favorites are still there, such as Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery, Russ & Daughters and Katz’s Delicatessen, many food stores and restaurants are long gone, replaced by others featuring a variety of cuisines that continue to make the neighborhood a tasty melting pot.
The recipes below were inspired by my visit. The Chai Hot Chocolate was spotted at a gourmet chocolate store and I thought it would make a good base for an egg cream variation. Like the usual egg cream, it contains no egg and no cream. I like to drink some of the mix as hot chocolate and save the rest for egg creams. The hot chocolate is very rich and is best in small servings.
The Cured Salmon with Pastrami Flavors is a variation of a gravlax salmon that adds pastrami spices to the cure for a spicy appetizer or first course. It was inspired by traditional smoked salmon I saw with this seasoning at Russ & Daughters and in the Essex Street Market, which has been revitalized as an ethnic and gourmet-food shopping destination.
Serve the salmon with cream cheese or mustard on rye rounds, crackers or bagels.
Chai Hot Chocolate
Makes about 4-5 demitasse servings
- 1 cup milk
- 1 chai spice flavored tea bag
- 1 tsp. sugar or to taste
- 1⁄3 cup (heaping) semisweet chocolate chips
- whipped cream, optional
- ground cinnamon, to taste
- ground cardamom, to taste
Heat milk to simmer on low. Take off heat. Add tea bag. Let steep for 10 minutes. Thoroughly squeeze tea bag into milk. Discard bag and reheat milk to simmer on low. Stir in sugar, return to simmer. Slowly add chocolate chips, stirring continually until totally melted into milk. Allow to return to simmer, stirring, and serve topped with whipped cream, ground cinnamon and cardamom.
Chai Chocolate Egg Cream Variation
Makes 4-5 servings
Make one recipe Chai Hot Chocolate. Allow to cool completely. Stir well. For each drink, put 1⁄4 cup cooled hot chocolate into a 12-oz. glass. Fill with plain, unflavored seltzer. Gently stir to combine. Garnish with ground cinnamon and cardamom if desired.
Cured Salmon with Pastrami Flavors
Serves 8-12 as appetizer or first course
- 3 Tbs. kosher salt
- 3 Tbs. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. ground mustard
- 1 Tbs. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 2 Tbs. sugar
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 2 lbs. salmon filet, any skin removed
Combine salt, pepper, mustard, coriander, ginger, paprika, sugar, garlic and onion powders. Mix well. Rinse and pat dry salmon. Place in a glass baking or other dish. (Cut into two pieces if necessary for better fit.) Rub all of the spice mix on both sides of salmon, coating liberally.
Cover fish with plastic wrap and place a cutting board or other flat object so it presses down on salmon. Place fish with weight in refrigerator, turning about four times a day for 2-3 days. (The salmon will extrude liquid, which can be poured off if necessary.) Scrape off a bit of seasoning and taste to see if fish is well seasoned and cured throughout. When it is ready, scrape off the seasoning, lightly rinse and pat dry. Slice thinly on the bias and serve.