Purim is so close we can taste it. Let’s get cooking with some advice from past decades.
We’ve printed many Purim recipes throughout the decades — mostly, but not all, for hamantaschen. Plenty of hamantaschen!
Let’s start with suggestions for an entire feast.
First off, be happy that it’s a Purim when you don’t have to worry about rations. During World War II, in particular, home cooks had to work around rationing limits.
In 1943, Doris Turnheim wrote this guide: “No Rations! Purim’s Gustatory Goodies Limitless In Quantity for Joyous Celebration.”
“If an elaborate meal is preferred,” she wrote, “start with a fresh fruit salad, sweetened with raspberry or grape jam (unrationed). Then, chicken or turkey soup with kreplach: the delicious three-cornered noodled dough pockets stuffed with a meat mixture. Next poultry, roasted and with such accompaniments as mashed potatoes, fresh carrots sweetened with honey, cranberry or apple sauce, and for dessert, hamantaschen.”
If you wanted sweets beyond hamantaschen, these “delectable” candies were an alternative. Here’s her suggestion: “One pound of shelled nuts; one pound of honey; vanilla to taste. Chop nuts, but not too fine; bring honey to boil, add nuts stirring the boiling mixture for about 10 minutes, until a bit tried in cold water thickens properly. Add vanilla after removing from the fire. Pour the candy onto a wet board and slice or shape into fancy forms.”
Turnheim ended with this quality advice: “What drinks to serve? Your pocketbooks and your tastes are your only guides.”
Another hamantaschen alternative showed up in 1997: an almond pastry known as Monte Sinai con Uova Filate, which translates from Italian to Mount Sinai with Egg Threads. It came from “The Book of Jewish Food” by Claudia Roden.
“It is still a Purim tradition in Livorno, where it is sometimes molded in the shape of a Star of David,” wrote Zillah Bahar.
Monte Sinai con Uova Filate
Serves 10
Macaroon pastry base
- ½ cup sugar
- grated zest of 1 orange
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbs. finely chopped preserved citrus peel
Egg threads
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbs. lemon juice
- 1 to 2 Tbs. orange blossom water
- 8 egg yolks
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line bottom of a 9½-inch cake pan with parchment paper and set aside. To make pastry base, place sugar in pan with 4 Tbs. of water and bring to boil. Simmer for a few minutes, until thick and sticky, but do not let it brown. Add orange zest and ground almonds, stir vigorously and remove from heat. Let it cool a little, then beat in egg.
Pour in almond mixture. It will make a very thin layer. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool completely, then invert onto a serving plate and peel off the paper.
To make egg threads, prepare a syrup in wide pan by boiling sugar with water and lemon juice until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour about half the egg yolks into a colander and let them run through the holes into the boiling syrup, moving the colander in a circling motion, so that the yolks make threads. Help the yolks through with a spoon. When surface of syrup is full of egg threads, push them in with back of fork and let them cook a few seconds, till set but still soft. Lift them out with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Continue with the remaining yolks. Add water to syrup if it becomes too thick. Wash colander. Put cooked yolk threads in the colander and rinse off some of syrup in cold water, then let the threads dry. Spread preserved citrus peel on the pastry base and the egg threads on top.
For a boozy Purim, try this 2017 infused vodka recipe by J. columnist Faith Kramer, who writes “indulging in alcoholic drinks is a Purim custom. Supposedly adults are to imbibe until the villain Haman and the hero Mordechai are indistinguishable.”
Lemon Peppercorn Vodka
Makes about 3 cups
- 4 medium/large organic lemons
- 1 Tbs. whole peppercorns (black, green, white, pink, brown or a mix)
- 3 cups unflavored vodka
Scrub and rinse lemons. Peel with a knife into strips, being careful not to include any of the white pith. Reserve remainder of fruit for another use. Place the peels into sterilized 1-quart glass jar with lid. Rinse peppercorns and add to jar. Pour vodka in. Tightly close lid and place in a cool, dark place.
Shake bottle once or twice a day. After 48 hours, pour off a sip into a glass (do not sip from jar). Taste. If not at desired flavor, repeat every day or two until flavor strength is as desired. Line a strainer with cheesecloth over a 4-cup measuring cup or bowl. Pour vodka mixture through strainer, discarding solids. Pour flavored liquid back into clean, sterilized bottle. Close cap or seal airtight. Store in cool, dark place or in refrigerator or freezer. If mold or off smells or flavors develop at any point in this process or during storage, discard the entire batch.
And of course, we have run lots of hamantaschen recipes.
Here’s a 1976 version from Betty Starr that comes from Peninsula Temple Sholom Sisterhood’s “Sholom Shef” cookbook.
And then we have this hamantaschen recipe with a classic filling from 1933 under the headline: “Delicious Recipes Made With Well-Known Food Products”
Hamantaschen
Makes 8
Dough
- 2¼ cups flour
- 1 egg
- ¼ lb. butter
- ¾ cup milk
- pinch salt
- 4 tsp. baking powder
Beat egg, add milk and part of dry ingredients sifted together, then add melted butter. Add remainder of dry ingredients; enough flour should be used to make a dough that can be kneaded and rolled out.
Filling
- ¼ lb. poppy seeds
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup sugar
Pour boiling water over poppy seeds and let stand until seeds sink to bottom of bowl. Pour off the water and let seeds drain in a fine strainer. Then run through the food chopper, using the finest knife. Fold in egg and sugar and blend well together.
Cut into circles about 6 inches in diameter. Put a tablespoon of poppy seed mixture in the center of each circle, draw up the three sides and pinch them together to form a triangle. Place on a buttered pan and bake in a moderate oven, 350 F, for about an hour.