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Gourmet Classics: Chocolate Cherry Babka

JL;DR SUMMARY Babka, a cherished Jewish comfort food, is explored here from its Eastern European roots to its American chocolate-fueled transformation. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CuisineRecipeBakingSeinfeldChocolateCulinary HistoryJewish Comfort FoodBabkaEastern European PastryJewish Americana

Places mentioned

New York, United States
"Greens kosher bakery in Williamsburg is New Yorks primary babka supplier, baking the goods for everyone from Zabars to Russ and Daughters, and from Whole Foods to Dean and Deluca."
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
"Ari Weinzweig of Zingermans Community of Businesses (which includes the immensely popular eateries Zingermans Deli and Zingermans Bakehouse) in Ann Arbor, MI contends that chocolate was a luxury item in the Eastern European shtetls in which babka originated and was more likely a more recent Jewish-American invention."
France
"Joan Nathan, in a 2007 New York Times article, recalls a pleasantly surprising babka at a Michelin-starred restaurant in France where what appeared to be chocolate turned out to be olive tapenade and anchovies."
Israel
"The Israeli Cookbook (1966; out of print) by Molly Lyons Bar-David, for example, has a recipe for bobke, or butter buns, as she calls them."
Poland
"According to Gil Marks in The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, babka originated in Poland or Ukraine where the word baba (similar to the Yiddish word bubbe) means grandmother."
Ukraine
"According to Gil Marks in The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, babka originated in Poland or Ukraine where the word baba (similar to the Yiddish word bubbe) means grandmother."

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Retrieved 2024-12-18 05:31:24 UTC
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