Timeless Ashkenazi and Sephardic classics passed down through generations — the soulful dishes that define the Jewish table.
Sweet cooked leeks, a little mashed potato, egg, and a fast turn in hot olive oil — keftes de prasa are the crisp Sephardic leek fritters that Ladino-speaking families have carried from Ottoman kitchens to Passover tables around the world.
Onion skins, coffee grounds, and eight patient hours turn ordinary eggs into huevos haminados — the amber, custardy Sephardic eggs served at Shabbat lunch, the Passover seder, and Sunday breakfast across the Jewish world.
Burnt sugar, thin noodles, and an aggressive amount of black pepper — Jerusalem kugel is the strangest and most addictive dish on the Shabbat table. Here is the history, the caramel technique, and the full method.
Matbucha — the jammy, garlicky cooked tomato and roasted pepper salad of Moroccan Jewish kitchens — is showing up on menus far from Casablanca. Here is the full history, technique, and home-cook playbook.
Carciofi alla giudia — the deep-fried Roman Jewish artichoke that opens like a bronze flower — is having a global moment. Here is the full history, technique, and home-kitchen playbook.
T'beet is the Iraqi Jewish overnight Shabbat dish: a whole chicken stuffed with spiced rice and slow-baked until the bottom shatters into a burnished crust. Here is the full guide.
Schmaltz and gribenes are the rendered chicken fat and crispy cracklings that built Ashkenazi flavor. Here is their history and how to make both at home.
Aloo makala is the golden, crackly-crusted fried potato that defined the Jewish table of Calcutta. Here is its history and how to get that signature crunch at home.
Sambusak is a golden half-moon pastry filled with spiced chickpeas that Iraqi Jews carried across the Middle East. Here is its history and how to make it at home.
Ful medames is one of the world's oldest breakfasts — slow-cooked fava beans mashed with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and cumin. For Egyptian Jews it was the beloved dish of Shabbat morning and everyday mornings alike.
Mafrum is the pride of the Libyan Jewish kitchen — thick potato slices packed with fragrant spiced meat, gently fried, then braised low and slow in a deep red tomato sauce until meltingly tender.
Dabo is the fragrant, domed celebration bread of Ethiopia's Beta Israel Jews — an enriched, gently spiced loaf baked slow and low for Shabbat, holidays, and every occasion worth gathering for.
Kubbeh hamusta is the beloved Iraqi Jewish comfort dish — delicate semolina dumplings filled with spiced meat, simmered in a tangy, herb-flecked green soup of zucchini, celery, and chard.
Bukharian plov, known as osh, is the crown of the Central Asian Jewish table — fragrant rice layered with lamb, sweet carrots, garlic, and chickpeas, slow-cooked in a heavy kazan.
Gondi is a beloved Persian Jewish dish of tender chickpea-and-chicken dumplings poached in golden broth — a soulful Shabbat classic scented with cardamom and turmeric.
Kishke, or stuffed derma, is old-world Ashkenazi comfort food: a savory blend of flour, schmaltz, and vegetables roasted until crisp outside and tender within.
Green, garlicky, and seriously hot, schug is the Yemenite chili sauce that has quietly become Israel's national condiment — and it takes five minutes in a food processor.
Bright, garlicky, and unapologetically spicy, chraime is the North African fish dish that anchors Shabbat and holiday tables across Israel — and it comes together in one pan.
Chewy, tender, and crowned with a well of caramelized onion and poppy seed, the bialy is the bagel's quieter cousin — a Polish-Jewish roll worth baking from scratch.
Nutty toasted buckwheat, tender bowtie pasta, and deeply caramelized onions come together in kasha varnishkes — a humble Ashkenazi side dish that tastes like a Jewish grandmother's kitchen.
Long, oval, and shaggy with toasted sesame, the Jerusalem bagel is nothing like the dense New York ring. It is soft, pillowy, faintly sweet, and best torn warm with a twist of za'atar.
A crisp little fried roll packed with tuna, egg, potato, briny olives, preserved lemon, and a fiery streak of harissa — the Tunisian fricassée is North African Jewish street food at its best.
Golden broth, pillowy matzo balls, and a whole lot of love — here's how to make the classic Jewish comfort soup that tastes like home.
Smoky, saucy, and ready in 30 minutes — shakshuka is the one-pan dish that turned a humble breakfast into a global obsession.
Tender beef, creamy beans, and nutty barley simmered low and slow overnight — cholent is the soul-warming Shabbat stew that defines the Jewish table.
Crackly golden top, custardy potato center — here's how to make the soulful Jewish potato kugel that's having a major comeback at Shabbat tables.
Shatteringly flaky puff pastry wrapped around molten cheese — bourekas are the Sephardic-Israeli street food now opening shops across America. Here's how to make them at home.
Golden, flaky, and packed with creamy seasoned potato — the Jewish knish is having a moment. Here's the authentic recipe behind the deli revival everyone's talking about.
Towering pastrami on rye is having a major moment — and the secret is that you can make it at home. Here's how to cure, rub, smoke and steam a brisket into glorious deli pastrami.
Fried eggplant, jammy eggs, hummus, crunchy salad, nutty tahini and tangy amba packed into a warm pita — meet sabich, the Iraqi-Jewish breakfast that became Israel's favorite street food.
Chewy, glossy, and deeply satisfying — these homemade New York-style bagels are boiled then baked the old-fashioned way, delivering that legendary crust and dense, tender crumb you can't get from a store.
Thin, golden, and shatteringly crisp, Israeli schnitzel is the beloved everyday cutlet found on dinner tables, in school lunchboxes, and stuffed into warm pita all across Israel — and it's easy to master at home.
Restaurant-style Israeli hummus is silkier, creamier, and richer than anything from a tub. Here's how to make a warm, tahini-forward bowl at home — plus the texture secrets that make all the difference.
Golden, shatteringly crisp on the outside and bright green inside — here's how to make authentic falafel from dried chickpeas that beats any takeout.
Cool, tangy, and brilliantly pink, cold beet borscht is the Ashkenazi summer soup made for hot days — here's how to make it from scratch.
Golden, buttery, and pulled apart in soft layers, kubaneh is the Yemenite Jewish Shabbat bread baked low and slow overnight. Here's how to make it at home.
Nutty, toasted, and irresistibly springy, ptitim — Israeli couscous — was invented in 1950s Israel as a wheat-based rice substitute. Here's how to cook it perfectly.
Silky, salty, and impossibly luxurious, lox is the crown jewel of the Jewish appetizing counter. With just salt, sugar, and a little patience, you can cure a stunning side of salmon in your own fridge.