Well, last month we wrote about bagels and promised to write about knishes this month. I have a problem with this topic because as much as I know about bagels, that’s how much I don’t know about knishes. I do know one thing about them and that is that the best knishes in the world come from Coney Island. They always did and they still do. Coney Island is in King’s County, New York, (Brooklyn), so saying that is a big step for a Bronx boy, but that’s the emmes truth as I know it. Fortunately, my partner Mel is a real maven when it comes to knishes. And so, I’ve asked Mel to tell us everything he knows about this wonderful hot dish, or maybe sometimes cold. He said that he would have to enlist his brother Herb for this exhaustive topic. So now you get to read Mel and Herb, instead of El and Mel. Enjoy!

There’s only one thing a Jew enjoys more than kvetching and that’s eating…and when we use the K word in eating it stands for KNISH.

So, what is a knish and where did they come from?

The recipe for and the knish came to America with the Eastern European, Ashkanazi Jews. Using soft dough and anything that looked like it would taste good inside….Potato and onions, kasha, sweet potato, ground beef, cherries, blueberries, strawberries. it was left up the imagination. Bubbie made them all the time…she’d say…give me a kish yingala and I’ll give you aaaaa knish, who could resist, what a wonderful trade. A knish is very similar to a pierogi the only difference being it’s eaten dry. The one good thing about eating a knish in New York is that they’re supersized, but it wasn’t always that way.

When we were young we lived at 1677 St.John’s street and my brother tells me that Mamma would take him shopping on Pitkin Avenue and he’d see the knish man pushing a small cart, about one third smaller than the Sabrett’s cart, up and down the street and yelling “Knishes, knishes, knishes for sale”. Herb says he only sold two kinds- a potato and a kasha. The dough was browned beautifully on the outside and Mom would often buy two extra and the guy would put them in a brown paper bag for her to take home. Oddly enough Herb remembers him wearing a black hat, having a short beard and wearing a white apron. He wore the white apron thru all the seasons and it was strange to see him wearing a winter coat with a white apron. Herb said that all the guys that sold knishes looked alike; beard, white apron and cart. The cart had a large bottle of kosher salt that was used for seasoning, Herb didn’t remember its cost, it’s been just too many years.

Our family moved to Eastern Parkway during the 40’s and I remember going to the Carroll Theater and picking up knishes from a knish store next to the movie house.

Wow, I just loved the smells and the tastes of the knishes.

My wife tells me that when she went to Jr. High School there was the guy with the cart, apron and beard, selling knishes.

What happened to the knish? The knish evolved…first starting out in the home, then growing up and going out on the streets and then in the 50’s finding it’s way into stores. In Kosher Delicatessens, it has the same status as the Frank sitting puffed up and stately next to the hot dog and of course finding its way into dairy restaurants and super markets.

The flat fried knish of today ain’t the gourmet delight of yesteryear although if you look hard and you know where to go you’ll still find that knish sitting in Yonah Shimmel’s Knishery in New York.

I do want to share a story that happened a few years ago. I love dairy restaurants and when I’d go to visit my Mom in Ft. Lauderdale I’d take her out for dairy. Yes, I know, big sport. This time my uncle and aunt were with my wife and I. We placed our order. I had a glass of cold Borscht with sour cream and a potato knish. The waitress came with the order and asked who got what? After we told her, she bent down close to our table and said that we were the only people in the restaurant that knew what they had ordered. We were entitled to dessert and didn’t care for any so when she brought the check she brought marble cake in a doggie bag, took all the rolls on the table, that we hadn’t eaten and 3 sweet and low and wished us a safe trip home. ….God Bless America!!

Here’s a site that has a great recipe for making your own knishes…just like Bubbie used to make… Yonah Schimmel's Knishs

Enjoy!

So, now I know what a knish is. I always thought that the fried, squared, potato filled thing was a knish. The things Mel and Herb are talking about are what we called piroshki!

We hope everyone has a safe holiday and eats well. You know… Bagels and Knishes!