There always seemed to be a Yerushalmi kugel at any type of event or party I went to when I was living in Israel, and they always disappeared fast. I don't ever remember them being particularly oily, which makes me wonder about the recipe in the paper. (I don't eat the stuff, because I don't like caramel flavor at all, it's one of the few things in the world that actually makes me nauseus; although I have tried to like Yerushalmi kugel at various times because it is the "boasting point" of many people, as in, "my mother makes the best Yerushalmi kugel ever.")
Anyway, Yerushalmi kugel is a bit different than what we think of as kugel. The only real similarity seems to be that it's made with noodles (thin noodles, at that.) One of the big deals about Yerushalmi kugel, which I don't think was even mentioned in the article, is the way it is cooked and the way it is cut up. It's usually cooked in a deep pot, often in a bundt pan (or a "wonder pot," a unique Israeli item which allowed you to bake on the stovetop, because many people didn't have ovens) and, because it is so high, it is cut in layers. (It's hard to explain, and if one of you who knows what I'm talking about can help out with this description, I'd appreciate it.)
Say the kugel is about six inchies high. For the first round, you would slice about two inches vertically into the kugel and then start cutting horizontally, or actually very slightly diagonally, going around and slicing off a piece every couple of inches or so, until you came back to your starting place. At this point, because you were slicing on a slight diagonal, you'd be a couple of inches below the starting point, and you just continue cutting around like that until you reach the bottom. The bottom layer is the most favored, because that's where most of the sticky, burnt caramel-sugar is. (If you like that sort of thing.) This cutting process has always been a "major draw" of the Yerushalmi kugel for me, and somehow if the kugel is baked in a regular flat pan where all you have to do is cut it into squares, it just isn't quite right.
I think kugels, in general, are one of those wonderful results of the ingenuity of the poor. Potatoes were plentiful in eastern Europe, noodles weren't a big deal to make. Add an egg and some matzoh meal, salt and pepper, and voila! A pie for the whole family to enjoy. I don't think they knew from pineapples in their kugel. That came much later, with availability of the product and ability to pay for it, in the "new world." (Every time I hear of blueberry kugel I think of blueberry bagels.
)
Shana tova everyone!
