Luchen Kugel

[Darienne]

My friend is making Potato Latkes for our supper tonight and then I am to make Luchen Kugel for a few nights from now. Oddly enough there are only a couple of references to Luchen Kugel in eGullet and they are both for the sweet dessert kind.

My Bubbi and my Mother both made the kind which was not sweet and that's what I want to make. My handed-down recipe is sitting 2000 miles away and it's been years since I last made it.

Can someone give me a really good recipe for this?

(A funny side story: My friend said that the local City Market carries Manischewitz egg noodles, neither the helper store person nor the Customer Relations Manager could find them. We looked in noodles and in specialty noodles, and the CRM said...have you tried the Oriental section? They should be there. Manischewitz, I said. It's Jewish. Oh, he said. Anyhow, they were in the 'Kosher' section. I didn't even know there were any Jews in this small Utah town.)

[Shel_B]

Hi, I have about fifteen kugel recipes, so, if you give me some idea of the ingredients you like, or dislike, I could probably find one or two for you.

Margaret Fox, former owner of the well-regarded Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino, CA, used her Grandma Ida’s Noodle Kugel recipe at the restaurant. Let's start with that one, and go from there ...

For Kugel

1 - 12oz pkg of wide noodles, cooked and drained

16-oz sour cream, and a little more maybe for dollops

16-oz cottage cheese

¼ - ½ tsp kosher salt

1 cup raisins

6 eggs, beaten

grated peel of one lemon

1/3 cup sugar

For topping

2 cups bread crumbs 1/4 cup unsalted butter

3 Tbs sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Put the noodles in a large bowl, add all the other kugel ingredients, mix well. Adjust sugar to your own taste. Put everything in a 9x13 inch baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

About 1 ½ hours before serving, brown bread crumbs in frying pan with butter for about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Add sugar and cinnamon to bread crumbs and then sprinkle the topping over the kugel. Bake for about an hour @ 350-degrees F.

Take out of oven, let stand 15-minutes or so before serving. Add a dollop of sour cream if you so desire.

Edited December 22, 2011 by Shel_B (log)

[Darienne]

Thanks Shel_B,

It's not a case of liking or not liking certain ingredients. I love raisins, sugar, cinnamon, pineapple, etc, etc...I just want to make a simple non-dessert luchen kugel.

I can't remember what we ate with it or if we ate anything with it. It's full of egg noodles, eggs and salt and pepper and that's all I can recall. I see most recipes have cottage cheese and sour cream. That sounds reasonable. It was nice and crunchy on top.

I've now looked up dozens of recipes and they all seem to want to throw in sugar or raisins or something desserty. Even pineapples. Right. A traditional Polish/Russian noodle dish with pineapple. This is a dish you could eat instead of rice or potatoes or pasta.

Sorry. I thought this would be so simple...

[Shel_B]

Mezz's Lokshen Kugel

1 stick butter, melted

1 pound broad egg noodles, cooked

3 cups (1.5 pounds) cottage cheese

3 cups sour cream

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup (or more if you like) granulated sugar

1/2 cup raisins

1‑1/2 cups plain bread crumbs (dry)

1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use Vietnamese from Penzey's)

2‑3 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use some of the butter to grease a 3‑quart baking dish.

In a large bowl combine the cottage cheese, sour cream, eggs, sugar, and raisins. Mix well. Add the drained noodles and mix well. Turn the mixture into the buttered baking dish.

Combine the bread crumbs with all but 2 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter, the cinnamon, and the brown sugar. Cover the top of the pudding with this mixture and drizzle the rest of the butter over the top. Bake the kugel for about 1 hour, until the top is nicely browned and the kugel is bubbling. Makes 10‑12 servings.

[NancyH]

If it is to be served with a meat meal, your Bubbe probably made something parve - so no cheese or butter. I'd also be interested in a great savory recipe, so I hope someone posts one!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Food that Really Schmecks has the following kugel:

1 C broad noodles, cooked until tender then drained

3 TBSP flour

6 TBSP butter

.25 to .5 lbs Cheese (they say cheddar)

salt and pepper to taste

1.5 C milk

2 eggs, well-beaten

Breadcrumbs enough to cover

--

Cook the noodles

Make a roux of the butter and flour, then add the milk and stir until it thickens.

Add the cheese, grated, and stir until melted

Add the well-beaten eggs to the sauce

Place the noodles in a well-greased baking dish

Pour the sauce overtop

Top with breadcrumbs

Bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes.

--

They say that you should bake this thing in a ring mould, bake it in a water bath, and fill the center with veggies. I say that's a lot of work for a kugel, and I make it in a ceramic casserole. I also usually add a bit of powdered aji pepper and cumin to it, but that's not strictly kugelous.

[ambra]

We always made it on the sweet side, but never, ever served it as a dessert. I think there are a couple of recipes over at smitten kitchen that are pretty good!

[janeer]

Here is a plain recipe I have had for 30 years and made many times:

1 cup cottage cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 lb egg noodles, cooked

salt and pepper

Mix, and bake in a buttered ring mold at 300F (sorry, no time--til done). You can fill the center.

[Darienne]

Thanks to all for the help and the recipes. I now have simply to pick amongst them all to make my own.

Thanks.

[Shel_B]

Savory Noodle Kugel

1½ packages broad egg noodles. (I feel the extra wide egg noodles work best)

-6 eggs

-two sticks of butter (if you’re a butter lover, 3 sticks are OK too)

-one cup of half & half (you can substitute half & half with sour cream, too!)

-8 oz. of cottage cheese (cream cheese is also acceptable — the effect is almost identical)

1) Boil noodles like you normally would

2) Melt butter (but only slightly) and mix in with half & half, eggs, and cottage cheese

3) After noodles are ready, mix in butter/half&half/eggs/cottage cheese batter

4) Pour into casserole dish

5) Cook for roughly 50 minutes. You can tell when it’s done because the top will be crispy

For a sweet kugel, you can add vanilla, raisins, cinnamon, etc. Noodle kugel also reheats very well, so enjoy the leftovers! :-)

[Darienne]

Thanks Shel_B and others.

[aliénor]

there is a site in the jewish recipe archive where you can plug in lukshen kugel in the search box and get a large list of many different kinds of kugel-from sweet to savory, etc

http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/recipe_index.html

good luck