Accompaniments for kasha kishke

[Wilfrid]

I know it's hardly the weather for it, but if you had a kasha kishke you were planning to simmer, what would be good accompaniments - sides, sauces, condiments?

[LaNiña]

cucumber salad (with or without sour cream)

cold red beet salad

actually maybe a nice cold borscht to start?

you want recipes?

[Wilfrid]

How would you make the cucumber salad? Please.

[Steve Plotnicki]

" I know it's hardly the weather for it, but if you had a kasha kishke you were planning to simmer, what would be good accompaniments - sides, sauces, condiments?"

Wilfrid - Excuse me but what is a kashe kishke? Have you eaten a large lunch and are your kishkes stuffed to the gills? Or are you describing something that is the same as stuffed derma only filled with kasha?

[LaNiña]

Peel and halve the cucumbers lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Slice thin. Squeeze out what liquid you can. Add salt, white vinegar, sugar, white pepper, paprika, sour cream, a crushed clove of garlic, a small white thinly sliced onion. Do it ahead of time a bit, so it can sit.

OR...same but with no sour cream, and add plenty of dill.

[bushey]

I'd never simmer it. I'd stick in a raosting pan with a big fat chicken or turkey and let it cook in the juices. Then, when it bursts open, you get some nice crispy stuff in the pan.

Definitely not hot weather cuisine. I'd go for ice cold beet borscht mixed up in the blender with sour cream (strain the beets so you can add them in later). Garnish with boiled potatoes, sliced cucumbers and scallions.

[LaNiña]

Oh god don't blend the sour cream in a blender with the beets. Serve the sour cream on the side. It's gorgeous, that dollop in the middle as the white bleeds into the red...

[Wilfrid]

Thanks. I happen to have some dill. What made me buy the kasha kishke in this temperature? Rhetorical question, don't worry. I have been known to make cassoulet in August.

Steve, yes it's a kishke, which I thought was a kind of derma, stuffed with kasha. Should I call it something else? I am happy to be corrected.

[LaNiña]

I've made cholent in August too. Meshigeh.

Kishke is stuffed derma.

[Jason Perlow]

Thanks.  I happen to have some dill.  What made me buy the kasha kishke in this temperature?  Rhetorical question, don't worry.  I have been known to make cassoulet in August.

Steve, yes it's a kishke, which I thought was a kind of derma, stuffed with kasha.  Should I call it something else?  I am happy to be corrected.

Sounds like a yiddish haggis.

[Wilfrid]

Sounds like a yiddish haggis.

Yes, its appeal is obvious, isn't it? I bought it at one of those Polish meat markets on First or Second, where I thought I had also learnt the name - perhaps wrongly. I am somewhat partial to it, but didn't really want to accompany it with a heap of mashed potatoes, or stewed beans or lentils, as it seems to be about 80F out there.

[LaNiña]

You mean *jewish* haggis, right? The pedant in me can't help but say it. Yiddish is a language.

[Wilfrid]

Well, whatever it was, it was a huge success. To be clear, I am talking about a big, fat purple-black sausage, similar size to a cotechino sold in the various Polish and Russian meat shops on the lower east side. How I picked up the apparently Yiddish name for, I'm not sure, especially since the filling appears to be a mixture of kasha (buckwheat groats) and pig's blood.

In the past, I have treated them like boiling sausages, simmering in stock or water, but this time - noting Bushey's advice - I roasted it. In the absence of a fat turkey, I rubbed it with duck fat first. About an hour at 350, and it seemed very happy. Cut some thick slices, and just crisped them in a pan with a little more duck fat. A dab of mustard on the side. This was a much tastier, better seasoned product than I have bought before, so I checked the source: Kurocynzky Meat market - Ukrainian, apparently - First Avenue between 7th and St. Mark's. Can't remember the exact price, but it's a few dollars, and would comfortably feed four.

And cucumber salad, the version with dill. Thanks Nina - I don't know why I don't make that more often. Scraps of emmenthal and tomme de Savoie to follow (cheese stock is low). All washed down with beer. Good dinner.

[Rosie]

Candied carrots.

[CathyL]

Nina, thanks for posting the cucumber salad - it took me right back to my grandmother's kitchen.

[LaNiña]

So glad it's a hit! It *is* straight from my Hungarian grandmother. She didn't have a big repertoire, but this was near the top of the list. Good paprikash, too, and stuffed peppers...

[bushey]

Wilfrid -- sounds divine. I'm two for two with you now! Hmmm.....maybe I'd better quit while I'm ahead.

Nina -- I agree with you on the color palette of borscht and sour cream but not on the soft palate aspect. I love the creamy texture in every spoonful when the sour cream is completely incorporated into the soup.

[LaNiña]

Yes, that's pleasant, but it ain't cold beet borscht. You'd have to call it cream beet cold soup or something.

[Wilfrid]

You keep going, Bushey!

I was lucky, for once, in having fresh dill and some fairly fresh paprika (from Kalusytan's) handy for the salad.

[Jaymes]

Peel  and halve the cucumbers lengthwise.  Scoop out seeds.  Slice thin.  Squeeze out what liquid you can.  Add salt, white vinegar, sugar, white pepper, paprika, sour cream, a crushed clove of garlic, a small white thinly sliced onion.  Do it ahead of time a bit, so it can sit.

OR...same but with no sour cream, and add plenty of dill.

I soak my cucumbers overnight in salted water.

Sounds like it'd make it more watery, but it does just the opposite. The salt draws the extra water out of the cukes. Then, I drain and press between paper towels to extract as much additional water as possible, then make the salad (adding no more salt of course).

This extra step keeps the final salad dressing from diluting so much.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

What kinda critter yields Kishke....since its a derma..Im 99% sure wont look like a jackass if I assume that literally means skin.

If I cant eat beef or pork, am I screwed with Kishke?

[Wilfrid]

I think it's blood in that there sausage, and I think it's pig's blood. Which means, I suppose, for all the derma and kishke, that it's unlikely to be Jewish delicacy.

Nina?

[LaNiña]

Traditional kishke is not pork. No traditional Jewish food has any pork anywhere near it. It's stuffed derma - cow intestines.

NOUN: Beef casing (intestine) stuffed with a seasoned mixture of matzo meal or flour, onion, and suet, prepared by boiling, then roasting. Also called kishke, stuffed derma.

ETYMOLOGY: Possibly Yiddish gederem, intestines, from Middle High German darm, intestine, from Old High German.

Note: in the tradition with which I'm familiar, chicken fat is always used in the filling, too.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

matzoh meal??

I thought kasha was...kasha....those great kernely things you make kasha varnishkes with.

Now if its just the skin of the intestine...like a hot dog or sausage casing.....heehee I can prolly eat it!

Now how do you stuff these suckers?

[LaNiña]

kishke, not kasha.