Is there any traditional Kishka or Stuffed Derma in the US?
When I was a child I loved kishka. The casing was crisp, almost like fried chicken skin, the filling, mostly bread crumbs I assume, tasted of chicken fat and onion. It was a little larger than a hot dog, more like a polish sausage in size and served with a very tasty gravy. I know that cow's intestine is not a commonly available item at the supermarkets, but does anyone know if there is a source for kishka that comes close to the old product? I've had kishka from the big name delis in NY, but none of them come close.
-
mamachef
May 18, 2012 08:15 AM
Carnegie deli sells it. That's the only one I know of for sure. Kishka was more of a home-style dish, served at every holiday, gaah. The oldsters loved it; I tolerated it.
You could make some.....ask your butcher about casings, but know that you can also use a chicken neck for a similar thing: stuffed derma.›9 Replies-
re: mamachef
bagelman01
May 18, 2012 09:19 AM
mamachef
Sorry, stuffed poultry neck is called helzel
Kishke is often translated as stuffed dermaStuffed Derma is NOT suffed poultry neck skin................
What Carnegie Deli sells is the modern plastic encased kishke, not what the OP is seeking from childhood, oh how I wish it was
-
-
re: mamachef
bagelman01
May 18, 2012 10:14 AM
more important than Grandma Esther speech was her cooking..................
-
re: bagelman01
mamachef
May 19, 2012 07:58 AM
Amen to that, bagelman01 - and that cooking was perfectly stellar. Oh, for one of her blintzes, some chopped liver, her ethereal matzo balls - Oh, just to be in her kitchen, in her presence, to hear her heavily-accented voice......how I miss her.
-
-
-
-
re: mamachef
mucho gordo
May 18, 2012 06:38 PM
Sadly, the kishke you find in the deli's taste like sawdust; too much filler. Nothing beats bubbe's
-
-
re: PHREDDY
mamachef
May 19, 2012 08:05 AM
Oh, no - actually, it's GREAT-Grandma Esther, and Grandpa Ed, though to me they were Zaydeh and Bubby. They were Super Duper Old Country. The village Grandma came from in Poland is no longer there, having been smashed first in the pogroms and then again during Hashoah. My Grandpa came from the Ukraine, and the story is the same for his village. They were lucky to get out during The Terror. I don't know the names of their villages, though: my cousin who handles the family genealogy was never able to establish that.
-
re: mamachef
PHREDDY
May 19, 2012 08:16 AM
I thought so....because helzel, was as told to m by my grandmother, for poor people...Kishke was for people who owned a cow or steer and could have it butchered...once you kill the big animal, it had to be consumed or sold....(no walkin coolers back then) and you lost your milk machine......you need bovine intenstine for kishke....chickens were plentiful and were slaughtered weekly generally for Friday night diner, thus why we grew up on helzel....My family came from that part of the world and I visited there three years ago with my brother and 21 of my cousins....I found out why my great-grandmother made such great borscht!!!!
-
-
-
-
-
Look at online store of Bobak's, very traditional sausage merchant in Chicago. I think they also sell casings etc for making your own. See Bobak reviews on Chicago Yelp.
›4 Replies-
re: Querencia
Edible casings, including kosher versions, are definitely available and used to make modern day kishka. What is not (easily) available is the actual beef intestine that was used prior to about 1970. The difference between today's edible casings, which impart no flavor at all, and the old style beef intestine, is profound.
-
-
I think Sarge's in NYC serves a traditional kishka.
http://store5.geomerx.com/sargesdeli/...And isnt kishka one of those things that has 1,000 variations? Each Bubbe did it a bit differently.
›2 Replies-
re: AdamD
bagelman01
May 2, 2012 06:12 PM
not unless your family had a tradition of eating plastic wrapped stuffing......................
No real cow intestine at Sarge's
-
-
april 2012
can you say which Big-Name Delis you've visited. that would be helpful.
just had a Kishke from Carnegie Deli last week; two fist-sized chunks for $15 [?], heated but not fried in a skillet and therefore no crispy outside; and served with a hideous boat of (pure-salt) gravy on the side. lucky for me, my lovely chinese waiter warned me against the gravy. took one home, and it freezes well.
It was very like the old kishke that we got from the butcher back in the Bronx: nice burnt orange color, nicely peppery, grind was a bit finer; but less flavorful than I recall.
the Carnegie feels much changed since my last visit in June of '10. A stranger I met in the VivB theatre said the same thing. was happier with my visit to Katz's and, as I recall, they do have Kishke on their menu. nice to know others enjoy an occasional Kishke.
Art Schwartz has a recipe of his own devising, probably on his website.›4 Replies-
re: fayga mindl
I've been to Carnegie, Stage, 3rd Ave, Katz's, Ben's and many others in NY. I've been to Langer's in L.A. (GREAT Pastrami on homemade rye bread), Art's and Jerry's. I've been to just about every Jewish deli in the Boston and South Florida areas.
The kishka I am talking about has not been made at most deli's (none that I know of) since the 60's. What I am describing is VERY different from what one finds at these delis today.
Recently I heard about the Romanian Kosher Sausage Company on the north side of Chicago in Rogers Park. Unlike most delis, they use an edible natural casing. I'll have to try it sometime, but I am guessing that unless you use actual beef intestine and chicken fat, you won't get the flavor and crispiness that I remember from my childhood. The closest thing that I can imagine making these days is a chicken skin version, since beef intestine isn't sold at my local supermarket. Buy chicken necks and remove the uncooked skin, then stuff the skin with a moist flour and onion mixture (perhaps chicken fat, beef fat, paprika, matzo meal, seasonings) and stitch it closed before roasting it until the skin is crisp. It's not the same, but it is a truly delicious guilty pleasure.
-
re: Buzzy2
PHREDDY
May 2, 2012 01:25 AM
Buzz....my grandmother made , what she called HELZEL....stuffed chicken necks with a Kishke type filling....Only she would boil them , let them cool , then crisp them up in a frying pan...I don't remember the exact reciepe, but I know she used some corn meal, flour, onions, chicken fat, salt and pepper.....by the way,,,,we always had these because my grandparents owned an egg farm in Lakewood, Plenty of chciken necks!
-
re: PHREDDY
liu
May 2, 2012 01:09 PM
PHREDDY, are you my child? Or, somehow we are related!
My mother made helzel (sp?). I liked it. It was greasy and crispy, and the inside was as you describe. Perhaps it had some chopped heart, gizzard or liver in it? I remember that the inside was paste-y. The chicken neck skin popped as I bit into it.
As I am thinking about this now, this would be good Fair Food today! It was so greasy and decadent, with no redemptive nutritional value!Although the two are sometimes confused, helzel and kishke are different.
-
re: liu
PHREDDY
May 18, 2012 08:03 AM
Liu,
I don't think I am your child, because that would put you somewhere 90....but we could be related,. My grandmother came from what today is called the Ukraine, a city called L'viv....BTW helzel and kiske are similar in that you take a part of an animal and stuff it....but that is it...
-
-
-
-
