Margaret Suran wrote:
> Karen AKA Kajikit wrote:
> > On Tue, 2 Jan 2007 23:49:15 +0100, (Victor Sack)
> > wrote:
> >
> >
> >> Potato kugel
> >>
> >>1 large onion, minced
> >>1/8th pound butter (Schmaltz may be substituted for butter when kugel is
> >> to be served with meat dishes.)
> >>2 eggs, beaten
> >>2 cups grated raw potatoes (measure after draining well)
> >>1/2 cup flour
> >>1/2 teaspoon baking powder
> >>1 1/2 teaspoon salt
> >>pepper, to taste
> >>
> >>Sauté onion in butter until lightly browned. Add eggs to potatoes.
> >>Sift together dry ingredients and add to potato mixture. Stir in the
> >>onions and butter in which they have been sautéed. Pour into a
> >>well-greased 1-quart casserole. Bake at 350 degrees until the edges are
> >>crisp (about 1 hour). Serves 6.
> >
> >
> > That sounds so easy to make I'll have to give it a go 
DH likes
> > simple foods... I see this recipe uses regular flour, and some of the
> > other posted ones use matzo meal. Does it make any difference to the
> > taste/texture of the finished product? (Should I run out and buy some
> > matzo before I make it?)
>
> Potato Kugel is traditionally made for Passover, a holiday during
> which you are not allowed certain foods, including anything made with
> regular flour and therefore Jews use Matzo Meal. At all other times,
> you may use flour, during Passover you have to use Matzo Meal. Also,
> you cannot use Baking Powder or Baking Soda or Yeast or any kind of
> leavening during Passover and whenever you make the Kugel as a side
> dish for meat, if you are an observing Jew, you cannot use Butter to
> make it. At no time, not just during Passover.
>
> Complicated, but I am Reformed and most of these rules do not apply to
> me, even though I do not cook with flour at that time.
Aside from Passover rulz, that's not a kugel. A kugel is fried, not
baked... it's fried in a pan on stove top and turned to brown equally
on all surfaces. And a traditional kugel is made with noodles, not
potatoes... that recipe is for a fercocktah potato pudding, not kugel.
A *traditional* passover kugel would be made with matzo farfel... but
still would not be a kugel, it would be a matzo charlotte (often
contains apples, raisins, nuts...). Kugel is eaten warm or chilled,
not hot... if made properly (thick crust/creamy custudy center, won't
happen with potato) a kugel is difficult to slice hot.