Savory Noodle Kugel Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Why does my noodle kugel fall apart? ›

Once it's baked, a kugel needs to cool, otherwise it will fall apart when slicing. Give it at least an hour to cool and set up, then slice and serve it warm or at room temperature.

Kugels are a mainstay of festive meals in Ashkenazi Jewish homes, particularly on the Jewish Sabbath and other Jewish holidays or at a tish. Some Hasidic Jews believe that eating kugel on the Jewish Sabbath brings special spiritual blessings, particularly if that kugel was served on the table of a Hasidic Rebbe.

Do You Eat Noodle Kugel Hot or Cold? While noodle kugel should be removed from the oven and cooled for at least 30 minutes after baking, it can be eaten at any temperature. Eaten warm, when just set, noodle kugel's texture is more akin to a baked mac and cheese (the extra-crunchy noodles on top might be the best part.)

ILOC tip: if you can't find farmer cheese, just do a full pound of cottage cheese instead.

After boiling pasta/noodles put them in a cold water bowl for 2 minutes, this process helps to remove starch, then take out noodles from water and pour 2 teaspoons oil on noodles and mix oil into noodles well. After this noodles will be completely separate from each other and no more stickiness left.

If you are making a double batch of soup to serve at a later time, you may consider cooking them separately and adding noodles to each individual bowl before adding the soup. This helps prevent the noodles from getting mushy in the refrigerator.

The name of the dish comes from the Yiddish word kugel meaning 'sphere, globe, ball'; thus the Yiddish name likely originated as a reference to the round balls of dough that were placed in the center of the cholent, a traditional Shabbat stew, to cook alongside it and absorb its flavors for its later use as a side dish ...

Kugel is pronounced kuh-gull or koo-gull and has been around for hundreds of years. It has got to be good if it has been around for that long! Kugel originates in southern Germany and is a popular option for holidays in that region. It is also a popular dish for family brunches.

And then I read in The Jewish Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from Around the World of a Hasidic rabbi, Pinchas of Koretz (in Galicia), who claimed that lokshen kugel itself symbolizes Jewish unity, since the noodles are all tangled together and are really inseparable, just like the unified Jewish people.

Kugel is traditionally served as a side dish alongside something meaty like brisket or roast chicken. In this case it would normally be served warm, but it can also be refrigerated and eaten cold the next day. Sweeter versions can also be eaten hot or cold, and taste great with fresh cream or vanilla ice cream.

How long does a noodle kugel last in the fridge? ›

Storing leftover baked kugel: Let cool completely, cover tightly, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. How to freeze noodle kugel: Unbaked or baked, kugel should be tightly sealed in plastic wrap and again in foil. It will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge overnight before baking or reheating.

This kugel can be baked up to two days before serving; reheat it in a 300 F oven for 15 minutes or so. You also can make the kugel and refrigerate it unbaked for up to a day, then bake it just before serving.

There is also some sort of fat, often butter. Kugels are baked and usually quite filling and dense in texture. The word kugel comes from the old German word “sphere”, which refers to the shape of the original circular puffed kugels. Most kugels now are baked in baking pans.

Too much rennet was used or too much butterfat, left your cheese during the process. Rubbery cheese can happen when an excess amount of rennet is used, too much rennet equals a rubber ball, too little, soup!

After my grandparents died, I forgot about farmer's cheese until I saw a whole refrigerated section devoted to it at a local Slavic grocery. I took a tub home. It was bright, tangy, and surprisingly lean-tasting, falling somewhere in between a labne and a dry ricotta.

Tearing can be caused by your pasta dough sticking to the roller on your pasta machine. A sprinkle of cornflour should help. Pasta can also tear if you move the dough through the machine too quickly, so slowing down the process could help too.

If you try to handle noodle dough too early, before it's had enough time to form that miraculous gluten network, you'll find it tight and brittle—in other words, the opposite of workable. “If it's not rested, it'll break, it won't be elastic, you can't pull it,” says Jason Wang, owner of Xi'an Famous Foods.

If not quite cooked right, egg noodles can either have an unwelcome harsh bite or a tendency to disintegrate.

Use enough water.

And the starch it releases makes the situation stickier. If there's not enough water for that starch to grow, it'll have no other choice than to make clumpy noodles. The recommendation is 3-4 quarts water for every pound of pasta and a pot big enough to handle the water and pasta without boiling over.