When I was a little girl, my father, my brother, and I  would visit his mother, my Grandma Fried, on the weekend.  My grandmother was a wonderful, wonderful person who had come over from Hungary sometime around 1910.  She was a good European cook, and I loved eating her foods.  Sometimes, she would make one of her specialties, her cucumber salad, and give my father a jar to bring home.  My mother and father loved these.  When I got married, I started making this recipe, because I knew how much my parents, but especially my father appreciated it.  I like to make this recipe instead of salad especially for a big holiday dinner .  People have so many different things to put on their plate, and it’s easy to squeeze some of these cucumbers on their plates.  This dish is refreshing and it’s nice for a change instead of salad. 

• 5-6 large cucumbers (the greenhouse cucumbers are best)
• Water
• Kosher salt
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Peel and slice cucumbers very thinly and place in colander.  Sprinkle them with the Kosher salt and put a heavy plate directly over the cucumbers; press down.  Let sit for about an hour.  Rinse salt off with water, drain well.  Put in serving bowl.  Pour the vinegar and sugar over the cucumbers.  Refrigerate a few hours or overnight.  

Note:  You can make these a few days in advance.  The cucumbers shrink in size, so you will need more than you think.  Besides, they are great to go with holiday leftovers.    

This is another recipe of my Grandma Hindes. I am still amazed today when I think about how talented a cook she was. She never used a cookbook in her life, and I don’t think she ever even wrote her recipes down. When my mother and father got married, and my mother started to cook, she wanted to make many her mother’s recipes. This was complicated by the fact that my grandmother only cooked from her head, not from a recipe. So my mother had conversations with my grandmother where she tried to pin her down and make my grandmother give her exact quantities of the ingredients that she used. This was one of my absolute favorite recipes of my grandmother’s that my mother made. For some reason, I loved watching my mother make this particular recipe. I loved the sounds and the smells as she put the ingredients together. My mother and I used to love tasting the uncooked stuffing to check the seasoning. We weren’t worried about salmonella back then. This was the only recipe my mother ever used for stuffing a turkey. It is such a delicious, simple recipe for stuffing, and very different from most stuffing recipes today. But when a holiday comes around, everybody wants to make sure in advance that I’m still making this stuffing. Please, try it. Some of the best tasting things in life are the simplest!

For a 12-15 pound turkey:

• 10 seeded hard rolls
• 8 extra large eggs
• about 1/2 cup corn, canola, or light olive oil
• Kosher salt and lots of pepper to taste

Soak a few rolls in warm water. When they have softened, put them in your hands one at a time and squeeze the water out of them. Then with your hands, tear the rolls up into bite sized pieces and place in large mixing bowl. Continue this until you are done with all of the rolls. Then in a separate bowl, mix eggs with a fork. Pour them into the rolls, and mix gently with a rubber spatula. Add the oil, and mix again. Add salt to taste, somewhere around 2 teaspoons, and your pepper, somewhere around 1/2 teaspoon. I like it really peppery. At this point you can also use fresh ground pepper, but you’ll need quite a few grinds. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to cook your turkey.

Now, before I put the stuffing in the cavity, I make a paste up of oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lots of paprika. I shmear this on the outside of the turkey, and then all over the inside cavity. Then, I put the stuffing in. These seasonings give the stuffing lots of extra flavor.

When you stuff the turkey, do not try to pack it in tightly. Just put it in, but don’t worry if you can’t fit every last bit of the stuffing in. If you have some left over, put it in a small casserole dish, sprinkle the top of the stuffing mixture in the dish nicely with paprika, and bake it for about 45 minutes. I always make extra, because the quantity in the cavity is never enough anyway.

I concocted this recipe a few Thanksgivings ago because my daughter Randi had told me that she had eaten some corn pudding in a restaurant, and she really liked it.  When I made this the first time, Randi said that is was her favorite side dish in the Thanksgiving dinner.  For something so yummy, it is really a snap to make. It takes about 10 minutes to get it in the oven.   I have prepared it, and let it sit in the refrigerator for a half hour to an hour before I baked it, and that doesn’t hurt it one bit.  You will be amazed at how beautiful this dish looks when it comes out of the oven, puffed and golden!  The consistency is more like a souffle than a pudding.  It does taste best if you can bake it right before you serve it, but you can prepare it, and put it in the refrigerator up to an hour or so before you bake it.  The result will be-perfection!  This dish will impress your guests, so get ready for the compliments and the recipe requests!

  For 8 x 10 rectangular or oval baking dish   For 9 x 13 rectangular or oval dish

• 3 tablespoons unbleached flour                       4 tablespoons unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder                              2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt                                    2 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• scant 1/4 cup granulated sugar                       scant 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 6 jumbo or extra large eggs                             7 jumbo or extra large eggs
• 16 ounces (2 cups) light cream                        18 ounces (2 cups + 2 oz. light cream)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine    2 tablespoons melted butter or marg.
• about 6 cups frozen corn - about 28 ounces   about 6 cups frozen corn-about 28 oz.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease sides and bottom of either your 8 x 10 inch. or 9 x 13 inch oval or rectangular ceramic or glass baking dish well with butter or margarine. 

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a small bowl.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together by hand the eggs, the light cream, and the 2 tablespoons melted margarine or butter.  Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients until pretty smooth.  Stir in the corn (which you can take right out of the freezer) and mix through, separating the kernels with the whisk as best as you can.  Pour mixture into prepared pan.  Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and puffed.  Serve immediately. 

This recipe was adapted by me from my Aunt Florence’s brisket recipe.  I loved brisket growing up.  Although I liked my mother’s brisket a lot, it didn’t hold a candle to my Aunt Florence’s, which I was lucky enough to eat every Passover at her house.  When I saw that platter of brisket arriving at the table, my mouth was watering.  The meat was such a dark brown, rich color, and the flavor of the meat when it hit my tongue was heavenly; there really are no sufficient words to describe how good that brisket tasted to me.  I was always worried there wouldn’t be enough for me.  Luckily, there usually was.  Anyway, I started making this brisket around 1978 right after I got married.  I couldn’t wait to start making my aunt’s amazing brisket.  I followed my Aunt Florence’s recipe, but I did change the cooking method.  She cooked the brisket in a pot for the whole cooking time.  But I decided to start the cooking on the stove, and then transfer the pot into the oven for a few hours.  This method resulted in the brisket having the same incredible dark brown color and rich taste, but the meat was much more tender.  My brisket became the talk of the family.  I had achieved great heights in cooking when I mastered my aunt’s incomparable brisket!

• About 5 pounds brisket, first or thin cut- you can use 1 big piece or 2 smaller pieces
• About 5-6 medium to large onions
• About 2 fat or 4 thin carrots
• Kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder

Season both sides of the meat pretty heavily with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Peel and quarter the onions and put them in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse the onions until they resemble the consistency of chunky apple sauce.  Put the onions on the bottom of a large dutch oven or very large oven-proof pot.  Then, slice the carrots into very thin sticks or grate them  onto the top of the onions in the dutch oven.  Place the meat on top of the onions and carrots.  Pour about 1 cup of cold water around the meat.  Cover the dutch oven.  Put the heat on medium, and bring the water to a boil.  Cook on a high simmer about 30 minutes with the cover on.  Then take the cover off and cook on high heat until all the liquid evaporates.  The onions and carrots and meat will start to brown.  Lift the meat up with a strong metal spatula and mush the vegetables around.  Turn the meat eventually when it’s really brown on the bottom.  It will almost be burning a little, as will the vegetables.  When that starts to happen, add more cold water, about 1 cup.  Notice the color of the gravy.  It probably will be a light to medium brown.  That isn’t dark enough.  Let the new liquid reduce down and evaporate.  The meat and vegetables will be browning more.  When all liquid is evaporated add another cup of cold water.  If the gravy is dark and rich, you are ready for the next step.  If you still think the gravy is not dark, repeat the reducing and browning process one more time.

When you have decided that your gravy is dark and rich, add one more cup of water.  There should be lots of gravy now around the meat.  Cover the dutch oven or pot (I use aluminum foil first and then I put the cover on top of that).  Put the dutch oven into the oven at about 350 degrees.  Let it cook for about 2 hours.  Take it out, uncover it, and check it for tenderness.  put a fork in.  If it is done, the fork will go in very easily.  It probably won’t be tender enough at this point.  Add some more water if the gravy has reduced too much.  Cover the meat, and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.  Check again, and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.  It might be ready at this point.  The meat usually needs at least 3 hours in the oven.  Sometimes, depending on the meat, I have actually kept it in the oven for 4 or 5 hours.  Now, if one of your pieces of brisket is tender before the other, take that piece out and let it cool on a late.  When the rest of the meat is done, take it out and put it on a plate.  The meat should cool for about 1 hour before you slice it.  Use an electric knife and slice it against the grain about 1/4 inch thick.  Pour all the gravy into whatever dish you plan to heat the meat up in when you serve it.  You can also pour the gravy into a disposable aluminum roasting pan, if you plan to heat it up in that.  Trim any fat off your slices, then place them in the gravy and smoosh the gravy into the meat.  If you think the gravy has reduced too much, you may add some water to it to make some more gravy.  You can put the meat into the refrigerator up to 3 days before you will be reheating and serving it.  I usually take the brisket out of the refrigerator one or two hours before I start to reheat it.  You can cook this and freeze it, but I don’t think it tastes quite as good.   

I am famous for my brisket. I have a few different recipes that I use, but this is one I developed because I wanted a recipe that would be less involved and easier to make. I make this often because it is so easy to make, and very delicious. I make this for Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashana, Passover, and whenever my family requests it. Cooking brisket is not hard to make if you follow the steps. If you take your time, and have a little patience you will serve a dish fit for a king or more importantly for your family and friends!

Important note: Read this entire recipe through a few times to make sure you understand it before you start.

• About 4-5 pounds of thin cut brisket of beef (one large or two smaller pieces)
• Kosher salt, pepper, good garlic powder (I use McKormick), paprika
• 2 very large onions or 4 large onions (about three pounds)
• 2/3 of the tomatoes in a 28 oz can of whole plum tomatoes, or 2/3 of a can of tomato puree or my latest preference- 2/3 small can of tomato paste)
• water
• 5 large carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 envelope of Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix -optional- see explanation below (If you think you’ll be using onion soup mix, then use less salt when seasoning your meat.)

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Season brisket on both sides with Kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and  paprika.

In bowl of food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the onions until they are the consistency of apple sauce. Pour the onions into the bottom of a roasting pan or a very large dutch oven.

Rinse out the bowl and metal blade of the food processor. If you are using canned tomatoes rather than tomato paste, place the metal blade back in, and put about 2/3 of the tomatoes into the bowl (You will not be using any of the juice or puree in the can). Pulse the tomatoes until they are pureed. Pour the pureed tomatoes into the onions in your pan. Add about 1 cup of water, and mix it in with a spoon. If you are using the tomato paste, then just spoon it in dollups on top of the onions, and then pour the one cup of water over all.

Place your seasoned meat on top of the onion mixture fat side up.  Peel and cut the carrots into thick slices, and place them around the brisket . Cover the roasting pan tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil. If you are using a dutch oven, then place the top on. Put in preheated oven for about 3 hours. Take the pan out. Uncover the brisket carefully so you don’t get burned by the steam. Open the one packet of onion soup mix, and strain the powder in the mix, and discard the onions. Pour the powder into the liquid in the pan, and mix with a spoon to dissolve the powder. Your brisket will not be done yet. If your liquid or gravy has evaporated, then you will need to add more water. If there is plenty of liquid, which there may be at this point, you’re fine. Just check the tenderness of the brisket by putting a fork into the meat. If the fork goes in very, very easily, then your meat is done. But I’ve never cooked my brisket for less than 3 1/2 hours. Recover the pan. If your foil is too loose, add new foil. Cook for another half hour to hour, and then take it out. Check it again. If you don’t think the fork goes in easily enough, cook your meat for another 1/2 hour, and check. You may still need to cook it more. If you do, cook it for another half hour, and check again. I would say that I usually cook my brisket for about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours altogether. When your meat is tender, take it out using a sturdy spatula. Put it on a cutting board to cool for an hour or so.

I like my gravy to be very rich.  So at this point, I take all the carrots out of the roasting pan and set aside.  Then I put the pan with all the gravy- onions and water and place it back in the oven in the middle of the oven under the broiler element.  Every 15 minutes, I take out the pan, mix everything around, add more water.  Each time, the onions become darker, and the gravy gets darker.  The browned or even somewhat burned bits will not hurt your gravy.  I do this for 45 min. to an hour, until my gravy is really rich and dark.  

Then slice the meat against the grain with an electric knife. Your slices should be about 1/4 inch thick. Cut off any fat after you slice the meat. Place the slices of meat gently back in the gravy, and smush/squeeze the gravy into each slice as you go. I suggest that you transfer your gravy into a large oval or rectangular ovenproof baking dish with 2 inch sides, before you start placing your slices in the gravy. This way, when you heat the brisket up for serving, you can heat it in the same dish you will serve it in. The alternative- which is fine - is to transfer the gravy and carrots into a disposable aluminum roasting pan before you slice the meat. Then slice the meat and place your slices into the gravy in the disposable aluminum pan. When you are preparing your meal, you will heat the brisket up in the disposable pan, and then you will have to transfer the meat, the gravy, and the carrots to a serving platter.

Note: I usually make this 1 to 2 days in advance of serving it, because the meat becomes more tender and and the flavor will intensify as the meat sits in the gravy in the refrigerator. When I reheat the meat for serving, I let it sit out on the counter at least 1 - 2 hours to bring it closer to room temperature. Then I heat it covered for about 40-50 min. at 350 degrees until it is hot.

Newest variation:

If you don’t  like the idea of using the onion soup, add an extra 2-3 more onions instead.  Using the tomato paste is much easier than using the tomatoes, and the result is the same..  When I took the meat out of the pan and put it on a cutting board, I then put the roasting pan back in the oven under the broiler element- with the element on the low setting.  Every 20 min. or so, I took out the pan, and mixed the onion mixture.  The idea is to let the onions get really browned, almost burned, and then to mix it up with the liquid in the pan.  I did this for at least an hour until my gravy and the onion mixture was quite dark.  Then I took the pan out of the oven, and added some water, scraping the sides to mix in all the burned stuff.  I liked the results.

I developed this cranberry sauce recipe by taking all of the elements from my mother’s cranberry jello mold recipe, but leaving out the jello.  Everyone in my family loves to eat this cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, and throughout the year.  This recipe is enough for about 8 - 10 people, but I’ve started to double and triple it, because you can never have too much it.  It is that good!

• 1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 1 small can (8 ounces) of crushed pineapple in natural juice
• about 1/2 cup of  pure orange juice
• 1 cup walnuts

Roughly chop about 1 cup of walnuts and set aside.  Drain the pinapple and set aside.    Combine the drained pineapple juice and add enough orange juice to make 1 cup of liquid.  Pour juice into a 2 quart saucepan, add the washed cranberries, and the sugar.  Simmer over a low heat, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.  Your berries will have popped open, and they will  become saucy.   Take the pan off the stove and add the reserved crushed pinapple and the walnuts.  Refrigerate.

Note:  You can make this up to one or two days ahead.  Also, if you would like the sauce to be less tangy, eliminate the orange juice and add water to the reserved pineapple juice to make the one cup of liquid you need.   

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was one of the holidays we had at our house.  We spent this holiday with my father’s family- his twin brother Larry, my wonderful Aunt Florence, and my three wonderful cousins, Karen, David, and Debbie.   I loved the holiday so much, because of all of the delicious food, because of the very dependable menu that I adored, because of the wonderful atmosphere at our house the day of Thanksgiving as my mother, my father, and brother, and I all got in gear doing the many jobs required to make the feast day hum like a well oiled machine, and of course because of the fun we all had at once our relatives arrived.  I loved being in the kitchen with my mother as we went from one job to another.  One of my jobs was to prepare my mother’s recipe for candied yams.  This recipe really was a snap, because we used canned yams.  Every year, the candied yams received the oohs and ahs I loved hearing.  

• 2 large cans of yams, reserving the juice of one can (I really like Princella yams)
• about 3/4 of a pound of dark brown sugar
• about 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine (I always use Fleischmann’s margarine)

To bake the yams, you may use a large, rectangular, disposable aluminum pan with sides such as a lasagna pan or a roasting pan.

Lay all of the yams from the two cans in one layer on your pan.  Then slice them so that they are half the thickness.  You may not need to do anything to some of the smaller pieces.  Make sure that the pieces are in a single layer.  RESERVE the juice from one can of yams.  Then cut little pieces of margarine and put one on top of each piece of yam.  Then, crumble the brown sugar over all.  You should have a pretty heavy layer of brown sugar over the yams.  You can let this sit on the counter at room temperature for a few hours before you bake them. 

Right before these go in the oven, drizzle the reserved liquid from only one can over the brown sugar.  You will probably need only half of the juice or even less than that.  You can cook these yams a few ways.  One way is to put them in the oven you are baking the turkey in at the same temperature and cook them for at least 60 minutes. What you want to see when they are done is that candied look.  They should be caramelized, and the liquid in the pan should be nice and dark.  Another way you can cook them is to put them in a hotter oven, about 425 degrees for a shorter time- maybe 45 minutes or so.  If you are ready to eat, and you don’t think they have caramelized enough, you can put them in a very hot oven of 500 degrees for another 5 minutes or so.  Another alternative is to put them under the broiler for no more than 5 minutes, but you have to watch them very closely if you do this! If you do put them under the broiler, do not put them on a rack that is too close to the heating element or the flame.  The problem with broiling them is that they can burn easily, and you don’t want that to happen. There is a huge difference between caramelizing your yams and burning them.  Caramelizing the yams produces a rich dark color, and burningv them produces ugly black spots.   When your candied yams are done, put them on a platter and drizzle the caramelized liquid over them.  I recommend that you use a platter that will complement the beautiful color of the yams.  I like to put them on a blue or white platter.  These yams will look as pretty as a picture, and they will taste  delicious!