The Beat from Troy Music Hall #45, Happy Hanukkah

There are 16 different ways to spell Hanukkah, 16!

Click here to see them all. However you chose to spell it, if you celebrate, we wish you and your family a happy and safe holiday.

Happy Chanukah! Happy Xanuka! Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah is not Jewish Christmas

Hanukkah is ​here…think you know everything about it? Here’s a little quiz ​from Mayim Bialik (aka Blossom or Amy Farrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory.) You may already know all about it, or you may learn a lot!

Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song

Adam Sandler performed this on Saturday Night Live for the first time in 1994 and it became an instant novelty classic. He recognized how few songs about the holiday there were, and decided to write a song highlighting all the famous Jewish people you might not know about. He updated the original for the third time in 2002, this time with a children’s choir and an electric guitar.

Potato Latkes with a Twist

This recipe comes from the Martha Stewart site, Everyday Food, and they look delicious! Chef Sarah Carey replaced flour with potato starch, which is supposed to make a crispier latke. We like ours served with the traditional toppings, sour cream and applesauce. You can serve them with anything you’d like, click here for the complete recipe and a few other topping ideas.

Yerushalmi Kugel

This recipe, adapted from the cookbook author Adeena Sussman by the New York Times, makes a “dark, dense kugel…bound by eggs and caramel, and sharpened with loads of black pepper.” Click here for the complete recipe, and if you make it, let us know how it turns out.

Ingredients
2 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 (12-ounce) package thin egg noodles (or use angel hair pasta)
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed, sunflower or vegetable1
¼ cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs, beaten
2 ¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions. Rinse and drain well. Return to pot and toss with 1 tablespoon oil to prevent sticking. Set aside.

In a heavy skillet, combine sugar and 1/2 cup oil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and turns amber brown, but not burned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Working quickly, pour the caramelized sugar over the cooked noodles and stir to combine. (Don’t scrape the skillet.) The caramel will probably clump in places when it hits the noodles, and that is OK. It will melt as the kugel bakes. Let noodle mixture cool until warm, about 10 minutes.

Kid’s Corner!