The bounty of fish indigenous to the Mediterranean, coupled with worldwide imports to Israel, gives those of us here an almost unprecedented number of choices for fish to cook. To help sort out which is which, I have compiled a list of fish that can be found in Israel.

It is a shame that fish cookery for most people comes down to salmon, tuna, and gefilte, with the occasional overbaked-in-oil tilapia (musht). The wide range of choices – fresh and frozen – available here can really broaden your repertoire and palette.

To add to the confusion. not all fish have the same names. My method for determining the correlation between Hebrew and English was to determine the scientific name of the species, then use several resources to determine the exact Hebrew name for that species, or, in case of conflicting information, I used a consensus. (more…)

There are some things that just taste better when you’re feeling bad. It’s a personal thing, and for me, it changes depending on how badly I’m feeling. Carbs is the obvious stand-out winner in the comfort food category, probably because it helps absorb whatever’s upsetting you, but not all of us like the heavy feeling that pasta gives you.

For me, tomato soup has always been my go-to comfort food. Open a can, pour the contents of the can, plus a can’s worth of milk into a small pot, bring to a boil. Simple, straightforward, satisfying. Now that I’m not fourteen anymore, I don’t have to rely on a prepared can of soup concentrate to soothe my turgid, er… soul, but taking a couple of hours to make a whole pot of soup while feeling lousy isn’t always practical. Enter the egg.

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Here’s a handy chart for cooking times of common and not so common beans and legumes.
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My earliest recollections of drinking coffee are at minyan Sunday morning with my grandfather a”h. After davening, the old men at the minyan would enjoy herring, Chivas, orange juice and coffee for breakfast. I, of course, wanting to be just like the men, would make my own cup of coffee, which meant I would drown half a cup of coffee in enough milk and sugar to make it palatable for my juvenile taste.

Over the years I have enjoyed coffee as a day starter, as a pick me up, a late-night boost, and socially, without giving much thought to the quality of the drink I was drinking. Brewed, espresso, instant, it all went down the same way.

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Machane Yehuda is the pulse of culinary Jerusalem. I’m sure you’ve read that before if you’ve been reading my blog posts. Surrounding the two streets of the market itself are a number of stores that range from health food ingredients to kitchen utensils.

I was wandering through Machane Yehuda with some family late last night – late for the market, where only a few of the restaurants and shops remained open – and as I was leaving I spotted a row of ingredients on a shelf through the open door of a shop located just outside the market on Agrippas. Asian ingredients. Lots of them.

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