Goose: A Hanukkah Tradition
'Christmas dinner has it all: a well-balanced feast with a main dish turkey, ham or goose a range of sides, delicious desserts and eggnog to top it off. And Hanukkah? Jews typically enjoy latkes smothered in sour cream or applesauce (my preference), jelly doughnuts, chocolate coins and, consequently, eight days of pounding Tums.
While I love these holiday specialties, they dont constitute a coherent, let alone sensible, meal. For years Ive suffered the gastric consequences of oddly paired fried foods and desserts without the anchor of a solid and celebrated main course.
The story goes that eating such foods commemorates the unlikely military victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks in ancient times. Once they rededicated the Jewish temple, they found enough oil to light the temple lamp for one day, but somehow the oil lasted for eight. Hanukkah celebrations are about the miracle of oil, and tasty things fried in it.
For Jews like my ancestors from Central and Eastern Europe, the real factor that defined Hanukkah eating was less miraculous: the harsh winter season, when the earth yielded nothing. Jews in prewar Europe ate what was available and made pancakes from grated turnips, potatoes or milled grains. Theyd fry them in schmaltz, rendered poultry fat, an essential component of Ashkenazi Jewish cooking.'>>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/24/opinion/goose-a-hanukkah-tradition.html?