I was 21 when I moved to Israel and the world of Jewish cooking opened up to me. We moved into an Iraqi neighborhood where “Jewish Cooking” was hardly like the cuisine I grew up with in Coney Island. My Hungarian grandmother cooked with Paprika, White Pepper and Sour Salt, not Cumin and turmeric and all the spices in the Arab Shuk. Throughout Israel, little communities prepared “Jewish Food,” and all of it was different.

A Rosh Hashanah in a Yemenite home is not like the Rosh Hashanah I remembered. Yet a Jewish Yemenite or Morroccan, or Syrian Rosh Hashanah meal is no less authentically Jewish than the “Askenazi” food I prepared. But each community would cook a different meal to celebrate Rosh Hashanah.

In my house the Rosh Hashanah meal consisted of Sweet and Sour Chicken, Brisket, Tzimmos, Kasha Varnishkas, Cucumber Salad, Honey Cake, Apple Strudel and Compote. I would recreate that meal for my children and grandchildren and every year for the sixteen years that The Fat Lady was open, I invited my customers and friends to have that Rosh Hashanah meal with us, even though many of them grew up on a very different although no less delicious Jewish cuisine, and many never celebrated Rosh Hashanah at all.

Cooking is mostly about Nostalgia. If we discount the “creative” Gourmet cooks, who reinvent old recipes and mingle one cuisine with many others, and we just stick with basics, most of us love the foods we were nurtured on. I know I do. And although I have learned many cuisines, and many Jewish cuisines for that matter, especially in the eight years I lived in Israel, for the holidays it is home sweet home.

Today I am going to share with you my Hungarian grandmother's method of making Brisket, and as with all of my Grandmother's wonderful cooking, she did not invent this method. Probably most of the Jews in her little town of Gyoza cooked the same meal at the same time in more or less the same manner.

Jewish cooking reflects Jewish tribalism and if you cook sweet or savory, Paprika or Cumin, potatoes or rice, that's the mark of which Jewish tribe is yours.

Hungarian Brisket: To be roasted one day before served.

You will need:

- an 8 to ten lb. Brisket both first and second cut.

- One Half the weight of the Brisket in Large sweet onions sliced thin (4 to 5 lbs)

- 3 or 4 carrots sliced on the diagonal

- 6 Bay Leaves

- A paste made with the next three ingredients and a bit of water:

- 2 Tablespoons genuine sweet Hungarian Paprika

- 2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt

- 1 T garlic salt

- white pepper to taste

1. Wash the Brisket and shmear with the spice paste all over. Let stand 1/2 hour.

2. Put half the sliced onions and all of the sliced carrots in the bottom of a deep roasting pan along with 3 Bay leaves.

3. Place brisket, fat side up, on top of the onions.

4. Top with 3 Bay leaves directly on the Brisket and the second half of sliced onions.

5. If the Brisket is not smothered with the sliced onions, slice more and add.

6. Cover tightly with Heavy Duty Aluminum foil and place in 350 Degree oven for three hours.

7. Check Brisket and see if fork goes in and out without resistance but not too too easily. Don't overcook. Continue cooking if Brisket is still not fork friendly.

8. When done. Open foil. Cool on Counter and refrigerate tightly covered overnight.

This method depends on the flavorful fat being melted and flavoring the leaner beef on the bottom. When you open the foil the next day, orange fat will be congealed on the gravy. Remove all congealed fat and discard.

Separate first and second cut of the brisket and slice separately thinly and against the grain. Place in defatted gravy and heat covered tightly and on low heat either in oven or on stovetop. Just heat but don't cook the beef.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!