Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 29, 2022

Chef and food writer Daniel Gritzer began making this specific variant of fried chicken when he was a sous chef at New York City's Beppe in the early aughts. Gritzer explains to Serious Eatsthat the chef of the restaurant, Cesare Casella, was famous for many things, not least among them a chicken that was marinated in lemon juice, garlic, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then coated in egg and flour and fried. The result was tangy, pungent, and crispy and was a frequent feature on "best-of" lists.

Tasked with digging a little deeper into the recipes of Casella's home of Tuscany, Gritzer found the recipe is more specifically attributable to the area's Jewish community. The crispy, fried chicken dish is associated with Hanukkah, calledpollo fritto per Chanukk in Italian.

It should be of little surprise that fried chicken is a staple of Tuscan Hanukkah celebrations. As NPR explains, the holiday is centered on the miracle of light provided by a temple lamp that burned for eight days on a single day's supply of olive oil. Thus, cooking in oil is a form of remembrance. Staples of Hanukkah table can include traditional latkes, Roman-Jewish fried artichokes, schnitzel, fritters, donuts like the Israilisufganiyot and Amermenianponchiks (orpczki in Poland), and yes, fried chicken.

More here:

The Tuscan-Jewish Variation Of Fried Chicken You Should Know - Tasting Table

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