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03/20/2000 Archived Entry: "Hammantaschen"

Tonight is the beginning of Purim, which you might call the Jewish version of Mardi Gras. (Then again, you might not.) It is, in any case, a big party day. You are supposed to listen to the story of Esther, which tells the story of a young and beautiful queen of ancient Persia, who, with her wise cousin (perhaps uncle) Mordechai, outsmarts the evil prime minister, Hamman. As the story is read in synagogue, one is supposed to make a lot of noise every time the name of Hamman is mentioned. And it is actually written that you should get inebriated – at least drunk enough that you can’t tell the difference between the good guys and the bad. Children, and even some adults, don costumes for the parties and parades, and there is a special food of the day, hammantaschen, which are triangular pastries/cookies filled, traditionally, with either prune butter or poppy seeds (mohn). These days, there are all kinds of fillings, including, naturally, chocolate, and hammantaschen are, in New York at any rate, available in bakeries that are not at all necessarily Jewish.

A particularly beautiful Purim custom is Shalack Monos -- the giving of food gifts to neighbors and friends. People even go door to door with baskets of goodies, often homemade, to distribute them in person.

As an old joke puts it, Purim follows the outline of many other Jewish festivals: They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.

Purim is only one of the several holidays this months associated with a delicious baked good. Last week, St. Patrick’s Day revelers indulged in Irish Soda Bread, which in America has become more like cake than bread. And March 19th is the Feast of St. Joseph, San Giuseppe in Italy, where, in the south, a particular kind of filled donut is the traditional sweet. In Naples, they are called zeppole di San Giuseppe, and they are filled with pastry cream, topped with a dab of amarene, preserved sour cherries. In Sicily, they are called sfingi (or sfince) di San Giuseppe and they are filled with ricotta cream, the same filling as for cannoli.

For a mini-hammantaschen cookbook, go to my friend Marcy Goldman’s web-site: www.betterbaking.com. Find my favorite Irish Soda Bread recipe in my diary item of March 13, or go to Marcy’s site for her oatmeal laced bread. For more about St. Joseph’s day donuts, read the March 13th diary item or the short essay and recipe in my book Naples At Table.