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04/09/2001 Archived Entry: "Tsimmes"

I have been making my great-grandmother’s prune and sweet potato tsimmes for at least 20 years, and I watched it being made and ate it for 30 years before that. But ask me for a recipe and I still have to give it as my grandmother would – some of this, some of that, you know.

Finally, this year, I weighed and measured everything so I could put it down on paper, or, I should say, put it up on this web site. It’s an easy recipe, despite being called tsimmes, which is a word that is used figuratively to mean a fuss, or a lengthy procedure. A Yiddish speaker could say, for instance, “It’s not important. Don’t make such a tsimmes,” and it would mean “Don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.”

Literally, tsimmes, pronounced tzim –mess, is a sweet side dish, usually but not exclusively of dried fruit and vegetables. I have eaten carrot tsimmes, for instance, that is nothing but stewed and honey-sweetened carrots, although I have yet to eat one that I like.

In Joe and Sallee Bijou’s family, my friends who are of Syrian decent, they make a tsimmes of okra and prunes. Of course, they don’t call it tsimmes. Tsimmes is a Yiddish word – from the German words zum, “to the,” and essen “eating” – and Sephardic Jews don’t speak Yiddish. Sallee says that in Arabic she would call her dish bamyeh, referring to the okra, and that there are other Syrian Jewish dishes combining vegetables and dried fruits.

In my Sonkin family, which hales from Belarus (White Russia), we add meat to our tsimmess and our standard and beloved version is sweet potatoes and large so-called “sour” prunes with flanken, short ribs cut across the bone, instead of in the direction of the bone. Some families put white potatoes in their tsimmes, too. My sister likes the sweet-and-sour meat best so I use more meat than my grandmother, to make sure everyone can have some. This year, my sister requested carrots, so I added them, too. At this point, I am not sure if my grandmother used onions, but I do. And for this year’s tsimmes, I forgot to prepare myself with the large sour prunes, so I used regular prunes, which I had in the house. They worked fine, but I missed the slight tang the sour ones provide. I do not add sugar to my tsimmes because the sweet potatoes and prunes, even the sour ones, add plenty of sweetness.

(I buy sour prunes at Sahadi, the Syrian food store on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. In the old days, you could buy them at almost any Jewish appetizing store, those old-time stores that specialize in smoked and pickled fish and the dairy products that one eats with them. Russ and Daughters on Houston St. in Manhattan is one of the last great appetizing stores. Visit it sometime.)

The following quantity of tsimmes is large because one makes it for big, family meals, such as the Passover seders, which were held the last two nights, or for Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year. There’s no reason you can’t size this recipe down to meet your needs. Then again, tsimmes gets even better when reheated.


The Sonkin Family Tsimmes
Serves about 16

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 2 1/2 pounds flanken, cut 1/2-inch thick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 medium onions, diced
4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise
into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 pound carrots, peeled, then cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch chunks
2 pounds prunes with pits, preferably large, sour prunes
(or 1 1/2 pounds pitted prunes)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt the meat on both sides.

In a large, heavy stove-top casserole -- for instance, an 8-quart enameled cast iron “Dutch oven” -- brown the meat, without crowding the pot, over medium-high heat. If you do not have a casserole that can be used on top of the stove, brown the meat and onions in a large skillet, then use an oven-proof casserole, or even a large roasting pan, to assemble the whole tsimmes. As the meat browns, set it aside on a platter

Add the oil and onions to the same pot the meat was browned in and saute until the onions are well wilted and begin to brown, about 10 minutes, scraping up the brown residue from browning the meat.

In the casserole (or the other pot or roasting pan), make rough layers of all the ingredients, sprinkling each with salt and pepper.

Pour in enough water to barely cover the ingredients – about 6 cups.

Cover the casserole or pan (use foil if there is no cover), and place in a 300-degree oven for 3 hours. Do not uncover the pot or stir the ingredients.

After 3 hours, remove from the oven and, if preparing ahead, which is best, let cool to near room temperature before refrigerating. If not preparing ahead, allow the tsimmes to sit for about an hour before serving. In either case, you will want to thicken the juices in the pot.

Instead of using a thickener, which I think gives the juices an unpleasant viscosity, I like to ladle off a good portion of the juices – you will never be able to get them all – and reduce them to a syrup. Push a ladle down into the tsimmes, tipping the pot as necessary, and transfer the juices to a small saucepan. Bring the juice to a boil and let them cook down until quite syrupy. Pour them back onto the tsimmes before serving.

Serve hot.