{"id":21366,"date":"2026-04-12T09:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=21366"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:57:41","slug":"pow-right-in-the-kishka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=21366","title":{"rendered":"Pow! Right in the Kishka!"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em>
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\nIt was during a peripatetic jaunt through Brooklyn\u2019s Brighton Beach area in search of new goodies to share with guests on my Exploring Eastern European Food in Little Odessa ethnojunket<\/a> that I spotted it. The tiny handwritten sign read \u201cChicken Skin Stuffed with Matzo,\u201d an Ashkenazi Jewish dish I recognized as helzel or possibly kishka. Like most food establishments in the neighborhood, the pork laden steam table offerings were anything but kosher with cuisines hailing from Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and the like. It looked so out of place that I had to purchase it.<\/p>\n

A couple of definitions which the aficionados among you will recognize as oversimplifications:<\/p>\n

Kishka (aka stuffed derma) is basically beef intestine stuffed with matzo meal or flour enhanced with grated onion plus the occasional carrot, combined with schmaltz (chicken fat), and baked. Tastes far more appealing than it sounds. It is a paragon of heimish cooking: essentially Jewish soul food.<\/p>\n

Helzel substitutes chicken neck skins for the intestines \u2013 crispy casing is imperative.<\/p>\n

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\nAnd how did this specimen taste? Salty (of course), carby (of course), fatty (of course), and although swathed in skin, anything but skinny.<\/p>\n

Obviously, they couldn\u2019t fit all that on the tiny sign. That\u2019s what tour guides are for. \ud83d\ude09
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\nStay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! \u2764
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was during a peripatetic jaunt through Brooklyn\u2019s Brighton Beach area in search of new goodies to share with guests on my \u201cExploring Eastern European Food in Little Odessa\u201d ethnojunket that I spotted it. Read on…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-21366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-eats","tag-jewish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21366"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21373,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21366\/revisions\/21373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}