So long 2009

Hanukkah and Christmas are in the rear view mirror as I work on preparing the first orders of the new year. What have I learned in 2009 as The Rugelach Man?

-Rugela is singular, Rugelach is plural.
-Rugelach is a food which has an emotional bond with people.
-Rugelach is not just a jewish pastry. It has roots in other eastern european ethnicities as well, but under different names.
-Making rugelach is extremely time consuming as there are many steps involved, unlike making most cakes or cookies, especially when I'm making dozens of pounds, not just a batch for company.
-My love of parchment paper knows no bounds.
-We have shipped rugelach to 46 states. (Idaho, Wyoming, S.Dakota, Hawaii)

Happy Holidays!

I've been rolling rugelach all day into the evening and now into the morning. During all the time I spend in the kitchen, just me and my rolling pin, plenty of thinking is done. It seems just a short while ago where cooking was done solely for pleasure. Making dozens of latkes, a couple briskets, green beans, kugel and perhaps some tsimmes for Hanukah dinner followed by desserts, rugelach included. Now I cook/bake for money. Maybe that makes me a food gigolo. Nah, a gigolo just does it for money. I love what I do, paid or not. Whether I am making 2 pounds, 20 pounds or 200 pounds of rugelach, the same effort goes into each batch. Whether my food is going to eaten by my family or a family of strangers, it makes no difference. I use the same amount of "secret ingredient" for every batch. And for those of you who find being in the kitchen akin to relaxing and not a chore, you know what that secret ingredient is.

Wishing everyone a heartwarming holiday season...Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas. And of course, Festivus (for the rest of us).

Rugelach: Not Just a Jewish Delicacy.

When one thinks of Jewish (ashkenzic) food with their ethnic names still intact, latkes, kugel, challah, tzimmes, and rugelach are some that come immediately to mind.

As I have discovered since launching The Rugelach Man, people of different faiths/ethnicities have eaten my rugelach and swore that this is what their grandmothers made, using recipes handed down from the old country.

The Polish call their version "rogaliki". Croats, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians all have their similar names for rugelach: "roszke" (RRAWSH-kee) and the spellings include roski, rozky, roscici, among others. There is a town in Hungary named Roszke, so perhaps they may have originated there, even though Hungarians call these "kifli". Go figure.

Regardless of the names the pastry go by, it has an aura that evokes strong emotional memories of family ties. Remembering them coming out of the oven in grandma's kitchen, having her either sneak one to you or swat your little paw as you tried to steal one at holiday times, one or two generations ago.

Albeit, the countries are all eastern European and had Jewish citizens throughout their respective borders, but to claim "rugelach" as one's own would be just as false as to claim the hot dog as a US entity. The hot dog, or as known by it's formal name, the frankfurter, originated and was mastered in Germany. It was not taken on as a staple food until it reached the shores of the US, and today the hot dog is the ultimate American icon.

No matter how you pronounce this delicious eastern European pastry of many names, it is delicious.

I guess I need to go and reserve a bunch of domain names now!

All the best!

The Rugelach Man
The Rogaliki Man
The Roszke Man
The Roscici Man
The Kifli Man

To Be (Kosher) Or Not to Be....

Of the many requests I get, Kosher (followed by sugar-free) is most often asked of our rugelach.

I have been looking into becoming a kosher kitchen. After doing a little research, I found that the problem is the inherently high expenses of maintaining a kosher kitchen.

I not only bake rugelach. I am a caterer as well. Thus, to keep my operation under one roof, I would need to be Kosher for baking as well as catering. Baking is not too bad, in that it would cost me nearly $5000 annually for the certification. A catering kitchen is absurdly expensive, since I would need to have a full-time rabbi(s) on site during all times of operation. Now I know why when it comes to Kosher caterers, there are so few choices out there.

My choices: Have my baking operation and my catering operation in different locations and pay rents plural as well as not be able to utilize employees for both businesses, or abandon the catering side of the business altogether. Both are not options for me.

As a boutique baker and caterer, the cost of obtaining kosher certification is currently not financially viable. The option is still on the table, but not in the foreseeable future.

Donuts? We don't need no stinkin' donuts!

Glad to know we are developing a nice fan base with The University of Chicago Police Department. Rugelach replacing the stereotypical donuts? Hey, anything can happen!

Post Holiday Stress Disorder

FIRST POST!

So I made it through my first Jewish High Holiday season, but not without war wounds.

I was prepared for holiday orders, but when the Chicago Tribune ran that story about me, well, let's just say that normal sleep was no longer part of my basic daily regimen. In a matter of weeks I have gone from a normal 11pm bedtime to anywhere from 2am to 8am. It has been a rough adjustment to these new hours I need to keep. What makes it more difficult is that the hours are not consistent, so my body's clock doesn't know what to do! Throw in my catering gigs on top of that and it's amazing that I'm still vertical!

Anyway, in future posts I plan to share stories about my doings as The Rugelach Man, caterer, customer stories, and more.

Shana Tova!