Grandma’s Giant Potato Knish Recipe

Round or square? Baked or fried? Potato or kasha?

I am talking about knishes, of course, and I realize that members of our tribe will have fierce opinions. 

My grandma had the right answer though, at least for our family. There were 13 of us at one meal so there was no way she had the time or energy to make, roll and cut dough into proper knish shapes (round or square), fill and fold individual portions and then cook them (baked or fried). 

So she took a little shortcut. 

She made one giant, dough-wrapped dish, cut it into rectangles and called them knishes, despite the fact she used strudel dough and the dish was more akin to a potato strudel. Her reason? The filling was her knish filling recipe, so knishes they were! 

In the “World of Jewish Cooking,” Gil Marks wrote that the knish, first known as “krepish,” was a hand-held “small filled pie” and was popular during the Middle Ages in France and Germany. As Ashkenazi Jews moved further east it became known as knish, from the Slavic “knysz.” Later, with the surge of Jewish immigration to America, the knish became mainstream, a handy lunch item for factory workers who could buy one from a street pushcart on the lower east side. (One of those pushcart vendors was Yonah Schimmel, an immigrant from Romania, whose knishes were so popular he opened the first knish bakery in 1910. The store, still family-owned, is selling knishes to this day with 21^st century fillings, including jalapeno and cherry cheese!)

Knishes were very popular when I was a kid. My brother and I ate lunch once a week at the kosher deli in our neighborhood: a frankfurter with sauerkraut and a square, flat, fried knish. My cousin, who lived across town in the East Bronx, liked the round, baked ones, but we all knew grandma’s knishes were the best. Potato filling for us because none of the kids wanted to go near kasha.

For a while my grandmother made her own strudel dough, but as she got older and less energetic she took another shortcut and bought strudel dough from a Hungarian bakery. That’s what I used when I got older and decided to cook the family potato knish. 

Unfortunately, strudel dough became impossible to find and I had to resort to phyllo dough, which takes time — you have to brush each layer with vegetable oil! —  is brittle and dries out quickly, flakes and falls apart unless you work fast. While it was easier than making individual knishes, phyllo was still too much work. 

And then I discovered puff pastry. And did what my grandma did: Make the whole knish thing even easier. 

I have her to thank for showing me that there are ways to save time and effort without losing flavor, and my version of  the giant knish is as delicious as always, much better than the square fried or the round baked kind. Much less expensive, too. 

Knishes may once have been a handy lunch item, but I serve them as a side dish. They’re perfect for the holidays because they go so well with brisket and roasted chicken, and are a go-to for my break-the-fast.

Note: This freezes well for up to 2 months. Bake it first, let it cool, then enclose it in plastic wrap. When it’s time to serve, let it thaw in the fridge and bake it in a preheated 375°F oven for about 12 minutes until heated through.

Print