Yerushalmi kugel emerged in nineteenth-century Jerusalem after Ashkenazi immigrants adapted the kugel traditions they had brought from Eastern Europe. Eggs and rich wheat noodles were expensive in the Ottoman city, so cooks bound inexpensive noodles with oil and deeply caramelized sugar. Black pepper, probably reflecting contact with neighboring Sephardi and Palestinian foodways, gave the dish its defining sweet-hot flavor. Families delivered covered pots to communal ovens before the Sabbath and collected the dense, dark kugels after morning prayers. The preparation became strongly identified with the Old Yishuv and Jerusalem’s religious neighborhoods, where it remains a familiar Sabbath and holiday food. During Sukkot, when meals are served in temporary outdoor shelters, its sturdy texture, ability to remain warm and dramatic spiral of caramelized noodles make it especially practical and visually distinctive, although it is not confined to this festival.
Yerushalmi Kugel in Jerusalem’s Sukkot Sukkahs
AD 1800
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