Festival of Fabulous Fried Foods

Encountering the richness of different cultures through their food is one of the real delights of working as a personal chef. And for that reason, we’re grateful to our Jewish friends who have invited us to share their culinary heritage over the years—perhaps most of all, the wonderful fried foods of Chanukah.

Recalling, as it does, the miracle of the one day’s lamp oil that lasted for eight days, the custom developed of serving, during the eight night of Chanukah, foods that have been fried in oil. And who doesn’t love latkes!

But the fabulous fried foods of Chanukah don’t end with the savories; desserts can be fried, too! Today I’d like to focus on one of Chanukah’s most popular fried desserts: sufganiyot. They’re a bit of a time commitment, to be sure—ours take about five hours to make. But most of that time is spent in the three different periods of rising that the dough needs to grow into the pillowy, sweet delicacy that makes them such a beloved Chanukah tradition. This year, we made our sufganiyot side-by-side with our challah, and the process was very similar for both: blooming the yeast, mixing the dough, a first rise in a warm and moist proofing oven, punching down the dough and letting it rise again. But then, after we rolled and braided our challah, we cut the sufganiyot dough into little rounds that were allowed to rise one more time. Finally, they were ready for a plunge into the oil, coming out golden brown and ready to be filled. Any flavor can work, but for the jelly filling we chose raspberry this year. Then a sprinkle of powdered sugar, and they were ready to be devoured.

Can you buy jelly-filled doughnuts and serve them at your Chanukah table? Sure. But there’s no way store-bought doughnuts can ever beat the flavor and texture of homemade sufganiyot. Seem like too much trouble? No problem! Let The Gourmet Guys make your family’s Chanukah meals next year, and you can enjoy the delight of warm, homemade sufganiyot for yourself … with none of the work!