{"id":7284,"date":"2022-11-15T08:17:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T13:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recipephany.com\/?p=7284"},"modified":"2024-05-01T14:20:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:20:46","slug":"claires-beef-knishes-butcherie-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recipephany.com\/?p=7284","title":{"rendered":"Claire\u2019s Beef Knishes, Butcherie Style"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If wishes were knishes\u2026they\u2019d all taste delicious.<\/em>
\u2014Variation of old Scottish rhyme<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little pastries stuffed with meat, potatoes, and other savory fillings, knishes immigrated to the US with Russian, Polish and Ukrainian Jews in the early 1900s. They soon dominated delis, knisheries and food carts in New York City. This inexpensive snack\/meal spread to Kosher delis and restaurants across the country\u2014so what\u2019s not to like?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as Jewish delis have dwindled, so have knishes. Our local Stop and Shop no longer carries them in the deli case. But we don\u2019t kvetch. Thanks to our daughter Claire, we have the best recipe for this nosh that you can find anywhere. Using Science and Laboratory Superpowers, she has reverse engineered the gold standard for knishes\u2014the kind New York should only be so lucky to have\u2014the \u201cOpen Beef Knish\u201d from The Butcherie in her very own hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Little Knishtory<\/strong>
A family-owned Kosher market, The Butcherie commands a large corner in a neighborhood of stores and restaurants catering to the Jewish community in Brookline, Massachusetts. The town has a strong Jewish heritage, so you\u2019d think this neighborhood\u2019s name would reflect it. But no, it\u2019s \u201cJFK Crossing,\u201d to honor President Kennedy\u2019s birthplace on a side street and to remind us that Brookline also has deep Irish Catholic roots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Butcherie handmakes many types of knishes\u2014including three styles of beef\u2014but nothing matches its Open Beef Knish. It has a rich beefy flavor and the pastry stays tender even after it gets nuked straight out of the freezer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our kids grew up on this knish, a favorite for lunch with mustard and homemade horseradish. (See Quick Homemade Horseradish<\/a>.) But after they moved away, they couldn\u2019t find anything like it anywhere. Claire, home for a visit and on a knish shopping trip, introduced herself to a Butcherie manager, complimented him on the knishes, and asked if he could please share the recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe ushered me to a back room, sat at his desk and, in really polite-gangster style, spent several minutes insulting me for even asking,\u201d she says. Apparently, their recipes are proprietary secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knatural Science<\/strong>
Many years later, scientist Claire put on her lab apron and set out to decipher the Butcherie\u2019s secrets herself. She dissected a knish, studied its list of ingredients, and researched many recipes. Then she took out her lab notebook and began \u201cKnish01\u201d. She isolated variables, observed reactions, compared textures and tastes, and thoroughly documented her experiments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking what she learned from the first knish outcome, she developed \u201cKnish02,\u201d a close copy but not quite there. Like any true scientist, however, she understood that it takes a good scientific collaboration to get all the way to any answer. So she ironed out the last details in taste-tests with brother Andrew and by consulting with us here at Recipephany (i.e., her dad Dan and me), knowing we couldn\u2019t wait to post it. We corroborated her results by making a couple of batches, and got valuable insights on pastry and construction from Leah Greenwald, our esteemed Chief Food Technology Advisor at the Recipephany Test Kitchens.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Claire's<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This version nailed it. And with considerable kvelling, we report our joint findings in the recipephany below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet as close as this knockoff gets, Claire can point out tiny differences. She also stresses that it doesn\u2019t convey the nostalgia of the original. \u201dI\u2019d actually be pretty sad if we stopped getting knishes from the Butcherie altogether, as there is some amount of sentimentality that you cannot replicate in the recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you can\u2019t make it to the store, you can still treat yourself, family and friends to the best meat knish any time, no matter where you are\u2014even in New York City.  And when somebody asks for the recipe? Please feel free to knish and tell.<\/p>\n\n\n

Claire’s Beef Knishes, Butcherie Style<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

Makes 1 dozen <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dough<\/strong>1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n