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Heartbroken Beets
Plus: The Four Questions Interview with Jeremy Salamon of Agi's Counter
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I’ve planned to run this recipe for Heartbroken Beets, from chef Jeremy Salamon’s lovely new cookbook Second Generation for weeks, now. But when I originally slated the dish into my newsletter’s editorial calendar, I had no idea just how heartbroken I would feel over last week’s presidential election results.
Thank you to everyone who commented on last week’s newsletter, The Grief of Early Dawn — a piece of writing that erupted, almost fully-formed, from my brain onto the page. (I can’t remember another time when I’ve experienced that kind of spontaneous flow state, but I guess grief can do strange things.) Your comments were a balm for me personally and, I am sure, for this wider community as well.
Interestingly, the handful of mean and dismissive responses that last week’s newsletter elicited—the ones that called me a “loser,” a “disappointment,” and an “empty suit,” after I’d shared my fears—arrived by private email, not public comment.
I will not dwell on their words, because I don’t find them meaningful. But I do think it is notable that the folks who sent them did not have the courage to share their thoughts where others could witness them. To have won an election, and to still be so full of anger (and meanwhile too ashamed to express it in front of a wider community) is telling—and sad.
So yes, Heartbroken Beets. It’s a visually gorgeous, simple, and truly delicious recipe that marinates beets in a honey-balsamic vinaigrette and optionally pairs them with shards of funky, salty blue cheese. (I substituted fresh goat cheese when I made them—it worked great.) The mix of sweet, earthy, and tangy flavors will turn, as Salamon described it in his cookbook, a “beet avoidant into a beet lover.” I am honored to share Salamon’s recipe with you, along with a fascinating companion interview.
I hope you make these Heartbroken Beets this week. And I hope you remember that we may feel heartbroken about our country right now. But we are not heartbroken like “forever shattered and lost.” We are heartbroken like making room for “the light to get in.”
The Four Questions Interview: Jeremy Salamon
Welcome to the latest installment of The Four Questions, The Jewish Table’s semi-regular interview segment featuring Jewish food luminaries. This week I’m thrilled to be joined by chef Jeremy Salamon. Salamon is the James Beard-nominated founder of Agi’s Counter, a Hungarian-Jewish-inspired restaurant in Brooklyn. As someone with young children who has very limited time for dining out, I rarely hit the same restaurant more than once. But Agi’s creamy borscht, buttery pogasca biscuits, palacsinta (Hungarian crepes), semolina dumplings, and rotating selection of perfect coffee cakes are worth returning to again and again.
In September, Salamon published his first cookbook, “Second Generation: Hungarian and Jewish Classics Reimagined for the Modern Table, which tells the tale of his family, his community, and his approach to Hungarian-American cuisine in the 21st century. The recipes in the book are incredibly “cookable”—dishes like Körözött (Hungarian Pimento Cheese), Nokedli Cacio e Pepe, and Caraway Apple Cake that are at once homey and new. (*Note to kosher keepers, the book is not kosher—but there are plenty of kosher-friendly recipes.)
I have been a fan of Salamon’s since Agi’s Counter opened three years ago, so it was a delight to learn that he is also a true mensch and a delight to talk to. In The Four Questions this week, he talked about the book he discovered on a bookstore’s sale table that changed his life, his favorite dishes from Second Generation, and the central roll that babka and Cognac played in convincing grandma Agi to share her Hungarian recipes with him.
Tell me more about your grandma Agi and the role she’s played in your cooking.
Both of my grandmothers were pivotal figures in my childhood. I literally grew up between them geographically. On Friday night we would go to Nana Arlene’s and Sunday nights were for Grandma Agi. In both homes, our gatherings were centered around family, but their styles were very different. Grandma Agi’s food was definitely not as “pretty” as Nana Arlene’s—but it was always comforting. There was a lot of goulash and paprikash. If there were vegetables, it would be iceberg lettuce with Russian dressing. Nana Arlene was the Martha Stewart of the family. She sewed her own tablecloths and trussed chickens.
At grandma Agi’s the kids would play in the den while she would be having a glass of wine and eating grapes while making some sort of stew. She came from Hungary and then went to Austria and New York before settling in Florida. Her version of Hungarian cuisine was shaped by her experience of fleeing her home country and settling in America. And what I’m doing at Agi’s Counter mirrors that. My version is the second generation point of view. I’ve been to Hungary and done my research, but I grew up with her version of the cuisine, and then I took it and did my own thing. That’s the constant evolution of food. It’s how food works.
How did grandma Agi respond when you approached her about your interest in cooking Hungarian food?
She knew I was interested in cooking throughout middle school and high school, but I don’t think she understood why. She would say, “Why does a man want recipes? Men don’t cook. Women cook—we cook for you.” She was also confused why anyone would want to know about Hungarian cuisine. As the years went by and she saw my career progressing, she finally came around. I went down to Florida and said, I’m going to do a pop-up restaurant, and I need your recipes as a jumping off point.” She said, “Okay, you’ll have some Cognac with me,” and I was like, “What?!” It turns out, she kept her recipes in the same cupboard where she stored her Cognac and crystal.
She pulled some babka from the freezer and we sipped Cognac while we went over her recipes little by little. They were mostly clippings from Hungarian newspapers and magazines with handwritten notes on them. In Second Generation, you will find lots of handwritten notes throughout the recipes and in the book’s margins—that’s why. But honestly, my coming out to her as gay and introducing my boyfriend to her was so much easier than getting those recipes!
I read in Second Generation that Hungarian-Jewish restaurateur George Lang (of NYC’s Café des Artistes fame), was also an influence on you?
I love George Lang. I have read his book Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen multiple times over the past decade. I didn’t know about him until I walked into the Strand bookstore 12 or 13 years ago and that book was sitting on top of a pile. I had never seen a Hungarian cookbook or one that had an entire chapter dedicated to the history of the cuisine. Reading through it felt like peeling back the layers of the onion and finding this really rich, beautiful, tragic history of a cuisine I thought I knew.
Personally, I cannot look at Hungarian cuisine without associating it with Jewish culture and tradition—and personal histories like Lang’s story and my grandma Agi’s story. Kashrut is not really part of the conversation for me. I went to Jewish day school through sixth grade, but my family did not keep kosher at home. And it wasn’t part of the narrative for grandma Agi either, who loved cooking with pork fat. But I think there is a new interest in Eastern European and Jewish cooking that is just starting to boil, and I find it really exciting.
What do you hope Second Generation adds to the conversation about Hungarian Jewish cuisine?
I hope that the book does something similar to what Agi’s Counter is doing, but is able to reach people who can’t travel to New York City. When I opened up Agi’s, I had pogasca and palacsinta on the menu, and different versions of lecso and goulash that all sound like you have peanut butter on the roof of your mouth when you say them. At first, a lot of folks did not know what any of those dishes were. But three years in, these foods have become a part of our customers’ vocabulary, and they are being talked about in the media. It is exciting to be able to help push the needle forward and expand people’s food horizons.
What dishes from Second Generation do you make most often at home?
Definitely the Chicken Liver Mousse with port and thyme leaves. I don’t have a super high speed blender at home like I do at the restaurant, so I can’t get it quite as smooth. But it is still delicious. I also love the Caraway Caesar Salad which adds caraway seeds to the dressing and a bunch of fresh dill to the salad greens.
Heartbroken Beets
Headnote from Second Generation: These beets—an essential ingredient in Hungarian and Jewish cooking—used to be on my menus at the Eddy and Wallflower, but I had already been making them for myself for a long time. When I started dating my boyfriend, Michael, this was one of the first things I made him and it turned him from beet avoidant into a beet lover. The tender beets get smashed, like a broken heart, then marinated in a sweet-savory mix of garlic honey, olive oil, and vinegar so the flavors can seep into all the cracks and crevices. The blue cheese is optional, but it really balances all the flavors and adds a nice creaminess.
Note from Leah: I swapped in fresh goat cheese for the blue cheese, which offers a different flavor profile, but was really delicious. I have no doubt that shaved parmesan or crumbled feta would also work well.
Serves 4
2 pounds small red beets (Note: smaller beets will soak the marinade in more effectively than larger/denser beets.)
1/2 cup Fermented Garlic Honey (see below) or wildflower honey
2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup white balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
5 ounces blue cheese, sliced into thin shards (optional)
Place the beets in a large pot of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for about 45 minutes, until fork-tender. Drain the beets and cool slightly until just cool enough to handle.
Using a rag, wipe the skins off the beets. Discard the skins. Place the beets on a cutting board and gently press the beets using the palm of your hand just until they split open. Transfer the beets to an airtight container.
Whisk together the honey, olive oil, vinegar, and a generous pinch of salt in a large bowl. [Note: Don’t skimp on the salt. You want to add enough that the marinade tastes full-flavored.] Pour the dressing over the beets so they are completely covered. Let the beets marinate for as long as possible, up to 1 day at room temperature or up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Spoon the beets onto a serving plate. The marinade should leach out onto the plate and pool around the beets. Scatter the shards of blue cheese around the beets.
Fermented Garlic Honey
Makes 4 cups
4 cups very good raw honey
2 garlic cloves, smashed
Thoroughly clean and dry a 1-quart mason jar. Combine the honey and garlic in the jar and seal the jar tightly.
Let sit in a cool, dry place for 10 days, until the honey is very runny and bubbles are forming on the surface. Refrigerate for up to 3 months. The longer it sits, the more flavor it will develop.
This recipe is reprinted, with permission, from Second Generation by Jeremy Salamon and Casey Elsass. Copyright © 2024 HarperCollins Publishers.
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recipes + stories from the world of jewish food, by leah koenig
Hugs to you, Leah. I didn’t have my own wits about me enough last week to respond to your beautiful post, but it meant a lot to me.
I have many of my Grandma’s Hungarian recipes, in her Palmer method script, in the dented green metal recipe box my mother took after Grandma died. I’m hoping there are enough recipes to suit my kosher and gluten free kitchen in this book, because it sounds like a wonderful way to have my Grandma by my side again. She came here at two, spoke Hungarian with her 6 siblings, and taught us to swear in Hungarian, but not to speak it. My mother knew enough Hungarian to talk to the wonderful owner of Paprikash Weiss when I lived in Yorkville - I still miss that place.
Hi Honey
Just added an item to my Thanksgiving menu! Many thanks to Jeremy.
Love, Mom