HG is very fond of appetizers. Often, the main dish in restaurants is a letdown after a flavorful group of appetizers. HG likes to forgo entrees and make a meal of appetizers. American restaurants find this unsettling. BSK objects because when HG orders an appetizer meal, the rest of the table has to endure a long, annoying wait before they get their main dish. Why? HG doesn’t know. Doesn’t happen when dining in Paris. In the USA, an appetizer is called, yes, “appetizer”. In Britain, it’s a “starter” and in France (confusingly) “entree”. In German, it’s “vorspeise.” Same word in Yiddish. HG’s late, beloved father pronounced it “furshpice.” It was mandatory at HG’s childhood table in The Bronx. Father’s appetizer was a piece of schmaltz herring, slice of onion, pumpernickel bread. And, a hearty shot of Park & Tilford rye whiskey. (Substitute vodka on the rocks for the whiskey, and this remains one of HG’s favorites. Essential that the herring has to come for Russ & Daughters in New York). At the family dinner table this was usually followed by chopped liver or gefilte fish. Next course was chicken soup with noodles or kasha. Main dish and dessert were downhill for the most part. In the HG/BSK Prince Edward Island refrigerator are two great, classic appetizers: Oysters (South Lake and Red Head Select). Gravlax (Raw Atlantic salmon cured under weights with sprigs of dill and served with a mustard/dill/sugar sauce). Happily, BSK’s main dishes are as delicious as the appetizers. In HG’s gustatory memory bank are the Amsterdam raw herrings (when in season), dipped in raw onion and followed by Genever gin and a beer chaser. Excellent SJ would bring joy to family holiday feasts in Riverside, R.I, when he bought them for HG and grandson Haru at Russ & Daughters.
Dutch raw herring with onions on a dish
Hi HG,
I just love the way you write!
Came across your blog because I happened to see an interesting video by Henry Abramson in which he gives an introduction on Ashkenazim at the end of which he says that he hoped we did enjoy the “for spice”, as it said in the subtitles. But I clearly heard the Yiddish “Vorspeise” and so I googled and voilà, ended up on your site!
As a gentile, Dutch lady, whose grandfather worked in the resistance and helped Jews during WW2, I have been intrigued by and in love with them from an early age on, Bat Mitzvah age 😉
So, with this background to read as a goy about gefillte fish and other things related to them, always makes me happy. Happy I was also a few days ago that the Jews CAN celebrate Purim – that they’re still here despite centuries of (amongst others) exclusion, expulsion, Inquisition, pogroms and the Shoah.
Wishing you all the simcha in the world trying out geshmak Vorspeisen and other delicious stuff! Please keep writing so we can enjoy more of your geshmak commentaries!
Shalom and warmest, goyish greetings from Gerlinde
Ps1: When seeing the picture with the Dutch herring, I felt compelled to write a comment.
Ps2: Ich lern a sach Yiddish mit Duolingo! 🙂
Gerlinde: You are a treasure. So glad you enjoy HG. At age 92, I’ll keep on coming on. Until, of course.