Co-Recipe: Rugelach/Meat Pie

A story of a co-recipe.

One Saturday morning of a quarantined summer, my youngest sister wanted to make rugelach - a crescent shaped pastry filled with chocolate spread. She found an American recipe to try, but the Americanized version of the pastry usually substitutes yeast with cream cheese to avoid the need to raise the dough. I’ve never tried this method but I have also never been sold on the charm of cream cheese. I happened to make rugelach at the beginning of quarantine and wanted to share that recipe with her - but it was in Hebrew. While she is able to read the language, the recipe was overwhelming to her and I ended up transcribing it. It was also an opportunity to create a recipe that can be shared with my peers at Self/Work.

A few of my peers took on the challenge of the transcribed recipe, having participated in my recipe explorations for months. As they shared their experience, one story stood out to me in particular. In the audio clip below, she shares her experience with the recipe, its challenges, and ultimate transformation.

The recipe started out as a dessert, emerging from the culture of eastern European Jews and traveling to Israel where it continues to be a popular baked good. Entering her Nigerian household, the recipe was read with a new set of references and instincts used to execute it: The problems posed by the dough were identified and resolved through intuition and no thanks to the recipe. Moreover, the filling was changed from sweet to savory. The dough was identified as an ingredient that can be used in another context - Nigerian meat pie. The recipe transformed based on preference and desire. The dough was liberated. 

When she told me her story, I found it particularly interesting because I would never have thought to do that. I would not have thought to liberate the dough. 

The recipe, moving between our two households, took on new forms and meanings. Building on her new recipe, I, too, would have to change it. To keep the meat pies kosher, I would have to remove all dairy from the dough - no butter. Perhaps that would change the dough too much and require another set of adjustments. A new recipe would be born. The cycle can continue, passing the baton and creating new recipes in the process. 

When we encounter a recipe, we may not realize how much of ourselves goes into enacting it.

This was an act of co-creating.