My maternal grandmother was known for her barbed tongue. When my mother’s fear of flying would act up, Grandma would chastise her about it. She hated my early ‘90s vintage style and routinely told me that I looked like an old lady.
Not surprisingly, much of our family didn’t have the typical grandmotherly warm-and-fuzzies about her in many ways, but her Hanukkah dinners were legendary. This was in no small part due to her cheesy noodle kugel.
What Made Grandma’s Kugel So Delicious?
Known in Yiddish as lokshen kugel, the dish is essentially a dairy-based pudding made with noodles. In fact, we never called it kugel in my family, referring to it simply as “noodle pudding.” It can also be prepared with potato as the starch, but Grandma served latkes, so there was no need for a potato version of the casserole. Most versions of kugel on Allrecipes are sweet, but Grandma’s Lithuanian version was savory, completely devoid of added sugar—more like baked macaroni and cheese than bread pudding.
When I grew up and decided to host my first Hanukkah party for my decidedly goyishe friends in Vermont, where I lived at the time, I asked Grandma for her recipe. “Don’t be stupid,” was her reply. “Just throw together some cottage cheese and egg noodles and bake it.” I don’t think her reticence was due to any veil of secrecy. She genuinely just thought using a recipe would be stupid and she told it like it was. She ended up making the kugel for the party that year.
But when she died in 2017, I was left without noodle pudding in my life. I had to piece it together from books and online recipes. What I learned is that eggs are as important as the cottage cheese, making the mixture buoyant. A combination of cottage cheese and sour cream or Greek yogurt gives it a mouthwatering creaminess with a nudge of acid. And some recipes I found added even more stretchy, fatty deliciousness in the form of more cheese. I’ve used everything from Gruyère to chèvre in my version, but my favorite is Cabot 3-Year Aged White Cheddar that I grate myself.
How To Make Grandma’s Kugel
Grandma was right and wrong about the simplicity of her recipe. I should have figured out how to make kugel long ago, but there is certainly more to it than she let on. Yet once you know how to make Grandma’s Kugel, the prep takes only minutes.
Once you’ve cooked your egg noodles (I like to bring them to the brink of a proper al dente so they still have a bite once they come out of the oven.), all you have to do is combine them with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, pour the mixture into a casserole dish, then bake it. It’s complete when the noodles on top are crisp and brown.
Some people top their kugel with cornflakes. I’ve used panko, but am most satisfied with the shatter when I bite into the noodles themselves. Though I’ve made some personal innovations with my kugel recipe, at its heart, I will always be trying to replicate my cantankerous Grandma’s memorable noodle pudding.
Grandma’s Kugel Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 12-ounce bag of egg noodles
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated thin
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 casserole dish with avocado or olive oil.
- Boil egg noodles in salted water until almost al dente, about 6 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine noodles with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, ¾ cup cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Transfer noodle mixture to casserole dish and top with reserved ¼ cup cheddar cheese.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until noodles on top are crisp and golden brown. Serve with brisket, latkes, and salad.
