Jewish

Cooking the livers to medium/medium-rare in this recipe is key to a moist and rich tasting spread. Overcooking them will make the finished dish dry and crumbly.

Ask your fishmonger to fillet the fish for you, remove the skin and pin bones, then hack up the bones. That’s why they’ve got the waterproof apron and stainless steel equipment back there, right? The size of the individual whole fishes doesn’t matter—just make sure you have about 7 pounds total.

Feel free to riff on this recipe and use any toasted nut or topping you like—try swapping in puffed rice, pecans, or dried currants.

Any combo of nuts will taste delicious in this simple filling for your next batch of buttery hamantaschen.

Honey and sugar mellow the natural bitterness of poppy seeds. For the hamantaschen recipe, see here.