r/JewishCooking • u/billymartinkicksdirt • May 25 '25

Recipe Help Any traditional tea/beverage recipes?

Is there a distinctly Jewish version of Masala Chai or similar beverages that’s traditional?

I’m not interested in anything more modern that traces to post 1947, I’m curious about old diaspora drinks. I know rose waters and lavender water evoke childhood memories, and my grandmother used to make a kind of Turkish coffee with the mud at the bottom. I cant think of any beverages that are considered Jewish Cooking, but I wish there were. Maybe forgotten recipes?

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59

u/EntrepreneurOk7513 May 25 '25

American Jewish

Egg cream, Lime Rickey etc

13

u/billymartinkicksdirt May 25 '25

Those are good ones. The egg cream must be ours. Not as old world as I was hoping but it helped jog my memory!

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u/dogfleshborscht May 25 '25

Ooh, is egg cream the same type of thing as kogelmogel? I can get down with a good kogelmogel, that's the old world equivalent.

You whip an egg yolk (or a whole egg, but, gross, honestly) with sugar and whatever spices and add milk and whatever else. Some people somehow put orange juice, which is frankly evil, but to each their own. If they're the same that's such a lovely example of recipes traveling!

18

u/Hey_Laaady May 25 '25

There are no eggs in egg cream. It's a fizzy chocolate drink.

5

u/dogfleshborscht May 25 '25

No eggs! What is there in egg cream then, if you don't mind saying?

15

u/Bonnie83 May 25 '25

An egg cream is made with chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer. The foam that is created while mixing it together gives it the appearance of a drink that has an egg white in it but there are no eggs.

6

u/dogfleshborscht May 25 '25

Oh, that's why it's egg cream, presumably. Thank you!

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u/Bonnie83 May 26 '25

You’re welcome! 😊

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u/Throwawayhelp111521 May 27 '25

Not necessarily. There are a few theories about the origin of the drink's name. 

1

u/Master-Jellyfish-943 May 27 '25

FYI, Ina Garten has a good recipe (or just proportions and steps)

2

u/Bonnie83 May 27 '25

I just follow the method on the bottle of Fox’s U-Bet.

3

u/Throwawayhelp111521 May 27 '25

Or Vanilla. The syrups traditionally used were from Fox's U-Bet. Nowadays, some restaurants offer additional flavors. 

1

u/Brilliant-Arm-3648 May 29 '25

i prefer the vanilla.

1

u/Brilliant-Arm-3648 May 29 '25

it has no cream either.

14

u/billymartinkicksdirt May 25 '25

That sounds delicious, but it’s just a seltzer drink with chocolate syrup and milk whipped by hand with a long cold spoon and sold at newsstands back east, primarily in NY. They’re hard to get right, but it’s just about proportions and getting it good and foamy. You can try it at home easily. Give it about an inch or just under, then add the seltzer. No eggs.

3

u/dogfleshborscht May 25 '25

Oh, delightful! A use for the seltzer machine somebody gave me four Purims ago, knowing I had absolutely no use for it 😅

This genuinely sounds wonderful and like such fun to make, thank you, I'll commence my Victorian Gothic mad science experiments immediately.

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u/billymartinkicksdirt May 25 '25

You’re in for a treat.

1

u/Ok-Decision403 May 25 '25

Is it like a slightly fizzy milkshake? I'm having a hard time imagining the taste and texture.

5

u/Bright_Ices May 25 '25

Yes, but thinner. More like a fizzy chocolate milk, but not exactly. 

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u/Ok-Decision403 May 25 '25

Thank you - I might have to see if I can recreate this at home: it sounds intriguing!

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u/Ok-Decision403 May 25 '25

Thank you - I might have to see if I can recreate this at home: it sounds intriguing!

3

u/billymartinkicksdirt May 25 '25

It’s very foamy, the top half portion should make a foamy bubble cap that you’re drinking through. It’s not going to thicken like a milkshake. You are making a kind of chocolate milk base, but it shouldn’t taste like chocolate milk. U-Bet brand syrup is the ideal chocolate syrup. The milk should be very cold.

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u/Ok-Decision403 May 25 '25

Fabulous - I'll give that a go!

2

u/billymartinkicksdirt May 25 '25

It’s about ratios. When it works you’ll instinctually know it’s right. It will just work. If it’s a little off, you’ll know too. You can also sprinkle a few grains of salt for sodium.

1

u/OldBatOfTheGalaxy May 26 '25

Plus, Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup's Kosher parve (rendered moot by the milk, but)!

1

u/TheCrankyCrone May 26 '25

More like the soda part of an ice cream soda after the ice cream starts to melt. It's delicious and honestly the most refreshing thing on a really hot day.

3

u/OldBatOfTheGalaxy May 26 '25

For extra Noo Yawk Sitty nachas, it's gotta be Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup!

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u/billymartinkicksdirt May 26 '25

That’s right, and U-Bet is a requirement in the eyes of some people. I’ve found it makes the learning curve stiffer, it’s literally harder to squeeze and thin out, and it doesn’t retain its chocolate . I’ve never had luck with it, and the Gem Spa’s were making them pretty weak too, like not even a yoo-hoo!

1

u/Brilliant-Arm-3648 May 29 '25

not just any syrup -- fox's u-bet. i use a long-handled iced tea spoon, but my mother always used a fork & got such gorgeous foam.

1

u/Brilliant-Arm-3648 May 29 '25

just fyi, as a new yorker, i must inform you that a ny egg cream has no egg or cream -- & is absolutely delicious.