Which Came First: the Mandelbrot or the Biscotti?
Fodder for a blog post can come from the most unlikely of places: even the New Jersey Turnpike. Driving down to Washington D.C. last Friday, I was introduced to mandelbrot. You’re probably thinking, “hang on, I thought this blog was about food, not about the complexities of fractal geometry.” Don’t panic, you’re right. I haven’t suddenly developed that aptitude for advanced math that eluded me for all of 20-something years.
Mandelbrot – aside from being a very clever man who discovered something crazy and cool with numbers – are biscotti masquerading as not-too-sweet but quite delicious, almond flavored cookies from the Jewish baked goods repertoire. My friend Julie, the designated driver for our little road trip, had been to visit her grandfather the evening before. Zayde Sobel, horrified that his little girl had yet to taste this treat, plied her with the cookies – and challah, for good measure – that sustained us as we got very lost on a very straight road.
Bearing more than a passing resemblance to Italian biscotti, mandelbrot are thrice baked. First the dough is shaped into a log, cooked until set, and then cut into fingers. Traditionally the fingers are then dusted with a sugar and cinnamon mix, laid flat on a tray, returned to the oven for a few more minutes on one side and finally flipped over and baked some more until lightly toasted. Unlike their swarthy, tough Mediterranean cousins however, mandelbrot, are softer and more gentle on the palate. Munching on these crumbly puppies without a mug of something hot to dip them in won’t result in the inside of your mouth getting sore and scraped as often happens when I get a little too eager with my biscotti.
Literally meaning “almond bread” in Yiddish, mandelbrot probably originated with the Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe. And their similarity to biscotti may not be a coincidence. According to Joan Nathan’s bible on kosher cooking and dietary laws, Jewish Cooking in America, it was the extensive Jewish population in Italy’s Piedmont region which had appropriated the recipe and taken it over to Eastern Europe. Of course there’s no denying that Italian biscotti came first. The hardy, long-lasting soldiers are thought to have fortified the Roman legions. And this story makes perfect sense. Biscotti is traditionally made without added fat — only flour, sugar and eggs comprised its base – making it “pareve” and so ideal for a Sabbath dessert. Still, it seems that jaw-breaking crunchiness didn’t do it for the early pioneers of mandelbrot and they improved on the centuries-old recipe by adding oil. The result of this daring dose of chutzpah; the tender-crumbed deliciousness that had us munching all the way to the Capitol.
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Nadia
You have hit upon a most important topic! I still miss my grandmother’s mandelbrot (or, as we called it, mandel bread..or to be still more precise, Mary’s mandel bread!)
Now I’m going to be thinking about it for th, at least, next 24 hours. And, fyi, biscotti doesn’t replace the real thing!
Rick – This might not live up to the memory of your grandmother’s mandelbrot but it just might fill a hole. Check out http://www.marlasmandels.com/. I can’t vouch for it…but it does look pretty good!
In response to another comment. See in context »Thanks, Nadia. Actually, my sister-in-law has my grandmother’s recipe. It’s good….but somehow just not quite the same!
In response to another comment. See in context »Funny, Rick… we called in mandel bread in my family, too. And I can’t even hear the words without immediately thinking of Greenpoint, Brooklyn and the holidays.