iblock9 wrote:Btw I love Sammy's Roumanian Steak House...Any place where the finish the chopped liver tableside is alright in my book.

Tableside chopped liver: It's the anti-guacamole.

Excerpted from a friend's report of tonight's dinner at Sammy's:

chopped liver prepared table-side by mixing with schmaltz, carmelized-to-the-point-of-crispy onions, raw radish pieces, and crispy chicken skin

FWIW, my experiences are:

Growing up in a suburban, more or less Jewish household, but with many family members who ate out in the city regularly. We ate a lot of meat because Granddad worked in the Stockyards and as a very taciturn fellow liked to express himself and his love quietly by doing - in this particular instance by delivering massive quantities of meat at no charge most weeks.

Anyway, the only steak I remember eating at home was skirt steak. Mom marinated it in some ketchup-based sauce, probably not unlike the barbecue sauce approach, and then broiled it. Need to see if I can get that recipe as it was quite good. In the strange outcome category, my brother who is a pretty adventurous and cosmopolitan diner in most ways still prefers all steaks with ketchup. Putting it all together I now understand the source of that quirk, even if it is sacrilege to me.

While we did go out to eat a fair amount, including to some of the old, Jewish delis mentioned in this thread, we never had skirt steak at them so I can add nothing there. From visits in Central Europe, I conclude that the lowest class in the eyes of everyone else in that part of the world are the Gypsies who come from "Romany," so I think a more likely derivation/explanation of Roumanian is as a reference to a Gypsy-style preparation than anything to do with Romania, Romanian Jews or the like. If they were concealing anything, it might have been a Gypsy association.

As to cookbooks, I have a much-enjoyed copy of Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Kitchen for this type of cooking, i.e. Jewish diaspora cuisine. I particularly appreciate how she covers all the different European and African styles both in the recipes and narrative.

dicksond wrote:FWIW, my experiences are:

+1. Roumanian Tenderloin. Universal appellation in NYC of the 60's and 70's.

Too damn popular now. Hard to find, and insultingly priced. Skirt steak has become flank steak for people with guts.

Mike G wrote:I also notice that the sign calls it "Sammy's Roumanian-Style Restaurant," also a sign of changing times as it seems to be making a subtle distinction between "Roumanian-style" (ie Jewish) and "Romanian" (as in, an actual Romanian immigrant restaurant). Which is a distinction that older restaurateurs would have been no more likely to make than Irving Berlin would have written "Easter-Style Parade."

Trivia alert!
Just a note on the spelling of Romania/Rumania/Roumania. The spelling, "Romania," was adopted for political reasons, that is, to stress the connection between the country, its language, and the ancient Romans, thereby setting Romania apart from its Slavic neighbors. In the post-war period, the spelling "Rominia" (with a circumflex over the "i") had been adopted in an attempt to make the spelling more Slavic.

When I was studying in Romania in the 70's, Romania was pursuing a foreign policy with aspects designed to annoy the Soviets (e.g. having diplomatic relations with Israel and a relatively vocal role in the United Nations). It was common at that time for the professors and students we knew to emphasize the Roman connection. Roman ruins had fairly recently been uncovered in the center of Bucharest, and seemed to be given some attention by the government as a tourist site. We were often reminded by acquaintances that Romanian is a Romance language, and that Bucharest is "the Paris of Eastern Europe." The real political goal behind the government's attempt to shift national identity westward seems to have been to consolidate Ceausescu's domestic position.

Josephine wrote:

Mike G wrote:I also notice that the sign calls it "Sammy's Roumanian-Style Restaurant," also a sign of changing times as it seems to be making a subtle distinction between "Roumanian-style" (ie Jewish) and "Romanian" (as in, an actual Romanian immigrant restaurant). Which is a distinction that older restaurateurs would have been no more likely to make than Irving Berlin would have written "Easter-Style Parade."

Trivia alert!
Just a note on the spelling of Romania/Rumania/Roumania. The spelling, "Romania," was adopted for political reasons, that is, to stress the connection between the country, its language, and the ancient Romans, thereby setting Romania apart from its Slavic neighbors. In the post-war period, the spelling "Rominia" (with a circumflex over the "i") had been adopted in an attempt to make the spelling more Slavic.

When I was studying in Romania in the 70's, Romania was pursuing a foreign policy with aspects designed to annoy the Soviets (e.g. having diplomatic relations with Israel and a relatively vocal role in the United Nations). It was common at that time for the professors and students we knew to emphasize the Roman connection. Roman ruins had fairly recently been uncovered in the center of Bucharest, and seemed to be given some attention by the government as a tourist site. We were often reminded by acquaintances that Romanian is a Romance language, and that Bucharest is "the Paris of Eastern Europe." The real political goal behind the government's attempt to shift national identity westward seems to have been to consolidate Ceausescu's domestic position.

Now someone just needs to explain to me why people say the Ukraine. Why does Ukraine have a definite article as a herald?

dicksond wrote:Anyway, the only steak I remember eating at home was skirt steak. Mom marinated it in some ketchup-based sauce, probably not unlike the barbecue sauce approach, and then broiled it.

I grew up Jewish in the suburbs of Detroit. We ate grilled rib steaks at our house, but broiled skirt steak was the commonest steak ordered at diner-type restaurants in our very Jewish neighborhood and served at other people's homes.

Besides the fact that skirt steak is a kosher cut, another reason for its popularity among Jews may have been that, if well-tenderized,* it holds up to being cooked Jewish-style -- that is, very, very well-done.
___
*Or, more likely.