If you want to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with dishes rooted in ritual and tradition, try one of these recipes from our expert authors or combine them to create a full menu.
Brisket is a popular choice in North American celebrations of Rosh Hashanah, often forming the centrepiece of a celebratory spread. Rich and layered with flavour, this low-effort recipe from Table Manners features brisket slow-roasted in cola. Delicious both served hot with mashed potatoes or as cold cuts if you have any leftovers.
In addition to religious symbolism, wordplay accounts for the inclusion of many of the ingredients enjoyed during Rosh Hashanah. In this traditional recipe from Ottolenghi, there is one particularly noteworthy example. The close resemblance of the Hebrew words yirbu, meaning ‘to increase’, and rubia, the word for beans, means these green vegetables are consumed to symbolise the wish for increased blessings in the coming year. In Yotam’s mixed bean salad, he spotlights this providential vegetable by lightly tossing it with baked red peppers and simple thin slices of garlic, capers and spices.
Of all of the ingredients synonymous with Rosh Hashanah, honey is perhaps the most ubiquitous. Symbolising the promise of a sweet year ahead, it is traditionally served with apple slices for dipping and baked into a plethora of other traditional desserts and bakes. One such delicacy is lekach, or honey cake, a dense, sweet cake for which there is no definitive recipe as different Jewish communities each have their own version. Or for another honey-based treat, why not try these teiglach, small pastries soaked in honey, from Claudia Roden’s expansive The Book of Jewish Food.
