Blintzes for Shavuot

On Shavuot (Pentecost) starting tonight, Tuesday night 6/7, the custom is to eat dairy meals. There are many reasons given for this custom: historical, midrashic, numerological, mystical, etymological, and of course, Talmudic. See them all discussed here.

Speaking of Jewish dairy meals, the best blintzes we ever ate were at the formerly kosher restaurant, Ratner's on Delancy Street. Mmm, we can taste them now. (In 2001, sadly the place went non-kosher.)

Barry Popik has collected all you ever want to know about these blini foods on his Big Apple Blog post:

The “blintze” (or “blintz,” usually plural as “blintzes,” a diminutive from the Russian “blin” for pancake or crêpe) was served on the Jewish Lower East Side of Manhattan by at least 1900. Ratner’s restaurant on Delancey Street (1905-2002) served blintzes (cheese, potato, cherry, prune, apple and other fillings) with sour cream and became almost an institution, also selling blintzes to the frozen foods sections of supermarkets.

“Blinis” are cited in English in the Russian cuisine from at least the early 1800s....more...

It's not easy to make good blintzes from scratch but here is a recipe if you want to try.

Most of us buy them frozen now. Alas.

Happy Shavuot.