When I’m in New York City, I always try to visit the Lower East Side to treat myself to Ashkenazi Jewish food that is quintessential New York. It’s not the bagel but the knish. It’s just that the knish has never made it big as a culinary icon.

What’s a knish? It’s a traditional Jewish pastry originating in Eastern Europe, particularly among Jewish communities in Poland and Russia. A knish is a savoury snack or side dish consisting of a filling, typically made with ingredients such as potatoes, onions, meat, cheese, or vegetables, enclosed in a dough shell. The dough is usually made from flour, water, and oil or fat, and it is rolled out and filled before being baked or fried until golden brown.

In the early 1900s, immigrant Jews would open knisheries, which allowed them to earn a living and take those first steps up the social ladder. As upwardly mobile Jews left poor neighbourhoods like the Lower East Side, the knisheries that boosted economies a generation ago lost business and eventually closed.

Yonah Schimmel, a Romanian Jew, opened a shop on Houston Street in 1910. Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery has been in continuous operation for over one hundred years and is still run by Schimmel’s descendants. That it still operates at the same location is amazing since Jewish establishments abandoned the Lower East Side 60 or 70 years ago.

The exact origins of the knish are somewhat debated, as variations of similar pastries exist in other cultures. However, it is widely associated with Jewish cuisine and has become particularly popular in Jewish communities worldwide. The word “knish” is derived from the Yiddish word “knishke” or “knische,” which itself is a diminutive form of the Ukrainian word “knysh” meaning “cake” or “pastry.”

When done right, the knish is just as delicious as the bagel. It’s a mass of carbs wrapped in thin, pliant dough and blistered in the oven. There is nothing sexy about a knish. It’s brownish and rotund and anything but elegantly shaped. But it is food that will make you feel good and fill you up on the cheap. That has always been the appeal. One of Schimmel’s knishes, and I’m stuffed.

Finding a proper knish is a challenge today. I avoid mass-produced knishes because a proper knish is a baked, handmade variety with delicious fillings that explode in your mouth and fill your gut. A knish migration has followed Jews to newer and affluent neighbourhoods just as the bagel and delis did. But you will run into very non-traditional flavours like curry beef and chocolate. Just give me a potato-filled knish, and I’ll be happy.