Hi Doug,
Mom travelled with us alone, in 1968 it
was several months after the 6-day war. Dad went alone shortly after the war
but returned home before our trip. He was not with us in Israel, until our 2nd
visit in 1977. The story about the boullion is pretty accurate, except that it
was our Grandfather who was so surprised and pleased by how great the soup
tasted.
Mom used the cookbook "Love and
Knishes for a lot of her recipes. It was a wedding gift she received. It was
first published in 1956 by Sara Kasdan, Publisher was The Vanguard Press. I
have her book and still use it. I know which recipes were her favorites because
the pages are stained with food.
The matzo ball recipe she used (and may
have altered) and doubled/tripled as needed was:
1 egg
2 tablespoons schmaltz (not melted)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream together until smooth and add 1/2
cup matzo meal and one tablespoon of minced parsley (I think she did sometimes,
not always)
Refrigerate for 1 hour
Make into tablespoon balls and drop into
boiling salted water (or chicken broth), cover tightly and return to boil.
Reduce heat and continue to boil for 1/2 hour.
I think she may have added a couple of
tablespoons club soda, but I do not remember exactly.
Modern Version,
Andi (Andi is my sister-in-law)and I have been making Matzo Balls
for Passover for years, we have used this recipe and a few others and to be
honest the Manichevitz or Striet's brand mix works just as good.
Chicken Soup, I have combined my memory
of Mom making with a few tips over the years from Gigi and Joni (my brothers mother and grandmother in-law).
The first is I put everything in a
couple of cheesecloth packages, makes it much easier, once it is done to lift
out of the broth, and separate what is going back in and what can be
discarded.
I also use mostly canned broth, the
commercialized chicken available today has so little flavor, unless you are
going to a butcher to get a stewing chicken or older hen it never gets enough
flavor without the broth. You may have better sources for flavorful chicken.
Joni's secret is to add one small can of beef broth it really gives it a
deeper flavor. Gigi used to go to the farmer's market to get chicken feet; I
did it once but could not notice the difference. Also, make at least one day
before serving.
I take a whole chicken, wash and dry
inside and out. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside and out, put it in cheesecloth.
Take 2 onions, garlic cloves, some dill, a bunch of parsley, and the celery
tops tie it up in another cheesecloth. Take the carrots, parsnips (Roberta and
I used to fight over the "white") and celery stalks tie up in another
cheesecloth. Put them all in the pot and cover with the canned broth, usually
1/3 regular and 1/3 low sodium and 1/3 water and the small can of beef broth.
Add some mixed herbs and boil for at least 2 hours. Stir and skim off any foam
occasionally as it cooks. Let it cool for a while and then remove the
cheesecloth packages. Discard the one with the onions and parsley. Cut up and
debone... the chicken, and cut up the carrots, celery and parsnip. I
usually keep all of this in a separate container with a few cups of the broth
to keep it moist. Refrigerate the broth several hours or overnight. Once cold
enough scrape off any fat that has congealed on the top. When you are getting
ready to serve add all the goodies back and reheat, you can add noodles at this
time or make matzo balls. We usually make the matzo balls in a separate pot,
with boiling water and a few boullion cubes for flavor instead of salt.
You are right this is therapeutic. I
hope this is helpful.
Joe
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