Taste This! A Getting Back at My Jewish Roots Meal

The other day I had the enormous pleasure and privilege, not only to eat our family friend Abby Love’s famous matzoh ball soup, but to learn how to make it as well. Now I’m passing on this knowledge to you…

These matzoh balls are perfectly fluffy and tender. The flavor is delicate but scrumptious. They are homey and comforting, just the thing for flu season (which, by the way, is responsible for the long gap in my blog posts). My mother claims these matzoh balls are the closest she’s ever had to her Nani’s (which is some very high praise). I’ll give fair warning, this is not a recipe for dieters; this is authentic Jewish penicillin and is loaded with schmaltz. (There really is no other way around it, chicken fat is necessary if you want matzo balls instead of rubber bouncy balls).

To express just how delicious these matzo balls are, here is a poem I wrote in English freshman year inspired by them. I believe the assignment was to write a poem in which the sounds of the words were important to conveying the meaning of the poem…  

    

Salty, schmaltzy matzo balls,

Burbling and bouncing in broth.

You can't have too much

Of those fluffy puffs,

Slipping and sloshing in chicken stock.

We'd come home to cheek smacks,

"Schmutzig child - fingers out of the pot!"

After all, what could be better

Than a cup of scrumptiousness?

Ah! How cozy it would be

To sit, playing checkers

And slurp cheerfully

On scalding soup.

So if that got your mouthwatering, here is the prized recipe…

4 eggs beaten lightly

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ c. water

⅓ c. schmaltz melted

1 c. matzoh meal

Rendering the Schmaltz

 Schmaltz is chicken fat and this part of the process will require earlier preparation. The chicken fat must be rendered by taking the skin/fat of the chicken and cooking it with onions until the skin becomes crispy. Leave behind the onions and skin. Strain the fat and store in fridge or freezer until needed.  Apparently, one can get about ⅓ cup chicken fat from one chicken.

Making the Batter

1.      Mix together all ingredients and chill in refrigerator four one hour. The chilling is key to making the runny mixture doughy enough to shape into balls. You can use the freezer to speed up the process. Just be sure it is chilled thoroughly, otherwise they will fall apart. In fact, if you plan to make very large matzo balls you may want to chill them again after you have shaped them.

2.      Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. (Some people are fancy and like to cook the matzoh balls in chicken broth but the matzoh balls soak up so much water in the end you’ll waste a lot of broth. Using gently boiling, as salty as the sea, water will work best.)

3.      Wet your hands and form into balls, careful not to smash them or handle them too much. You should have sixteen balls the size of small chicken eggs. (They will expand)

4.      Drop the matzo balls into the gently boiling water, stirring them so they don’t stick to the bottom and they rise to the surface.

5.      Cover and cook for twenty-five minutes. If they are dark in the center they’re not done yet.

6.      Meanwhile, have the broth warming. Serve in hot chicken broth (suggestion: add a little fresh dill (a very nice touch) and one package of instant boullion). Putting hot matzoh balls in cold broth will make it cloudy.

Broth Tips

The broth should be made by boiling the chicken carcass for a good period and straining the liquid. Adding a bit of vinegar or limejuice during the bone boiling process will help break down the calcium in the bones and make the broth healthier. A darker, richer color can be obtained by boiling dry onionskins with the carcass (but remember to remove them). If you want to look really professional and fancy, clarify the broth by dropping egg whites in at the end of the process. The egg white will attract the impurities. Then remove.

If you’re still in the mood for more traditional Jewish cooking, I highly suggest you try this recipe for rugelach (type of rolled cookie) I found on epicurious. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rugelach-109475 I discovered that a chocolate chip and raspberry jam filling is particularly yummy. I have also discovered that with rolled cookies such as these, there is a tendency for the outside to become unpleasantly floury from all the rolling and shaping. I like to use confectioner’s sugar instead of flour for rolling; it seems to keep the dough from sticking well enough without compromising the taste.