Matzoh Ball Soup my way
I never could figure out why there was no chicken in Jewish chicken soup, AKA matzoh ball soup. But there never is. It’s all about the broth and the balls.
Well, I’ve got the broth part down now, thanks to my new secret ingredient. I buy packages of chicken feet from Polyface Farm for practically nothing and they make terrific stock. I can’t think too hard about the chickens they were once attached to, but instead I have to focus on the gelatinous broth they help create.
So I made my soup yesterday, throwing in an Empire chicken for good measure and lots of fresh dill. Then I fished out the feet and the chicken and added carrots, parsnips, celery, onions, and salt and pepper. When these were cooked, I declared my soup done.
That is, except for the matzoh balls, which I have yet to master. I bought seltzer water this year after someone claimed that was the secret ingredient for light fluffy balls. The real problem is how to make the matzoh balls ahead so they can be added to the soup after everyone is screaming ENOUGH of reading the haggadah. (At some point dinner trumps the Jews’ exodus out of Egypt and I must feed the hungry seder goers.)
I am convinced that if I could serve the matzoh balls at the moment they come out of their boiling water, they would be great. But alas, once again the balls must wait in a Pyrex covered with aluminum foil while we cross the desert in search of the Promised Land.
posted by Barbara at 7:14 PM
9 Comments:
I LOVE matzoh ball soup. It seems like quite a bit of work to go through the process you describe but for me boiling water seems like a lot of work in the kitchen. To a chef or someone who actually enjoys it, such as yourself, I suppose that is a different story.
Gary -- It's not as difficult as it might sound. Most cooking has a lot of room for error!
I'm just going to *not* think about the chicken feet, if that's OK. I'm sure it's lovely soup.
Kristin -- For a vegetarian, I'm sure the chicken feet look particularly GROSS!
I'll bet there is a vegetarian version of matzoh ball soup.
I love the bit about the matzoh balls waiting in Pyrex while you cross the desert...ha!
I'm with Kristin on the chicken feet. I think I'll just ease past those images.
But I do love matzoh ball soup, and I'm sure yours is fabulous!
We used to serve Matzo Ball soup at the Hotel. The Balls were cooked ahead and then shocked in ice water, then reheated when an order came in.
I'm sure they were terrible.
Bulletholes: That sounds like sacrilege to me!
Barbara: Let me know how the seltzer water addition turns out.
Mine were either fluffy and delicious or just plain awful. I think I made them the same way each time but they always turned out differently. I always refrigerated them but only for a couple of hours because my recipe called for me to do that. They remain a mystery to me still since am never sure how they will turn out.
hi barbara ...!!
errr.... i think i'll wait at the table til we cross the promised land and then 'eat up.'
ignorance of chicken feet is bliss!
xxx
rdm
I may be hallucinating, but that chicken foot in the lower picture looks an awful lot like a human hand with stuff all over it.
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