Growing up, all Jewish holidays were a big deal for my family. We were five; my mother had a sister with a husband and two kids; their brother had a wife and five kids. And, of course, there was my grandmother, the matriarch of the tribe and solo cook for all feasts. She was a wonderful cook.
I would have loved to have helped, but I was a kid and wasn’t getting anywhere near her food. She was a clean freak. She eschewed germs. And to her, when she cooked, I was a germ. We were all germs, every last one of us. But I did get to taste.
My mother and her family grew up in an orthodox home and followed
all the rules, with which she really didn’t always agree. By the time
my mother was an adult, she had joined the Army, met and married my non-Jewish father, and began her life with her children as Jewish, but with a sprinkling of rules.
As I said, holidays were a big deal. Food was plentiful as were the mouths ready to consume it; all of us: Cousins, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, and one very strict grandmother.
She made gefilte fish, charoset, chicken soup with kneidlach (matzo balls), chicken liver, brisket with potatoes and carrots, and sponge cake with fresh fruit.
It was difficult for any of us to get up from the table to clean. Jewish food is very filling and fattening. While it took me many years to appreciate and finally love gefilte fish — maybe because they look like little brain dumplings — the rest was just fine with me.
I’m offering two recipes today, exactly how my grandmother and my mother made them. I have not changed anything. The recipes are at least a century old, probably older, but I suggest using fresher ingredients. I’m happy to say that our two daughters also have carried on these recipes.
Chopped chicken liver
- 1 lb. chicken livers – fat removed
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 small yellow onion
- 5 hard cooked eggs
- chicken fat (schmaltz) 2 tablespoons to sauté livers and onions and more to mix with eggs and raw onion salt and pepper
Make sure the livers are dry. Melt the 2 tablespoons of fat in a 10-inch fry pan. Add livers and onions and cook until cooked through. No pink in livers, but do not overcook because it will taste dry.
Add this mixture to a wooden bowl and chop that along with the raw onion and the hard cooked eggs. As you mix, taste for seasonings and texture. I like the moisture the added chicken fat brings. I also don’t chop it to death. I like a few lumps in my chicken liver.
I use the fifth egg chopped fine in the food processor to sprinkle on top of liver.
In my family we would eat this before the soup and after the gefilte fish.
Chicken soup
- 2 roasting chickens, quartered. Do not use the liver.
- 1 bunch of fresh dill
- 3 to 4 medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered
- 1⁄2 bunch curly parsley
- 4 to 5 large, peeled carrots
- 4 to 5 celery stalks, leaves included
- 2 turnips, peeled
- 1 parsnip
- Kosher salt
- 10 to 15 peppercorn
Using a 14-quart pot, add chicken and allow cold water to run into pot until it runs clear. Add enough water to cover by about three inches. Bring to a slow boil. Do not allow to come to a hearty boil which will darken the soup. As it boils, slowly remove the scum that comes to the top.
When all scum has been removed, take out the chicken parts that have the breast meat. Allow to cool to the touch and remove the meat from the breasts. I leave this meat intact until the next day so it doesn’t dry out. Then I pull the chicken apart to use in the soup when served. Return the bones to the soup and add onions, carrots, celery, turnips, dill, parsley, salt and pepper. Bring again to a slow boil. Allow to cook, uncovered, for about two to three hours. If any other scum has come to the top, remove it also. At this point I turn the soup off and allow it to cool. Strain the soup and put back the chicken parts. Refrigerate overnight, UNCOVERED.
The next morning you will have a layer of fat on the top. It can be removed easily with a large spoon. Discard. Bring the soup to a slow boil and add new vegetables. I use the same amount of new onions, celery, carrots, turnips, parsnips, parsley, and dill. Allow to simmer until the vegetables are tender. Usually about one and a half hours. If they are not tender, continue to cook until they are. Now you can taste for seasoning. Add kosher salt and white pepper.
I make white rice and/or noodles to go with the soup. If you make matza balls, follow the directions on the box of Manischewitz or Streit’s matzo meal. They will be delicious. Either of these recipes can be cut in half if you’re serving fewer people or you have the same aversion to leftovers as my husband.