I'm Published

Finally recipes of mine appear in print!

Non Food Post

I am 50 years old, and the movie is almost 40 - but Brian's Song still reduces me to tears. Of course they did eat pizza.

A Food Crises Hits Home

This is one Jon Stewart hasn't covered yet. Amidst food riots, rationing at big box clubs, and a general uncertainty about the future, there is a Matzo shortage. The New York Times reports here. I know I have been scouring the area and have had no success. It wasn't until my brilliant and lovely wife decided to do a google search that we realized there really is a shortage.

I promised Ellie Matzo Brie for breakfast tomorrow - I just hope I have enough left . . . .

Home For Passover, Part Three - Chopped Liver

My favorite recipe for Chopped Liver is from Itzhak Perlman, via the Frugal Gourmet Jeff Smith (yes I still acknowledge him). My change is that I do the onions first. They are sauteed in schmaltz until a deep golden brown. The livers are likewise sauteed until barely pink in the center. When cool, I run them through the grinder attachment for the KitchenAid (I need a nickname for that honey) along with hard-cooked eggs and gribenes when I remember. Salt, pepper, cayenne and brandy are my usual seasonings. It lasted 'til Tuesday . . .

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Pot

Scientist have discovered that chickens are related to Tyrannosaurus Rex. Imagine the size of the matzo balls you'd need for that soup.

Home For Passover, Part Two - Schmaltz

No. Not Maltz, the Klingon officer serving with Commander Kruge on the Bird of Prey going after the Genesis Device -- Schmaltz, rendered Chicken Fat! I know people who cringe at that description as gross, while at the same time having a can of bacon drippings in their fridge. Hey, I have that too.

Schmaltz is liquid at room temperature, it often appeared in a syrup pitcher on the table at kosher delis. When refrigerated, it is semi-solid - a good substitute for those who cannot eat dairy products (like butter) with meat. It's also great as a cooking medium, for things like potatoes. (My Dr. is revoking my Lipitor scrip as I type this.)

Now some tell you to simply render the fat - with or without a covering of water (I prefer with) - but my memories are of schmaltz flavored with onion. A glance at my mother/grandmother's favorite book of Jewish cooking proved me right. But, unlike many, I don't like to cook my onion with the fat - it has a tendency to burn before the gribenes (think cracklings) are done. So I came up with this utterly anal way of making schmaltz.

I sweat the onions down and get them good and caramelized, I then deglaze the pan with water and strain out the solids. The essence of onions remaining is used to cover the fat and skin. Voila! Beautiful golden onion flavored schmaltz and crispy gribenes.


I used the schmaltz for the chopped liver, and as a schmear, but my favorite use is for breakfast. Yep, those are farm fresh eggs, the choice of home fries of hash browns are up to you!

Home For Passover, Part One - Chicken Soup

The Jewish holidays tend to bring out the traditionalist in me. It's not that I don't take a few liberties, but mostly I prepare things as my Grandmother did. Some of these choices will piss off purists, not to mention my personal physician, but I don't care. The last thing I want is the shade of Sadie Gordon erupting from the ground like Fruma Sarah. And frankly, the stuff tastes like the tastes I recall from childhood.

We start with chicken soup, the soul of Jewish cooking. Sadie was a child of the shtetl, and a mother during the depression. Her choices deserve some respect. They also have the benefit of working. Backs, necks and feet were fine by her but you also need meat for chicken soup for the holidays. She'd use a whole chicken. I prefer the meat from thighs and legs, and they were on sale last week at Niagara County Produce. More than that, the leg/thigh pieces weighed in at 1.25 pounds a piece. Considering that most battery chickens weigh in at 3.5 to 4 pounds there was only one conclusion -- stewing hens!

I bought 1/2 dozen, three of which I left the skin on. My grandma insisted that this added flavor. So, I covered them by about 1 inch with water, brought them slowly to a simmer, and skimmed off the coagulated proteins rising to the top. When that phase ended, I added the vegetables. This is where the purist's heads will explode.

I peel veggies when making traditional stocks, but not for this. Heck, the experts cannot agree on whether the freshest stuff is better for stocks, or old and tired stuff. Some suggest that there are good nutrients near the skin. In my broke, college days I used to collect the skins of onions, peels of carrots and celery tops in the freezer for use in stocks. In this case it just works.

The veggies are scrubbed thoroughly with my Marvin the Martian vegetable brush. In addition to the usual mirepoix parsnips are added in an amount relatively equal to the carrots. The soup does a slow, SLOW, simmer for 1 1/2 hours at which time the chicken is extracted, the meat removed and the scraps and bones returned to the pot for another hour of simmering.

Some of the reserved meat will be returned to the final soup, and some used for chicken salad. The stock is strained and de-fatted, and for service fresh veggies (peeled this time) are added to the jiggly gelatinous stock and cooked until tender. Some of the chicken goes back in, as do the Matzo Balls that Trish made while I was sleeping.

The result? Something that Sadie would recognize and we love!

PS, yes there is some fat on the finished stock. It wouldn't be chicken soup without some -- but then there is the issue of schmaltz. . .