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Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,056
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

@cherry. Happy all back to normal & the lights are on!!! Stay warm.

 

 

Shanus 🌸

Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,056
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

@cherry. Lol 😂😂😂😂😂😂 I'm sure if you could burn a skillet, they did...probably buried it somewhere.... Not in a Jewish cemetery. 

 

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,056
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

@mustang66lady. I also appreciate your interest in the customs and foods & admire your wanting to learn about the Seder meal. 

 

I'll have to allow one of the others to share a traditional Seder meal menu with you. Through the years, our Seders have varied greatly depending on who was conducting them, the menus as well. 

 

A PASSOVER STORY

 

Growing up, we either went to NY to be with my grandparents who were Orthodox or they came to NC & would do the Seder at my house, but bring all Kosher food and their pots and pans and dishes. * Side note: When you're Kosher, you have separate sets of dishes, pots, everything...one for meat meals and one set for non-meat meals. At Passover, there are different dishes used that aren't used the rest of the year...also one for meat and one for non-meat meals. Obviously they traveled w/ many cartons and stayed a long while. 

 

There's a point during the Seder when the youngest child takes a piece a matzo from the table (usually assisted by a parent) & hides it somewhere in the house. The tradition is that later on in the service, that piece of matzo is "bought" back from the child so the Seder can continue. My grandparents were disgustingly wealthy. When my brother & I bargained a price to give a Grandpa back the matzo so the Seder could go on, you'd think you were at an auction at Southeby's. At one such occasion, my brother & I along with 8 other cousins at the table each received a $100 bill....a fortune for a little girl. Never saw one before. I asked Grandpa why the "dollar had extra 0's". It brought the house down with laughter. 

 

Our Seder lasted long into the night after beginning at sundown...sometimes lasting 4 hours before the Seder meal was actually served. Many of us little ones were asleep under the table or had been carried to nearby sofas. Seders that are not Orthodox in nature do not last that long.

 

When my grandparents passed away and the Seders were at our house in NC (my childhood home), my Dad would try to skip a page in the special prayer book we each had in front of us. We knew he was trying to get to the dinner part of the Seder faster. Dad's family had not been very religious and short Seders were the norm. We'd all keep reminding him to go back a page & got a big wink from his twinkling green eyes (green just like mine). He'd look under his dark curls (also like mine) & he would call me over to sit on his lap for the rest of the Seder. 

 

Since my Dad passed away 4 yrs. ago, my children have come home (to me) for the Seder...easier to get Mom here. My son has the honor of conducting our Seder. Although his wife is not Jewish and did not convert to Judaism, my granddaughters are being raised Jewish. I will always love my DIL for that. His oldest daughter also sits on his lap during the final hour of the service. The little one wants to sit with me. One year I asked her why sitting on my lap during the Seder was so special to her. Of course I was waiting for the accolades every grandma wants to hear. "Mom Mom (their name for me, so far), your chair is next to the table with the mirror on it and all the plates of desserts"! 

 

And so it goes....

 

Shanus

 

 

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,239
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

@sandraskates wrote:

 


@Katcat1 wrote:

@Shanus,  Thank you, Shanus.  Hopefully, I can find in the store or check out our one and only Jewish deli.  i like your trip about the soda.  Matzo balls are better when lighter. IMO  Cat Very Happy


LOL @Katcat1 - Not to me! I grew up with cannonballs and that's how I like them. I remember making them with my mom but sadly I don't have her recipe and she's long passed.

 

I do recall that she put chicken fat in the mix and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before we made them into the matzo balls.


@sandraskates  Laughing with you.  The only way DH will eat matzo balls is if they are dense little cannonballs.  His Great GM made them that way.  It has taken me years to get them "right", so he says. 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,512
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Cherry, what a great story! I love it! FYI, that stove probably had to be "kashered" or made kosher again. Even though there are procedures for kashering metal plates, there is a good chance dad burried it in the back yard because it was tainted and that was an incredible insult..I don't think he would have cared half as much if his kids would have tried it outside of his neighborhood, but being a Kosher Butcher is a HUGE responsibility.....it's not just about cutting meat at all. That incident probably hurt him and his wife very, very deeply....in very much the same way you and your husband might feel if one of your children came home and announced he tried heroin, just to see...yes, it's serious....

Hugs,

Poodlepet2

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,789
Registered: ‎06-26-2014

 


@Meezerpleezer wrote:

@sandraskates wrote:

 


@Katcat1 wrote:

@Shanus,  Thank you, Shanus.  Hopefully, I can find in the store or check out our one and only Jewish deli.  i like your trip about the soda.  Matzo balls are better when lighter. IMO  Cat Very Happy


LOL @Katcat1 - Not to me! I grew up with cannonballs and that's how I like them. I remember making them with my mom but sadly I don't have her recipe and she's long passed.

 

I do recall that she put chicken fat in the mix and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before we made them into the matzo balls.


@sandraskates  Laughing with you.  The only way DH will eat matzo balls is if they are dense little cannonballs.  His Great GM made them that way.  It has taken me years to get them "right", so he says. 


Oh @Meezerpleezer - PRETTY PLEASE share what you do!!!!

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,239
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

@sandraskates  Here is the way DH likes them:  I buy the box of mix and make it with the oil/eggs as called for and let it sit for 15 mins before shaping.  I turn the oven on 425 degrees and get out my cookie sheet. Now, DH likes them small, not large, so I take out enough mix to make a 1 inch ball, roll it and then put it on the baking sheet (I make double the amount that is called for in the soup).  I bake them for about 10 mins and them let them cool.  I put them in the soup about 15-20 mins before serving.  We just had this soup last week.  He ate all the soup and had about 8 of the little cannon balls in the bowl, left over.  I asked him if something was wrong with them and he said, no--I am saving them for last because they are my favorite part.  Honestly, just like a little kid!

 

When I get up the energy, I make homemade bagels or bialys.  We can't get them here.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,789
Registered: ‎06-26-2014

Re: PASSOVER RECIPES

[ Edited ]

@Meezerpleezer  So you bake them first; I would never have suspected that! I figured you maybe used schmaltz or more matzo meal. Interesting! I like the way your hubby thinks about saving the best for last!

 

I mix the ingredients until the dough is pretty thick, adding more matzo meal until I'm somewhat happy. Then I put the dough in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, take it out, roll it into medium size balls and drop it straight into the soup.

 

Don't faint readers but I currently drop them into Lipton Chicken Soup (once it's boiling), the stuff that comes in the red box. My mother used a boxed brand that is no longer around.

I find that cooking the matzo balls in the soup (covered pot) for 20 minutes, inparts extra flavor into them. They also swell up to a nice size and yet are somewhat cannonball-like. Probably not Kosher for Passover. . .

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,239
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

@sandraskates  I used to try and make them like you do but some of hte matzo balls would be dense and others might turn out a little fluffy--just inconsistant results.  My MIL doesn't like the little cannonballs so she never paid attention but one time she mentioned in passing that great-GM boiled then baked.  Now, that can't be right so we tried the reverse and it worked.  Liptons doesn't shock me.  Obviously, I am not making matzo ball soup just for passover if I am making bialys or bagels with it--LOL!  DH likes other stuff in his soup--I add some carrot, celery, onion and of all things, barley.  It makes a hardy and tasty soup.  I bet yours is great, too.

 

So glad to see another person who likes cannonballs. 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,129
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

@Shanus wrote:

@mustang66lady. I also appreciate your interest in the customs and foods & admire your wanting to learn about the Seder meal. 

 

I'll have to allow one of the others to share a traditional Seder meal menu with you. Through the years, our Seders have varied greatly depending on who was conducting them, the menus as well. 

 

A PASSOVER STORY

 

Growing up, we either went to NY to be with my grandparents who were Orthodox or they came to NC & would do the Seder at my house, but bring all Kosher food and their pots and pans and dishes. * Side note: When you're Kosher, you have separate sets of dishes, pots, everything...one for meat meals and one set for non-meat meals. At Passover, there are different dishes used that aren't used the rest of the year...also one for meat and one for non-meat meals. Obviously they traveled w/ many cartons and stayed a long while. 

 

There's a point during the Seder when the youngest child takes a piece a matzo from the table (usually assisted by a parent) & hides it somewhere in the house. The tradition is that later on in the service, that piece of matzo is "bought" back from the child so the Seder can continue. My grandparents were disgustingly wealthy. When my brother & I bargained a price to give a Grandpa back the matzo so the Seder could go on, you'd think you were at an auction at Southeby's. At one such occasion, my brother & I along with 8 other cousins at the table each received a $100 bill....a fortune for a little girl. Never saw one before. I asked Grandpa why the "dollar had extra 0's". It brought the house down with laughter. 

 

Our Seder lasted long into the night after beginning at sundown...sometimes lasting 4 hours before the Seder meal was actually served. Many of us little ones were asleep under the table or had been carried to nearby sofas. Seders that are not Orthodox in nature do not last that long.

 

When my grandparents passed away and the Seders were at our house in NC (my childhood home), my Dad would try to skip a page in the special prayer book we each had in front of us. We knew he was trying to get to the dinner part of the Seder faster. Dad's family had not been very religious and short Seders were the norm. We'd all keep reminding him to go back a page & got a big wink from his twinkling green eyes (green just like mine). He'd look under his dark curls (also like mine) & he would call me over to sit on his lap for the rest of the Seder. 

 

Since my Dad passed away 4 yrs. ago, my children have come home (to me) for the Seder...easier to get Mom here. My son has the honor of conducting our Seder. Although his wife is not Jewish and did not convert to Judaism, my granddaughters are being raised Jewish. I will always love my DIL for that. His oldest daughter also sits on his lap during the final hour of the service. The little one wants to sit with me. One year I asked her why sitting on my lap during the Seder was so special to her. Of course I was waiting for the accolades every grandma wants to hear. "Mom Mom (their name for me, so far), your chair is next to the table with the mirror on it and all the plates of desserts"! 

 

And so it goes....

 

Shanus

 

 

 

 


@Shanus

What a lovely story!  Would love to have been a guest at one of your Seder's.  There is nothing but love in this story.  I have a feeling it wouldn't matter what was the food as I feel everyone would have looked forward to it.  Heart  I do have a question for you-your nic-seems so Irish to me.  Is there something to that?   I am not familiar with Irish Jews but am sure there are some (maybe many-just more familar with Catholic vs. Protestant Irish).  Well I guess my DH is one; his grandmother was Jewish but his great uncle helped found the IRA!