Passover 2002–2005

[alacarte]

OK; I don't want you guys to yell at me, but let me tell you what I brought to a Seder ( it was an all-women, and some of us were young and goofy).

I made Manischewitz jello shots....

And they were good

Awesome. You just made my Passover!

[charlotte baker]

You now have to subscribe to Better baking to get the recipes. she is a wonderful Jewish baker. Actually, she is a great baker,period.

What recipes have you tried? I've tried many of hers and the only one that works is the Passover Buttercrunch. The recipes on her website are full of what I call " dangling ingredients " which are not accounted for in the instructions. Her first book is visually very attractive but has some similar goofs. One of my favorites is one in which the first instruction is to preheat the oven which is kind of interesting because the instructions call for the cake batter to be refrigerated overnight.

On her website, she very often says to put yeast dough into plastic trash bags to rise. Most plastic trash bags I've seen are not food safe.

[mrsqft]

I hve not tried Marcy Goldman's matzoh crunch but it on my list for this year.I have just finished making two nut tortes which I had to make twice since I forgot to use margarine instead of butter. I clearly left my Passover brain somewhere else.

I have made her honey cake and her cinnamon apple cake which are wonderful. She also had a nice brisket recipe which I tried and liked since it was not sweet. I have had a few problems with her recipes but they were minor.

[bushey]

Traditionally, I thought that there were three festivals: Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot. But I can't remember far back enough into my hebrew school background to recall the distinction between holidays and festivals, except perhaps that one shouldn't work and we say different prayers.

Over the years my seder menu has had fewer and fewer specifically "pesachdic" items. Other than for matzo balls, I stay away from foods made with matzo meal, cake meal and potato starch. I find those foods tend to taste all the same after a while. This year's menu will be hard boiled eggs, chicken soup w/matzo balls, some form of mixed green salad with either pears or beets, honey chicken, multi-colored roast potatoes and asparagus. For dessert we'll have almond macaroons (my evening project tonight), chocolate roll and strawberries.

[Jason Perlow]

Traditionally, I thought that there were three festivals: Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot. But I can't remember far back enough into my hebrew school background to recall the distinction between holidays and festivals, except perhaps that one shouldn't work and we say different prayers.

Chanukah is also a festival.

[bushey]

I think it must be that when I studied there was a distinction drawn between the biblical festivals and all the other holidays and festivals of the Jewish calendar.

[macrosan]

Bushey, the three you mentioned are generically referred to as the "Foot Festivals" when pilgrims walked to the Temple in Jerusalem to dedicate their tithe. I'm not sure what the duifference is between a "festival" and a "holiday", and indeed I'm not even sure their is a difference in Judaism. As far as I know, the words are used fairly casually and are interchangeable.

The New Year and Day of Atonement are widely referred to as "yomim tovim" or "good days". All the others are widely referred to as "chagim" or "rejoicings". My prayer books for all of these occasions are entitled "Festival Prayers".

[Marlene]

Here is a recipe for Aunt Ida's Sponge Cake. From Sandra Levine

[Marlene]

Here is a recipe for Toby's Fish Dumplings in Turmeric Sauce.

[Marlene]

Ok I have a question. Are all the recipes in this thread kosher? I honestly don't know, not being Jewish. I'm going through and adding the recipes to the archive as I come across them, and if they are, I'd like to add them to the right category.

thanks for the patience with a dumb question!

[afoodnut]

Ok I have a question.  Are all the recipes in this thread kosher?  I honestly don't know, not being Jewish.  I'm going through and adding the recipes to the archive as I come across them, and if they are, I'd like to add them to the right category.

thanks for the patience with a dumb question!

Marlene,

The recipes in this thread are all kosher for Passover, not just kosher.

To avoid opening up a whole can of worms (worms are neither kosher nor kosher for Passover), I'll try to explain simply without going into explanations about kashruth (the state of being kosher).

There are many foods that cannot be eaten at Passover. The recipes in this thread do not include any of the forbidden foods as ingredients.

There are also "ritual foods" associated with Passover, such as Charoset, and this thread contains some of those recipes. Do you want more details?

Afoodnut

Edited April 15, 2003 by afoodnut (log)

[JFLinLA]

Apart from the basic rules of Kashrut (no milk with meat, no pork or shellfish, etc.) at Passover, in order to avoid "leavened" foods, generally grains are prohibited. The five specifically "prohibited" grains are wheat, rye, barley, corn and spelt. Many Jews avoid other grains as well since, once they come in contact with a wet ingredient, leavening can begin. Some of this is custom. For example, Ashkenazi Jews -- those coming from northern and central Europe -- will not eat rice while Sephardic Jews -- those coming from around the Mediterranean -- will.

So, how can matzah that is made with wheat flour be Kosher for Passover? It's made under very strict procedures where it is in a hot oven within a prescribed number of minutes after the water hits the flour.

Probably more than you wanted to know.

[afoodnut]

Ok I have a question.  Are all the recipes in this thread kosher?  I honestly don't know, not being Jewish.  I'm going through and adding the recipes to the archive as I come across them, and if they are, I'd like to add them to the right category.

thanks for the patience with a dumb question!

To simplify it all, if you want to "categorize" these recipes they should probably just be called Passover recipes.

[Sandra Levine]

I just made the matzah butter crunch for the first time. I hope there's some left to take to the Seder tomorrow.

[Marlene]

Ok I have a question.  Are all the recipes in this thread kosher?  I honestly don't know, not being Jewish.  I'm going through and adding the recipes to the archive as I come across them, and if they are, I'd like to add them to the right category.

thanks for the patience with a dumb question!

To simplify it all, if you want to "categorize" these recipes they should probably just be called Passover recipes.

Gotcha. I've asked for a Passover category in the archive, since it seems to be something unto itself!

[Marlene]

Gotcha.  I've asked for a Passover category in the archive, since it seems to be something unto itself!

Got it. the God of eGRA has added Passover under "Special Occassions" Please post recipes that are exclusively "Passover" recipes under this category.

This has been a free public service announcement. Thank you

Edited April 16, 2003 by Marlene (log)

[awbrig]

Got it. the God of eGRA has added Passover under "Special Occassions" Please post recipes that are exclusively "Passover" recipes under this category.

And don't "Passover" it!

[Marlene]

Got it. the God of eGRA has added Passover under "Special Occassions" Please post recipes that are exclusively "Passover" recipes under this category.

And don't "Passover" it!

oooohhh. And here I thought I was getting a respite from this sort of thing whilst HW is travelling.

[awbrig]

HW? WHo is that?

[Marlene]

HW?  WHo is that?

His Wonderfulness, my husband. All the good titles for hubbies seemed to have been taken on this site, so I call him that because, well, because he is

[awbrig]

I wonder what my wife calls me?

[Marlene]

I wonder what my wife calls me?

Never late for dinner I'm sure! I could call him the "Pasty Accountant" since he rarely sees the light of day. somehow though, it's not that flattering, and who knows if he ever surfs here?

[Jason Perlow]

We made a slightly-modified version of KatieLoeb's Sephardic Charoset this morning (used some leftover primitivo and kedem grape juice, pecans instead of walnuts)

This is the BEST charoset I have ever tasted. If we have any left over, I intend for Rachel to use it as a rugelach filling.

[Malawry]

I made the buttercrunch recipe after all the rave reviews on here. I used unsalted pareve Pesach margarine (ick!) and regular light brown sugar. When I cooked the margarine and sugar the whole mixture looked separated the whole time despite constant stirring. These ingredients just would not emulsify, even temporarily. It simmered quickly but never really "boiled" as the recipe said so I had a hard time figuring out the timing of the dish. I tried to pour it as evenly as possible over the matzah but it was difficult since the mixture was separated. I didn't feel too optimistic about it by the time I was sticking the matzah in the oven. But the finished product was pretty good as Pesadik desserts go. I enjoyed picking at it, as did everybody else. I wondered if the recipe works better using real butter. I also got to musing about problems with recipe writing as I was cooking it; I really needed more information about what the mixture should look like.

Next time I hope to use real butter and better chocolate. Which reminds me, are any of the better chocolate brands available in Kosher for Passover formulations? That'd be nice. I'm not too into Barton's or Elite.

[Sandra Levine]

I used real butter for the buttercrunch. Eventually, the butterscotch came together. The family devoured the whole cookie sheet full and I have to make another batch for tomorrow night.

Edited April 17, 2003 by Sandra Levine (log)