Passover 2002–2005

[challah-baker]

I always make a cheescake without a crumb crust. It works quite nicely, actually. If you line the pan with parchment paper it comes out easily and doesn't stick. It always gets rave reviews.

p.s. even though my log-in name is challah-baker please read it as "matzoh-baker" during Passover. Thanks. I rub the screen with a feather before hitting send.

[melkor]

We're having somewhere between 10 and 20 people here for the first Seder, we haven't yet gotten around to planning the menu or doing any shopping, but at least we have a lot of wine in the house.

The basic plan is a fairly traditional ashk. Seder without having to eat/cook the things that often taste like crap. I'll run out to Bodega Bay this weekend and pick up a reasonably large wild pacific salmon and some snapper or lingcod. We'll likely go into SF early Saturday morning to do some shopping at the farmers market. We've got a few artichokes ready to eat from the garden, but I don't think there are enough to use in a meal for this many people.

Gefilte Fish - Salmon and whatever white fleshed fish looks good at the market, I'll get a bunch of bones/heads from the fishmonger and we'll make fish stock first.

Matzoh Ball Soup - the basic deal, including the bucket of chicken fat.

The egg - the freakin' egg... I hate the egg, MsMelkor hates the egg, and everyone should hate the egg. Eating a hardboiled egg is like chewing on a plastic bag so you can get to the chalk inside. I've got no idea what egg thing we'll replace it with, it should at least resemble the a hardboiled egg or a whole egg...

Charoset - fruits, nuts, etc.

For the real food, we've got nothing nailed down... Meat, Starch, Veg... We could braise a brisket, or roast a bunch of chickens, or make the Gefilte fish out of white fish and cook a whole salmon for dinner, or we could do something else. For a veg we'll cook whatever looks good at the farmers market. Mashed potatoes or waxy potatoes roasted in duck fat, or whatever - the starch needs almost no advance planning.

Dessert - Apple Crisp (cake meal instead of flour in the topping), Meyer Lemon Tarte - nut flour for the crust, Macaroons (both the crappy kind and the french kind), and a flourless chocolate cake/torte thing.

So that’s my stream of conscious plan(?) for Monday night... anyone have any ideas on the egg, entree, etc?

[cakewalk]

The egg - the freakin' egg... I hate the egg, MsMelkor hates the egg, and everyone should hate the egg. Eating a hardboiled egg is like chewing on a plastic bag so you can get to the chalk inside. I've got no idea what egg thing we'll replace it with, it should at least resemble the a hardboiled egg or a whole egg...

Yes, I think everyone hates the egg. And quite often it's "forgotten." Because it's not in the haggadah!

I'm not sure at what stage in history the hard boiled egg was added to the ritual, but it really isn't part of the "set" haggadah. Some haggadot will add a sentence like, "at this stage, hard boiled eggs dipped in salt water can be eaten" or whatever. And it's true that the more you add to the story, the more praiseworthy it is, but you can do something other than hard boiled eggs. It's sort of a strange paradox but the seder, as much as it is "set" and "ordered," really does invite innovation.

Happy Pesach to all.

[jackal10]

Cook the egg for 12 hours at exactly 60C/140F.

You will be amazed. (try one before seder, just in case you don't like it)

Maybe a sauce and a base or filling..to go with.. see the BIG EGG List

Edited April 1, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[Raynickben]

The egg - the freakin' egg... I hate the egg, MsMelkor hates the egg, and everyone should hate the egg.  Eating a hardboiled egg is like chewing on a plastic bag so you can get to the chalk inside. I've got no idea what egg thing we'll replace it with, it should at least resemble the a hardboiled egg or a whole egg...

Yes, I think everyone hates the egg. And quite often it's "forgotten." Because it's not in the haggadah!

I'm not sure at what stage in history the hard boiled egg was added to the ritual, but it really isn't part of the "set" haggadah. Some haggadot will add a sentence like, "at this stage, hard boiled eggs dipped in salt water can be eaten" or whatever. And it's true that the more you add to the story, the more praiseworthy it is, but you can do something other than hard boiled eggs. It's sort of a strange paradox but the seder, as much as it is "set" and "ordered," really does invite innovation.

Happy Pesach to all.

My brother-in-law put little yellow post-it notes in each haggadah that says "eat your egg". It's always a surprise and it's quite funny when all 20 of us are eating our egg at different times.

[SarahB]

Thanks for all the suggestions. After a great deal of searching and researching, I was told this morning that I was to make sponge cake and nothing but sponge cake. I think that maybe I'll make .... sponge cake.

[bloviatrix]

Regarding the egg, I know this will sound disgusting, but in my family, we dice it up and add some salt water to make it soup like. It's actually not bad tasting.

Edited April 1, 2004 by bloviatrix (log)

[bloviatrix]

I just got an email about adocumentary being shown on PBS called OUR MOTHER'S RECIPE.

OUR MOTHER'S RECIPE is the story of three American-Jewish women who

reconcile their roles as mothers, daughters, homemakers and career women

with their ties to family, religion, and generations of women before them.

While Ada, Bernice and Brenda prepare for their annual Passover Seder,

welcome their guests, read the haggadah and eat the festive meal, they

reveal the restrictions they encountered over the course of their lives as

Jews and as women.  Woven together with memories of childhood Seders and

life lessons from their mother, viewers share the experience of preparing,

serving and enjoying the Passover ritual meal.

In NYC it will be shown on Sunday, April 4th at 2:30pm. Check your local listings for air-time.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Regarding the egg, I know this will sound disgusting, but in my family, we dice it up and add some salt water to make it soup like. It's actually not bad tasting.

Given the context in which the "roasted egg" appears in the seder, we too chop the egg and add a bit of salt water to it ... it is not particularly distasteful, if not overcooked, and everyone is starving by that time of night ... it works for us!

[SobaAddict70]

A few Pesach-related articles of interest:

Ruth Hendricks Schulson, Mrs. Henry's great-granddaughter, is legally blind, so she will not be reading this culinary archive, in the back room of her apartment, when preparing for the Passover Seder on Monday night. But it doesn't matter; she knows the recipes by heart. As I read out a recipe for Passover "meal" cake — sponge cake — from the 1879 book, Mrs. Schulson, in her early 80's, said, "That's what I make."

Heirloom Recipes Reveal Kosher Roots (Joan Nathan) (this and the articles below are from Wednesday's NYTimes DIGEST update. Scroll down for the appropriate links.)

In an effort to find some kosher wines worth recommending, the Dining section's wine panel recently tasted 25 bottles from six countries: the United States, Israel, France, Chile, Spain and Australia. The range of kosher wines these days is astounding. It includes a fine Champagne, from Laurent-Perrier, and an excellent, inexpensive California chenin blanc from Baron Herzog. But we decided to focus on red wines, which many people will prefer with their seder meal.

Wines of the Times: Taking Up the Kosher Challenge (Eric Asimov)

Instead, to serve alongside my roast I plan to assemble a bright fresh-tasting ragout of tender spring vegetables, made earthbound enough for red wine by the addition of morels.

Pairings (Florence Fabricant)

Soba

[bloviatrix]

BTW, I found a link for the Payard cake. This is what it looks like. And this place is bargain - only $20.

[clothier]

I like the egg, but we roast them, and I think that helps.

And as for the sponge cake, by lots of strawberries, or raspberries, or what ever fruit looks good, and make it in to shortcake.

My have tish-pishti, which is the pesach baklava noted earlier, but it's all about the nuts.

[clothier]

belay that last comment. The tish-pishti is nothing like the baklava noted above. Only the syrup concept is the same.

[Gifted Gourmet]

The tish-pishti is nothing like the baklava noted above. Only the syrup concept is the same.

Since we are talkin' tishpishti here, let's just note that for some Yiddish speakers, the phrase can be loosely translated as "pee on the table" .... could I make such a thing up even??

But then there is a legitimate recipe which actually looks pretty simple, and even clothier would have to admit, albeit grudgingly, that it has a marvelous sweet taste and moist texture ...

http://www.parenthood.com/recipe_display.html?ID=19464

[afoodnut]

Regarding the egg, I know this will sound disgusting, but in my family, we dice it up and add some salt water to make it soup like. It's actually not bad tasting.

The seders of my childhood in the '50's and early 60's included both my mother's and father's families; my mother's side of the family always ate the plain hard boiled eggs, and my father's side of the family always ate what we called "egg water," which sounds like what bloviatrix describes. I always thought it not only sounded disgusting, but tasted awful as well. I haven't thought about it in years, but appreciate the memory of it now.

I do not serve egg water at our seders. I also have to say that for some of the kids at the seder, the plain hard boiled egg is the favorite food.

[jpr54_]

Regarding the egg, I know this will sound disgusting, but in my family, we dice it up and add some salt water to make it soup like.  It's actually not bad tasting.

The seders of my childhood in the '50's and early 60's included both my mother's and father's families; my mother's side of the family always ate the plain hard boiled eggs, and my father's side of the family always ate what we called "egg water," which sounds like what bloviatrix describes. I always thought it not only sounded disgusting, but tasted awful as well. I haven't thought about it in years, but appreciate the memory of it now.

I do not serve egg water at our seders. I also have to say that for some of the kids at the seder, the plain hard boiled egg is the favorite food.

chacque a son gout-

i enjoy the hard boiled eggs, water and lots of pepper-

it must be an old Polish tradition-

even my mother in law from Big Poland made it-

it is very traditional ashkenaski tradition

[Pan]

The egg - the freakin' egg... I hate the egg, MsMelkor hates the egg, and everyone should hate the egg. Eating a hardboiled egg is like chewing on a plastic bag so you can get to the chalk inside. I've got no idea what egg thing we'll replace it with, it should at least resemble the a hardboiled egg or a whole egg...

My father's cousin does an ovo-lacto vegetarian seder every year, and he makes an excellent homemade egg salad. It's always the best thing at their seder (ugh, protose steaks for main dishes!), but they never make enough of it.

[Pan]

A few Pesach-related articles of interest:

Ruth Hendricks Schulson, Mrs. Henry's great-granddaughter, is legally blind, so she will not be reading this culinary archive, in the back room of her apartment, when preparing for the Passover Seder on Monday night. But it doesn't matter; she knows the recipes by heart. As I read out a recipe for Passover "meal" cake — sponge cake — from the 1879 book, Mrs. Schulson, in her early 80's, said, "That's what I make."

Heirloom Recipes Reveal Kosher Roots (Joan Nathan) (this and the articles below are from Wednesday's NYTimes DIGEST update. Scroll down for the appropriate links.)

I found that article beautiful!

Thanks as always for the NY Times update, Soba.

[hillvalley]

Regarding the egg, I know this will sound disgusting, but in my family, we dice it up and add some salt water to make it soup like.  It's actually not bad tasting.

We do the same thing, except my family is too lazy to dice it up. We just shmush it around in the salt water.

My mother found no yolk, low carb, passover friendly noodles to go into the soup I am making. Has anyone tried them? I am fearing wet, limp cardboard.

Edited April 2, 2004 by hillvalley (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

My mother found no yolk, low carb, passover friendly noodles to go into the soup I am making.  Has anyone tried them?  I am fearing wet, limp cardboard.

Check back through this thread to see what happened to my David Copperfield Passover noodles one year and why I am reticent to try them again ... make a thin crepe omelet and slice it into strips.. just as good as noodles...

Edited April 2, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

We do the same thing, except my family is too lazy to dice it up. We just shmush is around in the salt water.

I am in hysterics over this comment!!

[hillvalley]

We do the same thing, except my family is too lazy to dice it up.  We just shmush is around in the salt water.

I am in hysterics over this comment!!

My mother makes a point of remarking to guests that it was my father's family introduced the shmushing to our family

[Gifted Gourmet]

We do the same thing, except my family is too lazy to dice it up.  We just shmush is around in the salt water.

I am in hysterics over this comment!!

My mother makes a point of remarking to guests that it was my father's family introduced the shmushing to our family

So, is this meant to imply that it is a genetically acquired trait passed down on one's paternal side of the family?

Or, rather a learned behavior? The scientist in me wants to know the details ... lest it be mentioned at our dysfunctional but oh so p.c. seder!!

[bloviatrix]

Come Gifted, it's time for you to spill. What embarassing thing goes on at YOUR seder?

[hspringut]

The egg - the freakin' egg... I hate the egg, MsMelkor hates the egg, and everyone should hate the egg. Eating a hardboiled egg is like chewing on a plastic bag so you can get to the chalk inside. I've got no idea what egg thing we'll replace it with, it should at least resemble the a hardboiled egg or a whole egg...

We always use quail eggs, heaped in bowls on the table. They're much less "eggy" then regular eggs, and look so pretty with their speckled shells; guests can't stop noshing throughout the seder. Any Chinese market should carry them.