Well....this shikse-momma was in the process of chopping a lot of parsley to put into the matzo balls I was making but was told.."no"! LOL!
I think it depends on the family...I suggested merangues filled with lemon curd...but they preferred the traditional cakes and cookies made from matzo meal.
Sounds good to me....but as with a lot of stuff ( like my Thanksgivins turkey stuffing!) I suspect it's all about tradition!
Linda C

Unfortunately that cookbook (Passover By Design)was reviewed in the paper the day before Passover. I would have loved to get my hands on it but B&N was out of it and it was too late to order it on line. It looks like it could have been interesting. Maybe next year.

Linda, one problem with trying new Passover recipes, especially dessert ones, for us is that we already have so many favorites that have to be made. Its only one week. I wanted to make almond macaroons this week but so far I've been too busy making sponge cakes and nut cookies. I did make two new flavors of nut cookie - ginger apricot and hermit.

Back to topic - I saw an article on tri-color matzah balls last year and was thinking of trying them but the reviews weren't very positive. I don't know how close the recipe was to this one, but the red was tomato and the green was spinach. It seems like it could be extra work for little gain.

Well I'm going in.

Got a big pot of chicken necks and wings on the stove and a box of Manischewitz Matzo Ball Mix on hand. The recipe on the back of the box looks so simple.....anyone know if it's any good or should I just use the Matzo Meal with the recipes given here?

shaun,
The recipe on the box is what I use and it turns out great. Now, someone mentioned that it says to dip the MBs in ice water after? If it does, I never noticed that and I don't do it! I use the chicken fat skimmed off the top of the soup for the oil/fat, and the soup/broth for the liquid. I boil the MBs directly in the soup. Boil 40 min and they are ready to eat.

Well too late May - I already put them into simmering salted water and they have about 7 mins to go. I heated up the broth and I'll ladel that over top of the balls in our soup bowls.

NOW, to store them? Put them in the fridge in water and cover? How long will they keep? There's just the 2 of us eating and it made 10 balls.

Oh also, I used seltzer water for the liquid and chicken fat for the oil. I also took pictures. I'll post them when it's all done.

I also boil the MBs directly in the broth, but otherwise, I use Bubbe's recipe and simply make them smaller. I always keep chicken fat in the freezer so that I will have it for making these, but I need to get more Matzo meal because I used the last of it making latkes.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Renée's recipe

Lars,
Now is the time to pick up more Matzo Meal. We're nearing the end of Passover so any Passover foods left in the grocery stores are most likely marked down.

May? Why would my Matzo Balls come out mushy? When I used a slotted spoon to fish them out of the salted water, they almost fell thru the slots. What did I do wrong?

shaun,
I honestly don't know. I've never had mine come out mushy. After mixing them, did your refrigerate for the alotted time on the recipe? (15 min I think it is, I usually leave it in the fridge longer as I'm doing other things in between.) The only other thing I can think of is if you somehow got the amounts wrong in your recipe, like you added too much liquid somehow?

When you shaped the balls, what did the dough feel like? It should have felt pretty firm.

May, after mixing it, I put it in the fridge for 30 mins (set timer too). As I was mixing it, it felt mushy, it wasnt firm at all. Trying to think of something to compare the texture to............ok, it was almost like cottage cheese. I had to roll them very gently into balls.

I used
1/2 cup matzo meal
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons reserved chicken fat
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons seltzer

I then cooked them in boiling salted water for 40 mins w/a lid on and off, checking to make sure the water wasnt boiling, but simmering.

What do you think?

Do you think that was too much liquid?

I am thinking not enough liquid in the recipe.....and they absorbed water in boiling and that made them fall apart.
Linda C

I don't think the liquid was lacking. The fact that the texture was like cottage cheese makes me think that there was too much liquid in them to begin with. When I take the mixture out of the fridge, it's firmer than cookie dough. I think that is the exact recipe I use, except instead of selzer I use soup broth. But I wouldn't think that would make a difference because lots of people use selzer I think.

Question, the chicken fat, was it solid or melted when you added it?

Is there any chance you added too much of the seltzer?

Ah Ha! The chicken fat wasnt solid completely. I'll bet I had a little broth in with the fat. May I think you solved the mystery.

I'm gonna try again, this time my chicken fat is solid. AND I'm gonna use chicken broth instead of seltzer.

I'm gonna do like Lars and keep the chicken fat in the freezer for when I need it.

I hope that's it!! Actually, the chicken fat doesn't need to be solid, but if you have a large amount of broth and small amount of fat that's probably it. So, once the fat is solid, I do melt it back down, simply because it's easier to mix in that way. When I skim the fat off the soup, it's easy to get broth in there, so once you skim it, refrigerate it, then spoon it out, it's a lot easier to make sure you have only fat and no broth.

Once the fat is melted, it's very hard to tell if if it's all fat or part fat part broth. So, ok, to melt fat, as long as you're sure it's all fat before melting.

Thanks so much for all your advice!

You're welcome! I hope the next batch turns out better!!

I don't like those mixes -- they have an artificial flavor to me -- and they certainly aren't any easier than starting from scratch. Mine are just

matzo meal
salt
schmaltz
eggs
water

lindac is so right that tradition is the key here. The battle of sinkers vs. floaters will rage forever.

We are of the "sinker" school. I don't see how you could make floaters with schmaltz, and without schmaltz, the flavor won't be as good (you also can just cook them in water if you've used schmaltz). Anyway, I like the firmer texture. IMHO, the perfect consistency is when there is just enough resistance to the spoon when I am cutting it in the bowl to make the soup ALMOST, but not quite, splash.

Ok, I'm an Irish Gal here, what is schmaltz?

Floaters depend on beating the egg whites and adding last.
To make real floaters....the batter should be "gloppy" but not falling apart....and the ingredients "packable"...so that you can pack it like a snow ball.
And I so agree with Gellchom...I can taste "mix" in anything a mile away! Case in point, I went to a luncheon Tuesday and was served a broccoli cheese soup...I don't know where the "artificial" came in...but it was either chicken stock base, or a can of cheese soup or something else....but I could taste it!
I think you have to have a "feel" for matzo balls like you have to have a feel for pie crust or bread dough....and you have to be willing to add a little more matzo meal or fat or broth...just like you may need a little more flour in a crust of loaf of bread.
Linda C

Shaun schmaltz is another word for chicken fat.

Oh. I thought schmaltz referred to Korean soap operas...

LOL! !!!!!
And then there's "schlag"...as in "mit schlag?"....which is like schmaltz but German and sweet! LOL!
Whatever it all ends up wrapped around your waist!

Linda, isn't schlag German for whipped cream? Where is Peppi...

Yep....all delicious and baaaaad!

any chance of a recipe for MB's from Matzoh? I have a pile and notta lotta ideas [besides a kinda cool matzo lasagne that I thought would be tasty]

Sands, Just grind up the matzo sheets to make matzo meal in your food processor. Matzo meal is just ground matzo, matzo cake meal is really finely ground matzo.

Matzo lasgne is very possile, as well as matzo chicken bastillla which Jessy has a good recipe for and matzo spinach pie that Gellchom has a recipe for.

-Robin

I do use chicken fat in my MBs -- the fat I skimmed off the top of the soup. And I don't bother separating the eggs in order to beat the whites enough to make the MBs fluffy. And they still float. Granted, they eventually sink, probably because they continue to absorb liquid every time you heat the soup. But at least for the first serving, they're afloat.

think you have to have a "feel" for matzo balls like you have to have a feel for pie crust or bread dough
Any MB virgins out there, don't be intimidated by those words! I think that MBs are easy to make, and easy to make turn out well, Shaun's experience not withstanding.

Looking to use up all that matzo? Here's a recipe my mother used to make every year, and I've taken on the tradition. Although my mother had no real name for it, we call it...

Matzo Grilled Cheese

4 matzos (what DO you call the individual slices anyway?)
Eggs
Lots o' grated cheese, meltable kinds like cheddar, jack, meunster, etc. (Use a mixture of multiple kinds for best results.)
butter

Take your four slices o' matzo and pass them under running water very quickly, just to get them the slightest bit wet. Beat the eggs. Melt butter in a skillet large enough to fit one slice matzo without breaking or bending. Dip one slice matzo into eggs and place in skillet. Top with grated cheese(es). Repeat, with the fourth egg-dipped matzo being the top layer.

Cook at a low heat till the cheese is melty and the bottom matzo is browned. Flip (no easy task but it's doable). Continue cooking till browned on bottom.

I always serve with a salad. It can easily feed four.

Thanks May. Gotta admit, when I read that you gotta have a "feel" for matzo like in bread making, I thought, ... "I'm doomed". Glad that isnt the case.

I'm sure I got too much broth in w/the fat. I tried to skim the rest of the fat off the soup yesterday and it's so thin that I kept getting gelled broth in it.

I'm going in again soon. Froze the fat. I'll maybe just reduce the amt of broth I put in it to make up for what broth ended up in my fat. Think that will work?

Now the consistency of the matzo ball mixture should be like what..... wet sand maybe?

Don't mean to beat this to death but I just gotta know!

Sorry if you disagree....but you need to know what about the dough or mixture "feels" right for the kind of matzo balls you want. You can turn floaters into sinkers by the addition of more matzo meal. Pack them tightly and they won't fall apart, nor will they float.
You can measure, and follow a recipe, but you still have to feel that the dough is right for the way you like the matzo balls....or not. And the length of time the mixture sits before cooking makes a difference. I never cook the whole batch at once, because I make a lot when I make them, and I find that those which have rested another 40 minutes while the first batch is cooking have less of a tendency to fall apart when cooking than the first batch.
Linda C

I guess we can agree to disagree. I just don't think that someone's success making MBs for the first time will depend on knowing the feel of the dough. I think anyone can make them following the recipe on the matzo meal box and have success. Now, once you become a MB afficianado, maybe, and want to experiment with floaters & sinkers & exact textures, then yeah, you'll want to fine tune the texture to that goal.

Shaun
Consistency is thicker than wet sand, I think. When I make drop cookies (choco chip for example), I spoon a chunk of the cookie dough, then scrape that spoonful onto the cookie sheet. Basically I do the same thing with my MB dough, spoon some out, then scrape it into the boiling soup. And when I do this, the texture/resistance to the spoon feels about the same for MBs as it does for the cookie dough.

Now, I know that most people shape them into balls & pack em tightly before dropping into the boil, but I'm happy with my amorphous ones. So I can't really say how they feel to my fingers, because it's all done with spoons.

Thanks again May. Now at least I know what consistency to go for when I do them again. Cookie dough... ok, got it. Mine really was like a cottage cheese consistency. Too loose. Loosie goosie.

I use my hands. TIP: keep a little dish of water handy and wet your hands a bit between balls. The dough is much looser than cookie dough or bread dough, but if you keep your hands a little wet and just lightly toss it back and forth between them a couple of times, then sort of let it roll off your hand gently into the water, it comes out pretty round. Believe me; I am TERRIBLE at working with dough to make it look nice, and even I have no trouble with this if I remember to wet my hands. If they aren't perfectly round, it's no big deal, as lowspark says.

Mine float when I boil them, but they sink when I serve them. And they are perfect. Period. :-)

Slight clarification for Shaun: schmaltz is RENDERED chicken fat, not the stuff just pulled off the bird. You can use the stuff skimmed off the soup, but it's a little thinner and usually has some water in it, so it spatters if you try to use it to fry things. Also, I like to leave some of the fat in the soup! So although I do use the soup fat, I also buy schmaltz frozen. You can melt and refreeze it easily over and over.

Best of all, of course, is to make your OWN schmaltz with chicken fat and skin and an onion, which I did the other day (just a little bit). Heavenly smell in the house, and you get to eat the gribbenes (my family for some reason calls them "greeven") -- I think the English word is "cracklings." Don't tell your cardiologist! I put the few I had into the potato kugel, and it was the first time I've ever liked potato kugel. It's usually too boring.

Hold the phone! You can BUY chicken fat? I've never seen it! Gotta find a chicken fat store.

What a great image: a store that sells only schmaltz. I wonder what they'd call it?

Gribbenes-R-US

Schmaltz Barn

Festival of Cholesterol

But until that happy day, find it at a kosher butcher or a supermarket that sells kosher meat. Empire is one common brand.

LOL @ Gellchom!!

Best of all, of course, is to make your OWN schmaltz with chicken fat and skin and an onion

OK, I've never done this nor known how to do it, and I've always wondered. Gell, any chance you want to post instructions? I'm not sure I actually will do it, but I'd really like to know how. Thanks!!

Sorry I didn't see your post for a long time, lowspark.

Okay, your doctor is going to hate me, but here you are, my Sephardi friend! These instructions are from The World of Jewish Cooking, by Gil Marks (yet another really good cookbook I got from my brother-in-law), and they look like the way my mother does it. That book explains that as Jews moved north from the Mediterranean, they couldn't find olive oil, but they couldn't use the lard their new neighbors favored, either, so schmaltz "became to Ashkenazic cooking what olive oil was to Mediterranean cooking and what sesame oil was to Near Eastern cooking."

Schmaltz mit Gribenes

1 lb (about 4 c ups) chicken or goose fat
1/2 pound chicken or goose skin
1/2 cup water
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1. Cut the fat into small pieces and the skin into 1/4-inch strips. Cook the fat, skin, and water in a large skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat until the water evaporates and the fat is melted, about 35 minutes.

2. Add the onion and cook until the onion and skin turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the gribenes (browned pieces) with a slotted spoon. Store schmaltz and gribenes separately in refrigerator or freezer.

Note: this doesn't make much gribenes -- just a little custard cup full. Traditionally, they are rationed on the merit system: i.e., you bribe the children, who are attracted by the smell, to be good by threatening to give them all to Grandpa if they aren't.

Some fresh gribenes on a piece of warm challa may just be worth a mild heart attack. But to be on the safe side, just don't eat this too often, and remember to take your Lipitor.

If you put gribenes in the center of your matzo balls, as my grandmother sometimes did, that's called matzo balls mit neshomes ("with souls"). I've also heard of using a bit of chopped liver that way.

WOW! OK, who knew? Thank you for posting that because my mother never did that, but I never realized that the reason was because it's an Ashkenazi recipe. There are a lot of other things my mother didn't make including matzo balls (she made them when I was older but learned from friends not from her own tradition).

Funny thing, I'd heard about rendering chicken fat as an adult but never thought to ask my mother about it... probably because it sounded like something I didn't want to mess with LOL!

Thanks for posting that, I'm pretty sure I will never do it though, the last thing I need to do is get addicted to something like this! However, I'm going to keep those instructions, because you just never know!

lowspark, go ahead and do it. Your house will smell HEAVENLY. Put the schmaltz in a little jar or refrigerator container and keep it in the freezer door. You can scrape off a little at a time, or thaw and refreeze the whole thing repeatedly.

Don't tell anyone else about the gribenes -- YOU eat them. Cook's treat!

OK, this may be a stupid question but.... where do you get 1 lb of chicken fat?

lol!
Well, you could save it up in the freezer until you have enough. I think that's what most people (including me) do. Or you could make half a recipe if you get impatient.