Passover is Coming Soon

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6875265634/" title="jwc9377 by mesander2000, on Flickr" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img alt="jwc9377" height="480" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/6875265634_6bd9109c8c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br />Last night I attended a wonderful baking demonstration by Lori Shepard, chef and owner of a catering company called <a href="http://www.simplyscrumptiouscatering.com/">Simply Scrumptious Catering</a>. <div><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> <br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Above, you can see the demo table which had been painstakingly prepared by Lori (left) and Esther, our hostess. Throughout her demo, Lori fielded questions from attendees, who included novice cooks as well as those who were highly experienced. She showed a number of techniques, such as beating the egg mixture for a Mexican flan, folding the dry and then the wet ingredients into beaten egg whites (to prevent them from deflating), tapping a pan of cake batter before baking (to remove oversize air bubbles), and turning a cake upside down with a bottle in the center of a tube pan (to prevent the cake from sinking as it cools). Lori showed us an incredible variety of Passover desserts. Some were conventionally kosher for Passover; others were ultra-kosher, meaning they not only were free of flour, corn products, and leavening, but didn't even contain any matzo products. <br /> <br />Though I do not change dishes or remove any foods from my home or from my diet during Passover, I was fascinated by the demo. Passover, I believe, ties all Jews together, whether they are secular and minimally observant like me, or like Esther, who is highly observant. Esther reminded us that among many meanings, Passover represents the birth of the Jewish people. In her view, the careful and limited diet at Passover represents the care with which one feeds a newborn baby! <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6875268842/" title="jwc9381 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="jwc9381" height="480" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6875268842_9f05d92cec_z.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br /> <br />The ingenuity of Passover desserts also fascinates me. Without careful thought, what baked goods could be made without flour or leavening? And for those who keep kosher there's the added requirement that a meat meal (the usual choice for the Seder) include only non-dairy desserts. Well, in the photo above, you can see three classics -- left to right: sponge cake, carmel fudge torte (in Lori's extraordinary version), orange and nut torte with non-dairy frosting. Everyone was offered full-sized portions of every dish -- I opted for small bites, but we were made welcome to also take home what we couldn't eat. <br /> <br />My friend Abby is the master of the nut torte, but otherwise among the versions of these desserts, Lori's were far better than most that I remember. These three cakes, along with some extraordinary brownies, were waiting for the participants when we arrived; we also watched demonstrations and tasted several other baked goods. <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7021369097/" title="jwc9376 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="jwc9376" height="480" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7259/7021369097_561dfd3b1d_z.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br /> <br />Also on the demo table, were both basic and unusual ingredients for Passover baking. The usual: matzo cake flour, nuts, eggs, coconut milk (to substitute for heavy cream), lemons, and oranges. Unexpected: confectioner's sugar made without cornstarch; vanilla extract made without grain alcohol; specially handled chocolate and cocoa powder. For pie crusts, Lori makes her own graham crackers from Passover ingredients -- another unexpected item. <br /> <br />Lori's Simply Scrumptious Catering provides meals or pastry for weddings, family reunions, business meetings, holiday parties, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and many other celebrations. Menu choices include a variety of ethnic and American dishes; while she offers kosher catering, she also does lots of work outside this area.</div>

Passover is Coming Soon

Last night I attended a wonderful baking demonstration by Lori Shepard, chef and owner of a catering company called Simply Scrumptious Catering. Above, you can see the demo table which had been painstakingly prepared by Lori (left) and Esther, our hostess. Throughout her demo, Lori fielded questio…

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Cooking for Passover, 1478

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjD43kua4HIjtfBUr3AKD-iX5SfonIhdaviOyYOn6Oti2EVh3MEJ8z5pnZvsry1YG8uPrxQ56drz1sJTwZZiOw2EOMcqz6dBq9uBNvhcOfnNUqdg8KRSteVAV05QsZMTBXOFo0ur38DHEJ/s1600/washington-haggadah.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597007072704578482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjD43kua4HIjtfBUr3AKD-iX5SfonIhdaviOyYOn6Oti2EVh3MEJ8z5pnZvsry1YG8uPrxQ56drz1sJTwZZiOw2EOMcqz6dBq9uBNvhcOfnNUqdg8KRSteVAV05QsZMTBXOFo0ur38DHEJ/s400/washington-haggadah.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 372px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />I've read several reviews of a display of a hand-illustrated Haggadah from 1478 on display now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/arts/design/the-washington-haggadah-at-metropolitan-museum-of-art.html?pagewanted=1">Today's New York Times</a> included several illustrations -- this one of two women cooking for the Seder seems especially relevant to my thoughts on holiday cooking of difficult recipes as a way to preserve tradition and allow women to work together.

Cooking for Passover, 1478

I've read several reviews of a display of a hand-illustrated Haggadah from 1478 on display now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Today's New York Times included several illustrations -- this one of two women cooking for the Seder seems especially relevant to my thoughts on holiday cooki…

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Passover

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_7AKTfJVjBmoPjlDch5emb3D-SL3eA82pOKad6ilPPReQxdJw41z3lzathUfdMNrw-tafthqR7YtTQWf5LaExQKSqhVntsZyqhMx1Wuovm177qAZ_rIUrpGqGAIf0Kv3Z4GfDXTg8vA/s1600/passover5754.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_7AKTfJVjBmoPjlDch5emb3D-SL3eA82pOKad6ilPPReQxdJw41z3lzathUfdMNrw-tafthqR7YtTQWf5LaExQKSqhVntsZyqhMx1Wuovm177qAZ_rIUrpGqGAIf0Kv3Z4GfDXTg8vA/s320/passover5754.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I've written about Passover and other Jewish holiday food many times. One thought on the subject: there are so many traditional foods for which I use my food processor grating attachment. Grating potatoes for latkes or apples and nuts for charoset is very labor intensive if you don't have an automated device; I wonder how they became traditional. Carol suggested that the women in an extended family would gather to make these foods, thus sharing the labor and also ensuring continuity of the traditions. <br /><br />Also, grating or chopping allows one to effectively share scarce ingredients. Latkes use grated potato -- the abundant ingredient -- to extend the scarcer eggs. Passover is early in the spring, so any fruit our ancestors had would have been saved from the previous year. Besides resembling the mortar for the pyramids, charoset allowed many people to share a few apples, raisins, and nuts. Tsimmis used root vegetables to allow sharing a small amount of meat and dried fruit, if you had it. <br /><br />In ancient Israel, Passover was not quite as much a time of scarcity: the spring lambs would already be the right size to be sacrificed in the Temple. Later Passover became a time to give up one food: bread. So I don't think it's outside the holiday tradition to remember how lucky we are to have abundant food, as well as remembering the other messages of the holiday. <br /><br />Happy Passover!

Passover

I've written about Passover and other Jewish holiday food many times. One thought on the subject: there are so many traditional foods for which I use my food processor grating attachment. Grating potatoes for latkes or apples and nuts for charoset is very labor intensive if you don't have an automat…

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Passover Dessert

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQGhx7vmcxc1Rra2fxbXaKldMbqo7QjAgSP4hjdP6_7mWPqAHl1grh-vNhliNlSsh1d2YZFW1_8cxjTLDf8GOEN3hTfNls9ZSAKF-ZhbReQWsVrrXoOVbR93Lw5VNPAIpcOV_q3nEIX41/s1600/crisp1819.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454265132375301250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQGhx7vmcxc1Rra2fxbXaKldMbqo7QjAgSP4hjdP6_7mWPqAHl1grh-vNhliNlSsh1d2YZFW1_8cxjTLDf8GOEN3hTfNls9ZSAKF-ZhbReQWsVrrXoOVbR93Lw5VNPAIpcOV_q3nEIX41/s400/crisp1819.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3S_lFCfapn7IgYaY_M4cGmTxzwVLRH3WZ_85PABcBLxGl9UHPtl7HrneTpq4tp0YiXdiF1mMWJHIdpa1t2uMA5ZKHgZFg692Xep3yLw_l9_wa87-ClO9YsTRwMEC7i2mk9Uj4tf_xv9H/s1600/crisp1832.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454265122033631778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3S_lFCfapn7IgYaY_M4cGmTxzwVLRH3WZ_85PABcBLxGl9UHPtl7HrneTpq4tp0YiXdiF1mMWJHIdpa1t2uMA5ZKHgZFg692Xep3yLw_l9_wa87-ClO9YsTRwMEC7i2mk9Uj4tf_xv9H/s400/crisp1832.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Strawberry-Apple or Rhubarb Macaroon Crumble</span></b></div></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><b>Topping:</b></span><br />7 oz almond paste (about 1 cup) crumbled<br />1 cup sugar<br />2 large egg whites<br />½ cup matzoh cake meal<br />¼ tsp. salt<br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Fruit mixture:</span></b><br />3 lbs tart apples peeled, cored, sliced & sprinkled with lemon OR equal amt of rhubarb thin-sliced & blanched<br />1 lb strawberries, rinsed, hulled, sliced<br />1 ½ tbsp potato starch (or other starch or matzoh cake meal)<br />1 Tbsp sugar (or more as you like it)<br /><br />• In food processor, whirl almond paste & sugar. Add egg whites, cake meal, and salt. Process until mixture resembles wet cookie dough.<br /><br />• Toss fruit ingredients in large bowl. Obviously you can combine any equivalent quantity of rhubarb, strawberries, and apples as desired.<br /><br />• Spread fruit mixture in shallow 2 ½ to 3 qt. baking pan, greased. Pat topping over fruit.<br /><br />Bake at 350 degrees until topping browns, 40 to 45 minutes. Allow to stand before serving.

Passover Dessert

Strawberry-Apple or Rhubarb Macaroon CrumbleTopping:7 oz almond paste (about 1 cup) crumbled1 cup sugar2 large egg whites½ cup matzoh cake meal¼ tsp. saltFruit mixture:3 lbs tart apples peeled, cored, sliced & sprinkled with lemon OR equal amt of rhubarb thin-sliced & blanched1 lb strawberries, rins…

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The Seder

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2WPgNOvV8bSboZLeiYAWy-tMpHiD82QXoD1FhBbucDmLCvpDlrGA91hjnSF7nC5GQztMU26mP3e6oomv8SgZhigf_RBrFJ_l8YCvKt8UtpcdSSVtVW6s6zPhtYGpxBk5A_4_LOz1LbIA/s1600/seder1823.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454255573738114786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2WPgNOvV8bSboZLeiYAWy-tMpHiD82QXoD1FhBbucDmLCvpDlrGA91hjnSF7nC5GQztMU26mP3e6oomv8SgZhigf_RBrFJ_l8YCvKt8UtpcdSSVtVW6s6zPhtYGpxBk5A_4_LOz1LbIA/s400/seder1823.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Abby's Seder Plate, Wine, and Matzot:</div><div style="text-align: center;">Salt Water, Greens, Charoset, Horseradish, Bone, Egg</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGbUy0U2YgGgGDnK3i7eRzte9TZ-c8_kIuWZ_BOL3Uwb8GivX-jP3SdOQWzkXlY5HAxCtqhPLDegZV4MhiHDiZ45VVwfDxaClSORQzsIPVGfdCZZ9Rp0hywn8PSc4U3LI7aIk37k84Wc6W/s1600/seder1828.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454255560919319666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGbUy0U2YgGgGDnK3i7eRzte9TZ-c8_kIuWZ_BOL3Uwb8GivX-jP3SdOQWzkXlY5HAxCtqhPLDegZV4MhiHDiZ45VVwfDxaClSORQzsIPVGfdCZZ9Rp0hywn8PSc4U3LI7aIk37k84Wc6W/s400/seder1828.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Gefilte Fish and Egg with Horseradish</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqwfzAyMBRcr2CZxbkSMUjaejUK96yzmy697C0H4m0qeCIckEhXl4mLaaJQW_Zy3Gv0kJpBtqLQELFD0emy4UuUVVHwAL2ABnlwtop1Jsde91bLYRCiv8_TplW07fNDqO1OoFxdY9yMxt/s1600/seder1829.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454255554270956226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqwfzAyMBRcr2CZxbkSMUjaejUK96yzmy697C0H4m0qeCIckEhXl4mLaaJQW_Zy3Gv0kJpBtqLQELFD0emy4UuUVVHwAL2ABnlwtop1Jsde91bLYRCiv8_TplW07fNDqO1OoFxdY9yMxt/s400/seder1829.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Matzoh Ball Soup</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBU3Aw_tlhizFwYAEadUjuLjlafS2HihNGAMp_1qYhGU1wlFEPR1dngBhsw3486ALpV2N1SHKynAC-HmtSTS1dX7-DctZHJVeDzhHaa871cdB0i_-G9rdXMuPbwrPrYv5dBlYLr6JYO-SK/s1600/seder1831.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454255543244425906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBU3Aw_tlhizFwYAEadUjuLjlafS2HihNGAMp_1qYhGU1wlFEPR1dngBhsw3486ALpV2N1SHKynAC-HmtSTS1dX7-DctZHJVeDzhHaa871cdB0i_-G9rdXMuPbwrPrYv5dBlYLr6JYO-SK/s400/seder1831.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Brisket and Vegetables</div></div>

The Seder

Abby's Seder Plate, Wine, and Matzot:Salt Water, Greens, Charoset, Horseradish, Bone, EggGefilte Fish and Egg with HorseradishMatzoh Ball SoupBrisket and Vegetables…

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Gefilte Fish

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8SWXFYwVPZXzL8qQCC3bi6xAxwpLs-gTK6A69HF5RXQlHvoQeD-KVNGM7mV50wyz9F4gRoWHd4y_ZLWzE2OBIJSTAEMBqb3xvy3B-1Kj92CmP_zZw0NUeQ3TGpY5XLHFvG6OFojTG55w/s1600-h/sederplate2-06.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045219796993682962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8SWXFYwVPZXzL8qQCC3bi6xAxwpLs-gTK6A69HF5RXQlHvoQeD-KVNGM7mV50wyz9F4gRoWHd4y_ZLWzE2OBIJSTAEMBqb3xvy3B-1Kj92CmP_zZw0NUeQ3TGpY5XLHFvG6OFojTG55w/s400/sederplate2-06.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><br />Once a year we have a Seder for Passover -- it's coming up next week. And thus once a year, we eat gefilte fish. The jar from which I get the fish hasn't changed since my childhood, when my mother also served gefilte fish once a year for the Seder. I think of it as much in the list of ritual foods as its garnish of horseradish -- symbol of the bitter lives of the Israelite slaves in Egypt. As symbolic as the matzo with charoset or the parsley dipped in salt water. Much more traditional than the recently introduced orange, which symbolizes women being equal in all respects.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga54XKppkvsuse-OJjwqIT4T6C9IPPoEfTWr6rWgab0PCbTBq8vzrs4w45J8FmCUPuejvnpC5xBPkupxufWCmC0n6W6ySBxr60FoF5xGQTPfu9YVdZgUszBNSq_7PA-tpyGlh_BBrhw-Y1/s1600-h/gefiltefish.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451530927750674594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga54XKppkvsuse-OJjwqIT4T6C9IPPoEfTWr6rWgab0PCbTBq8vzrs4w45J8FmCUPuejvnpC5xBPkupxufWCmC0n6W6ySBxr60FoF5xGQTPfu9YVdZgUszBNSq_7PA-tpyGlh_BBrhw-Y1/s320/gefiltefish.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 239px;" /></a> Gefilte fish is the paradigm of Jewish food, and among the observant, was traditional for Friday night Sabbath meals as well as holidays. Although minced fish balls may play a role in other cuisines (such as quenelles in France) the preparation is mainly unknown in American non-Jewish households, and elicits a very dubious response from the uninitiated. Well, it does taste a bit fishy. But what does it symbolize? I wondered.<br /><br />Searching for how this dish acquired its ritual status I did a bit of reading. Obviously the word "gefilte" (which means "filled" as in mincing the fish with bread or other starch and stuffing the preparation back in the skin) has a Yiddish or German origin. Under other names, though, Jewish minced fish has a much older history.<br /><br />In the aftermath of the fall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, many of the Jewish customs for celebration of the Sabbath were established and documented in the Talmud and other commentaries. In this era, two reasons emerged to eat fish. First, based on traditions from Syria and from various mystery cults, fish was associated with the coming of the Messiah (a tradition later reflected by Christian symbolism). Second, fish was associated with fertility, "Jacob gave his children a blessing that they should multiply like fishes." Eating fish, however, conflicted with the commandment to rest on the Sabbath. Removing fish bones was considered unacceptable "work." During Talmudic times, therefore, minced fish served in a pie became a common Friday night dinner choice. (Cooper, p. 64-65)<br /><br />Fish, especially minced fish, continued to appear in Jewish history. In the 13th century, a Sabbath song declared "without fish there is no Sabbath." Medieval Jews in Spain prepared holiday and Sabbath fish with egg-lemon sauce. In the 16th century in Spain and Mexico, secretly-practicing Jews ate fish on Friday night; in 1488, the Inquisition accused a Jewish woman of making fish pies for Sabbath -- evidence of Judaizing. Modern Sephardic Jews in Turkey preserve some of these recipes. (Shostak p. 72, Gitlitz p. 232, Cooper p. 130)<br /><br />The carp was the traditional Jewish fish in eastern Europe: "it has been suggested that Jewish traders along the silk routes assisted in the dissemination of the carp throughout southern and eastern Europe. ... the really poor Jews in eastern Europe were offered cheap river fish, such as roach, tench, and chub, for the Sabbath, or even a piece of salted herring." In Germany, Jewish carp recipes appear in the late 18th and early 19th century -- including a reference by Heinrich Heine to his aunt's Friday-night carp in brown raisin sauce. (Cooper p. 171, 177)<br /><br />By the early 20th century, eastern European Jews had developed many recipes for what they now called gefilte fish. The dish was sometimes sweet, sometimes not. The use of sugar "followed the same boundaries as did the Polish-Lithuanian Yiddish dialects... there was a geographic belt of sweet gefilte fish wherever Hassidic communities settled." Pomiane, the observer of Polish Jews in the 1920s said, "On the Sabbath every observant Jew eats river fish." He described fish balls among other Jewish fish preparations -- he found them tasteless and added horseradish. (Roden p. 107, Pomiane p. 123 & 135)<br /><br />German and eastern European Jews brought these customs to America. A recipe for fish balls appeared in the first Jewish cookbook in America by Mrs. Esther Levy. During the early part of the 20th century, Jewish women evidently bought a fish every Thursday, kept it in the bathtub overnight, and turned it into gefilte fish on Friday. My grandmother and great-grandmother are said to have done this. Some time in the 1940s or 50s, kosher canned and bottled foods using Eastern European recipes appeared in American grocery stores. Families who retained the custom of Friday night family dinners thus had the option of traditional foods -- especially gefilte fish -- made instantly. Further, Jewish Americans now reflect their local food customs in the way they spice and prepare gefilte fish, though the fish balls may actually come from a jar -- for example, Southwest style gefilte fish served with salsa. (Levy p. 20, Nathan p. 144, Diner p. 195-196)<br /><br />My mother usually bought Manischewitz brand fish, though occasionally maybe one of the other brands. Her cousin had a kosher canning factory where one of the early mass-produced gefilte fish preparations were made in the 1940s or maybe earlier, which may have been the start of her choice to buy rather than make it. Exactly once, she made it herself. I remember her standing by the stove with a boiling pot. She didn't feel that the result was worth the effort, as I recall. Maybe my father didn't like it that much.<br /><br />I'm thinking about gefilte fish as I prepare for Passover, and also as I write my talk about "Who won the war between gefilte fish and chop suey?" The Jewish traders' role in bringing carp from China to Europe is a very interesting piece of information for this endeavor.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources: John Cooper, <span style="font-style: italic;">Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food</span>; Hasia R. Diner, <span style="font-style: italic;">Hungering for America</span>; Gitlitz & Davidson, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Drizzle of Honey</span>; Mrs. Esther Levy, <span style="font-style: italic;">The first Jewish-American Cookbook</span>; Joan Nathan,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Jewish Cooking in America</span>; Edouard de Pomiane, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Jews of Poland: Recollections and Recipes</span>; Claudia Roden, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Book of Jewish Food</span>; Patti Shosteck, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Lexicon of Jewish Cooking</span>.</span>

Gefilte Fish

Once a year we have a Seder for Passover -- it's coming up next week. And thus once a year, we eat gefilte fish. The jar from which I get the fish hasn't changed since my childhood, when my mother also served gefilte fish once a year for the Seder. I think of it as much in the list of ritual foods a…

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