With apologies to White Zombie and their 90’s classic that bridged metal and EDM, this is basically what my fiancé exclaimed when I first made Matzo Ball Soup for her a couple of years ago. Well, her exact words were “you’re more of a Jew than I am...what the f$@&?!” as she slurped away happily. Luckily, I found a quality recipe, and as I like to say, it’s not that much of a stretch because she puts the “ish” in Jewish (her family celebrates both holidays). I’m glad she has come into my life, as I have a reason to make this dish annually, and for many other reasons, of course. But, this year especially, because I wasn’t really in the holiday spirit. As I made the stock today and the smell of schmaltzy balls rolling in simmering water filled the air, while my girls played with a dreidel, my holiday juices got going.
So, below is the recipe I find to be the best (I’ve tried a couple of different ones out) with a few annotations for any of you first-timers. It’s the absolute chickeniest; and the matzo balls are out of this world. Take your time. Make your own stock. Slowly simmer the balls until they sink. If you do all of this, you too will feel like one of the “chosen people”...even if you forgot to add the dill, like I just did. Oy vey! Happy first night of Hanukkah!
Matzo Ball Soup
Adapted from Bon Appetit, Alison Roman
For the chicken, you can take the easy way out and get a pre-butchered one. BUT, you’ll need more wings and/or saved chicken parts. Plus, butchering a chicken that you won’t necessarily need for presentation is a good, free way to practice your butchering skills with no worries if you mess up. The original recipe called for parsnip. I forgot to pick one up over the weekend but had a fennel bulb sitting in the vegetable drawer. There was no real noticeable difference, so feel free to use either...or both. Finally, try and keep the breasts on top of all of the other chicken meat when making the stock. It will make it much easier when trying to remove them from the pot.
Chicken Stock
Chicken (4-5 lbs), cut into 8 pieces (and keeping the bones with the breast meat)
Chicken backbone and 2 extra wings (or 6+ wings totaling 1 lb of meat)
2 onions, quartered
6 celery stalks, rough chopped
4 large carrots, rough chopped
1 parsnip, rough chopped or a fennel bulb, quartered (or both)
2 shallots, halved
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
Fistful of parsley (including stems)
1 tbsp black peppercorns
Matzo Balls
¼ cup schmaltz, melted
3 large eggs, beaten well
¾ cup matzo meal
3 tbsp club soda
1.5 tsp kosher salt
Final Soup Ingredients
2 carrots, sliced ¼ inch thick
Fresh dill, minced
Freshly cracked black pepper
Butcher your chicken into 9 pieces (2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 breasts [do not make the breast cuts boneless] and remove/reserve the spine using kitchen shears). Place all of the chicken into a very large stock pot or dutch oven, along with all other stock ingredients, 12 cups of water, and a heavy pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
While the soup simmers, prepare the matzoh balls by pouring the cooled, melted schmaltz into the beaten eggs and stirring in the other ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
After about 20 minutes of simmering, remove the chicken breasts and set aside to cool. Continue to simmer the stock for another 2 hours. Meanwhile, remove the skin and shred the breast meat, returning any bones and skin back into the stock pot. Place the chicken in an airtight container in the fridge, reserving for final soup assembly.
Once the stock has fully cooked, pour through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing the solids to extract as much stock as possible. Discard the solids. At this point you can move right to soup assembly or cover and store the stock for later use.
When ready to make the soup, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a full boil.
Meanwhile, with wet hands, grab about 2-3 tbsp of matzo ball mix and roll into balls. When the water comes to a boil, drop the balls into the water and cover the pot. Return to a boil and reduce the heat to maintain a very gentle simmer, stirring gently once or twice to invert the balls. The balls will be ready in about 30 minutes when they sink below the surface.
Meanwhile, in a separate clean pot, bring the stock back to a boil, stir in the carrots and return to a simmer. After the carrots have simmered for about 5 minutes, taste the soup to see if it needs any additional salt or black pepper. When seasoned to your liking, stir in the reserved, shredded chicken, cover the pot and remove from the heat.
To assemble, ladle the stock into a bowl and gently place a matzo ball into the stock. Sprinkle with minced dill and freshly cracked black pepper.
________________________________________________ Copyright 2020, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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