Kosher Cuisine Show #7 – Intro to Passover. This is the original script for the show. Some of the non-essential text may have been edited out of the final version that aired on Community Radio due to time constraints. Other parts have been edited out to compress the podcast into Bandcamp track file size limitations.

First Segment

Hava Nagila Music Intro [35 seconds then fade…omitted]

Hello, everyone! This is Leah Kiser and you’re listening to Kosher Cuisine on Community Radio. This is a show about food safety, international kosher recipes and amazing music from areas around the world. I hope you enjoyed last week’s live show with local food activist Jeremy Porter. This week we’re going to return to our regular series on Jewish holidays and look at Passover.

Passover is the biggest holiday on the Jewish calendar. And it is also the one holiday that causes the most problems between different sects of Judaism. The observance of most other holidays is fairly indistinguishable for most households. There are some differences in the wording in the prayer books, some different traditional songs, a few favorite recipes. But Passover is a whole can of worms. The differences between the Eastern European Ashkenaz traditions compared to the traditions of the Mizrahi who basically never left the middle eastern countries and the Sephardi who settled the ring around the Mediterranean Sea as so vast that marriages between Ashkenaz and Sephardi are often referred to as “mixed marriages.”

There is such a wide gulf between the two traditions regarding Passover than often, if an Ashkenaz person marries a Sephardi person, the Ashkenaz person’s family will refuse to eat at their home. Or if they do come, they will literally bring their own pots and pans and insist on paper plates and disposable plastic tableware. And that’s the best case scenario. It is not unheard of for ultra orthodox Ashkenaz patriarchs to command their family to shun the person who married the Sephardi, or even to outright disinherit them.

Now, to understand the difference, you need to know a little bit about the rules of cooking for Passover. One thing everybody agrees upon is the basic statement in the Torah that for the seven days of the festival of unleavened bread, no leavened grains can be found in your home. All leavened products must be removed, and you cannot posses or eat anything with leavening for the entirety of the festival whether you are at home or not. That is a direct commandment, but the question is: what counts as leavened?

Leaven, called chametz in Hebrew, is basically fermenting with yeast. Yeast occurs naturally in several species of grain products. If you bake then you know when everyday flours get wet, yeast grows. Judaism universally recognizes five species of grains that contain chametz naturally and must be carefully watched and made into products in a special way that avoids having them be wet for longer than 18 minutes. It is believed it takes at least 18 minutes for the leavening process to take hold. So the so-called “Kosher for Passover” products are carefully supervised to avoid this.

The grains that must be observed are: einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, and durum wheat which is what we would call regular bread flour, and also two varieties of barley. The other three species are spelt, rye, and oats which are also chametz, though they are not native to the Middle East. They do, however, appear to have leaven that naturally occurs. If you are gluten intolerant or have celiac disease, you will recognize this list of items as the “avoid like the plague” things that will make you sick. So you can think of Passover is a forced gluten detox every spring for ordinary people.

So, in the weeks before Passover, everybody’s house gets a thorough spring cleaning to remove every bit of crumbs and dust that might contain leaven from the home. And the night before Passover there is a ceremony declaring the home to be chametz-free and in compliance, ready to begin the festival. So far so good. Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi families agree on these points.

However, there are items called kitniyot which the Ashkenaz also forbid to be in the home or be eaten on Passover, but the Sephardi allow them. Kitniyot literally means “little things,” and refers to several other types of food, particularly corn, rice, lentils, and beans. Many include peanuts in this group as well. These foods are excluded from Ashkenaz tradition because of a concept called “marit ayin” – which basically means,”it looks bad.” Someone who wasn’t aware of what you were eating might think you were eating chametz because those items look like regular grain dishes when they are prepared. It is in line with the Ashkenaz custom of putting “a fence around the Torah,” – in other words, making rules more stringent than the Torah actually calls for, in order to keep people from accidentally making a mistake.

The Sephardi reject this reasoning when it comes to kitniyot, because those are not items you can generally leaven successfully, and they are a big part of Mediterranean cooking. The Ashenaz insist they are right, and consider the pots and pans and dishes and utensils in Sephardi homes to be unclean for Passover.

Regardless of which tradition you are part of, you have to have “Kosher for Passover” pots, pans, utensils, dishes and tableware. There are two ways to accomplish this. The first way is kasher all of your existing items. Kashering is a tedious process that involves immersing all your items in boiling water, or, if they are too big, you need to go over them thoroughly with a blowtorch, such as a crème brulee torch, to sanitize them and destroy every trace of chametz.

There are several types of items that cannot be kashered. Plastics cannot be kashered, because they are too porous and generally can’t withstand the kashering process. Stoneware, ceramic ware, and china also cannot be kashered because of the porous nature of the materials.

Because so many everyday items cannot be kahsered, you have to have separate, only for Passover, items that you box up and don’t use the rest of the year. And since kashering is such a nuisance, many people also buy sets of pots and pans for Passover – both meat and dairy – and also sets of dishes, meat and dairy, that are just for Passover and remain boxed up the rest of the year. Another option is to just decide you are only going to eat meat meals during Passover and only buy one dedicated set of pots, pans and dishes. Or, if you are vegetarian, you might decide to go only dairy or parve. That cuts down on the amount of separate things you need.

And if you have completely separate kitchenware for Passover, you don’t have to kasher anyting except your actual kitchen, because of a neat little rule that says if something has sat unused for a year, it is no longer meat or dairy but has become neutral, meaning parve. All you need to do is wash everything and you’re all set, no kashering of cookware, dishes, or utensils needed. Thank God!

And an added bonus for Passover – at this time of year there are lots of items available that are gluten-free that are not available at other times. Cake mixes, gluten-free matzah meal (which I use for meatloaf all year round) and other items that I stock up on so that they last until the next Passover shopping season. And the very best thing about Passover? Real Coca-cola. No, really. Corn Syrup is a corn product, and is therefore not permitted to Ashenazi people during Passover, so in order to avoid losing business during Passover, Coca-Cola makes special batches of soda that use the old sugar recipe instead of the cheap corn-syrup crap they sell the rest of the year. These batches are rabbinically supervised as certified as kosher for Passover. Unless you regularly shop in Latino groceries, you may not have tasted what real Coke tastes like – it’s way, way better. And once you taste what real soda is supposed to taste like, you will never like the cheap corn syrup crap again, trust me.

But anyway, what we’re going to do for our Passover theme is to have two separate shows – today’s show has gone over the basic rules of kashrut for Passover and will talk about some well-known Ashkenaz recipes. These are probably things you have heard of, because until relatively recently, the Ashkenaz were the main sect of Jews that settled in the United States. We’ll play some modern versions of some classic Passover Ashkenaz songs, too. Next week, we will look at Sephardi recipes and our theme for the food and music will be – you got it, Egypt!

Part of the liturgy for Passover involves retelling the story of the Exodus from Egypt. So our first song today is one that was made famous when it was used as a spiritual in the US during the pre-civil war days by slaves in the South. This version appears on a CD called “Celebrate Passover” and is by Alen Eder. As you may have already guessed, it is called “Go Down Moses.”

[Track 3 – Let my people go… ]


Second Segment

Welcome back to Kosher Cuisine! For today’s first Passover recipe, we’re going to look at a dish that is so traditional, it is generally included as part of the Passover seder, or liturgical meal. Though there is no part of the seder that actual talks about gefilte fish and gefilte fish is not mentioned in the Torah, there is nearly a 100% probability that you will find it on your seder plate in an Ashkenaz home for Passover.

Now, you might be thinking – hey, I know what you’re talking about! I’ve seen the jars of gefilte fish in the international section of my grocery store, with the kosher stuff. Oh, no. No, no, no. That stuff in jars is hideous. The relationship of the stuff in jars to real gefilte fish is rather like the relationship between hot dogs and filet mignon. Seriously. Kids eat that stuff because they don’t know any better. I can’t figure out what excuse adults have. It’s tasteless and icky. Especially cold.

Honestly, if making your own is too time consuming or you are afraid of messing it up and dying of embarrassment in front of your Passover guests, then at least buy the frozen pre-formed kosher-for-Passover loaves of gefilte fish. They even come in gluten-free versions. I’ll tell you how to jazz them up. First, ignore the package directions. Trust me on this. Don’t boil it. Take an onion and slice it into half-moon shapes and put them in the bottom of a baking dish with some vegetable oil. Save a few of the arced slices out. Run a bit of warm water over the frozen gefilte fish loaf for a minute or two so that you can remove the wax paper wrapper.

Take the unwrapped loaf, still mostly frozen, and place it on top of the onion slices. Now, generously sprinkle the top of the gefilte fish with onion powder. Next, sprinkle on a bit of garlic powder, a generous sprinkle of paprika, and a generous sprinkle of parsley flakes. Finally, place the reserved arcs of onion across the top, with some space between them – maybe six or eight slices. Finally, tear off a piece of wax paper and lay it over the fish loaf. Pour about ½ cup of water into the bottom of the pan, then cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 90 minutes. Remove from the oven, plate, and either chill, or slice and serve immediately. My kids prefer it warm or room temperature, but traditionally it is chilled and sliced and served when it is cold. You will need one loaf for each 8-10 people you are expecting to your Passover seder.

So that’s the quick and dirty way to make decent gefilte fish for Passover. But if you want REALLY good gefilte fish, then use this recipe. First, if this is for a meat meal, have ready a cutting board, knife and bowls that are dedicated to using to prepare meat meals for Passover. Similarly, for a dairy meal do the same. If you are going to make the gefilte fish and freeze it ahead of time, you will need to use kosher for Passover cookware in a kitchen that has already been kashered for Passover, so plan carefully.

The main ingredients are, of course, fish. You will need:

1 and ½ pounds of whitefish - filleted, finely minced, or ground in a food processor (any variety will do), preferably wild-caught.

1 and ½ pounds of pike, filleted, finely minced, or ground in a food processor. Alternately, use 1 pound of pike and ½ pound of salmon fillet, preferably wild caught. Do not use canned salmon at all. Don’t even think it.

You will need 1 large onion, grated finely or ground in the food processor

1 carrot, grated finely or ground in the food processor

6 eggs, preferably organic

¾ cup sugar, preferably organic e, or equivalent sweetener of your choice. Please don’t use aspertame, though. It is quite toxic, not to mention the aftertaste will ruin the dish.

Measure out:
1/8 cup of kosher salt
1teaspoon of garlic powder

And 1 ½ tablespoons of potato starch. Remember, corn starch is not allowed.

Now, the easiest way to mix all the ingredients is to use a mixer. So, combine all the ingredients above except the sugar and salt, and mix them on medium setting for 10-15 minutes or until thoroughly shredded and combined. Alternately, you can mix everything by hand, stirring vigorously until everything is evenly disbursed.

Take your mixture and refrigerate it overnight.

So, here is where I part company with the traditional recipe. The next day, form the fish into a loaf and basically follow the directions above for a store-bought frozen loaf, except you don’t need to add much water to the onions at the bottom of the pan. The baked gefilte fish, in my opinion, has a better consistency and a better taste.

But if you want to do it the traditional way, you will need:
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, sliced
And you will need to measure out:
2 tablespoons of salt
1 cup of sugar

And have filtered water ready to put in a pot. Using filtered water is important, especially if you live in an older home that may have lead in the pipes, and to remove harmful chemicals that are not good for you and will affect the taste of anything you are cooking.

Take a 10 quart pot and fill it with the filtered water about 2/3 full. Add the carrots, onion, salt and sugar and bring the water to a boil.

Remove the fish from the fridge, wash your hands and put on plastic food-handling gloves, otherwise your hands are going to smell like fish and it will take many hours, if not a day or two, for it to wear off.

Using your hands, scoop out handfuls of the fish mixture and press them firmly into oval shapes between your palms. When all the mixture has been made into these balls, drop them carefully into the boiling water. When the water has returned to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer – say, about 2 on a scale of 10, and let cook for 45 minutes for smaller ovals and about an hour for medium sized ones. Keep the lid slightly ajar to allow some steam to escape.

You can test them after about 45 minutes by removing one and cutting it in half. If it appears uniformly solid and firm, they’re done. Remove them with a slotted spoon from the water and let them drain and cool. You can either serve them immediately warm or at room temp, or chill them for use later.

By the way, you can also use this basic recipe to make tapas – fried fish balls. Heat your oil in a deep skillet or in a deep fryer. Use a melon baller or your hands to make small fish balls, pressed tightly. Drop the balls into the hot oil and cook until they are a deep golden brown all over. Remove them and let them drain on a towel. These are served warm. There are all sorts of dipping sauce recipes for them out there, or you can eat them plain. They are great either way. If you’re doing this for your seder, remember your skillet or deep fryer has to be kosher for Passover.

While you’re waiting for your gefilte fish to boil, bake, or deep fry, here’s a modern version of a well known Passover song from the Celebrate Passover CD by Craig Taubman & Laurence Juber called “Dayenu,” which means, “it is enough.” After that is a song froma different CD, called Shiray Tikvah – Songs of Hope. It is called Chariots and Horses. Now, it’s not what you’re thinking. This is actually a verse from Psalms, telling us we should not put our faith in chariots and horses. We should put our faith in God.

[Track 6 - Dayenu]

[Track 4 – Chariots and Horses...omitted]

Third Segment

Welcome back to Kosher Cuisine! No Ashkenaz Passover meal would be complete without the ubiquitous matzah ball soup. I am not a big fan of Ashkenazi style matzah ball soup – they usually serve plain matzah balls in plain chicken broth with a few sad little slices of carrot floating around. BORING. So we’re going to jazz ours up a bit.

Now, making matzah ball soup is a two-step process. First, you make the balls. You can do so a day or two in advance, and refrigerate them. Next you make the soup, and then ladel the soup over the warm matzah balls.

So let’s get started. You should know that I have tried making matzah balls out of gluten-free matzah meal instead of regular matzah meal, and it has not really worked out. The balls fall apart and you end up with something like chicken and dumplings instead of matzah ball soup. Not that it tastes bad, mind you, but it’s not what I was going for.

So if you’re gluten intolerant, you might want to ladel youself out some of the soup before adding the traditional matzah balls to the bowls and set it aside. That way at least you can have a nice bowl of soup while everyone else is having the yummy gluten. Or you can just say, “what the heck” and gluten yourself. Either way – but don’t do that if you have severe symptoms. Pick your battles.

To make the about 18 small matzah balls, you will need:
2 large eggs
2/3 cup kosher for Passover matzah meal
1-2 tablespoons of chicken broth (kosher for Passover), or filtered water
1 tablespoon of schmaltz, which is rendered chicken fat, or you can use vegetable oil or shortening

And measure out:
¼ teaspoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of poultry seasoning, preferably organic
A pinch of salt, and a pinch of black ground pepper.

Now, you may have noticed that this is a similar dough to biscuits. If it’s not Passover, you can use your favorite drop biscuit recipe using the schmaltz instead of shortening, with the added poultry seasoning, and you will be fine. For Passover, though, you need kosher-for-passover matzah meal.

Take the matzah meal and using a fork, press in the schmaltz or vegetable oil or shortening until the matzah meal. Combine thoroughly as you would for biscuits. Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl, then add the matzah meal, all the seasonings, and the baking powder. Stir until smooth. If the mixture is too dry, you can add a bit of the chicken broth or water until it is a consistency just firm enough to hold together into rough shaped balls.

In a large saucepan, bring filtered, salted water to a boil and reduce the heat to barely a simmer, about 2 out of 10. With wet hands, take a heaping teaspoon of the matzah mixture and roll it between your palms into a ball. It will be fairly soft, but if it is too loose and doesn’t hold together at all, then add a bit more matzah meal and stir again.

Gently drop the matzah balls into the simmering water. When the pan is not yet completely full, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until they are firm. Remember, these are going to pouf out a bit, so they need a little room to expand.

If you are going to use them shortly, cover and keep them warm on low in their cooking liquid until ready to put into the bowls. Some people put them in the oven on low heat, to get them out of the way. When it is time, put them into serving bowls and then ladel the hot soup over them.

So, now we will turn our attention to the soup. As I mentioned, for most Ashkenaz households, they will simply boil chicken broth with a bit of sliced carrots and maybe some onion slices until the carrots are tender, and then ladel that over the matzah balls. I am not a big fan of this method. I like soup with some substance to it.

So ask yourself, do you want a more hearty clear broth chicken soup, or would you like a quote-unquote creamier chicken soup. Remember, in kosher cooking you can’t use actual cream with a meat soup, but we can make a soup with a creamy consistency. I will give you recipes for both ways.

First, a more ordinary chicken and vegetable soup. This soup is often served on Shabbat in Askenaz homes as well, so it’s a good basic recipe to know.

You will need 2 pounds of diced chicken pieces, preferably organic. I like to dice up boneless chicken thighs, but if you prefer white meat by all means use that. Or you can mix and match. Be sure and use a clean meat cutting board and knife. Wash your vegetables in a dedicated food prep sink or a plastic bin designated for fruits and vegetables.

You will also need:
1 whole onion, peeled and diced
2 ribs of celery, including leafy tops, diced
1 small leek, cleaned and sliced into thin rings
1 bay leaf

½ pound of sliced carrots. Alternately, you can buy an 8oz package of julienned or crinkle cut carrots at the grocery store.

And you will need to measure out:
2 tablespoons of olive oil or schmaltz, which is rendered chicken fat
1 teaspoon of salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
And 10 cups of filtered water. If you don’t have a water filter you can use distilled water as a substitute.

In the bottom of your soup pot, warm your schmaltz or vegetable oil, and sauté the onion, celery, chicken, leek, and bay leaf until the onions are soft and the chicken is not pink in the middle. Add the water, and simmer with the lid ajar about 1 and ½ hours. You may need to skim the froth off the top of the water occasionally. Add the salt and pepper, and the carrots, and wait about 15 minutes more.

As an option, you can add a cup of cut green beans if you want a green vegetable in your soup, or even spinach leaves or kale leaves chopped into bits. It depends on if you are serving picky kids or not.

When the final simmering is finished, if your matzah balls are ready, you can ladel the soup over them and serve immediately. Or, if you are making the soup ahead, you can chill it and reheat it when you are ready to serve. This gives you a much tastier soup with more substance to it than the usual plain broth version.

But if you want less visible vegetables or don’t want a plain broth base at all, here is an alternative chicken soup recipe. You will need:

1 bunch of celery
3 potatoes
1 onion, sliced
¾ pound of chicken cutlets, sliced, preferably organic
7 cups of chicken broth, preferably organic

And measure out 2 tablespoons of olive oil or other vegetable oil, or schmaltz, and also salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the celery into chunks. Cut the potatoes into cubes. You can peel them or not – I never do, but some people don’t want the skins.

In an 8-quart pot, sauté the onions in the fat or oil until they are soft, then add the celery. Wait about 3 minutes, then add the chicken and potatoes. Now, add the broth. Bring the broth to a boil and simmer for about 1 and ½ hours.

Finally, using a kosher-for-passover blender designated for meat use, a similarly designated food processor, or a meat immersion blender – puree the soup. Chill until later and then re-warm, or ladel it immediately over the matzah balls and serve hot.

And while you’re waiting on your soup to boil, here is another song from the Celebrating Passover CD by Debbie Friedman, a modern version of Miriam’s Song. Miriam and her followers danced in celebration of successfully reaching the far side of the sea of reeds, escaping the Egyptian army that was chasing after them and was overthrown when the walls of water that had held steady for the Israelites to cross over collapsed when the Egyptians tried to follow. Enjoy!

[Track 7 – Miriam’s Song]


Fourth Segment

Welcome back to Kosher Cuisine! Now we’re going to talk a bit about the seder plate, which is the central part of the Passover meal. Traditionally it has six symbolic items on it. Usually, there is a very nice ceremonial platter with these items in the center of the Passover meal table, and each person has a smaller regular plate with the items on it so they can eat them as part of the liturgy before the actual meal is served.

The items are:

Maror – which is generally translated as “bitter herbs.” Usually, this is horseradish, but kids can use lettuce instead. Fresh grated horseradish will bring tears to your eyes it is so pungent. This represents the bitterness of slavery.

Next is Charoset , a dish representing the mortar used to build brick structures. The Torah says the Israelite slaves made bricks as part of their forced labor. The Ashkenaz generally make it this way: finely diced apples, chopped nuts, a dash of cinnamon, and sweet red wine or grape juice to moisten it. Some people add sugar, especially for kids. Sephardi add other fruits such as dates to the mix, and generally blend it so that it is more the consistency of applesauce than of a fruit salad, as the Ashkenaz prefer.

Karpas is a vegetable dipped into salt water, representing the tears of the oppressed. Usually, sprigs of parsley are used, though kids are often given small celery sticks in place of the unfamiliar parsley. If you have a particularly picky eater, you might give them some diced roasted potatoes instead.

Z’roa is in the center of the seder plate, usually only the ceremonial one in the center of the table. It is a piece of lamb or goat shank bone, roasted. If you don’t have lamb or goat bone you can use a chicken bone instead. This represents the required offering at the Temple on Passover, the sacrificial lamb. Vegetarians substitute a roasted beet, which leaks red juice similar to a lamb’s blood.

And finally, a Beitzah – which is a roasted hard boiled egg. This is the symbolic substitute for the lamb which everybody does actually eat – there is one on everybody’s small seder plate. The reason for this is that the Torah requires the actual Passover Lamb to be sacrificed at the Temple Mount and nowhere else. So as long as we cannot yet rebuild the Temple, we cannot properly eat lamb, so the egg is used in its place.

You will also need a ceremonial plate with three pieces of matzah in the center of the table, and at least one large serving of matzah for everyone at the table for their own plates.

There is one last thing that appears on many non-orthodox ceremonial plates, an orange. Orange slices are given on the individual people’s plates as well. The reason for this is, umm, to snub the orthodox. No, really. It represents the participation and equality of marginalized groups in orthodox Judaism, such as ethnic minorities; women, who are not allowed to read Torah or participate in orthodox weekly Sabbath services or any holiday (yom tov) services; and also LGBT people, whom most of the orthodox shun. Some groups also include an olive on the seder plate, to symbolize peace in Israel.

According to tradition, there will be peace in Israel and throughout the world when the Messianic Age begins. But prior to that, the prophet Elijah is supposed to reappear, to turn people’s hearts soft and prepare the way for that peace to occur. So the last song we will play today is from the Celebrate Passover CD, by artist David Broza, and is about our longing for Elijah to get on with it so we can all have peace. And what then? Well, from the Shiray Tikvah CD, another Psalm, called Gazing on the Beauty.

[Track 9A – Eliyahu HaNavi]

[Track 9B – Gazing on the Beauty...omitted]


Thank you for listening to Kosher Cuisine. Next week we will have some more great international food and music and we’ll talk a bit more about food safety and kashrut.

This is Leah Kiser wishing you Sabbath peace, this week and every week. Shabbat Shalom.

[Hava Nagila fade…omitted]