Very Secret Chicken Soup with 3 Secret Ingredients

Shhh! Don't tell anyone. I'm about to divulge an ancient family secret. I only dare publish this recipe here, because my mother doesn't know how to use the internet!

One Hour In

Taste this version  and you will never want to order from a restaurant or deli again.

The reason why? Secret ingredients one and two! They are very expensive and hard to come by: Time and Patience!

It doesn't take long to put the ingredients together, but the flavors wake up most richly over hours and days of simmering.

Another important note: get your beef and chicken from a Jewish butcher. Did I say beef? Yes, that is the 3rd secret ingredient to "chicken" soup. Beef.

Sniff Test

Here we go.

1 whole Soup Chicken (throw out heart & liver)
1 piece of Flanken (I don't even know what this is, but ask for it at the kosher butcher when you buy the soup chickens). If you can't get flanken, use beef short ribs instead.

Clean all the chicken and meat in hot water. Put in a very large stockpot.

Add all of the below in chunks:
1 large peeled onion
1 peeled parsnip
1 peeled turnip
3-4 celery stalk
bunch of parsley
bunch of dill
bunch of leeks (rinse these very well and remove outer layer, for they can be sandy, and you do not want any grit)
Add 3 quarts of water per chicken.

I usually double the above recipe.

You'll notice that there is no salt included in the recipe. We've found it best to salt individually per taste/bowl. Also, the key here is simmering. Too little and the soup will not be rich in flavor. The soup is ready when it is truly a golden yellow color.

Five Hours In- the color is nearing perfection...

Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 3 hours, until all the meat and vegetables are tender. I prefer to let this simmer longer (4 or 5 hours).

Let soup cool. Remove all the meat, bones, and vegetables. Strain the soup from one pot into another, repeatedly, until the soup color looks clear.

Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, remove most of the fat from the tap of the soup. Reheat until warm. Can be served on this, the 2nd or 3rd day, or frozen.  Use as stock, or serve with matzoh balls and egg noodles.

4-Step Salmon

There's rarely a morsel of this salmon dish left when we serve it, but everyone always demands the recipe. I'm usually reluctant to give it out, because once people hear it, they cease to be amazed by me. It is ridiculously easy. Only trouble is that sometimes Macadamia Nuts can be hard to find. An annual Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve favorite!

Honey
Salt
Macadamia Nuts
Salmon

1. Marinate salmon skin side down in honey.

2. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

3. Cover with crushed macadamia nuts.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Wine Chicken

This chicken dish is another simple, easy, long-time Kramer/Schachner favorite. The wine based gravy keeps the chicken incredibly tender.

Sprinkle chicken with paprika. Be very generous with the amount of paprika you use (I find the more the better). Brown chicken (with skin on) until skin pops and sizzles under the broiler. (Don't forget to use the paprika on both sides).

Transfer chicken to a dutch oven. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano.

Combine 5 ounces of chicken soup, 2 ounces of water, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 3 ounces of Sauterne white wine, 1 TBSP of ketchup and pour over chicken.

The chicken should be mostly covered with the sauce. Double or triple sauce recipe as needed.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours until tender (with cover on). Remove cover for last 15 minutes or so.

[American Jewish Style, Italian American Made] Potato Latkes

The attached photo can make you famous. Seriously famous. I'm not a Jew. But, I married one. The hardest part of that has been to prove to my mother-in-law that I'm a worthy suitor for her daughter.

She was entirely unconvinced until I made these latkes. Now I think she likes me more than her own son.

Some tips:

• Grapeseed oil is a must. It gets very hot and the latkes don't soak up much. It's pricey but worth it. Do not substitute.
• Don't wait too long between when you take the shredded potato out of the water and frying. 
• Make your latkes small. While a large latke may be attractive, especially when it replaces the bread on a reuben, there's no denying that small latkes are better latkes. They dip in applesauce better. They dip in sour cream better. They don't break when you crunch into them. Admit it, you're already convinced that your latkes will be small.
• Speaking of applesauce, you will completely ruin the experience if you buy jarred apple sauce. Get over the fact that you must peel and chop a bunch of apples, boil them down for a couple hours, and then add some cinnamon. It's worth it just for the aroma your house takes for a half day, but even moreso for the latkes. 

Do it right and you'll be invited back to every party. Good luck!

Fanny's Banana Bread

The first night of Chanukah and Christmas Eve rarely coincide. This Saturday night will be only the fourth time since 1900 that the first night of Chanukah has fallen on Christmas Eve. As a humanist Buddhist Jew married to an atheistic mathematician, with Italian Catholic in-laws, a Food Jew Mom, an "ish" Dad, and kids more Jewish than me, the 24th is going to be a Pascal feast of latkes (potato pancakes), sufgoniyot (jelly doughnuts), at least seven fishes, ham, and many other long-served dishes from the extended Pascal/DeLucia family repertoire.

In honor of that, I'll be posting a couple of recipes that are traditional in my family.  Like in many families, the definition of family is actually quite complicated. Thus, one of my favorite  "breads" came from the woman who raised my father. Fanny McNair could never be categorized: while the family paid her as a "nanny," my father considered her first and foremost his mother. The first "Jewish" recipe is therefore not Jewish at all, but handed down through a Jewish family, originating with the most loving (Southern African-American) grand-mother I ever had.

Pre-kids we only made the bread with crushed walnuts. Now, with kids, we substitute chocolate chips for walnuts. When we make it for ourselves, we use both. The decision is yours.

One of the best things about this recipe is that it takes about 15 minutes to whip together.

Ingredients
Butter
Sugar
Flour
Baking Soda
Bananas
Walnuts
Chocolate Chips

Directions
Melt one stick of butter. Add one cup of sugar. Beat. Add two eggs. Beat again. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of sifted flour. Add one teaspoon of baking soda. Stir. Add 3-4 mashed bananas. Stir.

Add crushed walnuts and/or chocolate chips as desired.

Grease loaf pan generously. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Test with toothpick, which should not come out not-quite clean because of the bananas. Keep an eye (that's how my mother put it, but it's okay if you use two eyes) on the bread from 45 minutes on. Let cool in pan. Use knife to loosen edges and flip over to remove.

Unginettes

...where  the  heck  did  I  get the  recipe...from  my  Mom,  who  got  it  from  either  Aunt  Rae  or  Bubba....when  Joe  and  I  got  married,  I  remember  Grandma  D.,  Aunt  Rae,  Aunt  Jule,  Aunt  Doe  and  Aunt  Carm  and  even  Aunt  Kitty  and  Aunt  Becky  and  my  Mom  in  Gram  D's  kitchen  making  a  zillion  of  these.  They  made  them  a  different  way,  the  rolled it  into  a  long  (about  3  inches)  piece  of  dough  and  then  rolled  it  around  their  finger  until  it  made  a  little  hill  looking  thing,  for  me  too  much  trouble,  rolled  it  in  a  ball  and  it  looks  and  tastes  the  same.
These  are  classic...a  strong  reminder  of  weddings,  and  all  celebrations.  Everyone  loved  them,  good  to  dunk  in  coffee.


Oven  350  degrees     bake  for  about  1/2  hour  or  until  light  golden  brown


12  eggs
12  teaspoons  baking  powder
1  cup  oil  (Not  olive)
1  cup  sugar
1/4  teaspoon  salt
big  tablespoon  of  anise  oil
6  or  more  cups  of  flour


Beat  eggs  unmercifully
add  sugar  and  beat  until  it  gets  smooth  and  lemonly  looking
add  oil  and  beat  some  more
add  anise  oil  and  beat  some  more
add  4  cups  flour,salt,baking  powder  and  beat  again
then ,  stir  in  the  rest  of  the  flour( 2  cups)  with  a  biggggggggggg  spoon
then  add ( if  needed) additional flour  a  little  at  a  time  until  the  dough  is  not  sticky  but  not  hard.
roll  in  balls  the  size  of  walnuts
place  on  a  greased  baking  tin
Bake  and  when  cool...ice  with  powdered  sugar  icing.

Icing

powdered  sugar and  water....  add  water  to  the  powdered  sugar  until  smooth  and  not  runny

Cin  Dun

Pizzelles #2? Or are these really #1!

Not sure if this is being posted before or after the other Pizzelle recipe. But let me tell you how my Grandma made them.

I was fortunate enough to inherit Grandma Katherine's Pizzelle iron (along with one of her many, many stovetop coffeepots). Apparently the iron was purchased in 1982 at Berarducci Bros in McKeesport. The instruction book cover tells you how to pronounce pizzelle: "Pitts-L-A".

The reason this recipe and the iron are important to me is something my first cousins and siblings will all well understand: Grandma had a cookie drawer in her kitchen. It was at eye level (when we were 5 years old) so even as a little kid you could get into that thing. I remember four cookies she always had stocked: pizzelle (in a Chock'Full'O'Nuts coffee tin), nut rolls (also in a tin), and fig newtons and Oreos (she kept these in those old tall/oblong Tupperware pitchers if you can envision that - just the right size for a package of Oreos).

You eventually learned how to ask "May I please go use the cellar potty" just so you could walk through the kitchen and snag a few cookies. I swear my parents must have thought I had a bladder problem.

On top of the memories, these pizzelles are just really good. And the aroma when you're cooking them - RIDICULOUS. Now, there are a lot of variations on the recipe, but I prefer the "Thick" recipe the best - this is what she made, and what I and the cousins remember best.

(This sheet has 10 recipes.........) (... but this is the one I use)

Thick Pizzelles

6 eggs (beat)

1 1/2 cups sugar, add gradually to the eggs

Add in: 1 cup melted shortening/Oleo/Crisco

Add in: 1/2 tsp anise oil and 2 Tbsp anise seeds

Mix dry ingredients: 4 cups flour, 2 tsp B.P. (baking powder), 1/4 tsp salt

Slowly add dry ingredients to egg mixture

Chill this, covered in the fridge, "at least 2 hours or overnight or several days".

Make sure iron is very hot before using. Spoon out 1 heaping tablespoon of batter for each cookie in the iron (assuming you have a large one), slowly close the iron and hold closed for about 1 minute. You'll probably want to throw out the first couple pizzelles - they may burn a little.

Every iron/batter batch is a little different, so the amount you spoon/the time it cooks will vary.

Equipment: You need a good pizzelle iron. I think one reason mine turn out well is because the iron is OLD, HEAVY, and HOT. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Variation: Swap out the anise seeds with orange zest and the anise oil/anisette with orange oil.

Variation: "Easter appropriate" - a friend said she makes a different version, I need to get that and post it. Different flavoring I assume.

Note to Chef: The key ingredient as lots of anise seeds. And maybe a dash of annisette for the cooks!

Variation: "Thin" recipe (Same order of addition as before):

12 eggs

3 cups sugar

2 cups melted shortening

3/4 cup anisette liqueur

4 Tbsp anise seed

4 cups flour, 4 Tbsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt (I am thinking that this was a typographical error and should be 4 teaspoons baking powder)