Lessons for the kitchen from a 3 day YT

shalhevet

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:10 pm

Although in EY we have 13 months until the next 3 day YT, I thought I'd start a thread of hints/ what (not) to do for everyone's reference (especially since the chutzniks have the next run in two weeks time). So here goes:

I forgot to buy milk, because I had it in my head that there's no time for milchigs, and forgot everyone wants coffee before shul early in the morning (BH a neighbour lent me an hour before YT).

I brought the soup to the table on Friday night and smelled it was sour. Making it on Wednesday and then heating it up by putting it on the platta (rather than bringing it to boiling on a gas flame) wasn't good for it. I usually heat up soup like this on YT but not after being in the fridge for 2.5 days. Also it was very hot here.

Karnash

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:17 pm

I liked Tamiri's idea (on a different thread) of using the crockpot all 3 days - one day for a potted roast, and next for a stew or potted chicken, and finally for cholent. Fresh food every day with little fuss and takes some of the pressure off pre-chag preparations.

Tamiri

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:18 pm

Karnash wrote:

And leaves the oven not fleishig!!!

SJcookie

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:24 pm

Call me crazy but all of the food I made on Weds tasted fresh until Shabbat Question

I kept it nice and simple and veered off the menu that I shared in the menu thread.
Yummy homemade challah, several dips & salads, vegetable stirfry, couscous, garlic spiced potatoes & carrots, chicken, and beef.
Dessert was fruit, tea, store bought osem (awesome!) cakes, & ice cream.
Dinners & lunches were meat, alternating between chicken & beef. 1 lunch was dairy. Fish was served only on Shabbat (we follow the minhag not to eat fish on RH).
Though I should add that we were invited out for two of the dinners...so essentially, we only had 1 dinner and 3 lunches @ home.

Next time I'll aim to have all the lunches be dairy LOL

Last edited by SJcookie on Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:26 pm; edited 1 time in total

shabbatiscoming

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:26 pm

Remember to buy enough fresh vegetables. Somewhere after the second or third meal, I realized that we were not going to have enough cucumbers for all of the meals for a fresh salad. And I bought a LOOOT of them. So next year I have to remember that enough is never enough.

Check the chalot as you buy them. A relative brought two chalot with her for the chag and two ended up being moldy so we were short a challah. Thank goodness a friend lent us two challah rolls.

Tamiri

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:29 pm

Our dinners were actually dairy. After the challa and simanim, no one is so hungry for heavy food. particularly when chag is so late. Therefore, this year we went with chalavi and I think it was a success. One of the quiches I made was with leeks, so there was a good siman right there!
We had challa with honey, apple with honey, beet salad, carrot salad, pumpkin+spinach salad, fish, rubia, dates, leek quiche... am I forgetting something? After that, there isn't too much room for "real" food. Finally, with nearly 30 years of marriage under my belt, I am learning!

SJcookie

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:31 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

I know this may sound odd, but I learned this tip from my Mother:
unless you're using it all on the same day, always refrigerate your bread. I do it, and my loaves (sliced bread, pita, challah, etc.) last me 2 times longer than if they were sitting in the kitchen at room temperature.
With my challah: I put it in the fridge or freezer, taking it out several hours before the meals, tightly wrap it up in foil, & then heat it up on the platta. Tastes delicious every time!

shabbatiscoming

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:32 pm

SJcookie wrote:

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Not weird at all. Thats what we did with the rest of the challah as soon as we saw that there was mold on the other ones.

Raisin

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 5:42 pm

I freeze all my challos after baking and take out as needed. I take out more for lunch then we need since you can't prepare in advance for night meals. Make small challos - people eat less challa.

plan food for said night meals that heats up quickly or can be eaten cold. Or heat it earlier for hungry children maybe.

I did pretty well. Not too much wasted food. I made a ton more desserts then I really need but that means I have a headstart on sukkos. I didn't bother making honey cakes, everyone loved the honey cookies I made.

People don't really like ratatouille, but they do like roasted carrot soup.

etky

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 6:33 pm

I'm a big believer in cooking in advance and freezing, especially things like soups, kugels, challot and cakes. I make myself a list before a long chag/shabbat like this specifying what I should take out of the freezer and when. I print it out and hang it on the fridge, next to my menus. I consult it several times a day, especially before I go to sleep so I know I'm not forgetting to take out a crucial component of the next meal.
I also totally baked too much but at least I have a leg up for Sukkot as Raisin said.
My big hits this year were the corned beef and the meat lasagna and the chocolate bark that I made as an afterthought.

Tova

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 8:59 pm

shalhevet wrote:

Me too. My yummy yummy thick vegetable-meat soup. It was great first night of Y"T because it was heated on the stove and then transferred to plata. I didn't serve at all 2nd night Y"T because I knew it didn't have time to heat up between the zman I could do melacha and the meal. But Friday afternoon I put it on the plata at 4:15 pm and BIG MISTAKE - by the time I served it, with company to boot, it was perfect temperature but sour :-(. At least I took some for myself (was gonna skip the course but at the end took a small bowl) so I was able to say STOP at the table or else everyone would have eaten it to be polite. I really hope what I have in my freezer is still good (it should be, right, if the problem was with my heating up method and not the soup itself.

a1mom

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 10:35 pm

serve a good lunch on erev chag- Everyone was alot less kvetchy and didn't bother me the rest of the day while I finished cooking/prepping.
Friday night no one is hungry- serve one course and ices for dessert.
plan lettuce salads for the first couple of meals, after that serve salads that can be served at more then one meal- people eat less as the yom tov goes on.

Save a new toy for friday night- my kids where getting bored so I pulled out some new dress up clothes- it kept them busy all shabbos.

pause

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 10:38 pm

Have potatoes on hand for unexpected guests. They can be made into mashed potatoes for a side dish or added to the cholent to create more.

Warm up the challa from eruv tavshilin the second day of Y"T so that Shabbas it doesn't taste old and dried out from defrosting in a bag on the counter.

Fabulous

Sat, Sep 07 2013, 11:03 pm

a1mom wrote:

this! Everyone sat down to eat around 2:30 and it made for much more smooth sailing bh.