Attention Food Editors - some suggestions

rosenbal

Mon, Apr 06 2015, 11:59 pm

The "mustard" I got this year wouldn't even dissolve in the dishes I made ...not even in a overnight meat I cooked (it was still in chunks in the sauce the next morning...) My husband also had to "borer" it out of my salad dressing since it just wouldnt blend in! (Luckily it was Yom Tov and not Shabbos so he could actually do it.

Also, it was a disgustingly fluorescent shade of yellow.

Ugh. Gag. Otherwise my Pesach food was yummy and delish:-)

MagentaYenta

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 12:05 am

I can spice foods without the use of mustard or ketchup or duck sauce and find sweet meat dishes unappetizing. I just don't get all bent out of shape when it comes to cooking this time of year. I keep it simple, baked meats or fish simply spiced, some grilled veggies or fresh veggie salads. It's slightly different than the way I cook at other times, but not very. Even when there was a houseful and guests I kept it simple.

naomi6

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 12:12 am

Thank G-d for the food processor -we bh make large roasters of kugel a few times over Yom Tov and it's just as del as when we grated by hand. our parents did not have so much guest and large families to feed in those days

lifesagift

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 12:52 am

Ditto. My dmil had this mashigas of cooking klp chometz food. Wed have breaded schnitzel, lukshin kugel, apple kugel.. And she doesn't brok. Was horrible. Now BH Shes too busy to potchke so she only cooks delicious meat with mashed potatoes.... Mmm

PinkFridge

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 10:32 am

ra_mom wrote:

In general I find alternative recipes. I don't need honey mustard over pesach. (Maybe because I'm a mustard snob and really prefer Dijon, I'm not even tempted to try imitation recipes.)
Which recipes do you use mustard in?

It isn't just using it as an ingredient, it's using it with, like with corned beef, etc. One manages to carry on, valiantly, though.

zaq

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 10:46 am

debsey wrote:

But what can you use instead of the "mustard" in the recipes that call for it?

Leave it out or use prepared horseradish and klp vinegar, lemon juice or citric acid for a similar tangy bite. The only thing you will miss will be the color, for which you can use klp turmeric if you can find it.

debsey

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 10:55 am

ra_mom wrote:

the pulled brisket from the Meon HaTorah cookbook, my corned beef in sweet sauce, and maple/mustard salmon. It is also in another meat sauce recipe and one or 2 salad dressings.
True story - my husband bought 2 bottles. I told him - I am not in general a fan of returning but give this stuff back!

zaq

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 10:55 am

In our house, Pesach is not spelled "ersatz chometz". Fake never tastes like the real thing and can only be a disappointment. Besides which, if we eat breaded schnitzel or blintzes or lokshen kugel all year round, how will having these things on Pesach make Pesach special? For the same reason, I do not make soaked-matzah dishes during the year, either, except possibly to test a recipe being considered for the following Pesach. The dishes I make for Pesach are for the most part made only on Pesach, and they are the real deal, no fakery.

FTR I am also philosophically opposed to fake tref. No fake crab legs made from red-dyed flounder or hamburgers with soy cheese, thankyouverymuch.

debsey

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 11:06 am

zaq wrote:

I won't miss the color. The stuff is day-glo yellow, like a yellow highlighter.

Chickpea

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 11:10 am

Amarante wrote:

You knew my Bubbe? Tongue Out

And when she measured for baking, it was an actual glass. I don't think she owned measuring cups or spoons.

Yes yes yes! My bubbe also used a glass to measure. I use a measuring cup, but my baking can't seem to come out as good as hers. Sad

ra_mom

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 11:54 am

debsey wrote:

Do the dishes even taste good?
I go natural with lemon garlic salmon, poached salmon, hot corned beef (or I use a brown sugar balsamic glaze or my MIL's apricot sauce on occasion), stovetop brisket warmed in its own gravy served as is or drizzled with 'teriyaki' sauce (at least I made it myself, know what's in it and it tastes good).

octopus

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 12:24 pm

lifesagift wrote:

if you do brok, then "breaded" schniztel actually tastes good.

5mom

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 12:31 pm

Chickpea wrote:

Yes yes yes! My bubbe also used a glass to measure. I use a measuring cup, but my baking can't seem to come out as good as hers. Sad

A regular glass? I remember my Bubby using a recycled glass from a yahrzeit candle. (Her nut cake used two full yahrzeiten of sugar.)

myself

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 12:32 pm

Chickpea wrote:

Yes yes yes! My bubbe also used a glass to measure. I use a measuring cup, but my baking can't seem to come out as good as hers. Sad

Well, I use a glass too Wink

and no, I'm not your Bubbe. LOL

Personally I'm always surprised to see so many people using the 'American' mustard... to me it doesn't taste like mustard at all, nor does it look like mustard. Mustard shouldn't be florescent, nor should it be sweet. Yay for Dijon! It's not always available though so sometimes we just have to do without.

zaq

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 1:03 pm

5mom wrote:

A regular glass? I remember my Bubby using a recycled glass from a yahrzeit candle. (Her nut cake used two full yahrzeiten of sugar.)

As did my mom. Her recipes were 1/3 glass this, 1/4 glass that, 2 glasses the other. When I noticed that tall Yahrzeit licht in faceted glasses had disappeared off supermarket shelves, I translated all her recipes into English units while she still had a couple of the glasses in her cabinet. When I was growing up, all our drinking glasses were from Yahrzeit licht. The idea that some people go out and buy new glasses for drinking was a completely foreign one to me. We didn't call those glasses "recycled" or "repurposed"--we assumed the manufacturers poured the candles inside reusable glasses as an incentive for people to buy the candles the way manufacturers will package other things in reusable "keepsake" boxes or jars to get people to buy the product inside.

Chickpea

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 1:28 pm

5mom wrote:

A regular glass? I remember my Bubby using a recycled glass from a yahrzeit candle. (Her nut cake used two full yahrzeiten of sugar.)

It was a glass from a jar of jelly.

Amarante

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 1:57 pm

Yes of course my Bubbe's "glass" was a Yahrzeit glass. If I take a second, in my mind's eye, I am back in her kitchen and hear her instructing me on the "measurements".

There is one item she made, that I have never seen anywhere else. I think she called it Blueberry Shtoonekes. In New Jersey, the grandchildren would pick the wild blueberries and bring them to her. The great summer treat. I tried researching and the closest I have found is that there is a specialty in the Toronto Jewish bakeries called Blueberry Buns but the articles say they are unique to Toronto and my Bubbe was in Brooklyn but came from Poland.

If anyone is interested in reading about the Jewish Blueberry Buns of Toronto, here's an article I found interesting - but I love reading about cooking and other social history because it's such a good way of understanding how people really lived.

http://journals.hil.unb.ca/ind.....#no10

MagentaYenta

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 2:22 pm

I grew up with Blueberry Shtoonekes in NJ. My dad was Polish and it was his specialty. Thanks for the memories. I found 5lbs of blueberries in the bottom of my chest freezer. They are next weeks baking project.

Sanguine

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 2:27 pm

Count me as a YES to a food processor for Pesach. It can be a smaller one (the ones that are a little annoying cause you have to empty the bowl so often) those are cheaper. Potato Kugel - Potato Kugel - Potato Kugel. Isn't that the main staple of pesach? Onions - Onions - Onions!! Salads - Salads - Salads Now if you don't use a FP regularly you may not appreciate all its uses but on Pesach it's an indispensable tool.

Now to the food editors... Thanks but no thanks. I make a few basic things that everyone loves to eat and I'm really not looking for all those interesting recipes. I manage to spend minimal time in the kitchen and not be stressed out to create caterer-quality dishes that seem like Chametz. I know there are people who really enjoy cooking and it's a pleasure to be a guest in their house, so I was just adding my personal feeling about Pesach cooking (and general cooking).

debsey

Tue, Apr 07 2015, 2:35 pm

5mom wrote:

A regular glass? I remember my Bubby using a recycled glass from a yahrzeit candle. (Her nut cake used two full yahrzeiten of sugar.)

Of course! All my Bubbe's pesach recipes call for "a glesseleh" of this or that. By "glesselah" she meant those short, thick glass yahrtzeit glasses. Those things were PRACTICALLY indescructable, and I still have a few.