Do you put out a very elegant shabbos meal?

amother

Coral

Tue, Jan 12 2021, 11:40 pm

amother [ Seashell ] wrote:

I wish we were fancier but I just do not have the energy and honestly my husband is so picky it would feel like a waste considering he probably wouldn't like it anyway.

We do not use china. I probably should start using my fancier set of dishes. I used to at least buy fancy paper plates but the cost was adding up.

Friday night:
challah
2 soups to choose from: chicken and vegetable
gefilta fish
shnitzel and one or two sides (kugel, quiche, rice et)
dessert

shabbat lunch:
challah
gefilta fish and salad
shnitzel and the same sides.
dessert

about once a month I'll make meat instead of shnitzel.

I should really look at what others posted for suggestions. Looking at our menu I see how lame it is.

Not lame!!! Do what works!!
I got fancier because my kids like it better that way

amother

Sienna

Tue, Jan 12 2021, 11:42 pm

Not elegant here. We're simple.
White tablecloth with heavy duty plastic cover
My silver is always polished at least
Nicer papergoods if I don't forget to buy

Homemade challah
Fish course with 2 salads and 1-2 dips:
1 salad is starchy like potato or pasta
1 salad is easy like cucumber, corn, tomato, or coleslaw
By day I add a fresh lettuce salad
Dip is always eggplant (I rotate diff types)
By day also an avocado dip
Fish is always gefilte fish either boiled or fried
Salmon only for YT

Soup course: always chicken soup (no instant powder- yuck)
Usually kneidlach
If not, noodles
No croutons because that's a pain

Chicken course- always chicken thighs, usually over rice (same pan)
I try to make a hot potato kugel, everyone really enjoys

By day instead of soup and chicken, just cholent. If I have guests I'll add a kugel or two and sliced deli roll.

Dessert is fruit by night, brownies or rugelach or ice cream by day.

I think it's too much food but it looks like I make less than others here.

I think my shabbos table is nice. People enjoy coming and we always have good food and easy conversation and pleasant company.
We also don't stretch our meal for hours. At first guests are surprised about it but they start liking it too. We sing a bit, divrei Torah here and there. No muktza talk or loshon hara.

amother

Smokey

Tue, Jan 12 2021, 11:47 pm

We're sefardi so salatim and dips are a very big part of our oneg shabbos.
Im also in shana rishona so its just the two of us for now Smile

I set the table with a crushed velvet tablecloth I bought during sheva brachos, I have a few diff colors. Set with china and pretty napkin rings too. I like to bake challah myself too

We have a minhag to make different brachos after kiddush- mezonos, haeitz, adama, shehakol. So I usually bake a cake for the mezonot or put out some bissli if Im lazy lol!, grapes, cut up cucumbers, and some candy for shehakol or egg salad.

Our oneg shabbos are my salatim so I make at least 5 diff types- chumus, tachina, matbucha, moroccan carrots/or moroccan beets, egg salad, potato salad, guacamole, grilled eggplant.. depends what im in the mood for

then we'll have moroccan fish with either salmon or tilapia/cod
then a soup and thats it! I never make meat friday night. either chicken soup, soup with sefardi meatballs, veggie soup... tbh we are never hungry for soup anyway. were both small

shabbos day dh likes cholent bc thats what he had in yeshiva so ill make cholent or dafina, or chicken on the bone with rice or potatoes. remember I can heat up gravy and stuff so it really makes a difference

I never grew up with desserts so usually we'll have sweets. and if im in the mood for a real ashkenaz dish, ill make potato kugel!

amother

Mistyrose

Tue, Jan 12 2021, 11:52 pm

amother [ Coral ] wrote:

Genuinely curious. Never heard of eating a mezonos and shehakol before hamotzi. Why?
It send like you are very into mesorah. Are carrots a mesorah food? Radishes with soup and radishes with liver?
No soda because of health? Why only grape juice until after fish?
I've never heard of these.

This is called a seudas d'Reb Chidka where you make kiddish, have mezonos make a noch bracha and then wash. He believed you need four seudas Shabbos so there are some people like us who do this. It's not very common but not unheard of. Some people jokingly refer to it as a shulem bayis seuda. There is also an inyan to make a bracha on the fish for its neshama which is a separate thing.

No soda and no dips because no mesorah for that. Only grapejuice until after fish because you are not supposed to mix something watered down with fish. Also with eggs btw, so no water or seltzer with eggs. Raddishes is just something we serve with soup and eggs not sure where that comes from something related to the word retach I think. It's typical in chassidishe homes. Carrots is a mesorah yes we hsve zeesa mayeren and then a carrot in the soup is a segula for yiras shamayim.

amother

Smokey

Tue, Jan 12 2021, 11:57 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

wow! interesting. sefardim have a diff. reason for the mezonos and shehakol before hamotzi
my dh explained it once, I think it has to do with making 100 brachos a day

PeanutMama

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 12:02 am

Meh.
White tablecloth with plastic on top

The candles are on one end of the table
Fake flowers in the middle
Regular fancy plates. I guess that what y’all call China lol.
Bakery challah from Korns (we get the mixed challah. The BEST.)
Gefilte fish and salmon
Dips

Soup with noodles sometimes I have matzo balls

No meat or chicken just kugel and farfel
(Idk how to make chicken)

Shabbos day

Same challah as above with dips
Fish and salmon again
Then cholent

#BestBubby

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 12:04 am

I always use china, silverware and glasses. My grape juice is in a crystal decanter.
Paper dinner napkins - no napkin rings.

Food is very traditional:

Friday night: gefilte fish with chrain & cole slaw, chicken soup, chicken & kugel & baked sweet potato
and pareve ice cream for dessert

Shobbos day: egg salad & veggie salad, chulent, deli meat, kishke & P. ice cream for dessert

I only have one or two dips - chummos, maybe matbucha.

And soda

Good Friend

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 12:18 am

We usually have guests on Friday night (not too many recently due to Covid) and make our shul kidush Shabbos day and that's out meal.
Friday night:
Salmon salad (no gefilte fish where I live)
Egg salad
Olive dip
Another dip like eggplant, matbucha or guacamole
2 other salads such as corn salad, pasta salad, coleslaw, etc.
(Rarely make chicken soup- people are too full for the main course when I make soup)
Chicken
Kugel or rice or both if we're having a big crowd
A vegetable like green beans or mixed roasted veggies
Dessert such as fruit and cookies, apple crisp and ice cream, etc.

For the Kiddush which is the Shabbos meal for 20-something people we do chamin (the Israeli sfardi men in our community take turns making that), eggs from the chamin, and I purposely make a lot of the dips and salads that I make for Friday night and serve them in the day, and a cake and fruit salad for dessert. (We live on top of our shul so it's easy to bring things from our house to the shul)

out-of-towner

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 12:21 am

amother [ Coral ] wrote:

Much like the concept of Simanim on Rosh Hashana, there is symbolism in much of the food eaten by Chassidim on Shabbos, it's not just Mesorah, or TRADITION to quote Fiddler on the Roof. There is a book on this, I don't remember what it is called but it explains everything on detail.

My husband wears a Streimel and I don't cook typically Chassidish food for Shabbos. But we are Makpid to have fish at every meal and soup at night.

chanchy123

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 12:40 am

I never thought we were fancy for using real dishes.
Anyhow, I use real dishes table cloth (simple) with no plastic, I don’t mind putting in a load of tables cloths on motzash. We have nice Corelle, designated for Shabbat, use glasses, regular flatware not silver paper napkins (sometimes fancier sometimes plain),
Friday night is usually soup (every week - chicken , pumpkin, zucchini, pea, etc) a protein (fish, chicken, or meat) two starch sides (usually potatoes in some form and rice or couscous or pasta) and an optional warm veg. side. We serve sweet drinks and water.
There is always desert - not always home made, can be ice cream or candy.
We usually have kiddush right after davening (at 10-10:30), herring and crackers mezonos some alcohol. Sometimes a cheese cake.
For lunch it’s more of a variety, in the days before COVID we’d usually only have cholent when we had guests. I only serve a first course (fish, hummus with meat, chopped liver, fried mazetim such as cigars, kubbeh, broccoli) if we have guests, otherwise it’s just salad and I guess what you Americans call dips (I’ve started serving dips at night too) hummus, schug, sometimes pesto, tepenad etc.
I serve meat, chicken, schnitzel and in the winter cholent (especially if we’re having guests) - I always serve another main dish besides the cholent). Two starch sides (also potatoes and rice/couscous etc - if I’m doing cholent sometimes it’s usually only rice/couscous), one warm veggie side, occasionally a store bought yerushalmi kugel - dessert.
I usually serve dessert on disposable plates even if we’re having guests.
Sometimes we’ll do bagels and lox or nice cold cuts and rolls or a Tex-Mex style meal to change it up (but now that my kids are older not as much because they eat a LOT).

On YT if we’re having many guests we’ll use nicer disposable dishes.

Occasionally we’ll buy prepared food, many times it’s just supplements.
I don’t like serving in pots at the table but I do if it’s only us and I’m too tired to transfer. I like using Pyrex dishes that I can use to cook, warm, and serve in.
Obviously on YT we do fancier

amother

Honeydew

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 12:55 am

Chassidish woman here. Born and bred in Lakewood. Young family.
I set the table with a white tablecloth and plastic on top. China for the adults or I recently got plain white Corelle that looks really elegant and I set that for everyone.

Friday night:
Store bought challah
Gefilte fish and usually salmon. Purple cabbage salad usually.
Dips served at the same time as fish.
Chicken soup and lukshin. Store bought lima beans.
Chicken from soup or baked chicken. Rarely meat.
Farfel, potato kugel.
No dessert
With guests, I'd add a salad and cooked veggie like green beans. Maybe do knaidlach. Definitely no chicken from soup and maybe two different chicken/meat dishes a little upgraded (stuffed capons for example). I'll also serve dessert.

Shabbos day:
Fish and dip courses same as Friday night.
Egg salad, liver, gala, sometimes salad
Cholent
Sometimes turkey cold cuts

For guests, for sure salmon and salad and more cold cuts and dessert.

We also do only grape juice during fish. After, water and selzer. On occasion and when hosting we will have soda.

As for dips. I did grow up with chummus and techina. My grandparents did not serve them. Then my aunt married a sefardi guy who likes to cook who introduced us to dips and wet took to it like fish and water. (Shakshuka, matbucha, schug) This was before they were so readily available in local groceries. Maybe we were the seeds that infected the rest of the Chassidish and Yeshivish world. Lol. We did have lots of bochurim at our Shabbos table and we did introduce them to dips.
I married a Chassidish guy that has some sefardi roots, so dips are really important to him too. We regularly have matbucha, chummus and babaganoosh or other eggplant dip. Sometimes we'll also have tehina or fresh tomato dip. Never ever a mayonnaise based dip. (Even the babaganoosh should be prepared with techina). Sometimes we limit the dips while trying to eat healthier. It's annoying, cuz the dogs themselves are healthy, but the amount of challah that gets eaten...

I think it's nice to learn from the cultures of our fellow Jews. Ashkenazim get to enjoy dips and sefardim, kugel.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 1:17 am

Hashem_n_Farfel wrote:

hey, I could've guessed u make farfel!!
sounds yum
I can give you easy chicken recipes if you're looking
chicken is a very forgiving thing to make

amother

Ruby

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 2:57 am

Yes. I create an extremely elegant table, every week, with beautiful tableware, flowers, etc. I do it for a few reasons.

Number one, I love doing it. It gives me great pleasure and allows me to express my creativity. (If you are following me in instagram you will see my weekly Friday stories of my table, but Im staying anonymous on here.)

Number 2, I am divorced. I want that my children should grow up having memories that their mother laid a beautiful Shabbos table, week after week, whether or not the week has been difficult or challenging, and that even though our home is not the same as others, with a Tatty at the head of the table, Shabbos is Shabbos......

I know that they appreciate it now too, as their eyes light up when they come to the table, but I am doing it to create something for their future....

amother

Ruby

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 2:59 am

amother [ Ruby ] wrote:

I forgot to add about the food, I try to create something different every week too foodwise, and imo serving on real dishes gives the food an elevated taste - the taste of Shabbos

essie14

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 3:07 am

I have a few Shabbat tablecloths, I use whatever I am in the mood for. Generally no plastic on top. They're all washable.
Real dishes, silver, glasses.
If we have company maybe cloth napkins in napkin rings.
Menu varies each week. We like variety. My kids like dips (not mayo-based). We live in Israel and can get tons of variety of dips. My toddler eats chumus and challah as her meal Smile

Homemade challah every week.
Soup only in the winter and even then, not every week and not always chicken.
We are not big fans of the "traditional Ashkenazi" foods.

Mayflower

Wed, Jan 13 2021, 3:22 am

I have a few nice tablecloths. There usually are fresh flowers on the table and I use "fancy" placemats that really enhance the look. Our china is quite simple but we have sterling silver cutlery to make up for it Smile

. Oh and nice napkin rings!

The food is nothing special - or I guess it is, but it's basically the same every week, so we got used to it:

Friday night:
- homemade challos with (either bought or homemade) dips
- salmon filet and smoked salmon on a bed of salad
- chicken soup with lokshen and knaidlech
- potato kugel, baked chicken, farfel and salad (sometime I add apple or lokshen kugel)
- dessert is usually ice cream, sometimes I make a crumble or chocolate mousse

Shabbos day:
- same challah / dips
- same fish
- eggs (when we have guests I'll serve with liver)
- chulent, potato kugel, salad
- same dessert

I tried changing menus to make things a bit more interesting, but my kids just want the usual so now I no longer bother.