Passover is Coming: Matzoh Ball Tips

Passover is coming very soon: Monday, April 10. I'm looking over my recipes and getting ready to cook. As I do so, I'll post a few ideas from past blog posts and other notes. A few years ago, I collected lots of tips on how to court failure with matzoh balls, repeated here. As for a recipe, I just use the one on the box of matzoh meal.

HOW TO MAKE TERRIBLE MATZOH BALLS

Matzoh-ball soup at my sister's Seder a couple of years ago.

1. Don’t let the dough rest long enough. The recommended 15 minute waiting time for the dough to condition itself is not long enough. If you wait only 15 minutes you will have hard matzoh balls, as the fat & moisture won't be absorbed enough. If you wait longer, the result will be better.
2. To make the matzoh balls fall apart, put them in water that’s only simmering instead of very hot -- it should be at a rapid boil.
3. Take the lid off the pot often to let the steam out. Letting steam escape helps to prevent the matzoh balls from getting light and well-cooked inside. Leaving the lid on makes them lighter and fluffier.
4. Don't boil them long enough. The time on the package is just enough. A little more is ok too. If you want them to be hard and undercooked, take them out sooner.
5. Leave the cooked matzoh balls in the broth for the soup for a long time. They will absorb the liquid and you won't have enough broth to serve all your guests.

I'm planning to make matzoh ball soup for the Seder this year. I plan to let the dough rest, to bring water (not the broth) to a rolling boil, to keep the lid on the pot while they are cooking, to boil them long enough, and to save them until serving time in the water not in the soup pot. And I won't say "Dayenu" after any of these: they are all important. (Dayenu means "it would be enough." It's the refrain to a Passover song and figures in one of the Seder rituals.)

Do you know the old joke about the blond movie star who married a Jewish intellectual and was invited to his mother's house for Passover? According to the story she said: "These matzoh balls are delicious! What other parts of the matzoh do you eat?" If you are old enough to know the joke you probably can identify the movie star and her husband.