Fun Playing with Egg Cream

One of the tastiest pleasures in life is a well constructed Egg Cream. This drink, a staple since my childhood, is somewhat misnamed, as it contains neither egg nor cream. I finally photographed the process last weekend. Though these aren't the best photos - I'm thirsty for one right now after reading about an Iced Chocolate drink on Heights Eats, so what the heck, here it is:



Begin with Seltzer or Club Soda (preferably filtered and sodium-free, like the Cotton Club pictured here, and preferably an unopened bottle), U-Bet's Chocolate Syrup (in the generic squeeze bottle - I'm still finishing my last glass bottle of the stuff - it is pictured at the Egg Cream link above in the squeeze bottle in which it is now sold) and milk. Higher fat content in the milk will yield a creamier egg cream, but due to health concerns, I usually stick to 1% milk these days. And try to buy only Kosher for Passover chocolate syrup, which will contain sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. You will also need a tall glass and a long spoon.



Begin by making a half glass of chocolate milk.





Mix the chocolate into the milk with the long spoon.



I usually taste it at the point to ensure that the chocolate-milk ratio is good. Then, gently add seltzer, but leave some room at the top of the glass.





Now, stir the seltzer into the chocolate milk mixture with that long spoon.



Your drink will now be topped with a layer of foamy goodness. Tilt, tipple and enjoy this bit of New York-Jewish Soul Food!

More Fun Playing with Jewish Soul Food

Salami & Eggs is a culinary treat that certainly qualifies as Jewish Soul Food. I'm not the only one cooking it, eating it, or writing about it. Heck, the late comedian Alan King named his autobiography after it, sort of: Is Salami and Eggs Better than Sex?: Memoirs of a Happy Eater by Alan King, Mimi Sheraton.

We had an ample of supply of Kosher Salami (spicy, yet) from Boris' Kosher Meats left after Passover.





We also had a good supply of eggs from the Blue Egg Farmer. It doesn't take much more than that - a good skillet - to get Salami & Eggs!

First, slice the salami into even rounds, and place in a skillet that is already hot and at medium heat. Allow it to cook down - if using a good product like this, you won't need to add any fat to the pan; the salami will render plenty.





Crack the eggs (4, in this case) into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork or whisk. Because this is a fleischik [meat] dish, we do not add any milk to the eggs (though I will put butter on my toast - meshuggenah, isn't it?).

Turn the salami slices to ensure they are browned on both sides, then drizzle the eggs over them







Once the eggs are set - flip!



We enjoyed ours with a couple of slices of toasted challah bread. And I like ketchup with mine - even though I usually only eat mustard with salami - I like ketchup with my eggs - and ketchup trumps mustard, I guess.



Ah, yes - it is fun to play with Jewish Soul Food - especially when it is salami & eggs!

Fun Playing with Chicken Soup

We prepared our Chicken Soup over the last two days. It was an interesting experience for me. I realized, after reading about stock-making here, that in a way, my soup-making process combines the stock and soup making processes into one.

This is NOT the way my mother made it - I began to studying the process of soup-making after seeing the movie Tampopo in the late 1980s. I loved the way Barbara Tropp wrote about stock and soup making in her book "China Moon Cookbook." It was here that I learned about the importance of chicken feet in soup making, and never letting the pot come to a boil. Well, that's not entirely true - my Chinese cooking teacher, Jo-Mel, taught me that the phrase "a watched pot never boils" is actually Chinese in origin, and doesn't mean that you should NOT watch the pot - it means that if you constantly watch the pot, it won't come to a boil and ruin the soup. As famously depicted in Tampopo, there is chemistry in poultry bones that will cloud the soup if the soup should boil.

One thing my mother did teach me was to make my soup from pullets. Indeed, every classic Jewish cookbook I've ever seen says to start with a pullet or "young hen" - "dressed" (that means sans feathers and organs, folks). Unfortunately, because the average consumer so seldom makes soup these days, pullets are virtually unknown in any mainstream market and even at the farmers markets, can be difficult to locate. The Blue Egg Farmer, Kathy Breychak, explained to me that pullets are hens that are, essentially, barely pre-menopause. Just as with human females, pullets still have female hormones and the ability to lay eggs, although they are slowing down. Their skin is still tight, and if fed right, a beautiful yellow that will infuse into a soup made with them. Stewing hens, by contrast, are "post-menopausal", and are tougher and longer cooking - and don't have that lovely skin anymore.

Last year, Kathy was able to supply me with two 5 pound pullets, which was perfect for 2 Seders worth of soup (plus). This year, she had none, though I was able to get a bag of lovely frozen chicken feet from her. I was unable to source true pullets, so I purchased my soup chicken from Mister Brisket, who gets nice, minimally processed chickens that are close to the pullets of my youth - but not quite. Therefore, I also order from Mister Brisket a "bag of bones" - which at holiday time is 10 pounds of freshly excised backs, necks and bones from "regular" chickens (it may be frozen at other times of the year - but is always top quality).


Mister Brisket's "Bag of Bones"

I start by rinsing the bones and placing at the bottom of my 20 quart pot.



Next, I clean and pedicure the chicken feet - note the brilliant yellow color!







Now, I rinse and add the soup chicken. Note the amazing color contrast between the feet and the soup chicken.



Add bottled water to cover (my tap water is nasty).



I turn on the flame, clamp on the lid, and attend to the vegetables.


Soup Greens: Celery, Carrots, Parsnips, Onions



As the pot warms, all of the blood and impurities in the meats extract from the flesh and into the water. It looks and smells pretty gross! Jo-Mel says that some Chinese cooks will bring a pot like this to a simmer, then empty the water, rinse the meat and start again! But have no fear - gentle heat will clear the stock - and I can't bear to throw any of the goodness away!

After about 45 minutes, the liquid clears and bubbles gently. I skim the scum and yucky looking stuff for about another 45 minutes. For a change, I didn't turn on the TV or play music - I was totally focused on the soup. It was an almost Zen-like experience! After some period of time, when it seemed that no yuckies were coming up to be skimmed, I began to add the vegetables to the pot. Onion first, then parsnip, then celery (using lots of celery leaves - my mother insists that's important for a good soup). Usually, I'd add the carrots now. But I decided to experiment with waiting longer to add them, in the hope they'd be in better shape to serve with the soup if I didn't cook the hell out of them. Once all the vegetables are in - I add some Diamond Crystal salt and whole Tellicherry peppercorns.



The last ingredient in my soup is parsley - again from mom - both curly and Italian flat. About a third of a bunch of each.





The pot is then allowed to cook at a very low simmer until the feet - which are the most dense item in the pot - have at least gotten very soft and loose. I put this pot on the stove at 5pm - and Bob came to bed at 5am, after waiting until about 3am for the feet, and then cooling and straining the soup. This is what it looked like after chilling for about 9 hours after this process:





We yielded about 2.5 gallons of soup - more than I will need for Passover, but it will freeze well. And that gelatin you see means lovely mouthfeel! What a wonderful way to play with your food!

Fun Playing With Jewish Soul Food, Part 2

The Jewish holiday of Purim began on Thursday evening. Last night, someone asked me to explain this holiday - the shortest explanation I can come up with is that it falls into that catagory of Jewish Holidays easily summarized as:

"They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat."

It is traditional to drink to the point of intoxication on Purim, and to attend services where the story of Purim, or Megillah is read (not in this order, or at least not consecutively); each time the name of the villian Haman is read, the congregation drowns it out with various types of party noisemakers. Children dress in costumes of characters from the story. It is a true party holiday.

The traditional Purim food is the dessert cookie known as the "Hamantaschen," which translates from the Yiddish as "Haman's Hat." Persians of the day often wore three-cornered hats, and so the perennial treat is named for them (the hats, not the Persians!). These mostly fruit-filled delicacies are labor intensive to make (there are no shortcuts!) and though some bakeries have them year round, they are usually at their best on Purim. I enjoy making them, but there was no way this year. So, I asked the Cleveland Food & Wine Forum where I should look for the best Hamantaschen in Cleveland. I was directed to two Jewish bakeries in Beachwood - Lax & Mandel Kosher Bakery and Pincus Bakery. When Linda Griffith posted that Lax & Mandel had Cherry Hamantaschen, I knew that this would be my first stop.





Lax & Mandel had several varieties of the large cookies, and 8 varieties of small ones. Pictured above are the large chocolate variety. I opted for one large Cherry, and one each of the small ones.

I had planned to eat lunch at one of the eateries in the plaza where the bakery was located, then return to the office. But since the restaurants all were closed for Purim (except Issy's, which was take-out only), I decided to go across the street and see what Pincus Bakery had. (And it gave me a perfect excuse to enjoy a bowl of noodles at Happy Buddha Restaurant - but that will be another post!) As usual, I got carried away, and bought way too many Hamantaschen. But hey, Purim comes but once a year!



In addition to the cookie type on the second shelf, they had a selection of the "yeast" type on the top shelf of the case, which are like a small triangular cake and filled. They also had a nice selection of sugar free Hamantaschen, for those in need of them. I was raised on the cookie type, but the cake type also has it's supporters. So, I got three yeast type and 2 cookie type.




Cherry


Apple


Prune


Chocolate


Cheese

Although we can fress with the best of them - we played with our food before we ate it, cutting each pastry in half, then in half again for our tasting. We still have a box of leftovers to work through!

Overall - these were not the best Hamantaschen I ever had. The cookie ones were good, but the yeast ones were a little dry - almost stale, and the fillings lacked profundity.

For our second round, we opened the box from Lax & Mandel:




Large Cherry - YUM!


Eight Small Hamantaschen


Open Views of the Large and Small Cherry




Raspberry


Apricot


Poppyseed


Blueberry


Prune


Chocolate


Apple

We liked the Cherry and Apple the best - but they were all pretty darn good. I even liked the poppyseed, which is usually too strong for me (and the seeds get stuck in my teeth!).

So here you have it - an informal, unscientific, probably biased review of two of Cleveland's prime Hamantaschens. But I think it's just a Bubbe Meintze (Old Wive's Tale) that the calories fall out when you cut them up as we did. Oh well - at least we had fun playing with our Hamantaschen!