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| Kreplach & Yom Kippur Chicken Soup The tradition continues... |
My Dad (Z”L1) always
made the kreplach for Yom Kippur. Under my
Mother’s (KIH2) watchful eye he would make the kreplach using my Bubbies’
recipe with the precision of an engineer.
We always laughed that he actually
measured the kreplach dough squares with a ruler to ensure that each one was exactly
the same as all the rest…we had the only ”six sigma” quality kreplach anywhere. My Parents had a medieval looking grinder that
belonged to my Grandmother (Z”L), that they would attach with the grinder’s
clamps to a folding chair. My Dad would
brown onions until they were crispy on the edges (my Mom says they have the most
flavor that way) and would grind them with the tender roasted Chuck to make the
kreplach filling. While I was able to “observe”
the process when I was younger and still living at home, in recent years when I
would try to come over to make the kreplach with my Dad somehow they were
always done by the time I got there. We
think that my Dad would actually get up before minyan3 to
make them and was done making them before 6:45 AM!
This year I intended to carry on
my Dad’s tradition of making the kreplach.
As hard as it would be to make them instead of my Dad, I had hoped to
make them with my Mom, using my Bubbies’ recipe. Sadly, Mom’s in the
hospital again and I ended up making them myself. Sigh.
Before making them I asked my Mom for the recipe – I wanted to make sure
that I was doing it right. I knew where
the grinder was and had permission from Mom to use it, and she told me that I had
almost remembered the recipe correctly…I was missing the ginger. I roasted the Chuck Roast with lots of onions
and spices a few days in advance and when I was ready to make the kreplach the
morning of Erev Yom Kippur, it was nice and chilled. I made the kreplach dough in the food
processor, and realized afterwards that if I really wanted to have made them
the traditional way I should have made the dough by hand, oh well…I guess I blended
“old school” with “new school”. I let
the kreplach dough rest while making the filling. I hand diced two large onions (“old school”) and
browned them in some olive oil. I was
almost about to pull out a folding chair to hook the grinder to, when I
realized that there was a spot on my island that would work, and I clamped the
grinder to my island. I covered the
Island with plastic wrap, then took around a pound and a half of the Chuck and
cut it into large chunks that would fit into the grinder. Slowly and carefully, I put some meat and
onions into the grinder, turned the crank, and watched in awe as the kreplach
filling came out of the grinder. It was
a beautiful thing. I added a little bit
of ground ginger as per Mom’s instructions and the filling was ready to
go. Sigh. In Dad’s honor I pulled out my cutting board
that has a ruler imprinted on it, and carefully rolled the dough until it was “kreplach
thin”. I even pulled out a traditional
ruler, and proceeded to painstakingly measure each kreplach square. In my Dad’s defense, it occurred to me that
if you really want to make sure that all the kreplach are the same size, there
really is no other way to do it! (Maybe
that’s the engineer in me!!). I
filled and sealed the kreplach and cooked them in a pot of boiling water. I was pretty psyched. I had done it!! Sigh.
The only problem was that I had a lot of filling left over. In my zealousness to make the filling (and
with the fun of using the nifty grinder) I made too much filling. I covered the rest of the filling with plastic
wrap and stuck it in the fridge. I
figured I could do something with it later.
I was anxious and nervous as I
brought my Mom some of my Yom Tov chicken soup and kreplach later that
morning. Did I honor my Dad’s memory, or
were my kreplach a bust? I held my
breath as my Mom slowly ate the hot chicken soup and bites of fresh
kreplach. Tears rolled down my face as
her eyes lit up and she exclaimed “These are really good!” Baruch Hashem4!! I then confessed to my Mom that in my
enthusiasm I had made too much filling. “Oh,
that happened to us all the time!” she confided. “My mother used to make knishes out of
the rest of the filling!”
Fantastic!! I now had a
plan. I went home, grabbed a knish dough
recipe off the internet, and proceeded to make two dozen meat filed knishes for
our pre-Yom Kippur seudah5. Every
year we always had the pre-Yom Kippur seudah at my parents’ house. Although we had convinced them to come to us
for nearly every other Shabbat and Yom Tov meal, Yom Kippur belonged to my
parents. Sadly, this year we had the
seudah with my immediate family at home.
I was determined to uphold my parent’s traditions even though things had
changed. It was a huge comfort to have
the kreplach and knishes that my Bubbie, Dad and Mom used to
make. Sigh.
Mom’s still in the hospital, and
this morning I brought her some of the knishes that I had made. “Just like your Bubbies, she would have been
proud!” she kvelled. I was glad.
We miss you Dad.
May you all have a Happy and
Healthy New Year.
Glossary:
- Z”L: Zichrono
Livracha – May his memory be a blessing
- KIH: Kein Iyna Hara – Yiddish for
without an evil eye.
- Minyan:
Services in the synagogue
- Baruch
Hashem: Thank G-d
- Seuda:
A “ritual” meal
For both Kreplach & Knishes:
Filling
Note: I roasted the Chuck
covered, covered with sliced onions, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Rule of thumb is 15 minutes per pound at 350° F.
- 1 ½ pounds
cooked Chuck Roast, cooled and cut into large cubes
- 2 large
onions, diced
- 2
tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon
ground dried ginger
Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook over medium-high heat
until onions are browned. Set aside to
cool.
Using a grinder of your choice,
grind together the meat and onions. Stir
in the ginger until well combined.
Egg Wash
- 1 large
egg lightly beaten
Kreplach (makes around 40 2” Kreplach)
I think that Dad used to make
them 3”, I kind of like them smaller though.
Dough
- 2 cups
all-purpose flour
- 2 large
eggs
- 2
tablespoons water
Carefully mix the dough ingredients
together to form a smooth dough. Allow
the dough to rest for 30 minutes before rolling.
Roll the dough as thin as
possible. You can even use a pasta
roller to thinly roll out the dough.
Measure the dough and cut out 2” squares. Place a little bit of the filling into the
center of the square. Brush the edges of
the dough with egg wash and pinch to seal.
Bring a large pot of water, a
tablespoon of salt, and a tablespoon of olive oil to a boil. Add the kreplach and boil for 20 minutes. Serve hot with your favorite chicken or beef
soup.
Knishes (makes 24 knishes)
Dough
Based upon the knish dough
recipe by is-that-my-bureka.blogspot.com.
- 3 cups
all-purpose flour
- 1
tablespoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoons
salt
- 6
tablespoons pareve margarine
- 1 cup +
1 tablespoon warm water
- Non-stick
vegetable spray
Preheat oven to 350° F. Cover two baking sheets with aluminum
foil and spray with non-stick vegetable spray.
Set aside.
Combine ingredients in a large
bowl. Knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 3 even balls. For each dough ball, roll the dough into a
long 8” log. Cut the dough evenly into 8
1” pieces. Roll each piece of dough into
a 3”- 3 1/2” round. Place a scoop of
meat filling into the middle of the dough. Bring the edges of the dough to the
middle over the meat and pinch to seal. Repeat
with remaining dough. Place 12 knishes
on each baking sheet. Bake for 35
minutes until golden brown.
"New School"...
Put the kreplach dough ingredients
in the food processor...
Smooth kreplach dough...
Let it rest on the board while
you make the filling...
Big onions, olive oil
and a really, really sharp knife!
"Old-school" hand diced onions...
no Hindy Chopper for this recipe!
Crispy Brown Onions!
You can almost taste the flavor
these onions are packing!
THE GRINDER!!!
This meat is gorgeous!!
(and I even had some left over to
slice for the seuda! Bonus!!)
It fit perfectly onto the island...whew!
Ground meat and onions...
it's a beautiful thing!!! Sigh.
Ok...so I made a little mess on the floor...
Add the ginger and we're ready to go!
(Check out the ruler on the pastry board)
This dough is ready to roll!
A close up of the ruler...
we take our measuring very seriously!!
Thinly roll out the dough...
Check out the ruler!!
Cut the dough into precise squares...
Put a small amount of meat
in the middle of the dough with
egg wash.
Pinch the kreplach to seal.
40 beautiful kreplach!
Dad would be proud!!
FOR THE KNISHES:
Cut each dough ball into 8 pieces...
Roll the dough into a circle...
Scoop the meat into the center of the knish...
Pinch the knish to seal...
Evenly place the knishes on the baking sheet.
Brush them with egg wash...
All golden brown!
Bubbie would have been proud!
Kosher
Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father
Dr.
Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L
May
his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.
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