Nontraditional
Today I'm cooking on a slippery slope.
Every Spring I make the most classic matzo ball soup— slow cooked chicken stock, carrots, onions, celery, parsley, schmaltz I painstakingly and with great mess rendered out of the odd chicken skin here and there over the course of months— the works. This year, one small problem: I’m pretty sure we didn’t eat enough chicken in 2024 to fill a mini mason jar with fat, so I can only assume the schmaltz in my fridge is more than two years old. Gross! The irony that I clean out the chest freezer annually with an almost fanatic enthusiasm but never fully empty my fridge is not lost on me.
Anyway, since schmaltz is very much the star of the show in a matzo ball (sorry, matzo), I’ve spent the day sliding down a slippery slope. If I’m going to use oil instead of schmaltz, why shouldn’t I change…one or two or ten more things? *Tevye voice* Tradition!
Just kiddiiiinnng, I already did it.
This morning I took the last seven corn cobs from last Summer’s garden out of the chest freezer and simmered them in water with salt and a pinch of sugar for about three hours. When the kitchen smelled incredibly fragrant, I whisked 1/4 cup corn stock into 2 eggs with 2 Tablespoons oil, followed by a heaping half cup salted matzo meal. Later I’ll char frozen corn kernels and finely chopped scallions in a dutch oven, then pour the corn stock back in. With wet hands, I’ll form the matzo dough into walnut-sized balls (we have to keep a touch of tradition, otherwise who even are we?) and boil them in water until fluffy and tender. I’ll serve them in the corn soup with a few tiny leaves of chard from the garden and just a few springs of dill.