Ingredients
Matzo Balls
1/2 cup matzo meal
2 farm fresh eggs at room temp.
2 tablespoons reserved chicken fat from your soup
1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons of freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons seltzer water, not club soda (too salty)
Preparation
Mix all matzo ball ingredients in a bowl. Cover and rest in the in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Bring 1 1/2 quarts of well-salted water to a brisk boil in a medium sized pot.
Reduce the flame. Wet your hands. Form matzo balls by dropping just enough of matzo ball batter to form approximately 1-inch in diameter into the palm of your wet hands and rolling them in the shape of an Idaho potato- loosely into oblong balls. Drop them carefully into the simmering chicken stock from the bones one at a time. Cover the pot and cook them for 30 to 40 minutes without opening or peeking or allowing anyone else to open the pot to catch a glance at them . EVER! Don’t bring me matzo balls that are round or heavy or hard to the tooth I won’t eat them. If you consider using a boxed- mix, leave those matzo balls at home and feed them to an unfriendly neighbor or his dog. Open the pot- ruin the matzo ball, they’ll drop to the bottom like a hard potato dumpling in a kettle of Frogmore Stew. Patience is necessary. A good pinch of nutmeg is also recommended according to my great grandmother, Yetta, who taught me years ago about her Eastern European methods of matzo ball cooking.
