How to make Matzah Balls

-

I've been asked many times for my Matzah Ball recipe, and to everyone's surprise, I never took the time to write it down. In fact, I never make it twice the same, and I just know how it should look and feel between my fingertips. I can offer some basic ratios and suggestions, but in the end, it's about personal preference and your Halchal, especially around Pesach.



Here are the Basic Ratios with some suggestions. 
How much will this make? How big are you going to make them? 2-4 Servings for the Basic Ratio, and I use a small ice cream scoop for size reference.

 "The Ratio of ONE" 
  • 1 Large Egg 
  • 1 TBL Liquid 
  • 1 TBL Fat
  • 1/3 cup of Matzah Meal
  • 1/4 TSP Salt 
  • 1/4 TSP Pepper 
If you can remember these ratios, the rest is easy. 

Floaters or Sinkers? If you want ones that sink, use the basic ratios. If you want floaters, I suggest using Seltzer for the liquid or 1/8-1/4 Tsp of Baking Powder. If you want balloons, use both. If you want spongy (if that's your thing), separate the yolks from the white, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks, and fold them into the mixture. Use all three techniques, and the balls will float out of the pot. 

What do I love? Seltzer and Whipped Egg-Whites

More on Liquids- If you don't use Seltzer, you could use Stock or water. Again this is a preference thing, and Stock will enhance the flavor.

Fat- Use a neutral oil or Schmaltz. Yea, you know which one I prefer. If you want to go crazy, take your Gribenes, freeze, and process to a fine crumb and add that to your mixture. Dang, this is good stuff. 

Matzah Meal- Buy some or make your own. The ratios are sometimes not perfect depending on the hydration of the meal. Go by sight and feel. Heck, make your own Matzah and go to town. 

Salt and Pepper- This is an estimate. Are you poaching in Stock that contains salt? Salted water? 

Forming Balls- Grease your hands.

Cooking- Poach for 40-60 minutes, depending on the size of the balls. Keep the pot covered. Uncovering the pot will produce smaller balls. 

Other things- Add other things to the Matzah Balls. I love ground ginger and dill. Add spices and herbs. Turmeric Coriander makes a nice addition too. Go crazy and experiment. 

The Mixture- After combining everything, it must rest in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes. It has to mesh together, AKA hydrate. The Matzah meal has to absorb all the moisture. I usually make them the day before and store them covered in the refrigerator. 


Chag Sameach to my extended Family!! 













    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Burnt Ends the Sous-Vide way!!!

    -
    Image
      (OP-7/2014) The King of BBQ Brisket is Burnt Ends. But what are Burnt Ends? Traditional Burnt Ends are from the point of brisket. Where I live, you rarely find a whole packer (whole briskets), and when you do come across one, you're usually not in the market for one. Yes, yes, I could buy one and freeze it, but I don't like to freeze the meat. So I decided to make Burnt Ends entirely from the flat. Burnt Ends are a delectable delicacy and are prized by many if not all BBQ enthusiasts. I actually prefer Burnt Ends to BBQ brisket. Sometime during the "cook," the whole brisket is removed, and the point is separated from the flat. Traditionally the point is cubed up and doused with more spices and smoked very low and slow for a couple of more hours, and sometimes BBQ sauced is added. Burnt Ends are typically served with a little char on them with some BBQ sauce on the side or in sandwiches. I recently attended a BBQ workshop, and their version of Burnt Ends was terrible
    Read more

    Eye-of-Round (Sous-Vide)

    -
    Image
    EYE OF ROUND- EOR  (OP- 5/2017)I've been wanting to do this for a while but prefer other cuts for roast beef (I still do). Anyhow, after reading all the pontificating posts on E-O-R, I wanted to see what all the hype was about. After making about 5 of these E-O-R's, I have dialed in what I believe is the perfect temp and time.  The T/T was selected because it provides the highest moisture retention, texture (tenderness) for slicing using a Deli-Slicer. If you plan on slicing by hand or wanted to slice very thick to serve as an entree it might not work. The E-O-R will be cooked at 128f for 24 hours and sliced on my Berkel Slicer.  (Disclaimer located at the bottom for T/T). Note: The T and T are perfectly fine. The Log Reduction is exceeded 12.  If you plan on purchasing the E-O-R at Costco or another whole seller, I will suggest buying it cryo-vacuumed-sealed. If you don't, there's a possibility that it was mechanically tenderized. I'm not against mechanically tende
    Read more

    Curing Notes and some Math

    -
    Image
    (OP-2016) I wrote this up to help you with some of my recipes. I hope these notes and links expand your knowledge of curing.  My recipes are straightforward to follow if you use the info given below. Replicating my recipes is possible because I use percentages for everything. The weight of meat plus fat is 100%, and all ingredients to be added are expressed as a percentage of the weight of the meat plus fat.  Percentages can be used to standardize recipes regardless of batch size, and all weights are metric. An online calculator is provided below.  No weights are given because the weights of meats vary. Again everything is a percentage of the meat's weight after trimming. Here is an example- Meat weight,  2393  grams, and we want to find out the amount of salt we need in grams-  2393 * 3.5%=83.755 or 2392/100 * 3.5 =83.755 grams. Or 2393 * .035 = 83.755 For most of my recipes, I use  .25%  cure #1 & #2 for all my curing needs. This equates to 156 ppm of Sodium Nitrite al
    Read more