Tell Me That Soup Isn't Witchcraft
My grandma's matzo ball soup recipe, a new Thai restaurant, and a podcast I liked.
Like everyone else I know in New York City right now, I’ve had a cold for what seems like forever. At first I was supremely annoyed, because I felt too miserable to do things, but I’m also really busy! Then I realized that being sick physically forced me to slow down, which is not a thing I’m typically inclined to do. Ultimately, it was kind of great to spend three days under a blanket (this blanket, specifically) reading some really good books (Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy, which everyone should read) and eating soup.
If anything is actually magic, it’s soup. You put ingredients into a cauldron, stand around stirring it forever and putting your emotions into it, and then it makes you feel better. Sure sounds like witchcraft to me! I recently shared the vegetable pastina recipe that my husband has been making on TikTok, and can confirm that it’s healed me on more that one than one occasion. But even a girl with a cold can only eat so much of one kind of soup, so last weekend, I walked him through my grandma’s matzo ball soup recipe.
Whenever my grandma made soup, it was a whole day affair. As she got older, she tended to bemoan the amount of work it was, but as a kid I was just excited for an opportunity to hang around the kitchen doing my favorite little jobs (stirring, peeling, skimming) for hours. She never wrote her recipe down, and she never explicitly taught me how to make it. Soups, in my opinion, are better served by observation than by specific measurements. So if you want to see the recipe in action, I made a little video of it here. And if you’re the kind of person who absolutely has to see things written down, that’s below:
Grandma Selma’s Matzo Ball Soup
For the soup:
1 whole chicken, innards removed (save these in your freezer for something else!)
3-4 large carrots
3-4 large parsnips
1 small yellow onion
a whole bundle of dill
For the matzo balls:
1 cup of matzo meal
4 eggs
3 tablespoons fat (schmaltz is best, but 9/10 times I use olive oil)
1 teaspoon baking powder
salt, pepper, and chopped dill, to taste
Rinse out your chicken and place it in a large stock pot, then cover with just enough cold water to cover it. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.
This is going to apply to whole process, but especially to the first half hour: skim your soup. Skim it obsessively. Skim it like a grandma who has no desires except to skim soup and hang out with her grandkids! You don’t really want to leave your soup alone at this stage.
After 30 minutes, peel your onion (you can also peel your carrots and parsnips, but I prefer to scrub the skins and leave them on), and chop your vegetables into big chunks. I’m talking a halved onion, and root vegetables in thirds. Put all of these into the pot, and add your bundle of dill last.
Over the course of the next 2-3 hours, let the soup do its thing. You don’t have to skim it constantly, but you should skim it a lot. The result we’re after here is a clear, golden broth, and you won’t get that if you don’t skim!
Meanwhile, make your matzo balls. Dump everything except the eggs into a medium-sized bowl and give it a mix. Then, lightly beat your eggs, and stir those in. Refrigerate for at least an hour, but ideally two.
When you’re ready to cook your matzo balls (about half an hour before your soup is done), set a large pot of water to boil. I use an ice cream scoop to shape my matzo balls, because it ensures they’re all the same size. Salt your water once it comes to a boil, drop in your matzo balls, reduce to a simmer, and cover. If you like denser matzo balls, cook them for around 25 minutes. If you like light and fluffy ones, go for 35 minutes.
When your soup is done, remove the chicken and shred the meat off the bones. This will not require much more than a suggestion. Then, assemble your perfect bowl of soup.
Note: I like to store my broth, vegetables, and shredded chicken separately so that I can always get the exact ratios I want in every bowl, but you do you.
Snack on this:
Somtum Der is one of my favorite Thai restaurants in NYC, and the chef just opened a chic little spot in Carroll Gardens called Untable. I ate there last night, and I loved it—get the khao soi and the crab croquettes.
Are we all watching Lessons in Chemistry? Yes?? I am obsessed. More on that next week.
I am not a podcast girlie, but I really enjoyed this episode of The Writer’s Panel, where Ben Blacker has a fascinating conversation about craft and the business of writing with David Hayter (X-Men, Watchmen).
I fell down the #pastatok rabbit whole and sourced everything you need to have a pasta girl fall over at Bon Appétit.
