HG’s late Mom was born Cheikeh (The “Ch” was pronounced as a guttural) Kopkind in the Belorussian “shtetl” of Plestyanitz. Her first name was Americanized to “Ida” when she married Hershel Freimann (later Americanized to “Harry Freeman”). Harry, my late beloved Father, emigrated to the United States in 1904. So HG’s family has been American for some 118 years. Not a Mayflower arrival…but, still.. HG was raised on Mom’s hearty, Jewish/Eastern European cuisine. The distinguished food writer Waverley Root, in his book “The Food of France’, divided that country into three culinary regions determined by the substance that was the basis of their cuisine: Alsace Lorraine (lard); Ile de France (butter); Provence (olive oil). Mom used butter in kosher approved “dairy” dishes but her principal cooking substance was chicken fat that she rendered herself from plump chickens. New Mexico is in a frigid and snowy weather anomaly. This has made HG nostalgic for his Mom’s home cooking. Sweet and sour stuffed cabbage (“holishkes”) was her parade dish and it was a masterpiece. HG has written often about Mom’s kneidels (matzo meal and chicken fat dumplings); sweet and spicy “tzimmes”( grated carrots cooked with honey, ginger, chicken fat and chicken feet); chopped liver (served with fiery slices of black radish). Her winter soup was called “kapusta” and contained cabbage, a mix of vegetables and a gilding of –guess what?–chicken fat. An important winter dinner dish was brisket with gravy and kasha enriched with fried onions and (nu?) chicken fat. An HG favorite was “kishka” (a chicken neck stuffed with matzo meal, garlic chopped onion, chicken fat and baked in the oven). This was a worthy companion of brisket.The best winter breakfast was Mom’s blintzes (rolled crepes stuffed with farmer cheese and fried in butter). A happy present day culinary note. Gifted BSK can be prevailed upon to make matzo ball chicken soup. BSK’s matzo balls are lush and light. Must confess. Better than Ida’s.
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