on the sixth night they began to relax a bit, starting to feel safe.

was it really possible they were finally free of the Pharoah and his oppressing ways? how could it be that one candle, one night, after one great escape, could lead them to this day, this sixth day?

they weren’t sure, but they were relieved and grateful and humbled.

light. oil burning. it seems so small.

but when you have lived in the darkness, for what feels like centuries, light is no small event.

when you have lived under the menacing hands of monstrous people, light is your Northern Star, your horizon line, your hope.

and so,

in keeping with the theme,

they lit a sixth candle

they said a prayer and killed a chicken,

and made schmaltz, lovingly slow, taking their time,

and with the carcass: matzoh ball soup,

and set aside the livers, salting & soaking them first, to remove all blood,

and went a little overboard with the voluptuous schmaltz in the pan, schmearing a thick layer, as fat as a thumb, and set the pan over their searingly hot oil, {for it was now a cooking surface unto itself}

and made

on the fifth night they awoke to a warm kitchen, and light. light that had never gone out, had never diminished.

content to call it a miracle now, they pulled green tomatoes out of some tall black hats [rabbits still had a few more centuries to develop].

someone had cornmeal, another family had hens. buttermilk was always on hand. someone cried with happiness and another rendered tears of joy into salt. tomatoes were sliced into big, fat, thick, rounds, and the breading commenced.

as you can imagine, that oil was hotter than the hot of hot, having absorbed a vast desert's hospitality and having intermingled with g-d's message.

some dipped into cool buttermilk, others transferred into knobby freshly pounded cornmeal, and the very brave carefully slipped tomato rounds into miraculously hot oil.

dehydrated salty tears were sprinkled in a heedful & measured way. some people opted for less joy, some more.

and so, nu, on the fifth night, another candle was lit and there, gathered around its light, were grateful, hungry, joyful, people.

alive & free, they finished every crumb, every crispy bit of

Here is a recipe from last winter that we are happily looking forward to working with again.

Apple and Cheddar Stock

230 grams onion

480 grams aged
cheddar

900 grams apple
cider

 

Slice the onions
3 centimeters thick. Dice the cheddar into 5 centimeter chunks. Combine the
onions, cheddar and cider in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure
for 15 minutes. Allow the pressure to naturally dissipate. Alternatively
combine the onions, cheddar and cider in a large heavy bottomed pot. Bring the
ingredients to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for one hour. Remove from
heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain the finished stock through a
fine mesh strainer lined with damp cheesecloth. Discard the solids. Reserve
until needed.

 

Apple and Cheddar Soup

Strained Apple
and Cheddar Stock

650 grams peeled
apple

 

Place the peeled
apples and the apple and cheddar stock in a 6-quart pressure cooker.  Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes
and then let the pressure dissipate naturally.  Alternatively combine the stock and apples in a large heavy
bottomed pot and bring to as simmer and cook until the apples are tender.  Puree the cooked apple and stock
mixture in a blender until it is completely smooth.  Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, cool and
reserve.

 

 

Cheddar Milk

500 grams milk

250 grams aged cheddar cheese

 

Place the milk
and the cheddar cheese into a heavy bottomed pot.  Bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes to melt the
cheese.  When the cheese has broken
down, turn off the heat and cover the pot.  Let the mixture steep for twenty minutes and then strain the
mixture through a cheesecloth lined strainer.  Let the contents drip through the cheesecloth.  Press gently on the solids to allow the
moisture to be extracted from the solids. 
When the liquid is strained discard the solids and reserve the cheddar
milk.

 

Cheddar Tofu

385 grams
cheddar milk

260 grams firm
tofu

1.5 grams fine
sea salt

1.3 grams high
acyl Gellan (0.2%)

1.3 grams low
acyl Gellan (0.2%)

 

1 Pyrex dish
22.5 x 22.5 centimeters.

 

Place the
cheddar milk, tofu and sea salt in the blender.  Puree the mixture until it silky smooth.  With the blender still running,
sprinkle both Gellans into the vortex to evenly disperse the hydrocolloids in
the mixture.  Once the Gellans are
dispersed pour the mixture into a heavy bottomed pot.  Turn the heat on medium and stir the mixture as it
heats.  Continuous stirring
prevents the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot and allows it to
heat evenly.  Warm the Pyrex dish
in a 95°C oven.  The warming of the
dish will prevent the hot cheddar mixture from seizing when it is poured from
pot to dish.  Continue to stir and
cook the mixture until it reaches 90°C. 
When the mixture has reached this temperature the Gellan will be fully
hydrated.  Quickly transfer the
mixture from the pot into the warmed Pyrex dish.  Pour the liquid as quickly as you are able to without
splashing, keeping the flow as smooth and even as possible because the Gellan
in the mixture sets rapidly once it is removed from the heat.  Cool the cheddar tofu in the dish.  When the tofu is cold, remove it from
the pan and trim off any rounded edges. 
Cut the tofu into 1.5cm cubes and reserve on a tray in the refrigerator.

 

 

Spicy Pickled Apples

110 grams onion

18 grams garlic

5 grams jalapeño
pepper

10 grams
Espelette pepper puree

50 grams apple
cider

2 grams fine sea
salt

25 grams lime
juice

 

3 Granny Smith
apples

 

Place the first
seven ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.  Strain the mixture through a fine
meshed conical strainer. Peel the apples and cut the rounded edge off the
apples.  Place the apples on a
cutting board with the stem side up. Cut a slice 1cm thick off the left and
right sides of each apple.  These
slices will be larger planks. Cut slices 1cm thick off the top and bottom sides
of each apple to create two smaller planks. Cut these planks into 1cm cubes of
apple.  Place the diced apple in a
vacuum bag. Compress the fruit and seal with a vacuum sealer on high pressure.
The compression will transform the apples from opaque to translucent. The
compression and its effect on the fruit will take a few minutes after the apple
comes out of the machine. Let them rest in the bag for 5-10 minutes. Once the
apples appear translucent, open the bag transfer them to a fresh bag and add
the pickling liquid.  Seal the new
bag on high pressure. Refrigerate the mixture for two hours. Once the apples
have marinated, remove them from the bag, strain off the pickling mixture.
Place the apples in small bowl, cover them, and reserve them in the
refrigerator until needed.

 

To Assemble

 

Apple and Cheddar Soup

Cheddar Tofu

Spicy Pickled Apples

Sliced Chives

 

In a pot over
medium heat, bring the apple and cheddar soup to a simmer. Place the spicy
pickled apples in small pan and warm gently. The juices from the apples will
keep them moist. Place the cheddar tofu in a large pan with 20 grams of water
and cover with a lid. Heat the tofu on medium heat so that it steams gently and
becomes heated through. When the soup is hot, use an immersion blender or a
stand blender to puree it and make sure it is smooth and homogenous. In each
soup bowl arrange eight cubes of pickled apple and eight cubes of cheddar tofu
in a pile on the left hand side of the bowl. Alternate the pieces of apple and
tofu to build the pile of cubes. When the cheddar and tofu are in place,
sprinkle them with chives and pour the hot soup around the pile of cheddar tofu
and spicy pickled apples. Serve immediately.

on the fourth night, the oil was not only still hot, but hotter.

smokin' hot

in fact.

so they grated, they chopped, they fit many friends in the kitchen. all were giddy with excitement, albeit slightly disbelieving.

they lit the fourth candle. became quiet. said a prayer to HaShem quietly. smiled broadly.

and then. they mixed, and tasted, and seasoned, and threw in some fresh mint for brightness. they danced and embraced and told stories and laughed and delighted in being alive.

in having escaped.

two spoons were played on a knee, Yiddish was sung in that bluesy way. and then two spoons dipped into the sticky mix. egg shaped, large walnut dollops were carefully lowered into the miraculous oil.

a toast to life was made. L'Chaim!

spooned out of the black iron pot came

We are always surprised at what can be rolled between rice and seaweed. Today I ate our first corned beef hand roll. I say first because I think this and other non-traditional preparations have some real potential. I would not mind a bacon cheeseburger hand roll or a fried clam version with sea urchin thousand island dressing.

on the third night, the third candle was lit.

the oil?

it was still hot!

they looked around, in disbelief.

willing to tempt the fates, they took whimsy from wind,

and fried herbs.

Musk Melon Soup

 

Broken Honeydew Melon

1
honeydew melon

Salt

2
liters of liquid nitrogen

 

Using
a sharp knife cut off the top and bottom of the melon. Stand it up on one of
the cut ends and starting from the top, slice down around the fruit to peel the
skin from the melon. Cut the peeled melon into quarters and cut out the seeds.
Season the melon lightly with salt and then place into a vacuum bag.  Vacuum compress the melon in the
machine on the highest setting. The melon will transform from pale green to a
translucent emerald green. When the melon is compressed, open the bag and pat
the melon dry.

 

Pour
two liters of liquid nitrogen into a Styrofoam cooler and then slide the melon
quarters into the liquid nitrogen. The nitrogen will boil furiously so take caution
when adding the melon. When the melon pieces are solid all the way through and
begin to crack and show fissures they are cold enough to be broken. Remove the
melon pieces and place in a clean metal bowl. Use a meat mallet to break the
melon into shards, fragments and chunks. Use caution because the melon at this
stage is extremely cold and it can cause frostbite if eaten or handled with
bare fingers. Once the melon is broken into pieces, place it, still in the
bowl, in the refrigerator to defrost. When the melon is completely thawed,
place it and any juices in a smaller container and reserve.

 

Alternatively
you can freeze the cleaned planks of melon in a re-sealable plastic bag
overnight. Let the melon thaw in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Remove
the melon planks from the bag, reserving any juices. Dice the melon into 2cm
cubes and return it to the plastic bag with the juice. Store in the
refrigerator until needed.

 

Prosciutto Oil

500
grams Prosciutto San Daniele or Prosciutto de Parma fat and trim

50
grams water

 

Cut
the prosciutto fat and trim into 2-3 cm pieces and place them in a pot large
enough to comfortably hold the fat. Add the water to the pot and turn the flame
on low. Slowly simmer the fat and water. The impurities will begin to bubble
out of the fat and the water will reduce and evaporate. Once the water is
evaporated, the fat will begin to render out of the prosciutto. Continue to
cook slowly, stirring occasionally. The fat pieces and chunks will continue to
shrink and slowly brown as the fat is rendered into the pot. When the initial
prosciutto pieces have transformed into golden brown cracklings floating in
liquid fat, the prosciutto oil is finished. Let it cool to room temperature and
then strain the fat. Reserve the prosciutto oil and discard the rendered
prosciutto pieces.

 

Shrimp Powder

350
grams peeled 21-25 shrimp
4 grams fine sea salt

.25
grams cayenne
3.54 grams Activa RM transglutaminase powder

50
bush basil leaves

2
liters liquid nitrogen

Cut
the shrimp into 1cm pieces then place in a bowl and season with the salt, and
cayenne and mix to coat evenly. 
Sprinkle the Activa onto the shrimp and stir to coat evenly. Add the
bush basil leaves and then place the shrimp in a vacuum seal bag. Vacuum seal
the bag and then use a meat mallet to flatten the shrimp evenly to cover the
interior of the bag into a uniform sheet. When the shrimp is completely flat it
will look like a mosaic of shrimp. Place the bag in the refrigerator overnight
to allow the transglutaminase to bond the pieces of shrimp. The following day,
place the bag into a water bath set at 52 degrees Celsius and cook the shrimp
sheet in the bag for twenty minutes. 
When the time is up, place the bag into a large ice bath in order to
rapidly chill the shrimp.  When the
shrimp are chilled, cut open the bag and remove the sheet.  Lay it on a cutting board and cut into
6cm squares.

 

Place two liters of liquid nitrogen into a Styrofoam
container and then slide the shrimp squares into the nitrogen.  The nitrogen will boil furiously with
the addition of the shrimp pieces. 
When the shrimp is frozen solid and the bubbling subsides use a slotted
spoon to remove the shrimp and place into a blender. Turn the blender on low
and increase to high, grinding and pulverizing the shrimp into a fine powder.
When a fine powder is achieved, turn the blender off and use a rubber spatula
to scrape the frozen powder into a re-sealable plastic bag.  Place the frozen powder in the freezer
and reserve.

 

Alternatively, bring 1000 grams of water seasoned with 4
grams of salt and 0.25 grams of cayenne to a soft boil. Turn off the heat,
slide in the cleaned shrimp and let the liquid cool at room temperature,
uncovered. Once the shrimp are cool, place it in the bowl of a food processor
and pulse to a fine, crumbly mixture resembling couscous. Use a rubber spatula
to scrape the shrimp into a re-sealable plastic bag.  Place the shrimp in the refrigerator and reserve until
needed.

 

Melon Soup

610
grams peeled, seeded musk melon

60
grams tequila vinegar

10
grams melon juice

4
grams fine sea salt

5
dried lavender buds

5
gratings of nutmeg from a rasp grater

0.68
grams xanthan gum

 

Place the melon into a vacuum bag and vacuum seal on the
highest level to compress the fruit cells. When the melon is compressed, cut
the bag open, remove the melon, and reserve any juices left in the bag. Cut the
melon into 2cm chunks and place in the blender with the tequila vinegar, the
reserved melon juices, salt, lavender, and nutmeg.  Puree the mixture for five minutes until the melon is
completely smooth. With the blender still running, carefully remove the lid and
sprinkle the xanthan gum into the vortex formed in the blender.  Continue to blend on high until the
xanthan gum is fully dispersed and the soup has thickened slightly. Strain the
soup using a fine mesh conical strainer into a flat container with sides at
least 12 cm tall. 

 

To remove the air incorporated by blending the soup, place
the soup in the container so that it comes only one third of the way up the
sides. (There will most likely be more soup than fits in the container and this
process will need to be repeated.) Place the melon soup and the container in
the chamber of the vacuum machine and close the lid.  The vacuum pulled on the chamber will begin to pull the air
bubbles out of the soup. The soup will begin to climb the sides of the
container and when it comes to just below the edge of the rim, shut the machine
off. The chamber will then fill with air again and the soup will shrink back
down in the dish having dispelled many of its air bubbles.  This process should be repeated until
the soup loses 95% of its air bubbles and changes from pale orange to an
intense orange in color. Once the first batch of soup is free of air bubbles,
remove it from the container and reserve in a bain marie or other suitable
storage container.  Repeat the
process with the rest of the soup. 
Use immediately or reserve in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

 

Alternatively you can prepare the soup one day in advance
and let it rest in the refrigerator for 24 hours to allow the bubbles to
dissipate before serving.

 

To Assemble

 

Broken Honeydew Melon

Prosciutto Oil

Shrimp Powder

Melon Soup

56 Small Nasturtium Leaves

 

Arrange
a pile of broken honeydew in shallow bowls. Place a second smaller pile of the
melon 6cm away on the flat side of the plate. Place a spoonful of shrimp powder
on each pile of broken melon. Ladle the melon soup into the bowls around the
garnish.  Place two nasturtium
leaves on the soup and two more leaves on the broken melon, which is cascading
into the soup.  Take one more leaf
and place it on the back of the pile of melon touching the soup.  Place the final two nasturtium leaves on
either side the left and right of the broken melon on the flat portion of the
plate.  Drizzle 8-10 drops of
prosciutto oil onto the top of the melon soup and 3-4 drops on the broken melon
piles.

 

on the first night, a candle was lit.

oil was heated.

something was fried.