Passover Musings

With another Passover coming to a close, I wanted to do a quick post on how things went, the food that was had, and my general thoughts on the topic. I'm always fascinated by the intersection of food and other aspects of culture and history. While I won't say I fully understand Passover, I get a little closer every year. What has struck me most is how literally the Passover dietary restrictions are taken. My previous assumption, admittedly not based on much, had been that it was all symbolic and more about the spirit of the law rather than the letter. The only analogue I really have are Chinese festival foods, which are highly symbolic and considered good luck based on either puns, visual similarity, or old legends. For example, you have long noodles symbolizing long life, wontons folded to look like gold ingots, and zongzi for Dragon Boat Festival (commemorating a legendary event). In these examples, the food itself isn't what's important, it's what they represent.

Passover is not like this. The story goes that, during the exodus from Egypt, there was no time for the bread to rise. Consequently, this is commemorated during Passover by eating only unleavened bread -- matzo. In the ancient world, the New Kingdom period of Egypt included, grain, usually made into bread, was the staple food. In fact, Egypt would later become the Roman Empire's main source of food, and its loss to Muslim forces in the 7th century was a major blow to the crumbling empire. Five grains capable of rising are known as chametz, and must be removed from the home. Traditionally, these five are wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt. Note that this doesn't include corn and rice, which would have been unknown to the Mediterranean world at the time. The part I have a hard time with is that these grains, in any form other than matzo, are all banned, whether or not they have anything to do with bread or not.

The other category of foods, which I've talked a bit about in the past, are kitniyot. This is a broader class of items that are sort of chametz-adjacent. This is where other grains, such as rice and corn, as well as legumes come in. Although the origins of kitniyot are a bit hazy, the most common reasoning I've heard is that people might confuse these items with the five grains, an explanation I find a little unsatisfying. Traditionally, Ashkenazi Jews (the majority in the United States) were prohibited from having these items, as well. A decision from the Rabbinical Assembly overturned this a few years ago, but many people, Ariel included, have been reluctant to introduce these foods into Passover after so many years of tradition. It's actually these that give me the most trouble, as I can't cook with beans of any kind, rice, or corn starch. A quick survey of this blog would show you how often I use those ingredients. With wheat flour also knocked out, alternative thickeners need to be found. This is where tapioca flour comes to the rescue.

This brings me to our Passover menu. I actually really enjoy the traditional Passover foods, and we don't have them often during the rest of the year. The problem is that monotony tends to set in by the end of the week. These included:

• Braised brisket: I used my own recipe again, with some adjustments. As I could not use soy sauce for seasoning, I added about half a can of tomato paste and some Worcestershire sauce. For thickening, I used tapioca flour. I got a bag of Bob's Red Mill from Kroger, but you can probably get it much cheaper at a Chinese store. To avoid using soybean oil, I seared the brisket with schmaltz.
• Chopped liver: Again, using my own recipe, including the homemade schmaltz. If you don't mind mixing milk and meat, you can go the French route and use butter.
• Gefilte fish: As always, get the frozen log rather than the jarred kind. One day I'd like to make my own, but that time has not yet come.
• Matzo ball soup: Made by Ariel, as usual. We may experiment with the timing on this in the future, and try to rescue the chicken before it completely turns to mush. 

My confidence in producing some "modern" Passover-friendly food to break up the week is growing. Breading things like scotch eggs or baked chicken with matzo meal generally works fine, and we often have grainless meals like swai fillets with roasted broccoli anyway. As I noted above, soybean oil, as well as canola oil, are technically kitniyot, but this is where we usually compromise if we're frying something. 

The undisputed winner of this year's Passover, though, was Brazilian cheese bread. I first encountered them years ago at Fogo de Chão, but have never made them at home. Ariel made them using Elise Bauer's recipe, and they were incredibly good and very addictive. Although I was assured there is no problem at all (tapioca is Kosher for Passover), eating them felt a little bit wrong to me. They're bread, aren't they? This is where the spirit/letter of the law distinction really hit me. Although the cheese bread puffs up in the oven, it's technically not leavened, so it's allowed. Either way, they are delicious and will definitely be showing up on our table again next year, and probably before then.