ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997 TAG: 9704160024
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES THE ROANOKE TIMES
WHEN ASKED WHETHER Wal-Mart was stocking Passover foods, the woman who answered the store's phone paused, pondered, then asked, "Would that be in deli?"
She, like many people, was confused about a group of unfamiliar foods that have been prominently displayed in supermarkets during the last few weeks.
Mainly in the green and orange packages of kosher products manufacturer Manischewitz, they are prepared to meet guidelines for the Jewish Passover, which begins Monday night. Most are dry or canned goods, found not in the deli but in specially designated aisle space.
"Passover is the celebration of the Israelites' freedom from slavery in ancient Egypt. We try to relive through our food the experience of freedom that our ancient ancestors had. During the week of Passover, we don't eat anything that is made from wheat, oat, barley, rye or spelt," Kathy Cohen explained.
Cohen, 35, is a wife, the mother of three children under age 7, and, since May 1996, the rabbi of the Temple Emanuel Reform Jewish congregation in Roanoke. She said she usually bears the brunt of the house-cleaning rituals involved in preparing for the week- to eight-day-long religious observance, including changing over to special cookware and dishes and removing all vestiges of leavened bread from the home. But she and her husband, Michael, "have a wonderful sharing of home needs," especially as to cooking, she said.
"I don't have a tremendous amount of time to perfect the art of cooking," said Cohen, who is one of approximately 300 female rabbis in the United States. But she said her almost-5-year-old son thinks she makes the world's greatest Passover meatballs. She agreed to try to answer some frequently asked questions about Passover and its foods.
"The Israelites had to leave Egypt very quickly when they were permitted to do so, and so they had no time to bake bread," Cohen said. "So they put together a quick combination of wheat flour and water that baked very quickly and became a crackerlike substance that we call matzo."
Cohen said matzo can be made from wheat as long as it is not allowed to rise. Matzo are dry, bland flatbreads eaten whole or crumbled or crushed to form the base for dishes ranging from cakes and stuffings to dumplings for soups. The recipe for matzo brei (rhymes with eye) included with this story creates a sort of French toast with alternating soft/creamy and crisp/crunchy spots.
The dumplings or matzo balls that are standard fare are a thorn in the side for many Passover cooks.
"The ones you get out of the box to make can be heavy," Cohen observed. "But my grandmother taught me how to make them. The real trick is in getting the egg whites real, real stiff, and then they'll float pretty nicely," she said.
During Passover, a lot of cooking is done with potato starch, eggs, fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and fish, Cohen said. The big eating events usually occur during Passover's first two nights, when Seders are held.
Seder is the gathering during which the story of the escape is told from a book called the Haggadah. Foods for the feast typically include a chicken and/or brisket dish, matzo kugel (a pudding), a fruit and vegetable mixture called tsimmes (sounds sort of like Simmons), and potato-flour sponge cake for dessert.
Gefilte fish actually is eaten year round. A lot of people eat the off-white fish balls in a gelatinous sauce as an appetizer. Borscht is cold beet soup. Both foods can be made from scratch or bought packaged in jars.
The ritual Seder foods include parsley to symbolize springtime, dipped in salt water to represent the tears of slavery; haroset, a mixture of apples, nuts, a little sweet wine and cinnamon, to symbolize the mortar between bricks of the buildings that the Israelites had to make; horseradish for the bitterness of slavery; a roasted shank bone to represent sacrificing the paschal lamb; and a roasted egg also representing sacrifice.
"You boil the egg before you roast it," Cohen warned. "Otherwise, it explodes."
The Seder meal typically begins with a hard-boiled egg, she said.
"Eggs were once a symbol of a wealthy, free person's appetizer. We also sometimes sit on pillows or lean, again as a symbol of freedom and leisure, because when you're a slave, you don't have the chance to sit on something nice and soft or to eat leisurely," Cohen said.
The Seder is ritualistic and steeped in tradition. Cohen said she cherishes her late grandmother's bone china Seder plate, which has been handed down in her family. But traditions, too, start somewhere, and so Cohen is creating a few customs of her own with her family.
"On the night before Passover or early the next morning, you basically play hide-and-seek for any crumbs that are left. At our house, we let the children search for any crumbs they can find, and they put it on a spoon. Then the crumbs are burnt with the flame of a candle.
"Our Seders tend to be very child-oriented. We do a lot of interactive things. We sing some new, modern songs about the plagues of the frogs and how the frogs were on everyone's toes and on their nose. Last year, my children made origami frogs and had them jumping all over the table. Sometimes we'll take out the kids' blocks and have them build their own pyramids," she said.
On Sunday, the temple held a model Seder that was open to the general public. It was a little late getting the publicity out, Cohen said, but maybe now at least a few more members of the Roanoke Valley's estimated 99 percent non-Jewish population won't go to the deli seeking Passover foods.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA/THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. Accouterments for aby CNBPassover seder include the haggadah - an order of service - wine,
candles, a cup for the prophet Elijah and a plate on which to
arrange the ritualized foods. 2. (headshot) Rabbi Kathy Cohen.
color.