Mother's Day - Food memories from a bygone era

Mother’s Day, what better time to reflect back on the woman who started me on my culinary journey with her pitch perfect cooking. Her cooking wasn’t fancy, although on occasion when lobsters were on sale we might get a crab imperial stuffed ½ lobster or a veal scaloppini.  My mother was the youngest of 9 children; her parents were immigrants from Europe, who for a short period, lived in London before coming to the United States at the turn of the 20^th century. I tell you the United Kingdom waylay because of the foods served to me like Finnan and Haddie (smoked haddock) or kippers with sautéed onions with vinegar. Though I haven’t had Finnan and Haddie since I was a young girl, I still to this day order kippers at a local delicatessen.  

My mother ditched keeping Kosher when she married and moved into her own home. We weren’t very religious, although my mother maintained many Jewish traditions; the Friday night Shabbat dinner. All the aunties and uncles (and there were a lot, again, my mother one of nine and my father one of seven children) would clamber to sit at her table. Her roasted capon was legendary; the fish for her gefilte fish was hand chopped and flaky, and the chicken soup with light and fluffy matzo balls. In the early days, the butchers had unfertilized eggs she would get in a paper tray and cook them in the chicken soup.  

Read the full story at Examiner.com/Dining