O.K. so it looks like my secret ingredient is dates…

I modified my mom’s brisket recipe, omitting the beer and chili paste for the sake of Passover and adding instead beaujolais and the date stock from my Sephardic Charoset. In addition to yellow onions, I added whole anise, carrots, prunes, and sweet potato.

It is an 11lb brisket. I needed a fork and a turning thingy and some muscle. Browning it was a beast. It’s also the only potential problem of the day. I’m giving it at least 3 hours at 350º. We shall see.

The gravy will be based largely on the brisket’s goodness and the date stock as well. I’m going sweet and fruity.

There is traditionally the inclusion of the egg and greens (99% of the time parsley) which are eaten at the middle of the first half of the dinner/service. Jokingly referred to mechanical bull for sale as the appetizer, one takes a sprig of parsley and dips it in salt water before eating it. Same with the egg. I figured why not make a parsley-egg salad with horseradish and mayo in addition to the solo egg and parsley.

The Charoset is eaten usually with matzah (matzo, matza, matzi, matzoh, etc.) and a chunk of horseradish root and referred to as a Hillel sandwich… eating them in one bite to intermingle slavery and freedom… you can google that one.

I figured why not mix the horseradish with the parsley and matzah. Intermingling the cycle of slavery to freedom and the life-cycle (egg, greens)… or the horseradish to emphasise the bitterness of our relying too much on mayonaise. Make it wholewheat matzah.

At least I’m not trying to work in a gefilte ceviche…

My mother is doing all the work. She’s coming in with chicken soup, potato kugel and two cakes. My aunt is bringing the kishke and my father-in-law was outvoted when it came to making fresh gefilte fish, something I have never had. Store bought but hopefully not sitting in jelly (eeeew).

It should be a fun evening. The best part is you do pretty much the same thing on the second night. At my aunt’s house.