My experience with a main dish was far more satisfying than my attempt at dessert. I decided to make an old standard in my family - chicken fricassee. I honestly don't know if there was ever a true recipe, my grandmothers both cooked by taste. I followed the Joan Nathan recipe found in Jewish Cooking in America. I left some items out, such as giblets and use ground turkey instead of ground beef - a health conscious upgrade.
As noted by many definitions and many authors chicken fricassee is a stew - Boston Globe columnist Ted Weesner Jr. (2002) calls fricassee "a dressed up stew". It dates back in some form to the 17 century("A Fricassee Enhancement"). Joan Nathan in referring to Mimi Sheraton's recipe says meatballs were included once the recipe was brought to America.
To my recollection, chicken fricassee was one of those foods created out of necessity: left over bits and pieces(including the feet) of the chicken were added to the stew pot. It was important to stretch that chicken to feed a large family.
Rationing out a chicken has its place in this era as well, as author Tina Wasserman in the November 2006 issue of Reform Judaism Magazine discusses how the relaxing of anti religious laws in Cuba has lead to a resurgence in observance. As meat in general is hard to come by, chicken fricassee again becomes a staple, allowing the small ration of chicken to feed many("Cooking: Malagas and Mangoes with a Cuban Minyan").
The flavor and smell brought me back 40 years to Shabbat dinners in Crown Heights, multi-generational diners and a feeling of comfort brought about through loving family and good food! There never seemed to be enough challah to mop up the gravy! Now my waistline dictates there should be very little challah to soak up the sauce - perhaps brown rice? Some combinations just seem to cross too many boundaries...I settled for a Middle Eastern compromise, couscous!
It is funny how Jews added meatballs perhaps as Joan Nathan and Mimi Sheraton suggest to indicate abundance, just as the Italians did. Perhaps this where immigrants in many ways share a common bond: a wish for prosperity in the new world, maybe even borrowing traditions such as meatballs. Of course there is a difference in how these meals are served and perhaps what the dishes represent. Fricassee with its meatballs is Shabbat. Maybe meatballs served in an Italian house represents a favorite holiday or family gathering. Of course cheese, butter and bread would only be found along side meatballs in an Italian house, not in a house that observes kashrut.
While the concept of kashrut seems to separate us from the rest of the world, why can't it also be a way to inform and teach why it is important in a Jewish home - we may not be able to partake of all the riches to be found in a non-kosher meal, but there is no reason we can't share our way of life with others, showing we are not missing anything, indeed the flavors become richer when shared with people you care about.
