The Wooden Bowls

I was on my hands and knees, plucking pot after broken-handled pot from beneath my Nana's cabinets cluttered with kitchenware accumulated after the death of each of her four sisters. "Who needs to spend money on new pots with all these?" I imagined her saying.

Imagined indeed. My grandmother, Beatrice Bloom, had died just days before, at age 94, and I was helping my mother clean out her apartment in Miami Beach. The mound of pots grew while thoughts and images of the formidable, widowed Cohen sisters: Aunts Rose, Ruth, Francis and Lilly, came alive. Rose, the undisputed matriarch and best cook, Ruth the best baker, intrepid Lilly (who at 84 showed up, alone at our Tokyo apartment), and Francis and Beatrice-- working girls until well into their late 70's.

And then, like a miner hitting a vein of gold, I found what I knew had to be there somewhere-- two shallow, elliptical wooden bowls nestled together. Pulling them from the darkness of the cabinet, in tears, I brought them close to my nose and breathed deeply, smelling more than half a century of Friday night and holiday dinners. Nothing triggers memories like aromas. There I was, in February 2001 on the floor of a kitchen in Miami, transported decades back to the New York City apartment my grandmother and her sisters Rose and Francis shared.

Frazzled from a Friday night ride on the Long Island Expressway, we step off the elevator into the hallway of Beatrice's apartment building, and are met by the distinctive smells of Eastern European Jewish cooking. We could have picked any floor in that building or any other in the neighborhood where Jewish women were preparing dinner, and would have felt right at home.

Chopchopchopchopchop-- the rhythmic sound of metal blade hitting wooden bowl at rat-a-tat speed. The smell, oh the smell. Onions being fried in chicken schmaltz (chicken fat) permeated the hallways and infused my soul. What treats lay behind the door of Apartment 7B! Roast Chicken, Chicken Soup with Matzoh Balls, sweet noodle pudding…

Upon entering the apartment, there would be a flurry of hugs and commands. My two brothers, and father were set upon. If a male attempted to follow his nose across the culinary 38th Parallel of Aunt Rosie's kitchen, they were chided and shooed "Out, out, out!" I alone was allowed into the kitchen where a flushed Aunt Rose held the double-bladed chopper above the wooden bowl and exclaimed "Debala (little Debbie in Yiddish) how about a little taste?" She filled a spoonful of chopped liver scraped from the bowl and into my mouth. (Even at age 10, I loved this stuff!) Before I could answer, Rosie would say "more salt," and toss crystals of kosher salt into the bowl, in perfect unmeasured proportion.

But the single magic ingredient (or lethal weapon, as we now know) was chicken schmaltz. A jelly-glass full of the weeks of rendered chicken fat-- resembling strata of sedimentary rock-- sat inside the refrigerator door. A dollop was always added to the chopped chicken livers, fried onions and hardboiled egg mixture. It was guaranteed to take you to Jewish Nirvana and probably was responsible for more than a few triple by-pass operations.

A basket of fresh challah is on the center of the table set with a beautiful linen cloth, the good china and silver. Finally we are all seated. My Nana and Aunt Francis serve the first course. Happy and chatting, we spread the chopped liver onto the challah.

Aunt Francis reaches for the salt-- big mistake. "What are you doing?" demands Rose. "It needs salt," Francis explains. "No it doesn't" retorts Rosie as she reaches into Aunt Francis's plate with her fork, confirming her pronouncement. Then an exchange of "no it doesn't, mind your own business, what do you know" ensues. The girls, even as octogenarians, never agreed on much. I always wondered why the salt and pepper shakers were out on the table, as they were purely for decoration.

Herring, gefilte fish, and walnuts were chopped for a variety of dishes in those wooden bowls. My great-grandmother, who came to this country from Poland, observed kosher rules. She used different bowls for different foods. As time passed, however, the next generation dropped this custom, replacing it with a good washing instead.

My mother, Rona Greenberg, has her own wooden bowl, and when I got married, part of my 'dowry' was a new wooden bowl and chopper. Customs changed over time as we assimilated into American culture. My great-grandmother's Shabbos (Sabbath) dinner with candles and prayers, turned into a regular Friday night gathering of cousins in my mother's generation, before it became dinner at Nana's when I was a kid. And now what is it? Pizza and a video after a long week of work and busy schedules.

Yes, I do use my wooden bowl, sometimes even for making chopped liver. To be honest, though, I more often hit the pulse button on the Cuisinart. But, against my better judgment, I do skim the fat off the top of the chicken soup and add it to the batter for making matzoh balls-- you get a much lighter ball and not a bomb that sinks to the bottom of the pot. However, I also crush sesame and fennel seeds and mash tofu in this same wooden bowl. Sorry girls.

With my Nana's tchotchkes ("stuff" comes closest in English) and those two bowls as carry-ons, I returned to Boston from Miami. I was richer than when I left. Fighting my sentimental instincts, knowledge about bacteria forced me to put the bowls into the dishwasher. Today they are on my kitchen counter, filled with fruit and memories.

Gut Yuntuf (Yiddish for Happy Holidays) Nana and Aunties. For this year's Rosh Hashanah dinner I will use your bowls to make chopped liver, and add an extra spoonful of shmaltz with a dash of tears. No one had better reach for the salt.


Aunt Rosie's Chopped Liver (serves 8 as an appetizer)

There are as many methods for making chopped liver, as there are Jewish mothers.
My paternal grandmother, Bess, used mayonnaise as her secret ingredient, to no end of disdain from the Cohen girls.

1 pound fresh chicken livers
2 large onions
2 hardboiled eggs
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil or chicken shmaltz(fat)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

1. Clean and separate chicken livers. Place chicken livers in a baking dish and broil for 2 minutes. (My mother in law boils them for about 3 minutes).
2. Chop onions and sauté in a frying pan with the oil(chicken shmaltz) for 15 minutes until they are very soft and brown. If you dare, fry them in rendered chicken fat.
3. Add the chicken livers and sauté an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

To mix by hand in a chopping bowl:

1. Finely chop hard-boiled eggs and set aside.
2. Vigorously chop the onion and liver mixture until well blended and spreadable. Add the eggs and mix with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To mix by food processor:

1. Put eggs in processor bowl and with 's'blade hit the pulse button 3-4 times. Remove to a separate bowl.
2. Add the chicken livers and onions to processor bowl and hit the pulse button about 7-8 times. Add to the egg mixture and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper.
If the mixture is a little dry, you can add a little oil, chicken shmaltz or mayonnaise.

To serve individually:

On a small plate, place a mound of about 3 tablespoons on a lettuce leaf garnished with tomato wedges. Serve with Challah, matzoh, or crackers like Tam Tams(Manishewitz Brand)


Grandma Rita's Mock Chopped Liver (Vegetarian)

This is my mother-in-law Rita Schwartz's delicious and lower fat alternative to the real thing. "You know we all have to watch it these days, says Grandma Rita."

1 8 ounce can green beans
1 8 ounce can green peas
15 Tam Tam crackers
2 large onions, chopped
3 hard boiled eggs
1 tablespoon low fat mayonnaise
1 cup chopped walnuts
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. In a frying pan, sauté onions for 15 minutes until soft and browned.
2. Put the onions alone in the food processor and pulse 3-4 times and remove.
3. Place walnuts and Tam Tam crackers in the food processor bowl and pulse until just broken up.
Add the vegetables, hard boiled eggs and process until smooth.
4. Finally add the onions to this mixture and pulse another 3 times.
5. Scrape into a mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste.
Chill for at least 2 hours.


Rosie's Herring Salad (serves 12)

This is like a pate and is delicious with crackers

2 jars pickled herring filets (not in cream sauce) with onions
2 apples peeled and grated
¾ cup walnuts
2 hard boiled eggs
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup sour cream(you can omit this)

1. Drain herring filets and reserve the liquid.
2. Chop herring and onions finely in a bowl or pulse about 6 times in a food processor.
3. Place in a bowl and add the grated apple, ½ cup of chopped walnuts, hardboiled egg, lemon juice, sugar and a few teaspoons of the pickling liquid.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve with crackers on a platter. Garnish with the remaining walnuts.


Rosie's Waldorf Salad (serves 4 as a first course)

Old fashioned and simple to make, this salad is quite refreshing. It also makes a great dessert.

2 Red Delicious Apples
2 Golden Delicous or Granny Smith Apples
2 tablespoons each, mayonnaise and sour cream
3 stalks celery, diced
1 cup green grapes halved
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
lemon juice and sugar to taste

1. Wash, cut and core apples. Do not peel. Cut into bite-size pieces. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice.
2. Add diced celery, grape halves and walnuts
3. Mix sour cream and mayo together. Fold into salad. Chill for 2 hours.
4. Serve in individual glass compote cup. Sprinkle on chopped walnuts as a garnish.


How to Render Chicken Fat
(Adapted From the New Jewish Cookbook - Hebrew Publishing 1947)

Cut skin from any kind of fowl and remove fat.
Heat fat in a frying pan until it melts. Reserve in a jar.

For a special treat (I'm not kidding) the skin of the chicken and chopped onions would be fried in the chicken fat until crispy. Then drained on paper towels.
This is called Grieben. My mother says she and her brother would wait like little birds at the stove while my Nana made this. It rivals the skin on a roasted turkey.

Crabber keeps fishing in family

DEER ISLE, MAINE - Kelly Pratt, ninth generation Islander, has deep roots
in this part of the Maine coast. Legend has it her great-great-grandfather,
Julius Heanssler, found his way to a cove here in the late 1800s in a row boat and
never left. For generations, fishing has been the family's livelihood, and Pratt, 36,
keeps that tradition alive. She helped on her dad's lobster boat, has her own
crab-picking business, and is married to a lobsterman.

Tucked inside the inlets and coves of Sunshine Road under the dramatic light of
early evening, Pratt prepares to pick and package a crate of Peeky Toe crabs
(approximately 100 pounds, or more than 200 crabs) for sale to local markets and
beyond. She's had her own business for two years, and before that she picked for
10 years with her aunt and uncle.

This scene is not as common as it used to be in these parts. In the yard behind her
home is her newly built ''crab kitchen,'' where all the action takes place. Its
screened-in porch houses two huge pots that cook and cool the crabs. Inside the
kitchen, the crabs are split apart, refrigerated, picked, and packaged. This whole
operation once took place outside in her Uncle Dick's yard and garage, until Maine
issued new regulations on cottage industries.

These regulations ended some home businesses. Small home kitchen operations,
where women picked crabmeat to make pocket money, are all but gone in the
Deer Isle-Stonington area, down from about 400 to 40. Pratt hopes this season's
profits will pay for the expenses she incurred to stay in business.

Survivors like Pratt make the adjustment. Her screened-in porch ''is to protect
from airborne bacteria,'' she explains. In the double sink, she dilutes bleach to soak
and clean her utensils, and has thermometers to check the crab for doneness.

Minette Billings, manager of the North Atlantic Seafood Co., laments the
diminished supply of pickers, but buys only from state-approved operations.

''These girls are really good and their stuff is the best,'' she says. ''I sell it as fast as
they can pick.''

Life at the home of a crab picker means everyone is involved. In the kitchen, the
atmosphere is relaxed but busy. Country music plays on the radio, and sons
Jeremy, 12, and Andy, 11, are hanging around playing with a Game Boy and
helping make a big sign for the roadside that says, ''Kelly Pratt's Fresh Picked
Crabmeat.'' Everyone takes turns helping bait the traps that husband Jonathan sets
in the waters off Eastside Cove in Jericho Bay.

Jeremy explains the process of crab picking, with machine-gun speed. The crabs
are caught in the same traps as the lobsters and then crated. The crabs are taken
from the crate (not a favorite job, as the crabs pinch), placed in a huge basket, and
hung from a rope and winch system. Pratt swings the basketful of live crabs over
the vat and lowers it into about 30 gallons of boiling water. The crabs then cook for
40 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees. When they
are done, Pratt raises the basket of steaming crabs, and plunges them into cold
water.

The crabs are then pulled apart and separated into baskets of bodies, claws, and
legs. The bodies are picked while still warm with a small tool that looks like a seam
ripper. Pratt cracks the legs and claws with a tack hammer, and the meat is
scooped out. There are about 10 crabs to a pound of meat, and on a good day,
she will pick 20 pounds; nearly all are spoken for before her husband's boat docks.

Pratt says picking can be a ''lonely occupation,'' but often the women will help each
other. Tonight, Molly MacDonald, a friend and fellow picker with her own
business, comes by. MacDonald swiftly pulls a crab from the bubbling water. The
thermometer is inserted into its body and reads 160 degrees. Back in it goes until it
reaches 180. Once it does, the pace of activity increases to a speed only achieved
by the experienced and admired by the uninitiated. Hot crabs spill onto the counter
for McDonald and Pratt to break, tear, and toss. A task that looks as if it would
take hours is completed in about 30 minutes.

Jonathan Pratt comes in to test his haul, and cracks the claw of a crab with the butt
of his knife. Deftly, the tip of the blade slips the warm meat from the shell and he
holds out an offering. The briny sweet taste is simple and pure.

''Doesn't get any better than that, does it?'' says the tanned lobsterman. With hands
and shells and crab flying, but never missing a beat, his wife and McDonald chat,
and to the amusement of all, over the radio comes the song ''Take This Job and
Shove It.''

April through September is picking season, and Pratt picks about three times a
week.

She also has a catering business specializing in shore dinners (lobster, clams, and corn), and she cooks at a campground. In fall and winter, she sews colorful quilts
for sale during the summer.

After three hours, more than 200 crabs are boiled, soaked, cracked, and sorted.
Bodies are picked, and shreds of white and red-flecked crabmeat fall into a
growing mound. Pratt is only half done, though. The remaining claws and legs are
refrigerated for picking tomorrow. It's 10:30 p.m., but before she can turn out the
lights, puddles of crab juice need mopping, counters need wiping.

When asked if she has time for a hot bath before bed, Pratt, flushed from the heat
and activity, says, ''Now wouldn't that be nice.''