CHICKEN SOUP 101 VIA PORTAL

My October 15, 2018 blog post “WHAT'S FADING FASTER, RELIGION OR TRADITION?” must have thrown a spark. My daughter, a newlywed, asked for my recipe for chicken soup. If there’s one thing I’ve mastered in 44 years of marriage, it’s the art of making chicken soup.

It all started back in 1975 when, as a newlywed myself, I sat in my kitchen and wrote down my mother’s recipe for chicken soup on a 3 x 5 index card, still in my notebook of recipes. My daughter Rina’s request brought back the very memory of learning to make chicken soup from my own mother, who probably learned from hers, and continued to make it every Friday night as part of our Sabbath (Shabbos) dinner.

While raising our three children, I kept the practice going, as my mother did every week for her four children. Interestingly, I don’t know if either of us made it on any other nights of the week. When my mother became disabled and her arthritis and neurological deficits made it impossible for her to cook any longer, I would make chicken soup at her house and come home and make it at ours, or make double batches at her house and we would eat there.

As a matter-of-fact, it was a literal send-off when I made a huge pot of chicken soup at her house before we went on vacation in December 2012. While we were away, my mother passed away in her sleep. Since then, my two bachelor brothers join us at our house weekly for Shabbos dinner, of course, complete with my chicken soup.

The trick with giving my daughter the recipe was that she lives clear across the country in Los Angeles, and I was not in her kitchen mentoring. Instead, we worked via Facebook’s Portal screen, where I was able to virtually look into her pot and see how fast the soup was boiling. Modern technology at its finest.

Also, with the ease of a smartphone, her husband Eric was able to send a picture of the soup, along with the rest of the meal, and comment that I taught her well. He exclaimed, “What a meal!” My reply, “Wait for the matzah balls or kugel next time.”

When I look at my sweet granddaughter Solly’s face, as she is just starting to eat solids, I think of all the changes in foods, feeding and technology, since her father, my eldest child, was her age. What will be in her chicken soup and where will she learn the recipe? She’s sure to have the same reaction as her Aunt Rina, who said, “Smells so good, I now know the true meaning of comfort food!”

If you would like my recipe for chicken soup, request it in the comments section below.

Rina’s new pot for chicken soup