Matzo balls
קניידלעךkneydlsay KNAY-del
Floaters or sinkers? The eternal Seder debate.
- First record
- 1846 · Empires & migration
- Fold
- Ball
- Cooked
- Boiled, in soup
- Dough
- Matzo meal, egg, schmaltz
- Cooked
- Boiled, in soup
- Size
- About 6 cm across
Tastes of
- matzo
- schmaltz
- chicken soup
- dill
Texture
- fluffy or dense, as the family likes
Field notes
Story
Matzo-meal, egg and schmaltz dumplings in chicken soup. An early recipe appears in The Jewish Manual (1846).
- How to eat it
- In chicken soup with carrots and dill.
- When
- Passover.
Did you know Families split into "floater" (fluffy) and "sinker" (dense) camps.
Make it
Matzo balls in chicken soup
Ingredients for 4
Matzo balls
To serve
Method
- Beat the eggs in a bowl, then stir in the melted schmaltz and the stock or seltzer.
- Add the matzo meal, salt, pepper, nutmeg and herbs and stir just until evenly mixed. Do not beat.
- Cover and refrigerate so the meal can absorb the liquid and the fat can firm up. · wait 2 hours
- Bring a wide, deep pot of lightly salted water (or half the soup) to the boil.
- With wet hands, shape the mixture lightly into balls the size of a walnut. Do not pack them.
- Drop them into the pot, cover, and lower the heat to a steady simmer. Keep the lid on.
- Simmer until they are cooked through to the centre. Cut one open to check. · timer 50 min
- Lift them out with a slotted spoon and serve two or three per bowl in hot chicken soup with dill.
Notes. Ashkenazi Passover dumplings (knaidlach / kneidlach), made with unleavened matzo meal so they are allowed during the festival; eaten year round in chicken soup. Families argue over "floaters" (light, made with seltzer, sometimes separated and whipped egg whites or baking powder) and "sinkers" (dense, made with water or stock). Raising agents are avoided by strict Passover observers. Joan Nathan adds grated ginger and nutmeg, a nod to older Central European versions. Cooking in water keeps the soup clear; cooking in soup gives more flavour. An early English-language recipe for matzo dumplings appears in The Jewish Manual (London, 1846). Cooked balls freeze well.
Written for the atlas from several sources, cross-checked: Recipe: Joan Nathan's Matzo Balls, Joan Nathan (CBS News); Matzo Balls: Not Just for Passover, Yamit Behar Wood (Jewish Journal). Not yet kitchen-tested.
Where
From German, Austrian, Alsatian Jews. Popular in global.
Evidence
Fairly sure. A dated text records it by 1846.
The grade comes from the project's source report and has not yet been checked source by source. How grading works.
Notes from the research
Early recipe in The Jewish Manual (1846). Manischewitz sold mixes as "feather balls Alsatian style" (Joan Nathan).
This entry is drawn from the World Dumpling Atlas, §6.22, the project's source report. Its grade, D dated text, says how far that has been checked against a primary source.
The tagline and story are editorial; facts trace to the atlas research.
Family E