New York Jews know everything: They have seen everything, have experienced everything and certainly have tasted everything.
That`s why this ex-New Yorker`s first seder in Sheboygan, Wis., in 1977, was going to be good for a few laughs. Passover on the prairie. They probably raise their own livestock out here.
My new mother-in-law, Ida Shilcrat, served an appetizer and soup that, I had to admit, were up to Eastern expectations. The main dish looked acceptable. But what was that orange-colored side dish? Sure smelled good.
”It`s tzimmes,” my mother-in-law said. ”You mean to tell me you`re from Brooklyn and you never had it?”
Hmmm. Tzimmes? The name sounded faintly familiar. Maybe I had eaten it once or twice. Certainly this dish must have made its way east of the Hudson River.
”What is it?” I asked.
”Cooked carrots,” she answered. ”Have some. It`s good.”
I did. It was.
Our family has gone to Sheboygan for seders every year since. I`ve always made a point of leaving plenty of room for tzimmes.
Tzimmes, as I have come to discover, is certainly more than cooked carrots. It`s really more than a traditional Jewish food: It`s an attitude.
The word is indeed part of the wonderfully evocative Yiddish vernacular. To make a ”big tzimmes” over something or someone means to make a fuss or a commotion. The connotation usually is positive, but not always.
Tzimmes usually is a side dish, but put a little extra meat in it and it`s an excellent stewlike main course. Put some apples, pears or pineapples in it and it can make a hearty dessert.
It`s a dish for almost any occasion: for the Sabbath because it can be prepared well in advance, and reheating it only makes it tastier; for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, because carrots are considered sweet, and sweet foods herald a sweet year.
The reasons for its popularity on Passover are more practical. In the Jewish enclaves of Europe, carrots were one of the few vegetables available in early spring.
It`s a regional dish: Carrot-based tzimmes is Eastern European in origin. Jews of the Balkans used dried fruit in their mix.
It can be a vegetarian or even a dairy dish. But in our family the essence is that savory piece of meat. It`s so delectable after all that cooking that everyone is careful to claim a piece.
I`ve had many portions of tzimmes in the years since I first tried it, but none better than at that first seder in Sheboygan.
IDA SHILCRAT`S TZIMMES
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
This recipe doubles nicely.
2 pounds carrots, peeled, sliced
1/2 pound chuck roast, short rib, flank or brisket
Water
1 pound pitted prunes
1/4 cup honey or kosher-for-Passover brown sugar
2 tablespoons potato starch
2 medium-size sweet potatoes, peeled, sliced, optional
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine carrots and in a casserole dish or Dutch oven. Add water just to cover. Bake, covered, for 2 hours.
2. Add prunes and honey or brown sugar. Mix potato starch with 1/4 cup of water as a thickener; add to carrot mixture. Add sweet potatoes, if using. Cook, covered, for 1 more hour.
Test kitchen note: Add salt and pepper as desired.
