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Aubergines char directly on a gas flame or under a hot grill until the skin is uniformly black and the flesh is collapsed inside. Steamed briefly under foil; peeled. Flesh chops, then mashes (don't blend, the texture is the point) with tahini, lemon, garlic, salt. Plate; pool olive oil; scatter pomegranate seeds and parsley.
The Ashkenazi version, simplest and most common in northern Europe and the United States: tart apples chopped fine, walnuts crushed coarse, cinnamon, a little brown sugar, and sweet kosher red wine to bind. Stirred together and left for the flavours to meld. Some households add a pinch of ground ginger or a squeeze of lemon. There are dozens of regional variants (Sephardi versions use dates and figs); this one is the most familiar at a North American seder.
Chicken thighs marinate 6+ hours in baharat, turmeric, paprika, cumin, garlic, yogurt, lemon, olive oil. Stacked or spread on a tray (the home shortcut), roasted hot 25 minutes turning once, finished briefly under the grill until charred edges. Sliced thin and stuffed into pita with all the accompaniments.
Eggs hard-boil and cool. Onions cook slowly in oil or schmaltz until deeply golden and sweet. Both chop together with a fork or knife (not a food processor, the texture matters); salt and pepper season. Serve at room temperature.
A mix of white-fleshed fish (carp, pike, whitefish, or a more modern blend of cod and haddock) is ground with grated onion, eggs, matzo meal and a little sugar, then formed into quenelles. The quenelles poach gently in a broth made from the fish skin, heads and bones with onion and carrot. After an hour they are lifted out and chilled overnight in the strained broth; some of the broth jellies as it cools, which is the point. Served cold, on a leaf of lettuce, with a generous spoon of horseradish.
A sugar syrup is cooked to soft-ball stage (118°C). Tahini is warmed slightly. The hot syrup is poured into the tahini and mixed with a wooden spoon just until ribbons form, this is the critical moment. Over-mix and halva turns to crumbs; under-mix and it stays soft. Poured into a lined tin; pistachios are sprinkled on top; set at room temp 4 hours.
Dried chickpeas soak overnight with a teaspoon of baking soda. Cook for 60-75 minutes with baking soda until very soft. Reserve a small handful of whole chickpeas as garnish. Blend hot chickpeas with garlic, lemon, salt, ice cubes (yes, they help the emulsion) and a generous quantity of good tahini. Result: smooth, silky, pale-gold. Plate in a wide bowl; swirl with the back of a spoon; top with chickpeas, paprika, parsley, olive oil, cumin.
Vegetables are diced into uniform 5 mm cubes, knife work matters. Lemon juice, olive oil and salt are the only dressing; sometimes a teaspoon of sumac or a clove of crushed garlic. Eaten freshly made; doesn't keep, the cucumbers weep.
Chicken breasts butterfly and pound to 5 mm thick. Dredge through seasoned flour, beaten egg, then panko breadcrumbs mixed with paprika, garlic powder and a pinch of cumin. Shallow-fry in 1 cm of oil at 175°C 2-3 minutes per side until deep gold and crisp. Drain on paper. Lemon wedges.
Chicken thigh, liver and heart sear hard in a wide pan with onions; spices bloom; everything cooks together until the meat is just done and the onions are deeply caramelised. Stuffed into pita with hummus, salad, tahini, pickles. The signature is the spice blend, cumin, turmeric, paprika, black pepper, cardamom, and the onion-to-meat ratio (a lot of onion).
This is the brisket that anchors every Ashkenazi holiday table - Rosh Hashanah dinner, the Passover seder, a Friday-night Shabbat. You sear the meat hard until the surface is mahogany, then build a slow braise on its rendered fat: onions caramelised down to gold, garlic and tomato paste deepened with paprika and brown sugar, wine and stock pulling the lot together. The brisket goes back in fat-side up and the pot disappears into a low oven for three hours plus, until a fork meets no resistance. The trick almost every recipe insists on is the overnight rest. You cool the meat in its sauce, slice it cold against the grain (warm brisket shreds, cold brisket slices clean), then reheat the slices in the sauce before serving. Spoon the onion-rich gravy generously over mashed potato, kasha or buttered egg noodles.
Cornflour whisks into a small amount of cold milk to a slurry. The rest of the milk warms with cream and sugar; the slurry pours in; the mixture cooks for 4-5 minutes until thick and silky. Rosewater stirs in off the heat; the lot pours into glasses to set in the fridge. The syrup of rosewater, sugar and a touch of grenadine pours over before serving.
Red bell peppers char briefly under the grill, skin peels off. Tomatoes (fresh or tinned) and the peeled peppers blend coarse. Chopped garlic, hot green chilli and oil heat in a wide pan; the tomato-pepper mix joins. Cooks down slow 75 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very thick and jammy. Paprika, cumin, salt, sugar fold in late.
Two parallel jobs: a long-simmered chicken broth made from a whole bird with onion, carrot and celery, skimmed clean and finished with dill; and the matzo balls themselves, made from matzo meal, eggs, schmaltz and seltzer, rested in the fridge for the gluten to relax. The balls poach in salted water (never the broth, or the broth clouds), then sit in the hot broth at serving time. Light, comforting, traditional.