Matzo Ball Soup

The key to a superlative matzo ball soup recipe—one with an aromatic golden broth, tender matzo balls, and deep chickeny flavor throughout—is all in the fat. Rendered chicken fat (or schmaltz) appears like magic atop homemade chicken stock as it chills. Once cold, you can spoon it off and use it to infuse perfectly fluffy matzo balls with rich flavor. Use half a whole chicken, bone-in chicken breasts, or any 4-lb. array of bones and other chicken parts to make the broth. If you’re using pieces with the meat still attached, feel free to shred the chicken after cooking and add it back to the soup (or save the shredded chicken for another use).

While some matzo ball recipes use seltzer or baking powder for leavening, this version just asks for a light hand (and a high ratio of eggs). To form the dumplings, dip your hands into a small bowl of cold water and ever so carefully coax the matzo ball mixture into spheres. Keeping your hands damp will prevent the mixture from sticking (it’s also a good method for shaping meatballs). Whatever you do, “don’t work too hard to shape them,” says cookbook author Mitchell Davis: “Rolling the matzo balls around for too long toughens them up.”

While the broth can be made a few days ahead, matzo balls are best on the day they’re made, but you can prepare them an hour or so in advance. Transfer the cooked matzo balls to a baking sheet coated with vegetable oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. When ready to serve, bring the broth back to a simmer, drop in the matzo balls to warm them, ladle into bowls, and serve.

This recipe has been adapted for style from ‘Kitchen Sense’ by Mitchell Davis. Buy the full book on Amazon.