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The cake balls themselves were easy, but the dunking was a disaster. I melted chocolate chips in a glass bows over a pot of boiling water, but it was too thick. I added some veg oil, thinned it down, but it still didn't coat well. I ended up with what look like pink buckeyes with holes in the center from the fork.

Any dipping suggestions? I like the recipe concept too much to just take the fail. . .

I recently tossed about $20 of lamb in the original butcher's packaging - frozen since 2007. The meat looked mottled and dessicated through the plastic - there was no way that was going to cook well. . .

With airtight packaging, meat can last a good 6-12mo in a deep freezer.

FYI, it's already unkosher if you're using butter in the sauce.

Is there an alternate marinade than the buttermilk? I keep a kosher house, but think I would love the chewier texture of the marinated rather than stewed. . .

tia!

While the Jew in me shudders at the use of Challah for a bacon-chi, the foodie wonders if the bread was strong enough to withstand the awesomeness of the compote/burger juice?

Happy father's day!

@Donnamarie - HFCS is kosher, just not kosher for passover because it is a corn product. . .if you're really interested in the reasoning, google "kitnyot". . .

I miss Strawberry Rice Krispies. . . we were allowed to have one small dixie cup of it as a snack every once in a while. . .ooooh, so good. . .shaking strawberry quik powder over regular rice krispies is close, but not the same. . .

MMinNYC -
Green beans are "controversial" during passover. . .just fyi:
The Kitniyot Controversy.

Since the Middle Ages, Ashkenazim, but not Sephardim, traditionally haven't eaten various foods known as "kitniyot" -- often mistranslated as "legumes" (the word itself comes from the root meaning "small," so "bits" might be a better translation) -- during Pesah. Kitniyot are not hametz and Ashkenazim who observe the ban on kitniyot are free to attend a seder at which they are served and eat food cooked in the same pot as kitniyot.

Which foods exactly are kitniyot is a matter of some dispute, but generally kitniyot are small fleshless seeds of annual plants that someone might make into flour, and more precisely you must consult the list of your preferred halachic expert. Usually, lentils and dried beans, dried peas, rice, corn, sesame seeds and caraway seeds are kitniyot; but quinoa, potatoes and coffee are not. Peanuts, fresh peas and fresh green beans are controversial.

The ban is considered a minhag -- a custom -- rather than a mitzvah and was called "foolish" by some early authorities, who note that it has no Talmudic basis, that the traditional justifications for the rule don't match what is actually classified as kitniyot, and that it distracts from the more important aspects of the holiday, such as, "do not oppress the stranger for you were strangers in Egypt." Most Ashkenazi Orthodox and traditional authorities disagree, on the ground that traditional stringencies should be accepted. However, due to these disagreements, some authorities say the kitniyot category should not be expanded to include:

new (or New World) foods (such as, e.g., peanuts, permitted by R. Moshe Feinstein, the leading modern Orthodox posek (legal decisionmaker)), or
derivative foods (such as oils made from kitniyot, permitted by Litvak poskim a century ago (e.g., the Netziv of Volozhin) but considered suspect in many Orthodox circles today).
Other authorities, as one might expect, go the other direction. For example, the Remah, Orach Chaim 464, bars mustard because it is "similar" to kitniyot (although he permits anise and coriander seeds, id 453.)! Corn, despite its New World origin, seems to be resolutely fixed in the kitniyot category on the ground that its name in Yiddish (korn) is the same as rye. (Click for a detailed discussion of the traditional commentaries and some modern (Orthodox) views, a detailed dvar on kitniyot including many citations, Aish HaTorah's explanation of the kitniyot rules or a funny description of the problems of frum Pesah shopping in Israel).

The Conservative movement in the US as a general principal accepts the Talmudic view that it is forbidden to create stringencies (humras). On this issue, however, it officially bars kitniyot generally, but allows peanuts and kitniyot-derived oils (see the RA Pesah Guide). The Conservative responsa's reasoning is not entirely clear (as is the case with everything regarding kitniyot): if the idea is not to expand a "foolish tradition," then presumably all the New World beans and grains - - including corn -- should be permissible along with all modern derivative products (oils, sweeteners). If the idea is that peanuts are not "legumes," as the Responsa states, the problem is deeper. First, unlike many other kitniyot, peanuts actually are legumes. More to the point, kitniyot is not a biologically based category (the traditional list of kitniyot includes grains (rice) and dried beans (peas, lentils), but allows fresh string beans). If the category is meant to reflect things that someone might confuse with prohibited flours (as the Smak contended in 13c France) or grains that are sometimes mixed with prohibited grains (as the Beit Yosef explained in 16c Israel), perhaps rice, corn and lentils ought to be barred, but why peas, corn oil or corn sweeteners? And, in a day and age when few people make their own flour, why bar whole rice, corn and lentils, none of which resembles flour at all? Indeed, is mixing really plausible in a modern inspected factory? Most importantly, why not ban potatoes, which Ashkenazim actually do use in pumpernickel bread?

The Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel ruled that the bar on kitniyot should not be observed in Israel at all (click for responsa text in Hebrew or English summary (Va'ad Ha Halakha, Vol. 3, R. David Golinkin)) because it is foolish and creates unnecessary distinctions between Sephardim and Ashkenazim and the majority custom (in Israel) ought to be followed. Rabbi Michael Lerner and Benjamin Mordecai Ben-Baruch urge the same result for the similar reasons in the US. Click for Lerner and Ben-Baruch opinions.

-- Daniel Greenwood

I don't know if this would be important to your guests. My parent's would never have green beans during passover.

Thanks so much for all the links above - I'm hosting a seder for the first time ever, and I'm a bit freaked out. Now that I've got Martha to guide me, I feel much better. =)