During the Passover holiday, there’s a lot of talk of the ten plagues that were cast down upon Egypt: Thunder, blood, locusts, slaying of the firstborn—it wasn’t a good time. The year is now 2019, Passover is only a few weeks away, and there’s something new plaguing us: The realization that we’ve been thinking about our matzo balls all wrong.
In our quest to develop BA’s Best Matzo Ball Soup, we dug into one of the holiday’s most essential components, parsing through the generations of lore to see what really makes the best ball. After weeks of testing (and eating lots and lots of matzo balls), we discovered that, while every family makes theirs a little differently, a few common misconceptions prevail—and a few small changes can really make a difference.
The first of many A/B matzo ball tests
1. The great seltzer debate: A lot of matzo ball recipes will tell you to add baking powder or seltzer, which is said to curb the density of matzo balls and make them lighter and fluffier. We did a side by side—by side by side—comparison for both of these factors and decided that adding it in didn’t affect the texture enough to pop open a can of plain La Croix.
2. Get schmaltzy: Schmaltz, or rendered chicken fat, is like gold. And you deserve nothing but the best. The flavor and texture that schmaltz gives a matzo ball is nothing that vegetable oil can really compare to, which is why if you can get it (or make it!), use the good stuff.
3. Herb is your friend: The first time I heard about someone adding fistfulls of herbs directly *into* their matzo ball batter was when senior editor Sasha Levine waxed poetic about her family’s recipe—packed so full of dill and parsley, they’re practically green. Intrigued, Molly added some chopped dill for a nice speckled effect, but didn’t go as far as Sasha.
