SEPTEMBER 22 • 2022 | 73

H

osting a Rosh Hashanah dinner 
can be challenging — how to serve 
multiple traditional dishes that look 
and taste great, often for a large group. Some 
families make it easier by assigning certain 
dishes to family members so that some dish-
es arrive ready-to-serve.
Advance planning and shopping are essen-
tial. Many hosts and hostesses cook ahead 
and sometimes freeze certain 
dishes. Some hostesses 
set their table days 
ahead. Sharona 
Shapiro of West 
Bloomfield, who 
hosts many kosher 
dinners, advises 
hosts to get serving 
platters and utensils 
ready in advance as well, 
and to plan seasonal table decorations. 
Cooking and serving multiple dishes, 
even in a kitchen with two ovens, can be 
complicated, so advance cooking is helpful. 
However, care must be taken not to overcook 
items made in advance and then reheated. 
Also, food safety — ensuring that foods are 
not left unrefrigerated too long — is very 
important.

TIPS FOR CHICKEN SOUP
Chicken soup is on most menus for the 
High Holidays. It can be cooked a few days 
in advance and refrigerated or made earlier 
if frozen, but it’s important to allow enough 
time for defrosting — at least a day in the 
refrigerator. Cari Herskovitz Rosenbloom, 
owner of Chef Cari Kosher 
Catering, recommends 
that the matzah balls be 
kept separate until the 
soup is reheated.
Cooked matzah 
balls can be placed 
on a cookie sheet 
lined with parchment 
or waxed paper and then 
placed in the freezer until they 
become hard. Then they can be stored in a 
container or freezer bag and returned to the 
freezer. She recommends placing the matzah 
balls in the soup when it is reheated without 
defrosting them.
Every cook has his or her own technique 
for chicken soup. Herskovitz suggests, “Start 
with a hearty, rich vegetable stock and a 3- to 
4-pound broiler chicken. Cool and refrig-
erate it soon. Bring it to a boil on the stove 

when reheating.
” 
Experienced cooks agree that good soup 
depends partly on the proportion of chick-
en and liquid, which should just cover the 
chicken. Too much liquid in relation to the 
amount of fresh chicken will result in a taste-
less soup.
Soup amounts served to each guest may 
vary depending on the type of soup bowl. 
One-half cup of soup plus one or two matzah 
balls will fill a traditional soup bowl, but 
Herskovitz says that many contemporary 
soup bowls are larger, and 8 ounces may be 
required.

BRISKET — FRESH, FROZEN 
AND WELL-TRAVELED
Many families serve brisket for Rosh 
Hashanah — some savory, some sweet with 
varying degrees of fat depending on individ-
ual preference and the brisket cut chosen. If it 
has been cooked in advance, Herskovitz rec-
ommends taking it out of the refrigerator an 
hour in advance, then reheating it for 40 to 
45 minutes at 200 to 225 degrees. “You’re not 
recooking it. You’re rewarming it,
” she says.
Some cooks make and freeze their bris-
ket in advance. Dale Cohodes, a former 
Detroiter who lives in Highland Park, 
Illinois, is well-known for bringing a cooked 
brisket when visiting out-of-town family 
members for the holidays. After cooking 
and cooling the brisket, she slices it and 
places it with the sauce in a Pyrex dish lined 
with aluminum foil and saran wrap. Once 
it’s frozen, she removes it from the dish, 
retaining the foil and saran, adds another 
layer of wrapping and double bags it in two 
freezer bags. Then it goes in the freezer until 
she leaves, when she puts it in her checked 

suitcase. To date, her brisket has traveled 
well and been thoroughly enjoyed at her 
destinations. (She has not flown with brisket 
during this summer of air travel delays.)
Other main dishes, such as chick-
en Marsala can be made ahead as well. 
Herskovitz recommends reheating chicken 
Marsala (without a breading) at 200 to 225 
degrees separately from its sauce. She notes 
that chicken Marsala includes wine, which 
is acidic and helps to preserve food, so it is a 
good dish to make in advance.

KEEPING FOODS SAFE
Rosh Hashanah dinner leftovers are wel-
come, but care must be taken to make sure 
that they have not been unrefrigerated or 
kept too long. There is a misconception that 
many cooked foods can be eaten many days 
later but that depends in part on how long 
they have been kept out of the refrigerator. 
Food is often cooked in advance, left on a 
counter for a few hours, then placed on a 
table for several hours during dinner and 
then sometimes left out for hours during 
kitchen cleanup.
Chef Cari says that most foods can be kept 
for three to four days if held at a safe tem-
perature. Foods like chopped liver, gefilte fish 
and salmon have a shorter life than brisket, 
which she says can be refrigerated safely for 
four to five days because of its fat; she recom-
mends storing it in its liquid. 
According to the USDA, “Refrigeration 
slows but does not stop bacterial growth. 
USDA recommends using cooked leftovers 
within three to four days.
”
However, some high-end refrigerators 
claim to store foods safely for a longer period 
than traditional refrigerators. 

Cari Herskovitz 
 
Rosenbloom 

Sharona 
Shapiro 

