© 2008 Miri Rotkovitz

I don't think I've ever met anyone, regardless of culture or religion, who didn't like matzo balls -- and who didn't have a firm opinion as to their ideal size and texture. I've also never seen anyone take a bite out of my mother's matzo balls without swooning a little. She makes them from a family recipe that's been passed down from mother to daughter for as long as anyone can remember, and until now, it's been a secret. But what makes these matzo balls unusual is also what makes them perfect for this website -- they're flavored with nutmeg and parsley. So, after years of meeting Seder guests' exclamations of "MMMM....Oooh, what's in these matzo balls?!" with cryptic answers and a coquettish smile, my mother asked when I'd be putting the recipe online. You, dear readers, are the very first outside of the family to receive this recipe.

As for texture, our recipe is sort of a sinker-floater hybrid: light and fluffy on the outside, a bit dense on the inside. Of course, in every batch there are a few renegade matzo balls that turn out either totally fluffy or totally dense. We also rebel on the size end -- we prefer a bunch of walnut- to golf ball-sized matzo balls, instead of one giant softball-like monster.

I've heard of using seltzer to make matzo balls really fluffy. I saw a recipe ages ago that involved separating the eggs, whipping the egg whites, and folding them back in, souffle-style. Seems a lot of work for a rustic dumpling, though. How much you handle them, how long you chill the mixutre, and whether you use oil or schmaltz (or that icky partially-hydrogenated fake schmaltz) when you're forming them also makes a difference.

For what it's worth, James Beard Foundation VP Mitchell Davis (one of my old bosses, and a terrific cook), maintained in his very funny cookbook The Mensch Chef that achieving consistently fluffy matzoh balls probably requires a little bit of divine intervention. This is NOT a guy who's otherwise mystified by culinary technique or food science, so I suppose that's saying something...