My mother makes a delicious cabbage soup.  I had never made it, but felt that I should.  So, on a snowy day when we couldn’t really go anywhere, I decided to get the recipe and make the soup.
I called my mother for the recipe.  She said, “First I take the soup bones and the meat and boil it up for a couple of hours.  No, first I sauté the onions in my big soup pot, then put in the bones and the meat.”
How many soup bones so you use?
“Well, I use four – because I need to have one for each of my grand-dogs – but you only have two dogs so you probably only need two bones.”
I did not think I could write up the recipe saying: Use as many soup bones as you have dogs.  So, I attempted to quantify amounts.  The thing to remember is that it would be hard to mess this soup up.  So if you have more or less dogs, it is ok.  If you want it meatier, use a bigger piece of brisket.  It will be delicious.

Food Editor's Note:  This is delicious!  I made it with almost 3 pounds of brisket, as I love a good, meaty soup.  But you definitely need a very large pot – 12 quarts would be best.  I made the beef stock in an 8-quart pot, my largest, but I had to do the second phase in two pots!  You can make the beef stock in advance and refrigerate or freeze it until you are ready to continue.  Cut up the tomatoes before adding to the pot, or just break them up towards the end of the cooking when they are soft.  This recipe makes a lot of soup – about 6 quarts, which serves 12 or more.

This recipe is fast and easy, especially if you buy pre-peeled squash and use canned chicken broth.  It's a great soup for Thanksgiving as a first course, or as a meal with salad and bread.

Food Editor's Note:  This is delicious!  You can make a pareve version by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken stock.

Many people like a sweet brisket, or one with a thick gravy, almost a glaze. This recipe is definitely not for that kind of brisket. I find that there are so many other sweet dishes at the Rosh Hashanah dinner table - raisin challah, apples and honey, honeyed carrots or sweet potatoes - that a savory, rather than sweet, brisket is a perfect main course. This recipe is for a savory brisket, one flavored with garlic and lots of onions, and produces a lot of thin gravy. This is just right for side dishes such as rice or kasha or mashed potatoes. (The gravy can also be thickened by pureeing some of the vegetables and adding to the liquid.)

Definitely make this in advance of when you want to serve it. The flavor improves with a day or two in the refrigerator. You may also freeze the brisket and gravy right in your serving dish (glass, pottery, or foil), remove to the refrigerator to defrost the day before serving, and just heat and serve. This is the easiest traditional main course to make for holiday gatherings, because it involves no last-minute cooking or preparation. It also is a perfect foil for any side dish, plain or fancy. I make this in my pressure cooker, so actual cooking time is very short, but you can use the traditional oven method. This recipe is adapted from one by Joan Nathan in The Jewish Holiday Kitchen (New York: Schocken Books, 1979).

My family loves this soup. The original recipe given to me called for 1/2 cup chopped green pepper to be added with the other vegetables and 1/4 cup chopped parsley to be added towards the end. My kids don’t like green things floating in their soup, however, so I’ve eliminated them. If your family doesn’t mind, try adding them back in or using your own combination of vegetables.

In response to a request in our Food Forum, I experimented with different versions of this traditional Middle Eastern dish.  The two favorites are included in our Recipe File, Baba Ganoush I and Baba Ganoush II, as our staff was evenly split on their favorite.  This version has less lemon juice and tahini than Baba Ganoush I, and so is a little bit heavier and has a more distinct eggplant flavor.  Vary the ingredients and their amounts as you wish (Baba Ganoush I has za'atar instead of cumin, for example).  This is a wonderful recipe to have in your repertoire for an hors d'oeuvre – it is tasty, healthy, easy to make (double it for a crowd), and can be prepared in advance.  Serve it in a bowl or, in the traditional Middle Eastern presentation, spread on a platter and drizzle with a little extra olive oil.  Pass the pita and enjoy!