Finally, what we've all been waiting for. Israel's National Archives has released former Prime Minister Golda Meir's recipe for chicken soup.
The chicken soup recipe was entered as a document in English by the national archives more than 30 years ago. It's not clear at the time of this writing whether the national Archives also preserved a sample of Meir's soup, nor is it clear how it would taste 30 years later.
The typed one-page recipe calls for chicken, parsley, celery, carrots, onions, a pinch of paprika, salt and pepper, and appears on a page of what appears to be Foreign Ministry-headed paper. and looks as if it’s marked as secret, bearing the stamp “Incoming cable, classified.”
But the light-hearted National Archives blog on which it was uploaded assures readers this is “an optical illusion,” which resulted from the fact that the recipe was photocopied on top of other, unrelated, documents.
The Ukranian-born, Milwaukee-raised Meir hosted members of her government at home in a forum that was known as “Golda’s kitchen,” (Hamitbachon shel Golda)and even cooked for them herself.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first published the chicken soup recipe on December 4, 1974, and Koor industries considered producing “Golda’s Soup” for a mass market four years later.
But according to Howard Kleinberg, managing editor of the Miami News in 1969, Golda didn't care for her recipe: "She told me she didn't make a very good chicken soup, but her son thinks she makes a very good gefilte fish."
You can try it for yourself to see if it's tasty. See the recipe after the Editor's note below.
Editor's note: On the subject of Golda, I once met an Israeli jazz musician about 6 yeas ago when he was in Winnipeg who said that he had rented out a room from Kibbutz Revadim in the Negev., which turned out in fact to be the room that Golda Meir lived in when she lived on the Kibbutz. He said at the time he rented it for not much more than $200 a month. He added "The room was left virtually the same as it was when it was hers," and that as far as he could tell,"The sheets hadn't been changed." His claim to fame as he joked was "I slept in Golda Meir's bed." :
Golda Meir's Recipe for Chicken Soup
Boil the chicken with parsley, cewlery, cut-up carrots, peeled onion, salt, pepper, and a pinch of paprika, until the chicken is tender.
If you like rice, you may add it after straining the soup, bringing to boil for another quarter of an hour.
Mrs. Meir generally serves chicken soup with Kneidlach which she prepares as follows.
The matzos (unleavened bread) are soaked in cold water until soft, then squeeze dry, crumb with a fork and add fried onions and a little oil, some parsley, salt, pepper, and two beaten eggs. Add enough matzo meal for binding, Make into small balls, set aside before serving for one hour. Half hour before serving drop the balls into the boiling soup and cook for almost half an hour.
Editor's note: On the subject of Golda, I once met an Israeli jazz musician about 6 yeas ago when he was in Winnipeg who said that he had rented out a room from Kibbutz Revadim in the Negev., which turned out in fact to be the room that Golda Meir lived in when she lived on the Kibbutz. He said at the time he rented it for not much more than $200 a month. He added "The room was left virtually the same as it was when it was hers," and that as far as he could tell,"The sheets hadn't been changed." His claim to fame as he joked was "I slept in Golda Meir's bed."