Ashkenazic Passover Seder Recipes For Pesach - Traditional
Ashkenazic Passover Seder recipes for Pesach consist of a plethora of traditional Jewish foods as well as variations of those foods. Ashkenazic Passover Seder recipes for Pesach are characterized by foods such as Chicken Soup with Matzoh Balls, Tzimmes (usually a compote mixture of carrots, prunes, and raisins sometimes with meat added), Brisket, Kugel ("pudding" in Yiddish), and Roast Turkey among many other Ashkenazic Passover Seder recipes for Pesach.
The traditional Passover Seder meal and the foods served at the Seder dinner for Ashkenazim will vary from country to country and even from family to family with each country. Though the Seder recipes may be for the same foods, family traditions over time have resulted in variations of those Seder recipes. Part of the reason derives from adding ingredients that are a traditional staple of the local culture in whichever country one resides in. Passover Seder supper recipes also vary because one simply tries out new combinations of ingredients and cooking instructions and the best combinations remain in the family for generations. We present on this web page a few of the traditional Ashkenazic Passover Seder feast recipes sent in by our website visitors to help make your Passover Seder meal extra special! :)
Who are the Ashkenaz, or Ashkenazim? Originally, the Hebrew name "Ashkenaz" first occurred in the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible as the designation of a son of Gomer and a grandson of Japheth (Genesis 10:3). By the early Middle Ages, with the initial settlement of Jews in the Rhineland area of Germany and France, the name "Ashkenaz" became identified with Germany, and so in the geographical and ethnic sense of the word, the Hebrew term "Ashkenazim" originally referred to both the "Inhabitants of Ashkenaz" or "Inhabitants of Germany" as well as to collectively referring to Jews who lived in or currently live in German-ruled jurisdictions of Europe. Another way of putting it is that in the geographical and ethnic sense of the word, "Ashkenaz" originally referred to either German-controlled areas in which Jews lived, or to a German-Jewish person or to German-Jewish people collectively. In addition, the cultural practices of the Ashkenazim, including the legal concepts, mores, religious traditions, prayer rites and customs, etc., eventually meant that the word "Ashkenaz" also extended its meaning to refer to the Ashkenazic culture of the Jews who lived in Germany and in German-controlled areas in the Middle Ages. Hebrew words which derived from "Ashkenaz" included "Ashkenazi" to individually refer to a German-Jewish person who also adopted Ashkenazic culture and "Ashkenazim" to collectively refer to German-Jewish people who adopted Ashkenazic culture.
As mentioned, while "Ashkenaz" in the geographic and ethnic sense originally referred to Jews who lived in Germany and in German-controlled areas of Europe, beginning with the Jews who lived in the Rhineland area of Germany, when these Rhinelander Jews began migrating in the Middle Ages to other areas of Germany and Europe, specifically to other Central, Northwestern, and Eastern European countries, they became a prominent and influential community for Jews who already had settled in Central, Northwestern, and Eastern Europe, so much so that Jews in those countries eventually adopted all the facets of the Ashkenazic culture of the German-Jews or "Ashkenazim" in Hebrew. Thus, the cultural and religious influence of the Ashkenazim became so dominant for Jews who lived in Central, Northwestern, and Eastern Europe that Jews who lived in or currently live in Central, Northwestern, and Eastern European countries also came to be known as "Ashkenazim" in addition to the German-Jews. Today, the word "Ashkenaz" can refer to either the original meaning of the word in the geographic and ethnic sense, that is, to originally denote both Germany and the Jews who lived there and created their own specific culture and/or today in a broader sense of the word to denote either Jews who lived in or currently live in, or whose ancestors came from Central, Northwestern, and/or Eastern European countries and who adopted the Ashkenazic culture of the original Ashkenaz or Ashkenazim in Germany. Now you know!
| Brisket : Baked Marinated Brisket |
| Chicken : Baked Apricot-Ginger Chicken |
| Chicken Soup |
| Chremsel or Chremslach |
| Matzo Balls |
| Matzo Kugel |
| Matzoh Brei |
| Roast Turkey and Stuffing |
| Tzimmes |
| Vegetable Kugel |
