It's a meat/fish grinder. It was probably given to me by my mother or mother-in-law as part of my basic Passover or regular cooking equipment when I got married close to half a century ago. They had heard that things were pretty primitive here in Israel. They no doubt also heard stories from people who fled Israel in the 1950s, traumatised by the need to store fish in the bathtub. I was also prepared to kasher the meat, since I, too, had heard stories...
In 1970, it was no problem to buy your meat and poultry already kashered. And if you went to the fish store early enough before Shabbat or the Jewish Holidays, your fish could be ground. I just make gefilte fish a couple of times a year at most, and recently I've been buying jars of it. Only once did I use that fish grinder for Passover, when we were late at the store. And nowadays you can buy it ground. Also I'm pretty sure that nowadays the fish stores won't send you away with whole fish, even close to the holidays.
When I was clearing out the kitchen closets to prepare for my new kitchen I found the ginder. Since I saw rust, I decided to dump it. Why not? I used it only once in forty-eight 48 years.
Have you ever used one? Do you still use it?
My Moroccan mom-in-law used hers NON-STOP!! They were VERY poor. She raised 11 children in a slum. Some 180 degrees different religiously, but all close and successful. Several big Talmidei chachamim (2 z'l-); 1 lawyer; 1 holder of a doctorate in nuclear physics (Z'l), 1 lawyer, 1 head of a corporation, 1 tzadik who was in 'tzva keva' and helped care for his aging and ill parents; 1 retired (female) head of prison (RELIGIOUS LADY!!); 1 nurse in the angioplasty unit of Tel Ha'Shomer; 1 chef (What food!); 1 accountant; and I don't recall who I left out. ALL ate meatballs and other delights from such a meat grinder. My Mom-in-law was the only woman in the neighborhood without gold jewelry until the kids grew up and bought her a beautiful HEAVY gold necklace. She would go from school to school; yeshiva to yeshiva asking about her children. One son was told by one of his Rabbanim, "If you become a talmid chacham, it is because of your Mom. We don't see such mothers every day." Sorry Batya, this was more an ode to my dear Mom-in-law than to the meat grinder, but it was ALWAYS in use in Bar Giyora, Shikun Dalet Beer Sheva. Thanks for the memories!
ReplyDeleteI wrote the post to get other people's memories. Thanks for giving us yours.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandma gave me one of those, along with all the gear to Kosher my meat and chicken when I got married. It’s long gone thank goodness, along with the need to collect your chicken, walk round to the shochet with the chicken clucking in the bag....it was years before I realised where my chicken soup came from. As a little pre schooler, my grandma would let me pick the prettiest chicken and stroke it whilst we walked round!!
ReplyDeleteIm just surprised I’m not a vegetarian!
Great story.
ReplyDelete