How to Make Matzo Ball Gumbo with Author Michael Twitty

With a rainbow-woven kippah perched on the crown of his head, Michael Twitty walks rhythmically and intentionally as he tours the LA Times test kitchen. He's here to make one of his classic Passover dishes, gumbo with matzo balls, which combines two recipes from his food memoir “Koshersoul.”

The crimson stew adds buoyant scallion-studded matzo balls to a heartening okra gumbo, uniting two staple dishes of Southern Jewish and Black cuisines. Chicken broth and diced tomatoes give the finished gumbo its umami, with a blend of Creole spices imparting a smooth, buzzy heat.

Twitty, a native of the Washington, DC area, says he always wanted to spend the winter in Los Angeles. He has been living at the intersection of Beverly Hills, Pico-Robertson and West Hollywood since November and, after a short trip back to the East Coast in March, he plans to stay until June.

After hosting a conversation on chef Martin Draluck's Black Pot Supper Club series in February, Twitty will take over the kitchen at Baldwin Hills restaurant Post & Beam with his “Koshersoul” pop-up dinner on Wednesday, May 15. -Dinners accompanied with recipes from the book. The first serve will focus on Twitty's Jewish background with West African brisket and peach rice kugel, as well as matzo ball gumbo. The second will include an outdoor dining setting with the same brisket plus roast chicken and lamb (all meat will be kosher), baked beans and smoked salmon rolls.

“Koshersoul,” the follow-up to his James Beard Award-winning work “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History,” details Twitty’s journey as a black, gay, Jewish man and draws significant links between Afro-Atlantic and global Jews. . culinary practices, including the contributions of Jews of color. It was named 2023 Book of the Year at the National Jewish Book Awards, making Twitty the first Black author to win the distinction. Twitty is currently working on a cookbook featuring essential recipes from the American South and plans to write another food memoir and history that will serve as a queer journey through the culinary world.

Michael Twitty became the first African-American author to win the National Jewish Book Award in 2023 for his book “Koshersoul.”

Chef and author Michael Twitty adds matzo balls to okra gumbo in a Passover recipe from his book “Koshersoul.”

He credits food historian Marcie Cohen Ferris for inspiring the matzo ball gumbo recipe. Published in 2010, Ferris's book “Matzoh Ball Gumbo” explores the historical food customs of Southern Jews, including the influence of black Southerners and black women in particular.

“When I make this dish, I think about how we can connect to that past and that history, and tell people who often didn't have names.” says Twitty. He says that for European Jews who assimilated in the Deep South in the early and mid-20th century, food, often prepared by black domestic workers, was a conduit to belonging.

Rather than a blend or “fusion” of culinary styles, Twitty sees his matzo ball gumbo as an act of preservation. It is a continuation of Southern food stories, highlighting traditions that extend throughout the African and Jewish diasporas.

“You can compare it to Jamaican soup and dumplings or Ghanaian omo tuo,” he says. “In West and Central Africa, the main meal is usually a starchy soup, sauce, or stew: sauce and fufu, sauce and banku, sauce and millet, or rice balls. “There are so many parallels there.”

He goes on to say that “Jewish tradition is extremely fluid and flexible. “We eat foods that have their roots in very old ideas, but that bear very little resemblance to their original concept.”

Twitty begins by methodically chopping the herbs and vegetables for her gumbo and matzo balls: parsley, green onions, garlic, and the “holy trinity” of onion, celery, and bell pepper.

Next, make the dough for the matzo balls. Cooking alongside Twitty reminds me of sharing the kitchen space with my late great-grandmother Madea, born and raised in Mississippi. Like her, he measures in a pinch, makes last-minute adjustments (like substituting salt for baking powder in matzo ball dough), and gives a deep, satisfied grunt when his taste test returns the desired results. .

Once the matzo ball dough is finished, Twitty seals the container with plastic wrap and puts it in the refrigerator to rest.

As he slices the okra thin as a raison, our conversation moves from the Yiddish words for matzah ball and Passover (kneidlach and Passover, respectively) to his experiences traveling to Italy and several West African countries.

We're weeks away from Passover, but the atmosphere feels similar to what a Twitty Seder might host. The conversation is peppered with laughter, and topics normally avoided at the table (namely religion and politics) are met with curiosity and understanding. Such discussions, Twitty says, are integral to the spirit of Passover. He describes a long history of Seders that supported early labor movements, women's rights, and black and Jewish liberation.

“It's exactly what Passover is supposed to do, which is open those doors of liberation and lack of limitations to the rest of humanity,” he says. “It can be both a moment in the history of the origin of the Jewish people and a story of human liberation for all humanity. “It was always meant to be that way.”

Twitty pauses to give his full attention to the roux. He stirs slowly, peering into the deep-bottomed pot to measure his progress. The potato starch he uses instead of flour takes longer to brown, about 15 minutes. Twitty dips a spoon to taste; his guttural purr tells us that he is ready for more broth.

Green and red onion, ginger, and garlic add aromatic, spicy notes to chef Michael Twitty's matzo ball gumbo.

Sliced ​​okra is added to a pot of simmering gumbo.

Chef Michael Twitty adds tomato paste to his gumbo.

After adding the cooked vegetables, tomatoes, okra, thyme, and Creole seasoning, we let the mixture simmer and turn our attention back to the matzo balls. We fill a large pot with salted water and wait for it to come to a boil. Twitty shapes the dough into walnut-sized spheres.

One by one, the matzah balls are dropped into the pot of boiling water. Unlike the recipe in his book, Twitty takes them out early and transfers them to the gumbo, where he lets them simmer under a lid for an additional 15 minutes.

Finally, we spoon the gumbo into bowls, at least two or three matzo balls per serving. The okra retains a nice crunch and the matzo balls are flavorful, a persuasive substitute for rice or even chicken. Someone notices the strange silence that takes over the kitchen: this gumbo is good.

After letting it simmer for 90 minutes, Michael Twitty checks to make sure the okra gumbo has thickened to his liking.

There are several of us in the kitchen and Twitty's gumbo speaks to different parts of each of our heritages. For me, the rich okra and tomato broth recalls my maternal roots in Mississippi, while the matzo balls take someone back to childhood experiences when making them alongside their Bubbe.

“We have to remember that we co-create Southern culture with indigenous people, white people and immigrants from around the world,” Twitty says. “And all of those stories need to be told so that it is a true, complete and honest account of how we got here and what mistakes we must refuse to make in the future.”

Find Michael Twitty in the Los Angeles Times book festival on Sunday, April 21 at Booth 410, where signed copies of “Koshersoul” will be available for purchase, from 2 to 3 p.m. Tickets are available for Twitty’s “Koshersoul” pop-up dinner at Post & Beam on Wednesday, May 15 , and can be purchased through eventbrite.

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