Hon, guess what…
…I’m going to be in a BuzzFeed video where the subject is Jewish moms rating each other’s brisket. OY!
When it comes out in a couple of weeks, I’m either going to be laughing hysterically, crying with embarrassment, or both! If you never hear from me again, it’s because I’m hiding under a rock. Permanently! Here’s the skinny on the experience.
I heard about the opportunity for Jewish moms and brisket, and since my youngest and I have laughed while watching many a BuzzFeed video, I figured why not reach out? After learning that I had to bring a cooked and sliced brisket with me to the set, I called my mother-in-law for her recipe and the butcher for the meat.
I’ve cooked many briskets in my life, but none were as good as my my mother-in-law’s. Cecile makes a delicious brisket (along with many other dishes), but there’s one problem when asking her for a recipe—measurements! She knows the right amount of ingredients to use by eye, so you have to ask, “How much paprika should I use? A cup? A tablespoon? A teaspoon? A pinch?” Then there are the steps! So many steps!
When the brisket was cooked and cooled, Hubby got to work slicing. I carried the very-well-wrapped dish with me on the train from NJ to NY. I thought, if the train breaks down, I’ll have food for a bunch of people, but no forks!
The BuzzFeed office is cool. Really cool. Funky murals-large snack area-red-walled conference room-signs I wanted to Tweet-cool. I was older than every single employee, so when a woman walked in who looked to be about my age, I said. “You must be one of the Jewish moms!” She was.
Soon, five of us along with accompanying hubbies, uncle, and a friend were kibitzing (Yiddush for talking.) Shout out to the other moms, Helene, Jen, Marci, and Shannon, who were as nice as could be. We were called to the set one at a time to try each other’s food, but here’s the rub. The thing that makes the videos funny is when you’re a little mean about the food you’re trying.
Some of the questions asked were:
- Do you agree to be completely honest?
- What does this piece of brisket say about the person who made it?
- What is this dish missing and what would you add to it?
- What rating between 1 and 10 would you give it?
- Would you serve this to your family?
I felt so bad after saying I would not serve one of the dishes to my family* that I said to the director, “Wait! Stop! Can I make a disclaimer?!”
“Sure, make a disclaimer,” he said.
I looked straight into the camera. “I like everyone I met today! Please don’t take any of this personally!”
*What I didn’t say and maybe should have, was that when my triplets plus a younger child were little, and I was perpetually exhausted and running around like a chicken with no head, any food made by someone else was wonderful! So who am I to be so picky? OY GIVALT!
I thought about the whole experience some more and, you know what? If the other moms didn’t like my brisket and wouldn’t serve it to their families, I’m okay with that because:
- This was all in good fun,
- each of our families loves our cooking and,
- it’s not like the winner gets an all-expense-paid vacation. You know what the winner gets? Bragging rights!
Bmore energy 