Aron's is hard work.
Our biggest problem with managing consistency is the problem of finding a reliable, sympathetic chef. We're only three people with a chef and without one we can't manage for too long. It's a constant struggle to retain staff which makes utter nonsense of the argument that Britain should leave the UK to help protect jobs. Without the Spanish, Poles, Brazilians and Hungarians (to date) we'd not have any kind of business at all.
So I haven't written a blog entry for a while 'cos we've been trying to find a chef - hopefully we're going to be ok now for a bit. We'll have to wait and see.
We always planned to celebrate Jewish holidays at Aron's, at least those that have some association with feasting. But in truth organising events on the holiday itself hasn't worked. No wonder perhaps as Jewish holidays often fall rather inconveniently in the middle of the Gregorian week. Purim on Wednesday 23rd March is a case in point. We're considering moving the dinner to the Thursday or Friday and doing a kettle goulash BBQ in the rear garden instead.
Spring is on the way and we'll be freshening up our menu in April. Chicken soup and Sólet will take a break until the autumn. If the sun shines and the temperature gets above about 18 degrees C then we'll do some cold sour cherry soup in April and May.
Also in April we're improving our Aron's Deli Plate and the Fish plate and introducing a new vegetarian option - they'll be available from about 12-12.30 every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Each plate comes with 4 freshly baked bialys (to be shared by 4 people).
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| Bialys - nothing like a beigel! |
Aron's Fish Plate - 2oz each of Valley Smokehouse smoked salmon, house beetroot cured Lox salmon with dill and black pepper, English style Gefilte fish (chopped fried hake balls), pickled herring salad with apples, potatoes, sour cream and chives, Pickled fried fish - hake fried in matzo and pickled in Burrow Hill cider vinegar, Pickled belly lox and Chopped Herring. Served with horseradish and dill sour cream, Chrein (horseradish and beetroot condiment), capers, pickled red onions and lemon wedges.
Aron's Vegetarian Plate - Zsidó tojás / Hungarian Jewish egg and onion salad made traditionally with schmaltz (poultry fat) and duck liver, or without. Körözött / Liptauer - a ewe cheese spread flavoured with caraway, mustard, chives, butter, paprika and beer. Tojásos Lecsó / Eggs "shakshuka" style poached in onions, peppers, paprika and tomatoes. Kasha Varnishkes (Bow tie pasta, buckwheat, and onions) with mushrooms, olive oil and garlic. Latkes with applesauce. Honey braised carrots (Tzimmes) with ginger, coriander leaves and orange. Served with house sauerkraut and mixed pickles.
We're going to be producing a small number of smoked beef hotdog sausages for the Bristol Food Connections festival in April. Now we have 3-4 weeks to organise the logistics. There'll only be 25 places available, each ticket gets you 3 dogs (the classic - mustard, onion, relish and ketchup, a kimchi dog and a chilli dog with optional cheese). We've done all the worrying about what's in them so all you have to do is eat them!
