The Chronicle Cooks goes to Hillel JUC
Four boxes of brisket totaling 275 pounds, 100 pounds of chicken, 675 matzo balls, 100 pounds of chicken bones, and 50 pounds each of carrots, celery and onions, sat in Hillel Jewish University Center refrigerators in the kitchen, waiting to be prepared for seders for some 400 to 500 students.
The daunting job of cooking all the food began Monday evening, when students from Carnegie Mellon University’s AEPi fraternity, filling in for University of Pittsburgh students on spring break this week, came to Hillel’s kitchen began the prep work, cutting vegetables and making soup.
University of Pittsburgh students will return to host Passover seders Monday and Tuesday nights.
According to David Katz, assistant director of the JUC and director of J’Burgh, 20 student seder hosts will be trained to run a seder. Each host will select one of eight available Haggadas and invite the guests.
On Sunday, a U-Haul truck packed with everything a host will need including tables, chairs and food, will be delivered to the host sites, be it apartment, dorm room or fraternity and sorority. Fifteen undergraduates will host along with five or six young professionals.
The hosts will even create their own seder plates, at Hillel, using Color Me Mine’s Party Package.
The food ordering and cooking falls under Katz’s supervision, while the logistics fall under intern Shuli Carroll, a junior at Pitt.
Hillel JUC will deliver the seder meal for Duquesne University students who will hold their seder Monday in the Student Center. Father Sean Hogan is providing support from his office. Rabbi Aaron and Lorraine Mackler will host all of the AEPi fraternity from Duquesne at their first seder. Rabbi Mackler is an associate professor in the theology department at Duquesne.
So what are the students preparing for dinner?
Chicken soup with matzo balls, brisket and chicken.
(Angela Leibowicz can be reached at angelal@thejewishchronicle.net.)
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