The Dish: Matzoh ball soup from Radin's Delicatessen

CHERRY HILL, NJ (WPVI) -- We couldn't think of a better "Dish" to warm you up right now than soup! And not just any soup -- the authentic, "Jewish penicillin" matzoh ball soup.

Action News' Alicia Viterelli visited Radin's Delicatessen in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where a fourth-generation deli owner with a "famous" history shares some secrets from his family's recipe.

At Radin's, they are famous for big dishes.

"We're not on diets here," laughed owner Russ Cowan. "We go big."

In fact, at Radin's, they have a saying, "From a sandwich to a meal."

But trust us, it's more than a meal.

Most of the sandwiches, from the corned beef to the pastrami, are triple-deckers.

Cowan opened Radin's last February.

At the time, he had just sold Famous 4th Street Delicatessen in Philadelphia after 19 years.

"You know, I didn't want to retire," Cowan says. "I figured I have one more store in me."

After owning more than twenty stores over the years, Cowan insists this one is his last.

He's a fourth-generation deli owner. It's in his DNA.

"I have deli on both sides of the family: my grandmother and my grandfather," he says. "We have deli on both sides. It's really crazy."

The name Radin's is in honor of the store he grew up in. It's a family name.

Cowan's ancestors came to New York from Russia in the early 1900s.

"My grandfather had five brothers, and they were all in the business," he said."Then their kids and their kids got into it. It just kept going on and on."

He understands the art of a good Jewish deli, and acknowledges that there are fewer and fewer places doing it.

"We pickle our own corned beef," Cowan said. "We smoke our own pastrami. People just don't do much of that anymore."

He's also serving things that you can't easily find at delis these days.

"There are two things that we sell here that we sell a lot of, because the older crowd loves it, tongue and salty lox," he said.

For Cowan, everything he serves is a slice of his history.

"I've never hired a chef," he said. "I've never hired a baker. I teach everyone what to do."

Everything is made from scratch, including the matzoh balls. And at Radin's, they're as big as softballs!

Russ' recipe for the matzoh balls:

• 5 large eggs

• 1 cup matzoh meal

• 1/4 cup chicken fat or "chicken schmaltz" ("the secret sauce")

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for the water

• Freshly ground white

• 1/4 vegetable oil

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• Dill - for garnish

NOTE FROM RUSS COWAN: No seltzer! It does nothing!

Small size: 2oz

Large size: 4oz

- Combine all of these ingredients in a large bowl and knead.

- Depending on the texture of your matzoh meal, you will have to "feel" when this is right.

In Russ' words, "If there's not enough matzoh meal, they'll be too wet, and they'll break apart If there's too much matzoh meal, they'll be hard, like golf balls."

Because some matzoh meals are fine, and others are coarse, texture is key.

You can tell if you've hit the right ratio by how easily they roll.

- Now, pop them into salted, boiling water and cover the pot.

"They're going to go for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes," he says. "They are large, so we need to get them completely cooked through."

- Check on them sporadically, moving them around.

There's really only one way to know if they're ready.

"There's a very fine line between a good matzoh ball and a bad matzoh ball," he says.

"What I mean by that is, if a matzoh ball is too soft, when you're cooking it, the edges will flake. If you don't cook it enough, the center will be hard. As we get to the end, we actually poke every matzoh ball to make sure it's the right texture."

- Just use a toothpick or skewer to ensure it goes all the way through.

"When they come out, we give them an ice bath to stop to chill them to stop, because if you don't do that, the edges will start to flake off," he explains. "That kind of stops it and firms it."

- You want to eat them hot so, add to your chicken soup and serve!