In the joyofkosher Kitchen

After learning about the connection between chocolate and health, I decided to work to make sure all the chocolate I use for eating and baking has 70% or more cocoa content.  I took a trip to Whole Foods and found a great selection of kosher certified, non-dairy chocolate bars and a 365 brand private label bag of chocolate chunks that will replace chocolate chips in my recipes from now on.

I picked up a bunch of kosher dark chocolate bars and decided to try them all and report my findings.  Tough life, huh?

Scharffen Berger – America’s first contemporary artisan chocolate manufacturer was bought by Hershey in 2005.  They set out to craft the richest, most flavorful chocolate by sourcing the best cacao in the world, blending it in small batches, and gently processing to maintain the subtle flavors.  Well, my kids say, “mission accomplished” — this was their favorite!  I find their chocolate to have a nice flavor and texture for baking, but it doesn’t quite melt in your mouth.

Theo Chocolates is the first Organic and Fair Trade bean to bar chocolate factory in the United States.  The chocolates are made in Seattle where you can go for a factory tour and is certified by Square K.  The vanilla flavors in this bar come through strongly and there is a really nice mouth feel.

Equal Exchange is a chocolate you should all become aware of not just for their quality chocolate, but also for their commitment to supporting worthwhile global causes.  Equal Exchange, is Organic and Fair Trade.  The chocolate is certified kosher in Switzerland, where the chocolate is made.  They are the sole food partner of American Jewish World Service, which is encouraging the Jewish community to buy Equal Exchange chocolate and coffee to support small growers and community-owned cooperatives in the developing world.  In addition, a portion of every pound of coffee or chocolate purchased through their Better Beans label will go to support AJWS’s Reverse Hunger campaign.   They have also given grants to the non-profit Fair Trade Judaica to support their work to promote greater public awareness of social justice issues involved with the global cocoa/chocolate trade.

Schmerling’s is available in most kosher markets, at least those I frequent in New York City.  It is made in Switzerland, certified by the OU and is kosher for Passover.  I tried their 72% dark chocolate and was pleasantly surprised with the texture and lack of bitterness.  It is a quality chocolate I will be happy to have around this Passover.

Taza Chocolate was founded in 2006 in Massachusetts and produces 100% stone ground, organic chocolate using only the best ingredients while compensating growers fairly for their work.  Their products are showing up in more and more stores nationwide and it is a must try.  The stone ground process results in a pleasant, grainy texture that I have not found elsewhere.  The 80% cocoa bar had a deeply satisfying sweetness and red wine notes that accompany each taste were incredible!

I know there are so many more chocolate companies out there, but today I focused on the ones with 70% or more cocoa and were kosher certified parve and I could easily find.  I am sure I will have many more chocolate reviews to come.  What is your favorite chocolate?

Tell us about your blog and how you got started: I started Busy in Brooklyn just one year ago after my husband encouraged me to share my love of cooking and entertaining with the world. I post about my cooking, crafting and coping experiences. You’ll find lots of easy, fun and exciting recipes as well as basic cooking tips and tutorials. I never imagined blogging would be so fulfilling. I feel honored to have become part of the kosher blogging community.

What is your earliest cooking memory? As a teenager, I used to help my mom prepare salads for Shabbos. I loved chopping up the vegetables, but I wasn’t too good at seasoning them. More than once, I rendered a salad entirely inedible by adding too much vinegar or salt. It’s funny because nowadays, salads are my favorite thing to prepare. I love coming up with original combinations of ingredients and thankfully, I havent spoiled one in years.

What is your favorite kitchen implement / utensil / gadget? My favorite kitchen utensil would have to be a whisk. Hence the whisk in the Busy in Brooklyn logo! I love using whisks to emulsify salad dressings, mix up the dry and wet ingredients for cakes and of course to whip up eggs.

What’s your favorite kosher dish to cook? That’s a hard one, I love cooking everything! Specifically, I would have to say that my favorite dishes to prepare are around the holidays. I love coming up with new and exciting ways to incorporate traditional holiday ingredients and repurpose my leftovers from each meal.

Who is your cooking inspiration? My mother is an excellent cook. She definitely inspired my love for food. When I got married and started entertaining, I wanted to replicate the smells of her kitchen in my own home.

Please share a favorite cooking tip or trick with our readers: People have a really hard time peeling squash. If you’re using it to make soup or kugel, roast the squash whole at 425 degrees until fork-tender. You won’t need to peel it, and roasting it enhances the flavor and brings out it’s natural sweetness.

Which recipes are you sharing with us today? My wonton beef empanadas are a favorite. I love that they are baked and not fried and the fact that I whipped them up with all the leftover ingredients I had sitting in the fridge. I’m also sharing my recipe for poached pears. I’m not the biggest baker but I love to come up with delicious desserts that are easy and pretty to look at.

Shifrah Devorah Witt & Zipporah Malka Heller are the mother and daughter dynamic duo when it comes to cooking.  Last year they came out with the Complete Asian Kosher Cookbook which told of their transformation from a Chinatown loving family turned kosher who wouldn’t give up their favorite Chinese food, but instead of getting it in Chinatown would learn to make it on their own.  Now they are back, just a year later with The Best of Mexican Kosher Cooking.

First Chinese, now Mexican, what made you decide to write this book?

ZM – As a single mom for many years, I was always using take-out before we adopted a kosher lifestyle and Mexican was always a favorite after Chinese.

I love fresh vegetables, color, and texture and Mexican food is terrific in all of those categories. And it’s fun. I always had packaged taco mixes and bottled salsa for those tired nights when we wanted something quick. In writing the cookbook, we wanted kosher cooks who either don’t have easy access to kosher food or love to cook things from scratch like we do to have wonderful kosher Mexican recipes to choose from.

SD – It felt like the natural next step. We’d covered Asian, so it made sense to choose another favorite cuisine and see what we could offer the kosher cook from our recipe pantry. Plus as my husband would say, “Mexican is my favorite. When you and your mom write a cookbook I get to be the taster for months on end.” Who wouldn’t want an excuse to eat loads of delicious healthy Mexican food?

How did you do it so quickly?

ZM – We work very hard. We had a weekly goal for testing recipes and all the recipes had to be tested at least three times. If that wasn’t enough, then we did it until it met our standards. Often for Shabbos, we’d test eight to twelve recipes.

SD – Thank G-d we are blessed to have very full lives including work, small children, and lots and lots of other projects on our agenda. For me, I like to focus on a project intensely for a few months, even a year, and then have a finished product to show for it. I’m not the type to work on something for five or ten years a little each day. (Not at this point in my life at least) In Hebrew there is an expression”katzar lainyan”, it means short or straight and to the point. That’s how I look at a cooking project. I think we both want to create the best book possible in a manageable amout of time, so we don’t have to divide our focus on too many things.

Do Mexican and Chinese cuisine have similarities?

ZM – They both focus on fresh vegetables and lots of them. And it’s fun to eat with chop sticks and Mexican screams Fiesta! Like Jews, both cultures are very family oriented, and the cooking is intended to include multiple family members.

SD – Of course they do. They are both DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! Technically speaking what mom said is true, too. But the main similarity to me is that they both make you want to make another meal in the same cuisine soon.

What is your favorite Mexican recipe?

ZM – I love the Chili Rellenos with the Chili Relleno Sauce with the Margaritas (alcohol-free so the kids can enjoy them). We invented the Mexican Brownies, Margarita Ice Cream & Sherbet, the Vanilla Ice Cream with Cinnamon & Chocolate Bits so they are definitely our some of our favorites.

SD – I’d have to say the Cheese Enchiladas, the Mexican Wedding Cookies, and the Fajitas. I also love the Arroz con Pollo for Shabbos.

What holidays have you turned into a Mexican fiesta?

ZM – We always have a Mexican Shabbat for or near May 5, Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day. As for Jewish holidays, we normally have something fried before a fast day, like tempura from our first book, The Complete Asian Kosher Cookbook. We read somewhere that fried foods hold off the hunger longer if you are fasting.

SD – Mexican makes for a great Purim Seudah, also great for Shabbos. I think Mexican Shabbosims and Melava Malkas have definitely become favorites around our house.

Do you have any tips for anyone making Mexican for the first time?

ZM – Have all of your ingredients on hand first and make sure you have fresh cilantro and canola oil.

SD – I’d say choose something simple first. Check that you enjoy the ingredients the recipes contains. Don’t choose a recipe that you’d need to adjust too much. Like if you hate cilantro, don’t choose a recipe that depends on it. And give yourself enough time to try your recipe when you don’t have company coming. Try it on a day that you are in the mood for a new adventure.

Please share with us a few of your favorite Mexican recipes:

Drunken Fish

Tortilla Soup

Drunken Chicken

For more about The Best of Mexican Kosher Cooking and to purchase your own copy click on the link.

Tell us about your blog and how you got started: Kitchen Tested is a blog devoted to cooking original, experimental and adventurous recipes and making them accessible in your own kitchen. I’ll practically try anything, especially when I get recipes requests from readers, and I’ll tell you all about the highs and lows of my cooking experiences. My recipes are written in a step-by-step process, including pictures along the way so the readers can practically copy the recipe without questions. I started Kitchen Tested because I was posting pictures of my kitchen adventures on Facebook and was getting tons of requests for the recipes. My wonderful friend recommended that I turn my Facebook album in to a blog and with some help from my techy brother, Kitchen Tested became a reality.

What is your earliest cooking memory? Making chocolate cake in my E-Z Bake oven! I used to sit in the kitchen while my mom cooked and I would bake right along side her. I can still taste the moist chocolate cake baked under a light bulb. Yum.

What is your favorite kitchen implement / utensil / gadget? I have a few: parchment paper, a microplane, The Fasta Pasta Microwave Cooker (trust me, this thing is amazing), glass mixing bowls, and a silicon spatula.

What’s your favorite kosher dish to cook? Wow, this is a tough one! I try to cook at least one new thing every week, but my favorite kosher dish has got to be Sauerkraut Brisket in my crock pot. Comes out perfect every time and even people who say they don’t like sauerkraut end up loving this dish!

Who is your cooking inspiration? I have two and I cannot chose between them because they each add something special to my life. My first is my Savtah, Adina Russak, who passed away years ago but still inspires me today. She was an incredible cook and she always made really unique and delicious food. Some of my most important food memories took place in her house: eating piles and piles of pistachios, tasting fresh homemade peppermint ice cream, chowing down on sweet and sour duck and eating watching her boil a whole tongue on the stove. My second inspiration is TV personality Andrew Zimmern. I guess he seems like an obvious choice for me since he eats bizarre food, but he always says “if it looks good, eat it” and I truly believe in that. He also says to “try everything twice” and I live my life by that rule. It’s not just about food either. No matter how scared you are to try something new, it’s always worth trying it at least once, maybe even twice.

Please share a favorite cooking tip or trick with our readers: If a recipe calls for buttermilk but you are making something parve, just make your own non-dairy version! For a cup of buttermilk, just add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or hot sauce to 1 cup of soy milk and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. Now you can make buttermilk fried chicken!

Which recipes are you sharing with us today?
Veal and Leek Pot Pie
Candied Jalapenos
Peppermint Sandwich Kisses

Click to read Kitchen-Tested.

Judy Bart Kancigor is a contributing feature writer and columnist for the Orange County Register and the Canadian Jewish News, food editor of Orange County Jewish Life magazine, and a popular teacher of Jewish cooking and family life. She is the author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman Publishing), which chronicles five generations of her wacky family through its recipes, photos and stories, inviting the reader not just into the kitchen, but into a vibrant world of family and friends.

What motivated you to write this book?  

Cooking Jewish actually came out of a self-published family cookbook I had done just for my family, I thought, several years before called “Melting Pot Memories.” My favorite aunt was dying and my daughter-in-law was expecting our first grandchild at the same time. One generation was coming and one was leaving, and I felt duty-bound to preserve our family history, the old family photos, the wonderful stories I grew up on and all that marvelous food! My little family project took off, and after I sold 11,000 copies I was approached by Workman Publishing to do an expanded version, which became Cooking Jewish.

The response from family to provide recipes for your book was so great  that you had to cut many recipes – how did you go about deciding what to keep and how did you end up with 532?  

When the book was first laid out, it was over 1,000 pages! My editor said no one would be able to lift it! We tried to pick the very best recipes, but some had to go. I wanted to make sure that we had a good mix of old and new, that my many relatives were represented (over 300 family members contributed) and that there was enough variety to appeal to inexperienced home cooks as well as seasoned professionals. It was harder to let go of the stories, frankly, and I fought for those like a mother bear!

Why do you think your call for recipes from family had such a great response?  

When I first called for recipes and stories for Melting Pot Memories, the response was overwhelming. In-laws of in-laws begged to be in the cookbook. What started out as a paean to my mother’s side of the family, the Rabinowitzes, with whom we were so close, soon spread to include my father’s side and my husband’s relatives as well as those who had married into the extended clan. Our family is truly remarkable, and I think everyone felt proud to be counted in it. And let’s face it – who doesn’t like to see her name in print!

Since your book is all about the story that goes along with the recipe, what is your earliest memory of cooking?

Truthfully, I never really cooked with my mom. She didn’t bake cookies (we were always on diets!), but she was a super hostess who set a beautiful table, and I learned how to place a knife and fold a napkin as soon as I could reach the table! I really didn’t start cooking until I got married. (And yes, I really was a child bride – not quite 19). I used to consult my mother-in-law daily on the phone for instructions to duplicate for my new husband all the things he loved that his mother made so well. My first cookbook was Betty Crocker, and I remember cutting out recipes from Woman’s Day and Family Circle.

What is your best memory of cooking?  

Every year for Thanksgiving my MO has been to serve new sides. About five years ago my daughter-in-law said to me when the meal was done, “Could you break with tradition and serve this exact meal next year?” That was the nicest compliment that crowned a really beautiful day. Both my sons and their families live out of town, and we were all together for that rare moment, my daughters-in-law helping me prepare and serve, my mom, who left us a year ago, sitting at the head of the table like a queen. I get all weepy remembering that one.

This month we are featuring classic Jewish recipes that some of our community have asked for. What do you think makes a recipe classically Jewish?  

Outside of matzoh and a long-cooking Sabbath stew called cholent, there really is no such thing as Jewish food created by Jews. Wherever Jews have lived, they have absorbed the cuisine of their neighbors, modifying it according to the kosher laws and making it their own. A lot of the foods we think of as Jewish were actually Russian, Polish or German dishes or foods of many other cultures, dishes like pot roast, potato pancakes, blintzes, borsht, etc. Because the majority of Jews in the United States are of Eastern European background, these are the familiar dishes we usually think of when we think of Jewish food. But there is a whole world of Middle Eastern cuisine out there that is also Jewish – tabouleh, falafel, baba ghanoush, etc. So how does one “cook Jewish”? As I say on my website, “Cooking Jewish is tradition—heirloom recipes passed down through the generations. Cooking Jewish is devising modern spins on old classics. Cooking Jewish is preserving memories as we create new ones. Cooking Jewish is cooking from the heart, a memory in every bite.  And you don’t have to be Jewish to cook Jewish!”

How did this book bring your family together and would you recommend others do the same thing with their family?

Most gratifying to me is the fact that I did what I set out to do: leave a legacy of my family’s history to my grandchildren (and now there are four!) My relatives are proud to be a part of this project. They were all so sure we’d be on Oprah! And they are so grateful that our family history – its food, photos and stories – are there for their children as well. And yes, I encourage others to do the same with their family’s legacy. That is the theme of the talk that I’ve given at various synagogues and organizations across the county. Not everyone is going to write a book or even a cookbook, but we all can gather the recipes, stories, photos and other ephemera – newspaper clippings, documents, etc., those precious memories of our family – and pass them on to our children and grandchildren. The history lessons they learn through their own family’s history will never be forgotten.

What are your favorite recipes? Will you share them with us?

I have to say first and foremost, my mother’s Chicken Soup. There was so much love that went into that soup I was tempted to list it with the ingredients! My mother threw the whole produce market into that soup, and she was paid for her efforts in deep, satisfying flavor. For nostalgia value, chicken soup tastes first prize.

A recipe that has become one of my signatures is one I actually invented in a dream, Layered Hummus and Eggplant. The secret of my homemade hummus is the roasted garlic, which really mellows the dish, and it is spread on a platter with a layer of sautéed eggplant, then tossed with cilantro or parsley and toasted pine nuts. It is my most requested dish for potlucks.

For the third, I have to go with my Aunt Irene’s Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot, which translates into “almond bread,” is like the Jewish biscotti, those long, crunchy cookies just begging to be dunked. My mother loved them, and while she lived with us the last two years of her life, there was always mandelbrot in the house for her to enjoy after dinner with her tea. I’ve brought them to many a book signing with glowing reviews.

I know you must be wondering who the Kosher Butcher’s Wife is, well she comes to us all the way from South Africa and we adore her already.  Do you want to know what Chanukah is like in South Africa – it’s Summer!!  Sharon Lurie is the author of Cooking with the Kosher Butcher’s Wife (2007).   She set out to dispel the old myth that kosher meat is tough, dry and boring.  In her latest book ‘Celebrating with the Kosher Butcher’s Wife’, Sharon takes you on her trip down memory lane, where she proves traditional recipes don’t have to be tired and old fashioned, but rather, very trendy and absolutely delicious.

Who is the Kosher Butcher’s Wife?

My passion for food lies solely in the fact that ‘time out’ is time spent in the kitchen! If you thought being the ‘butcher’s wife’ meant an endless supply of the best cuts of meat – you’re wrong.  It’s the same old story of the  shoemaker going without shoes.  The first lesson I learned, marrying into a fourth generation family of butchers, was that the popular kosher cuts such as Scotch fillet and Crown roast would never make it onto our table!  These were ‘for the customer’ and it was not negotiable.  So if it wasn’t one of the popular cuts it would either turn up on our plates or it would be turned into ‘polony’.

With easy access to a ‘limited’ supply of meat, I started experimenting, creating and improvising with every cut on the forequarter.  Just because we could only eat from the forequarter, didn’t mean kosher meat had to be tough, dry and boring!!

With the ever-increasing kosher products and non-dairy alternatives continually being added to the kashrut list, there just weren’t any more excuses! If it was French cuisine we fancied or tantalizing Thai we wanted to try, we could!

Lamb Shanks didn’t have to be burnt offerings on the seder plate and beef shin didn’t have to be a piece of meat bobbing around in a soup pot, it too needed to be uplifted to it’s full Italian potential as Osso Buco!   Just because it was kosher didn’t mean we couldn’t be creative.  Kosher meat didn’t have to get the “raw end” of the deal.  We had the finest meat on the market, the highest grades and the best quality available and yet meat  was being used as the excuse for not keeping kosher!  This bland image had to be shechted!!!!.

I WAS ON A MISSION!!!

What finally pushed you to write the book?

In between having my three sons and daughter, I would work in the family business and loved suggesting to customers that they try the different cuts of meat available on the forequarter.  After many years of experimenting, creating and cooking, I knew that each and every cut on the forequarter was special and had its own unique flavour and texture but how was I going to convince everybody else that there was life after Scotch Fillet.?   The only way I could encourage customers to try a “new” cut was by offering a foolproof recipe that I had created and prepared many times for that particular cut of meat.   I had a file full of recipes for every cut on the forequarter that I couldn’t wait to share.   The “big black file” grew and so did the interest, not only from customers, but from the local press who requested recipes for the Chagim.

“You’ve got to write a book” seemed to be the most popular complimentary phrase from those who’s meat dish had won the hearts of family and friends that Shabbos.    Unfortunately, in South Africa there were no Jewish book publishers, so a kosher cookery book aimed at a lot less than 5% of the population seemed a far cry from reality.  Well, that was until I was physically pushed by my sister in law into Random House Struik’s offices with my “big black file” where “Cooking with the Kosher Butcher’s Wife” was born.

This book was written in a humorous, fun style with stories and anecdotes, keeping eager meat lovers entertained as they tried out my recipes.  This book includes beautiful photographs by award winning photographer, Michael Smith, with pictures of the different cuts of meat available on the forequarter together with full color photographs of the different tried and tested recipes. This book contains all the tips and secrets for marinating and tenderizing meat, recipes for marinades, soups, deli delights, beef, lamb, veal, poultry, side dishes, salads and unforgettable desserts.  All the recipes in both books are Fleischik (meat) and Pareve.

And the second book?

For me, each Chag possesses its own vibrancy and joy, which is what I wanted to portray through the use of bright and colorful photographs.  Each festival brings its own unique customs and traditions with regards to food and this certainly doesn’t mean ‘old fashioned’ foods.  Who would have thought we’d be eating Thai fishballs on Pesach or chopped liver in choux pastry puffs?  Twists on traditional foods have enabled us to follow food trends, while keeping within tradition.  Giving a contemporary feel to traditional dishes, making them super tasty, super trendy and super stylish enabled me to lose the tired and old fashioned feel that surrounds the word ‘tradition’.

Now tell us what is Chanukah like in South Africa?

When I asked my daughter what Chanukah meant to her I was somehow expecting the  answer to be “Chanukah gelt mom! !” but instead she answered in a heartbeat  “Oh, camp, mom, without a doubt”

You see, in South Africa the school year ends in December and that’s when the Jewish Youth Camps begin for three weeks at the seaside..   “Imagine almost 1000 campers standing around a giant menorah all singing Ma’otzuhr ” she continued.

I suppose she’s right, just the ability to celebrate a chag no matter where you are in the world, whether it’s Rockefeller Center with falling snow or  Mossel Bay,  with breaking waves, The miracle of Chanukah should be celebrated by all no matter what the season!

Would you please share some Chanukah recipes with us?

A couple of years back we were in America over Chanukah and it was something I’ll never forget, or rather, Chanukah is something America won’t let you forget!

Their department stores glistened not only with traditional fairy lights and tynsel wrapped fir trees, but with shimmering silver and blue decorations so befitting the 8 day festival of lights, Chanukkah.

Giant menorahs sparkled under brightly lit spotlights whilst background music in these beautifully decorated stores alternated between “silent night” and “O chanukkah O Chanukkah”.

TV stations dedicated wonderful cookery programmes to every variation of latke imaginable and I was in my element! From the sweltering heat of Summer in Africa I had been transported into the magical, winter wonderland of dreidels, lights and action.

So, here are a couple of the tried and twisted recipes which are definitely worth frying!

Who said the “festival of lights” had anything to do with “lite”?

Pastrami Latkes

You don’t have to dreidel your kop or get into a spin looking for Chanukah recipes ‘cause here’s a latke recipe definitely worth frying!

Fried Just Pasta Salad

But this isn’t just a pasta salad! It has crunch, it has texture, it has taste, it has a combination of freshness you just can’t seem to put your finger on. But more importantly justa enjoya it!

Warm Sticky Chocolate Mousse Cake

This is absolutely divine, absolutely simple, and absolutely Geshmak!

Win a copy of Celebrating with the Kosher Butcher’s Wife! Leave a comment below telling us your favorite Chanukah food and you could be in with a chance to win. You must be a US resident aged 18 or over. Contest ends Tuesday December 20 2011 at 9 am EST. One winner will be picked by online randomizer.

CONTEST HAS ENDED – WINNER IS EFEDER.

Geila Hocherman is the author of the new cookbook, Kosher Revolution. She attended La Varenne and has received certificates from Paris’s Cordon Bleu and Manhattan’s Peter Kump’s Cooking School, now the Institute of Culinary Education. She was gourmet food buyer for Bloomingdales, worked as a private kosher caterer, and was a prep-cook at the Food Network. She has also contributed to the former kosher-cooking site, bfruitfull.com.

What is the Kosher Revolution? 

Kosher revolution is your passport to unlimited kosher cooking, giving you the tools to make any dish Kosher without compromise.  Kosher Revolution is a new way of thinking about kosher cooking that removes constraints while still observing kosher practice.

What are your favorite substitutions for making a dairy dish parve? 

That depends on whether the dish is sweet or savory.  For savory I prefer neutral flavored nut milks, eggs, flavored oils or mayonnaise.  For sweet I will lean toward a sweeter finish nut mulk, swiss meringue and again eggs in various forms for thickening.

All us foodies are enjoying the tastes of other cuisines and cultures and you share many in your book, what is your favorite cuisine?

While there are many fabulous Asian recipes in the book they are not from one culture.  Of the European cultures my personal preference always runs to Italian.  There are many Italian recipes in the book that go both ways, dairy and meat.  My favorite is the linguine with roasted vegetables that I finish with a pareve parmesan.  I find Italian food with its quality ingredients and simpler techniques well-suited for home cooks.

What is your earliest memory of cooking?

Making kreplach at age 4 with my Bubbie.

What is your favorite food?

Anything chocolate.  The lava cakes, chocolate hazelnut souffle roll, and chocolate challah recipes in the book can attest to that.

What is your least favorite food?

It’s a tie between lima beans and black-eyed peas, with succotash coming in at a close 3rd place.  None of these are in the book.

What is your most memorable cooking experience?

There are two.  When I was seven, I set the kitchen on fire trying to make matzo brei for my little brother. In college, I would make shabbat dinner for a raucous crowd of 10-12  and a deafening silence would fall when I would bring out the chicken veronique–with grapes and mushrooms, page 95: The only sounds were the clinking of cutlery on plates and moans of pleasure.

What advice do you have for the busy home cook?

1.  prepare as many elements of a dish in advance.

2.  have a well stocked freezer and pantry.

3.  Plan your menu carefully.  Not every dish should be a star, only one complicated dish per meal.

What will be on your Thanksgiving table next week?

Coconut-Ginger squash soup, pg 61; high-heat roast turkey with port gravy and apple, cranberry and sausage stuffing, pg 86; glazed brussel sprouts with chestnuts, pg 139; roasted fingerling potatoes pg ; ratatouille hash pg 132; maple pecan pie, pg 170.

Where will the Kosher Revolution go to next?

I would like to update the holidays while retaining the traditions.  I am aiming for a lighter, healthier, more sophisticated versions of the classics.

Enjoy these recipes as a sampling of what you can find in my book.

Miso Glazed Black Cod

Duck Prosciutto

Pareve Creme Brule

***GIVEAWAY*** You can win your very own copy of Kosher Revolution by Geila Hocherman. In the comments below, please tell us what’s on your kosher Thanksgiving menu. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older, and must be US residents. Contest ends December 2 2011 at 9 am EST. One winner will be picked by online randomizer from qualifying comments.

 THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass” refers to a series of attacks on Jews throughout Nazi Germany on November 9-10,1938.  In memory of this tragic day, we talked with the authors of the Holocaust Survivor Cookbook, who have compiled a 350 page collection of recipes and stories from Holocaust survivors and their families from around the world.

Joanne Caras explains the journey to Israel that transformed her life, “In 2005, I visited Jerusalem to spend time with my son Jonathan and his wife Sarah.  I was joined by Sarah’s mother Gisela Zerykier of Teaneck, New Jersey. The newlyweds had recently made Aliyah and this was my first chance to see them as Israeli citizens.  Among the many sites they showed me was Carmei Ha’ir, a soup kitchen that feeds over 500 poor and hungry Israelis every day. Both Jonathan and Sarah were volunteers at the soup kitchen and they wanted us to see it.  I walked into that soup kitchen and my life changed forever!”

Carmei Ha’ir has been helping the needy since 2003.  Their mission is to restore dignity to those who have found themselves in times of need.  To enable them to recognize their self-worth and to encourage them to believe in themselves once more, the soup kitchen is set up just a like a restaurant with menus and servers, but people pay what they can in the Tzedaka box at the door.

Joanne decided she wanted to write a cookbook to raise money for Carmei Hair. A little while later, Gisela’s mother passed away and Gisela shared with friends how her mother was a Holocaust survivor. After hearing this, Joanne said, “Why not combine stories from Holocaust Survivors with their family recipes?” The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook was born.”

I wondered how Joanne and Gisela were able to collect so many stories from survivors.  Joanne and her family set out for two years to collect stories of survival and recipes from their past. She says “At first the survivors were reluctant to share with me, a stranger, their very personal and painful experiences.  For the first six months we didn’t get one story.” But persistence pays off. Over the next two years they collected over 129 stories from all over the world.

It is much more than a memorial, the cookbook features inspiring life-affirming stories of Christian friends and neighbors who hid families from the Nazis, risking their own lives.  There are tales of children hiding in Christian orphanages who discover their Jewish roots many years later.   There are stories and recipes from those who hid in forests, ditches, attics, secret compartments and barns and those who escaped to foreign countries, like China and Japan.  And of course there are stories about those who endured the horrors of Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and somehow, beyond all explanation, managed to survive and make a new life for themselves. These amazing stories are the heart of the cookbook, but Joanne notes that you cannot overlook the wonderful recipes they received.  Most are old family recipes that would have been lost forever.

The cookbook preserves over 250 recipes alongside the story from their contributors.  Joanne and Gisela even share photos that “brings the stories to life by showing you who these people were, who they lost, and, most importantly, who they have become.”

When using this cookbook, Joanne and Gisela hope each time a recipe is served, someone at the table may read the story out loud and show the photos that go with it.   “We want to make sure that our children and grandchildren hear the stories that come from these survivors so they will never let this happen to our people again.”

The cookbook is being sold all over the world for 36 dollars.  Profits from each cookbook will be donated to Carmei Ha’ir.

For more information and to order, please visit website:  www.survivorcookbook.org

When we heard our friend, Paula Shoyer, was going to be guest starring on a Food Network show we couldn’t wait to see it! (more…)

Norene Gilletz is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada and the owner of Gourmania Inc. Norene is crazy about food and her world revolves around recipes. She divides her time between work as a freelance food writer, editor, food consultant, cooking teacher and culinary spokesperson.  Norene is passionate about healthy cooking and living, and has expertise in a wide variety of health concerns and special diets. Her motto, “food that’s good for you should taste good,” has been a core principle guiding her culinary career.  Norene’s previous titles include The Food Processor Bible, Norene’s Healthy Kitchen and Healthy Helpings.  Born and raised in Winnipeg, Norene raised her family in Montreal and now lives in Toronto, Canada. She has three children and five grandchildren. Norene received her initial culinary training in her late mother’s kitchen, where she was taught the creative art of recycling leftovers!

1 How would you describe your cooking philosophy?

Food that’s good for you should taste good! I like to lighten up traditional kosher recipes by reducing the fat, calories, carbohydrates and sodium – but taste rules! My recipes call for ingredients that are easily available at most supermarkets and I use my food processor and microwave to speed up food preparation. I believe in food fast, not fast food!

2 Who bought you your first food processor?

I did! In 1973, I saw the first model of the 7-cup Cuisinart food processor at a gift show and was totally in awe when I saw it in action. My first food processor cost me $120 and I spent the first month making puree of dinner! Through trial and error, I became a processor whiz, quickly transforming simple ingredients into mouth-watering meals for family and friends. My machine and I were in constant motion, chopping, grating and pureeing everything edible. I also bought a food processor for my mother who was an extraordinary cook and baker. She used her processor almost every day for 35 years until her mid-nineties.

3 You seem to have a limitless amount of energy, what inspires you?

Food inspires me! I love sharing recipes, cooking techniques and new approaches to traditional dishes with others. Food is a wonderful way to connect with people of all ages, to share food memories, and to create new taste memories. I love to share my culinary knowledge with others and to learn from them as well.

4 Describe your best cooking moment?

My most memorable cooking moment was meeting Julia Child in person at an IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) conference in the early 80’s. I was holding a copy of my cookbook “The Pleasures of your Food Processor” (now out of print and considered collectible) and when Julia asked me what my specialty was, I showed her my cookbook and shyly asked her if she would autograph it. She happily agreed and inscribed it:“Vive la kosher cuisine!”

5 What has changed since the publication of your first food processor book, 30 years ago?

Food processors have evolved tremendously since they were introduced in the 70’s and are much more powerful and versatile today. They now come in a variety of sizes, colors and prices. Accessories and features vary, depending on the brand. Many models come with electronic touchpad controls, making them a snap to wipe clean and so easy to use. Some models come with a dough cycle that works by spinning the steel blade more slowly when kneading yeast dough. Nested bowls offer more options for prepping ingredients and some models include measurement markings and pouring spouts on the bowls. Many models now come with a wide-mouth feed tube to accommodate larger ingredients, so less pre-cutting is required. The slicing disc is adjustable on some newer models, offering 6 different thicknesses with a twist of a dial. The steel blade locks into place so it doesn’t fall out when you empty the bowl and it also prevents leakage from the bottom – amazing! But no matter which brand or model of food processor you own, my updated and revised edition of The NEW Food Processor Bible will help you make maximum use of this fantastic appliance.

Also, there are many new ingredients available today that weren’t available when I wrote the original edition, so I’ve revised the Smart Chart to help my readers use their food processor to process all sorts of ingredients efficiently, from A to Z. I’ve also included nutrient analysis for each recipe to help people make healthier choices, with many lighter and lower sodium options. There are do-ahead steps and freezing and storage information which are extremely helpful for today’s time-starved cooks.

5 What are some of your favorite dishes?

I love the foods from my childhood, including traditional comfort foods such as kasha with bow ties and lots of fried onions, chicken soup with fluffy matzo balls, old-fashioned hamburgers, chopped herring, crispy potato latkes, potato knishes, meat kreplach, lokshin and vegetable kugels, roasted vegetables of all sorts, grilled, roasted or glazed salmon, homemade roast brisket or stuffed veal roast with natural gravy, Greek or Caesar salad, homemade cinnamon buns with lots of raisins,rugelach, trifle, chocolate pudding, yogurt topped with berries…but not all at the same meal, of course! My favorite foods are different every day, depending on my mood. Oh – and how could I forget about yogurt or ice cream – chocolate mint chip, mango, cherry or blueberry– any kind except ice cream with broken-up cookie pieces!

6 What is your earliest memory of cooking?

I remember watching my mother pull out her stretch dough for knishes and strudel, shaking it like when you stretch a sheet over the bed. The paper-thin dough would cover the entire kitchen table and you could almost read a newspaper through it. My mother never wasted food and taught me the art of recycling leftovers! Her potato knishes were legendary.

7 What advice would you give the busy home cook?

Read, learn, cook! Read cookbooks and food magazines and watch cooking shows on TV when you have a bit of free time. Find a family member to teach you some basic dishes or take a few cooking classes. Learn how to make a few basic recipes that you can prepare quickly and that require little clean-up. Use your food processor – it saves so much time! Soups are so simple – if they’re too thick, add some water, if they’re too watery, simmer them uncovered for a few minutes. Learn how to makea couple of chickendishes (chicken isvery versatile), meatballs and burgers, brisket and fish, some roasted or steamed veggies, assemble a simple casserole or a basic salad, make some simple salad dressings. Make double the recipe whenever possible – cook once, eat twice!It’s perfectly fine to supplement with a store-bought dish when you’re busy. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice if you don’t know how to make something. If a friend or family member offers to help out and bring a dish, say yes!

8 What is your favorite holiday and why?

Probably Chanukah – I love latkes of all sorts! Rosh Hashanah is probably my next favorite holiday. I love when everyone gathers around the holiday table to enjoy kugels, kasha, sweet and sour meatballs, roast brisket with gravy, sesame chicken, roasted vegetables, carrot tsimmis, honey cake and cinnamon twist cookies.

10 With the High Holidays approaching, our thoughts turn to three day Yom Tovs, a houseful of guests and lots of food. Can you share with us some tips and tricks to help us plan ahead?

First, plan your menu. Make several lists – a timeline, a shopping list, and which serving dishes/casseroles to use for each finished dish. Chicken soup can be made in advance and will freeze beautifully. Brisket, meat balls, chicken, tsimmis, kasha and kugels all freeze well or can be made a few days in advance. Honey cake and all sorts of cookies can be made a couple of days ahead of time and also freeze well. Mix up and shape your challahs and freeze them unbaked, then store in freezer bags. The night before, take them out of the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator. Transfer to baking sheets, cover and let rise until double, then glaze and bake. Or buy some things – don’t be a martyr! Roast chicken and kugels can be made in advance and be refrigerated for a few days or frozen. Salads should be made shortly before serving time but salad dressings keep well in the refrigerator several days in advance. Apple cake shouldn’t be made more than a day in advance as it will get a bit soggy. Choose some dishes that can be served at room temperature. Set the table in advance or ask the children to do this task. (I hate to set the table!)

Try to keep the menu colorful, varied and offer a few lighter dishes. Offer some heart-healthy options for those with dietary requirements (e.g., diabetic, lower-sodium, lower-fat and/or vegetarian dishes, nut-free dishes for those with nut allergies). In most of the cookbooks I’ve written, I’ve included information as to whether a dish can be made in advance and if it freezes well, plus many lighter, healthier options.

If you’re lucky enough to be invited out for yom tov, accept the invitation. Happiness is a home-cooked meal, happiness is eating out!

Please try one of these recipes from my book so that you can get more out of your food processor.

Morning Glorious Muffins

Super Roast Brisket

**Giveaway**

Thirty years after her first very successful food processor cookbook, the revised and updated version shows how the food processor has grown up.  The New Food Processor Bible: 30th Anniversary Edition retails for $30 and today can be yours for free.

To enter this contest read tell us what you use your food processor for in the comments below.

Must be a US or Canadian Resident 18 or over. Contest Ends October 4th 2011 at 9 am EST. Winner will be chosen by online randomizer from valid entries only.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY.

I visited the home of Poopa Dweck one Thursday morning to—well, what else but cook! (more…)

You are a partner, along with Alan Broner, of Jack’s Gourmet Sausages. What inspired you to start a kosher line of sausages?
Alan and I met at some culinary classes I was teaching at a local shop in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. One night after a wine and cheese class I taught, Alan and I got to talking and he told me how he had always wanted to learn how to make corned beef and pastrami……I had had a few drinks and I agreed that if Alan got a smoker I would teach him how to pickle and smoke meats (I had never done this before except in culinary school).

Several months later we had developed a corned beef and pastrami recipe that we and our friends were in love with. I was working on some consulting projects for a meat company at this point and Alan was begging me to teach him more. After a few months of pleading and prodding from Alan, I agreed to teach him how to make sausages (again something I hadn’t done since culinary school).

Five recipes and about six months later we had perfected our now current line of sausages. The sausages and corned beef and pastrami are all very important because they happen to be some of mine and Alan’s favorite foods that we both missed due to our keeping kosher. (Alan and I are both Baalei Teshuva). Keeping Kosher is hard enough but is even harder when you really love food!

Before Jack’s Gourmet there were no kosher sausages on the national market (other than hot dogs, which are a type of sausage). As for corned beef and pastrami, everything on the market was mass-produced pickled meats without any particularly unique flavor and pumped full of water. By contrast, our corned beef and pastrami is made in small batches using only quality briskets, freshly ground spices, fresh garlic (that’s right, FRESH) and it is pickled over about eight days. We do not use carrageenan in our deli which would cause the meat to retain the water that is pumped into it, so when you buy our deli meats, you are paying for pure meat. As for the sausages, we developed and now sell five unique flavors that span the culinary globe and can satisfy any taste.

We have a wonderfully aromatic sweet Italian sausage, a spicy bold flavored hot Italian, a very mild German bratwurst which is like a hot dog on steroids, a very spicy Mexican style chorizo which has over twelve herbs and spices and a tangy South African style boerewors.

What makes your sausages different from the other kosher brands on the market?
For one, there aren’t really any other authentic handcrafted kosher sausages on the national market. Our sausages taste just like their non-kosher counterparts. Our sausages are made using only quality beef and freshly ground spices. We NEVER use any fillers or by-products in our sausages. Our sausages are therefore gluten-free and better for you. Also, once you taste our sausages you will agree that there really is nothing like them in the kosher world. We even have a following of non-kosher consumers who prefer our product as they avoid pork products.

Do you have a culinary background? Tell us about it.
I am a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY where I graduated with honors. While attending CIA I completed a 6 month internship at the LA Times in Los Angeles, CA where I worked in the food section learning recipe testing and development. It is there that I learned the art of recipe development which was crucial in my developing the recipes for Jack’s Gourmet. I have also worked in restaurants, as a private chef (both on land and on a private 112 foot yacht), as a chef consultant and as a cooking teacher. Cooking is my passion and it’s as if it runs through my blood.

How did you become interested in food and food preparation?
My first memories of food are my mother’s strawberry and tofu smoothie and roasted chicken. I began cooking when I was 8 years old by baking muffins. My mother literally gave me free run of her kitchen and allowed me to bake and cook unchecked. I would read all the cookbooks I could get my hands on and call my mother’s friend who was a local caterer with questions. When I was 13 worked as an apprentice at Levana, the now defunct NY kosher restaurant. I worked with the pastry chef learning how to form breads and decorate cakes. My passion continued through high school and I worked as a fully paid line cook in several NYC restaurants in my junior and senior years. All the while I prepared weekday dinners and elaborate Shabbos meals for my family and friends. It was college- the Culinary Institute of America – where all my years of playing around in the kitchen actually paid off and where I took my cooking to the next level.

What’s your plan for the future at Jack’s? Will you branch out into other products?
The plan for Jack’s is quite simple- produce the best quality products possible using the best ingredients. We are happy making sausages and deli meats right now and will focus on that. We like what we do and are always striving to do it better. We are in the process of developing a line of chicken and turkey sausages and have some really cool other products in the works which will for the first time be available to the kosher consumer. I can’t tell you what they are of course, so you will just have to wait and see. I would like to point out that we are only as good as the feedback we receive from our customers. We love hearing from them because without their thoughts and comments we would be producing only for ourselves and that’s no fun. We strongly encourage feedback and have made it quite easy. Simply log onto www.jacksgourmetkosher.com or email us at info@jacksgourmetkosher.com.

How can people find your products?
You can find our products in many kosher stores all across the United States. From New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between our products are sold. We are constantly expanding into new stores and marketplaces and are working to ensure that Kosher consumers can purchase our products in every major kosher city in the US. If you cannot buy our authentic handcrafted deli meats and sausages in the store, you can buy it on our website www.jacksgourmetkosher.com and we will ship it directly to you in an insulated foam box with ice packs. It will arrive ready for you to enjoy!

Jack has shared three delicious recipes with us – try them out today:
Bratwurst Sliders
Pepper and Onion Soup with Sweet Italian Sausage
Chorizo Tacos

***GIVEAWAY***

Jack’s produce five awesome sausages – Hot Italian, Mexican Style Chorizo, Sweet Italian, German Bratwurst and Boerewors. How would you like to win a package of each? All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment down below with your favorite KOSHER sausage dish that you like to make.

Contest is open to US residents only. Contest ends September 7 2011 at 9 am EST. One winner will be chosen from qualifying comments by online randomizer.

Mitchell Davis is a cookbook author and food journalist with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from New York University. A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Davis majored in Food and Beverage Management and spent two years cooking and eating in France and Italy before settling in New York City to write about food. He joined the staff of the James Beard Foundation in 1993. Davis’s most recent cookbook is Kitchen Sense (Clarkson Potter, 2006), he is the author of two other cookbooks, Cook Something (Macmillan, 1997) and The Mensch Chef (Clarkson Potter, 2002), and is the co-author with Michael Ginor of Foie Gras…A Passion (Wiley, 2000).

Tell me about the James Beard Foundation?

The James Beard Foundation is a non-profit founded about 25 years ago.  James Beard was an American chef and food writer and hailed as America’s first foodie.  He wrote 26 cookbooks and helped inspire the food world we have in America today.   Shortly after Beard’s death a few of his friends decided to preserve his home  in New York City and that was how the foundation came about.  His home was always a place where people would gather, network and eat, so it was only natural to continue using it to showcase established and emerging chefs from all over the world.

The James Beard Foundation is most widely known for our awards.   They were started in 1991 and they are the standard set to shine a light on chefs.  We also provide scholarships to help students follow their passion and attend culinary school.   We recently started a series called Beard on Books, a series of intimate readings and discussions with acclaimed culinary authors.   And in 2007 we created the James Beard Foundation’s Taste America, a National Food Conference , celebrating the importance and breadth of American food.

What was it like cooking and eating in France and Italy?

Eating a meal is an educational experience.  I learned new ways to integrate food into my life.  I came home knowing that our foods can be better.  In France and Italy they are critical of their food and demand and expect a certain quality and that is part of developing a sophisticated food culture.   In Italy, whether you are a poor farmer or a wealthy business man you all eat the same food and it is all fresh and delicious.  You don’t see that in America.

You wrote a book in 2002, called The Mensch Chef – Why Delicious Jewish Food Isn’t an Oxymoron – why did you write this book?

I grew up with a lot of Jewish culture and Jewish food.  My mother cooked gefilte fish and matzo ball soup and borscht and I always loved it.  With my first book, Cook Something, I was addressing the Generation X crowd , my friends who loved to eat but didn’t know how to cook.  When I was deciding on what to write next, my editor asked me what did I really want to write about, and I realized I really wanted to write about Jewish food, I wanted to spend some quality time with my mom, learning and recording her recipes and show the world that Jewish food is delicious when cooked right.

I remember when I got the recipe for gefilte fish and I thought why does fish have to cook for 3 hours, it should be much faster, why can’t we cut it down to at least 45 minutes.  So I changed a few things but kept all the classics in there.

So, I wrote this book for anyone who wants to make the greatest hits of Jewish food.   I really wanted to call it “Jew Food”, but at that time they wouldn’t allow it.  It is really for someone who may not know how to make gefilte fish or chopped liver, who didn’t have their recipes passed down, but who wants to make traditional Jewish food.

What was your earliest memory of cooking?

I have always been into food. When I was about 6 or 7 I used to be an early riser. I would wake up around 5 and sneak downstairs and create crazy concoctions of eggs and flour and oil and bake them into cookies.  They were always terrible and I would hide them all over the house so I wouldn’t get caught.

Then when I was 11 I was given Julia Child’s book for Hanukkah and I went on to make every menu in that book over the next year.

What is it with you and Foie Gras?

Nothing really, that was just an accident.  The day after I got my first writing/editing job.  Michael picked me up at 6 am to take me to his Foie Gras farm he talked about his desire to write a book on Foie Gras and Foie Gras…A Passion was born.  Eighty five chefs collaborated on this book and it is really a great coffee table book.  We even discuss the Jewish roots of Foie Gras.  The Jews would grow the geese fatter to be used for schmaltz and there is a lot of historical evidence of the Jews making foie gras and even some recipes from them.

So, what is your favorite food?

I have to say good bread, whether it is challah or French bread, if there is a loaf of good bread and even better with a little butter, I just can’t control myself.

You were a judge on the Food Network show Best in Smoke – tell me about that experience?

It was a very grueling 8 days and I wasn’t even competing.  It was also eye opening to see how these television challenges work.  In a show like this, it is not really the person with the best barbecue who wins, but the person that can win the game.  It is very different from a regular BBQ competition.  It was a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again.

Please share with us some recipes for the classic High Holiday Meal that will prove to everyone why  Delicious Jewish Food isn’t an Oxymoron.

These recipes were originally printed in The Mensch Chef cookbook and are classic Jewish dishes, enjoy!

The Secret is Pears Brisket

Duck Prosciutto

Compote

Farfel with Mushrooms and Onions

June Hersh is the author of Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival (May 1^st, 2011) all proceeds are donated to the Museum of Jewish Heritage and The Kosher Carnivore, the Ultimate meat & poultry cookbook (St. Martin’s Press September 2011), a portion of the proceeds go to Mazon – a Jewish response to hunger.

1.      Your career has taken you in many directions, from school teacher to resource coordinator and only recently to cookbook author, how did you decide to write a cookbook?

I have always been an avid and passionate home cook.  I enjoy experimenting with new flavors, exploring innovative techniques and creating my own recipes.  After having sold our family business, my sister pronounced, “ we have done well, now let’s do good.”  I knew that meant I would need to find an outlet that would tap into my skills, do what I enjoy while somehow doing good.  When I considered what I enjoy most, other than my family, it was writing and cooking.  It just seemed like a natural progression for me to combine the two and write a cookbook.

2.      Your first book, Recipes Remembered shares the remarkable stories and authentic recipes of Holocaust survivors.  It is such a unique concept and a great way to preserve our history.  What was it like to talk to these survivors and how did you come up with idea of connecting their stories to food?

My family had become supportive of the Museum of Jewish Heritage- a living memorial to the Holocaust.  Although I am not the child or grandchild of survivors, the message of the Museum resonated with my family and me.  They honor the legacy of the past while illuminating the future.  I felt that a cookbook based on the food memories of the remarkable community of Holocaust survivors who comprise a large portion of the Museum’s membership would be a perfect vehicle for preserving their stories while bringing a sense of joy and celebration to the book. Speaking to the survivor community was the single most profound experience of my life, (except for giving birth to my beautiful daughters!)  I learned from the survivors that you can endure the worst life has to offer and with strength and resilience and a fair share of luck, make a meaningful life.  Stories of food and family gatherings brought the survivors to a place where they felt safe and secure. Food is a thread that weaves throughout our lives and always seems to bring us to a happy place. Using food as the theme connected their warm past, through their dark years of the Holocaust and ultimately to their survival and flourishing lives.

3.     There are contributions in this book from many professional chefs and cookbook authors.  Did you get to meet all of them? What was it like and is Ina Garten Jewish?

I met some of the “celebrity chefs” in person, as a New Yorker we are blessed to be surrounded by some of the most notable chefs, many of which are Jewish.  My daughter did extensive research to search out Jewish chefs across the country. I reached out to Gale Gand a wonderful chef in Chicago and Michelle Bernstein, one of Miami’s premier chefs. While we did not meet in person we corresponded often.  Their warmth and generosity of spirit was so gratifying and I am happy to say that no chef turned me down.  As for Ina, I do believe she is Jewish and I see her husband Jeffrey often in my neighborhood.  I was so thrilled that she contributed such a delicious rendition of chopped liver. These chefs were able to bring to life some of the food recollections that a survivor could not recreate. I found it a wonderful side note that many of the survivors were so excited to be included in a book with such illustrious chefs.

4.     Your second book, out this fall, is all about cooking meat, what inspired you to write this?

I make no secret of the fact that I am not kosher.  While I was very familiar with keeping kosher, my mom was raised in such a household, I was not.  In writing Recipes Remembered, I made the decision that the book should be strictly kosher out of respect to the Holocaust survivor community.  I learned so much about kosher laws and found most of them to be eye openers.  Before writing that book I did not know that the back half of the animal is not kosher here in the US, I didn’t appreciate the art of creating a silky sauce without butter or cream in a meat dish, I never realized how the kosher cook needs to innovate or swap out ingredients when following a mainstream recipe.  It occurred to me that there were plenty of “meat Bibles” on the market for the basic home cook, but those contained cuts of meat that a kosher cook would not use.  Additionally, the sides were not parve so creating menus is a challenge.  I felt the market was ripe for such a book aimed at kosher cooks or as you like to say, the kosher curious.  In The Kosher Carnivore you could prepare every single dish in the book, place them all on one table and be able to enjoy each and every one without breaking a single kosher rule.  Moreover, the kosher consumer generally goes to a butcher, rather than choosing meat from a case.  I wanted to educate that consumer, especially those new to kosher, how to buy meat, talk to their butcher, choose the right cuts and assure the best finished result.  I presented this idea to St. Martin’s Press and they enthusiastically agreed that the time was right for such a primer.

5.      Where did you find butchers to give you tips on kosher meat? And can you share any with us here?

Living in Manhattan makes sourcing just about anything pretty easy.  There are several well- regarded kosher butchers on both New York’s Upper East and Upper West side.  The butchers were more than happy to answer my questions, let me hang out with them as they did their thing, and were eager to educate me on the various cuts and their characteristics.

The most important thing I learned was to choose the right cut of meat for your preparation.  Buying a rib eye is great when you want a perfect steak, but it is overkill for a stir-fry.  Similarly, a cut of meat from the tougher shoulder region makes for a great slow cooked braise, but try and quick grill it and you’ll need a hacksaw or a new pair of dentures.

The best advice I can give is to talk to your butcher.  Be picky, let him know you know what you are looking for and then use him to help guide you.  I can tell you I avoid skirt steak, too salty and prefer 2^nd cut brisket for the juiciest finish and an often overlooked hanger steak for those who like a beefy meaty flavor.  I also suggest trying various sausages, usually they are prepared in the butcher shop fresh with great flavors such as fennel or garlic.  They add a real kick to any dish.

6.      What is your earliest memory of cooking?

I remember my great grandmother Esther who spoke Ladino and came to America from the Isle of Rhodes.  She brought to my usual Ashkenazi home, the flavor of the Sephardim.  I remember her cooking with her own hotplate, because she was very particular about what she ate, and mixing rice with tomatoes or spinach.

My mom was a good cook, but especially at the holidays, and I can still remember the kugel pan we had that looked like it had been unearthed after centuries of use.

My dad cooks with flair and abandon and as a child he would introduce me to foods other kids didn’t want to go near.On Sunday nights he would create a feast, Chicken A La King with biscuits, or chicken livers Maurice, his signature dish.

7.  What is your favorite food?

One of the reasons I became an avid cook is because I am an insatiable eater.  I am lucky I don’t want a ton, because I eat anything and everything with gusto.  My perfect meal would be crispy fried chicken with mashed potatoes.  I was so pleased that I was able to create what I think is the quintessential fried chicken recipe for The Kosher Carnivore.  Egg whites replace the usual buttermilk soak and some cornstarch in the flour helps give you that added crunch.  For the potatoes I cook buttery Yukon Gold in chicken stock for added flavor, then mash them with some of that broth and roasted garlic.  You don’t miss the butter or cream and neither does your waistline.

8.      What is your most memorable cooking experience?

I would definitely say that learning how to make matzo meat cakes with my Grandma Rose is my most memorable cooking experience.  This is a recipe from Rhodes that we ate annually at Pesach. She taught me year after year and I just wasn’t getting the hang of it.  But with patience and guidance I finally managed to prepare my own meat cakes for our Passover dinner.  Problem was, when I turned the pan over to release them, most of the matzo stuck to the pan and I was left with topless meat cakes.  A little more practice and a few tweaks made me a meat cake master.  So much so that my nephew suggested I open a meat cake stand on the street and sell millions of slices.  Problem is, one pan takes close to 3 hours, so a meat cake empire is probably not in the cards.  I included the recipe in The Kosher Carnivore and hope that readers will feel free to email any questions they have while preparing them.  They take some finesse but are worth it.

9.      What advice do you have for the busy home cook?

Focus on one terrific element in a meal and let the rest be easy breezy.  If you make a complex meat dish, keep the sides simple.  And learn to roast a chicken.  Whether you embellish it with lots of herbs and stuffing or simply treat it to a salt and pepper massage, you can pop it in the oven and know that you will have a delicious dinner in the time it takes for you to check on the kids homework, have a soothing bath or catch up on your emails.

Try these recipes, a sampling from my books:

Veal Milanese topped with Field Greens

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Spiked Mandel Bread

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Last Thursday we congregated at Jamie’s house to film some more Q&K videos. We decided to go for a more informal angle with this latest batch, and to that end Jamie asked Tamar and me to join her IN the videos. This was a simple suggestion, but one that had us worried about what we were going to wear, how to do our hair, how would the camera make us look – all stuff that Jamie has dealt with in the past and she told us not to worry, we’ll be fine. Jamie was right.

We had quite a few videos scheduled to be shot, and our call time was 9 am. Sathya, our awesome videographer, showed up with Jed, his assistant, and started setting up the lighting and the cameras and planning the shots. There were wires everywhere that I tripped over at least four times. (But not on camera, hopefully).

The first video to be shot was how to make challah. Tamar and I sat at the kitchen counter while Jamie was behind it demonstrating her challah making process. As usual, she made it look very easy. There was a lot of back and forth conversation between the three of us – after a while it was easy to forget there was a camera filming us.

Everything went fine…..until Jamie asked me to separate the eggs. Now, when I make challah my recipe doesn’t call for separated eggs. I don’t like separating eggs, they are all slimy and gunky. But Jamie’s recipe needed me to separate them. My brain ignored that command because apparently it didn’t like it. So there we are, camera rolling, I am cracking eggs like a pro, checking them, and dumping the entire egg into the bowl. I think I did this twice before Jamie said “Um, Dass, the eggs are supposed to be separated” and I realized my mistake. First installment on the blooper reel, courtesy of yours truly. We reshot that part. But you won’t be able to tell, because Sathya has magic editing skills.

Quick clothing change…it’s hard work, you know.

Cholent

While the challah was rising, we filmed the Q&K video of how to make Cholent. Seeing as it was Jamie’s hubby’s family’s recipe we cajoled him into starring in this video, and he was a natural. Now, this was a Thursday that we were filming, and eating cholent on a Thursday, well, I actually told Jamie it was against my religion to eat cholent on a Thursday. But, after we did a “here’s one I made earlier” (always wanted to do that on camera) we all had to taste the cholent. Let me tell you folks, it was so worth giving up my cholent-only-on-Shabbat rule. Totally delish. Much of that deliciousness had to do with the addition of kishke. My cholent will be totally different this week because of Mr Geller’s recipe.

Another Quick & Kosher Clothing Change…..

Spinach Noodle Kugel

As the challah was still rising – it takes a long time – we moved on to the next video on the agenda – Spinach Noodle Kugel. This time Jamie had Tamar on her side of the counter helping her. This was a simple dish to make (it is called “Quick and Kosher” for a reason) and within 45 minutes it was out of the oven and into our bellies quicker than you can fathom. Yum.

Our challah dough was finally ready – and we had plans to make much more than just challah with it! That’s what I love about this dough – it is so versatile.

First up, Jamie demonstrated her way of braiding a six-stranded challah. I do mine totally differently. Jamie’s challah seems to be plumper than mine, but the way I do it works for me. At some point in the future I may try her way, but only if Jamie is in my kitchen guiding my hands. Tamar and I both got in on the rolling action – it’s quite a work out for the arms, rolling out the ropes of dough. We painted on the egg-wash and then we smothered that 6-strand challah braid with heaping amounts of “everything” topping. Sesame seeds, onion, poppy seeds, salt – and it all comes in one convenient package. I started using this the other week and a friend said biting into my challah was like biting into an everything bagel. (That’s good, right?) We set it to rise in the warm corner of Jamie’s kitchen, and got to work on the next challah dough project.

Challah

Crown challah was up next – and again Jamie used a different method than I do. She braided three long strands of dough and tied a knot in the middle, put it into a round pan, brushed with egg wash, covered in sesame seeds and left that one to rise too. So simple to make and so pretty once it’s done. It’s perfect for Rosh Hashannah!

Let’s talk buns, cinnamon buns. I bet you didn’t know that you can use challah dough for this delicious dessert! Jamie put together a Q&K video showing you just how easy it is – and trust me, you will make these over and over and over again. Jamie rolled out a portion of the dough – nothing exact, and not trying for the edges to be perfect. She had me sprinkle it with cinnamon until it was covered, and then we crumbled brown sugar over the cinnamon. Jamie rolled it up until it was in a log, sliced it into equal pieces, arranged it in a pan and popped it in the oven. Seriously, folks, it was that easy. Once it was baked and cooled a little I threw together the icing, drizzled it over the top, and we dug in to this warm sweet moist delicious taste of heaven.

Next up was onion pockets. I need a moment to just remember the taste of this delicious treat. Jamie sautéed some onions – and for me, that’s a treat in and of itself – rolled out the dough, put the sautéed onions in the middle of the dough square, closed the square up, placed it in a small round baking tin, and set it to rise.

Onwards to the garlic knots – these were so good I made some the next day for my family. Jamie demonstrated on camera just how easy it is to make these – you need olive oil, garlic and parsley, mix together, spoon over the knots – EASY but oh so yummy! You’ll probably get to see us enjoying every last morsel on video.

Garlic Knots

We had so much fun cooking and baking together on camera – and getting to taste all the food that we had made was a total bonus. We grabbed plenty of time in between takes to work, all three of us had our lap tops open and maximized every second we had.

For more photos from our day of filming check out our Facebook album. Keep an eye on our Youtube channel – as soon as the videos are ready we will be putting them live online. We cannot wait for you to see them. Watch our Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates and of course check back here on JoyofKosher.com.

We are filming more Q&K episodes next week – stay tuned!