Quick & Kosher

Mint is so much more than just a garnish for desserts. In spring and summer, mint is my  herb of choice when I am looking for bright flavors.  Try mint with meat, fish and vegetable dishes.

Mint or Mentha is a genus of 25 species of plants with hundreds of varieties in each species.  Basil and thyme are well known members of the mint family with common culinary uses. What we traditionally call mint is a less well known herb but one of my favorites.

Mint is a hardy annual plant that is fast growing and can take over a garden if not kept in check. I grow several different types of mint in pots outdoors.

Mint’s Uses

The essential oil from mint is used commonly in everything from toothpaste and mouthwash to candies, liqueurs and some pharmaceuticals.

Mint is a well known digestive and is commonly made into tea to treat stomach aches and chest pain. Mint tea is also a strong diuretic. Mint is an environmentally-friendly insecticide. Plant some mint near doorways or keep some in a window box and the natural mint oil will drive ants and mosquitoes away.

Cooking with Mint

Mint is often seen as a garnish on dessert plates-though rarely have I ever seen anyone actually eat it! Outside the United States, mint is used in meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Commonly found in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, mint is essential for flavoring main dishes and desserts. The flavor of cooked mint is similar to thyme but slightly more aromatic. For me, mint is my go-to spring and summer herb of choice when I am looking for bright flavors.

Recipes:

Slow Roasted Salmon with Mint Pesto

Minted Brown Rice Pilaf

Mojito

Ready to get minty fresh? What are you favorite uses for mint? Please leave me a comment and let me know.

I like summer desserts that are easy to make, portable and versatile. Whether you’re hosting or on the guest list, these non-dairy desserts will win you raves.

Quick & Kosher  Summer Dessert Recipes

• Quick & Kosher Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Old-Fashioned Fruit Crumble
• Quick & Kosher One-Bowl Amazing Chocolate Cake
• Quick & Kosher Raspberry Twists
• Quick & Kosher Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

What are you making for dessert this Memorial Day? Please let me know by leaving a comment.

As Holocaust survivors who thought in other languages, my grandparents sometimes had trouble expressing themselves to me in words, but they knew how to show their love with food.

My grandparents were skilled chefs who were always in the kitchen.  They cooked out of small spaces with old appliances and no special gadgets, yet they delivered the most luscious, unforgettable meals to their tables. The food they served filled everyone with love and warmth like a great big hug.

My mom’s parents were expert bakers, too.  They were famous for their Hungarian Dobos Torte (pronounced dobosh) – a 12 layer cake filled with homemade chocolate cream and topped with caramelized brown sugar.  They made this cake for birthdays and if there was any left over they would slice and freeze it.  To find a frozen slice of Dobos Torte was like finding treasure – we never waited for it to defrost before eating it.

Although he was an accomplished restaurant chef, aside from Dobos Torte, my grandmother never let my grandfather into her kitchen. It was only when she passed away that my grandfather, then in his mid 70s, officially took over the reins as family cook and host – having all of his extended family plus guests over for Rosh Hashanah or Thanksgiving or Shabbos or whenever.  He always had something fresh cooking on the stove.

My dad’s father was also a skilled professional cook whose nickname, “Chefu,” literally means chef in Romanian. He had the most incredible potato kugel – 6 inches high, crusty on the outside and light as a feather on the inside – authentic, how-it-was-meant-to-be-made chicken soup – and a few specialties like potato sour cream soup.  He and grandma cooked and baked and showed their love to us with every morsel.

Now that all my grandparents have all passed, I honor their memory each time I cook one of their recipes or welcome friends and family with food. This was a generation that could have withdrawn and been closed to the world. Instead they decided to engage; to show their love in a way that went beyond the words that sometimes escaped them.

I talk with Jay about his experiences preparing Quinoa, an amazingly nutritious food you should be eating now.

Depending on who you ask, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), a grain-like staple originally grown in the  Andes mountains of South America, is kosher for Passover. Since quinoa is definitely not a grain—it is actually a member of the goose foot family related to spinach and beets—the question remains whether quinoa is kitniyot (“tiny things”), grain-like substances like rice or legumes similar enough to grain that Ashkenazi Jews deemed them forbidden on Passover centuries ago. The Orthodox Union (OU) thinks quinoa might be kitniyot and Star-K says it definitely is not kitniyot. In either case, kosher supervising authorities suggest buying quinoa that has been produced in plants that process only quinoa, so there is no possibility of chametz contamination. They also suggest checking the quinoa carefully to insure that there’s no chametz mixed in.

Since quinoa is still relatively new to most of us, I asked Jay, our “Senior Quinoa Correspondent,” to try some out and give us his thoughts.

So, Jay, what did you find out?

Well, Jamie, I bought some quinoa and tried it. The seeds are round like couscous. Quinoa takes about the same time to cook as white rice (~10 minutes) but has more protein and micro-nutrients than whole-grain brown rice. So, we’re talking about some really nutritious stuff.

What about the taste?

Quinoa has a nutty or grassy flavor that some might find a little bitter. This is the result of bitter compounds called saponins that cover the seeds. These are removed through soaking in water. Commercially-available quinoa comes pre-soaked to remove the saponins. Otherwise, quinoa is pretty neutral. I found that it takes on flavors well. I especially liked making pilaf with dried fruit and nuts. The sweetness of the fruit really rounded out the flavor.

How is the consistency?

Quinoa is not quite as fluffy as rice  and it has a little more resistance when you chew it. In a lot of ways it is like brown rice but the size of the cooked seeds is smaller than a brown rice kernel.

Any cooking tips?

Well, I followed the package instructions. Essentially quinoa has the same 2 to 1, water to “grain” formula as rice. Quinoa also cooks in about the same time. But I did find that rinsing the quinoa first or letting it soak in water and draining it reduces the grassy flavor. If you do soak it, you may need to reduce the amount of cooking water or cooking time. Otherwise the quinoa can turn out a little mushy or waterlogged.

Most important question, did you like it?

Yeah, I did. I must be honest, though. The grassy flavor can be off-putting at first, but once I seasoned the quinoa I really liked it. Remember, quinoa is completely gluten-free and has a lot of protein, so it is an amazing product to add to everyday meals in place of other starches. If you don’t eat kitniyot on Passover, quinoa is a welcome change from potatoes.

That’s great stuff. Thanks, Jay.

There you have it folks. Quinoa—a nutritious alternative to rice. Try some this Passover or anytime.

I confess to being a latent beet lover. I think was traumatized by a childhood experience as well as an unnatural fear of being stigmatized by eating “old” people food. Now, I am mad about beets. I love them and look for ways to incorporate them into salads, soups and entrees—I even made sorbet with them once

Buying Beets

Beets are root vegetables that contain high amounts of fiber and nutrient compounds that fight cancer, high blood pressure and a host of health issues. Beets are best known in their cultivated form as beetroot or garden beets. Other cultivated varieties include their leafy cousins chard and beet spinach. Beets are found in produce markets all year round. Baby beets are found in produce markets and farmer’s markets in late May and early June. Baby beets are small (golf ball size or smaller) and are very sweet and tender. Larger beets are harvested throughout the summer and fall. These late season beets are perfect winter vegetables. They are versatile and delicious.

Beets are found in several varieties. The most familiar is the dark red beet most commonly found in markets. There are also yellow or golden beets which have a gorgeous bright yellow color. Less common is the candy stripe or chiogga beet. The candy stripe beets range from pale to intense bright pink with white stripes that give it a candy cane appearance. These dazzling beets are most easily found in farmer’s markets. All the varieties of beets have the same flavor which if you are unfamiliar with beets is a slightly peppery-earthy flavor that becomes sweet with roasting.

Storing Beets

Beets are best stored in the refrigerator and will keep for several weeks.

Cooking Beets

My favorite way to cook beets is to roast them. Roasting beets brings out the natural sweetness and makes them tender. Once roasted, I add the beets to salads, grain and rice dishes, soups and sautéed vegetable side dishes.

Try these fantastic recipes for beets:

Basic Roasted Beets, Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad, Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette, Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is kosher and delicious for Passover and every other day of the year

One sure sign that spring has sprung is the plethora of Passover products that start appearing on grocery store shelves. Each year I look forward to checking out what new foodstuffs have been invented. Usually these products are meant to counterfeit their non-Passover counterparts. Each year I hold my own personal contest to see what the strangest and most Passover-y thing will be. Last year I was thrilled and simultaneously disgusted by Passover soy sauce. I saved the bottle and put it in my cabinet just to remind myself of how scary things sometimes are in the world of food.

Well, that soy sauce is so last year. I found something that trumps all the ersatz foods out there. The new crop of Passover substitutes includes a product called Mac & Cheez. There is neither Mac (pasta) even of the Passover kind nor is there any cheese or Cheez. The product is pareve and the pasta is made from tapioca. It is nutritionally empty; there is not one vitamin in it. I bought a box and put it right next to my soy sauce and there it shall stay as a reminder of how bad faux food can get.

On the other hand, there is something really great that we can use for Passover. It is delicious, all natural, minimally processed available at just about every supermarket in the country. I’m talking about extra virgin olive oil. According to the OU (Orthodox Union), all extra virgin olive oil is kosher all year round and that includes Passover. So, the savvy Passover shopper is buying great olive oil this year.

Olive oil is the fruit oil obtained from the olive. Commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, soaps and fuel for lamps, olive oil is grown and used throughout the world but especially in the Mediterranean.

Olive oil is produced by grinding or crushing and extracting the oil. A green olive produces bitter oil and an overripe olive produces rancid oil. For great extra virgin olive oil it is essential to have olives that are perfectly ripened.

Purchasing olive oil and knowing how to use it can be confusing. Add to that, the kashrut factor and it is no wonder that consumers and home cooks are bewildered by the array of products on supermarket and specialty market shelves.

Using Olive Oil

Here is a summary of olive oils and their uses:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

This oil comes from virgin oil production only and contains no more than 0.8% acidity. Extra virgin olive oil accounts for less than 10% of oil in many oil producing countries. The superior fruity flavor makes this oil best used for vinaigrettes, drizzling on soups and pastas for added richness and a fruity taste for dipping breads and vegetables. Extra virgin olive oil does not require hashgacha or supervision from a kosher authority (even for Pesach) as it is cold pressed.

Virgin Olive Oil

This only comes from virgin oil production only and has an acidity less than 2%. This oil is best used for sautéing and for making vinaigrettes. It is generally not as expensive as the extra virgin olive oil but has a good taste. Virgin olive oil requires kosher supervision to be considered kosher.

Pure Olive Oil

Oils labeled as Pure olive oil or Olive oil are usually a blend of refined and virgin production oil. This oil is perfect for sautéing. It does not have a strong flavor and can be used for making aiolis and cooking. Pure olive oil requires kosher supervision to be considered kosher.

Extra virgin olive oil is the highest quality olive oil. It is typically more expensive than other olive oils. Extra virgin olive oil is not typically recommended for high heat cooking. Every oil has its smoke point. A smoke point refers to the heat temperature at which the oil begins to break down and degrade. An oil that is above its smoke point not only has nutritional and flavor degradation but can also reach a flash point where combustion can occur. You can observe this when you have a very hot pan and hot oil and food are added to the pan and they produce a bluish and acrid smelling smoke or worse yet, catch fire.

Extra virgin olive oil has a very low smoke point of 375. I use my best extra virgin olive oil for making vinaigrettes, adding luxurious fruity flavor to pasta dishes, garnishing foods and dipping breads. When I am high heat sautéing or frying, I tend to reach for pure olive oil or a different type of oil.

Buying Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil has a long list of health benefits from reducing coronary artery disease, cholesterol regulation and possibly reducing risk of certain cancers. This makes the decision for using extra virgin olive oil a no-brainer.

The bigger decision is which oil to buy. Most of the world’s extra virgin olive oil comes from the southern Mediterranean countries. I favor an organic, unfiltered Spanish oil. I also like estate grown products as I know that a farmer fretted over the olives and the weather. Many mass produced oils are made not from a single source or farm and the flavor can be uneven and harsh.

When cooking for Passover and for every meal, I recommend whole, natural ingredients. I never go to the dark side of cooking with products that are loaded with laboratory made ingredients and faux flavors or colors. For this holiday and everyday—let’s keep it real.

Recipes:

Poached Halibut in Olive Oil

Parsley sauce with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Chocolate Mousse with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Author Bio:

- LAURA FRANKEL is the former chef and founder of the Shallots restaurants. Frankel has training and extensive experience in both savory and pastry kitchens. After Frankel had a family and began maintaining a kosher home she found that there was nowhere in Chicago serving the quality of food that she knew she could offer. She opened her first restaurant in 1999 offering kosher fine dining with a produce-driven menu. Frankel opened Shallots NY in 2000 in midtown Manhattan. – Read more…

Stuck for something to do this December 25th? Why not host an Asian-inspired brunch.

Chinese food and a movie are popular December 25th diversions. Instead of filling up on take out, make more of an occasion out of it by hosting an Asian-inspired brunch. Here are 5 recipes (plus dessert) to get you started. (If these don’t strike your fancy, there are plenty more on Joy of Kosher. Just search for the term “Asian.”)

Asian Shiitake Mushroom Soup

Asian Cabbage Salad with Garlic Sesame Dressing

Pepper Steak

Szechuan Braised Meatballs

Vegetable Fried Rice

For dessert try  fortune cookies, some parve coconut or mango sorbet or Honey Sweet Apple-Mango Cobbler.

How do you spend December 25th?

Often lovingly referred to as the “other food group” chocolate has found its way into our daily lives. Inspiring everything from recipes, stories, cravings and a host of products from eating chocolate to bubble bath; chocolate is an obsession.

Chocolate History

Cacao trees are native to Mexico, Central and South America. Cultivated for over 3000 years, Mayans drank chocolate both as an everyday beverage as well as for ceremonial purposes. The frothy bitter concoction was mixed with vanilla, chile peppers and achiote (annatto). Turning cacao beans into the tasty sweet confection we all know and crave is a complicated process with only a handful of companies all over the world truly making their own chocolate. Most candy shops buy chocolate in blocks, melt it and shape it into candies and other sweet treats.

Benefits of Chocolate

Xocoatl as it was known in the Mayan culture was believed to fight fatigue. This is due to the theobromine content in chocolate.

Chocolate then and now is considered to have many therapeutic benefits including cancer fighter antioxidants, circulatory benefits and many studies are being conducted on using chocolate to fight obesity. While this is certainly good news and really any excuse to eat chocolate is a good one, I urge you to take heed of the adage “you get what you pay for”.

What Makes Good Chocolate

Not all chocolate is good chocolate. In fact, there is a lot of bad chocolate out there. Thankfully it is easy to find the good stuff. Look at the ingredients on the label. There should be just a small handful of ingredients. They should be: a for dark chocolate. Milk chocolate will have the addition of milk listed and white chocolate, which is not really chocolate due to the fact that it does not have cocoa paste or cocoa mass but does have cocoa butter, will have  sugar, cocoa butter, milk or milk powder and vanilla. That’s it! No other ingredients should be in the chocolate. Notice that cacao paste is listed first. Great chocolate should have a high concentration of cacao, not other ingredients.

Buying Chocolate

There are many great chocolates on the market that are kosher. In fact, there is no reason that great chocolate cannot be kosher. I am lucky enough to have recently been in Paris where I slurped and stuffed myself full of chocolate for one solid week. Armed with my list of kosher chocolate companies and bakeries, I ate my way through the city of lights. You also can enjoy amazing chocolate if you follow a few simple rules.

• Buy the good stuff. You are feeding your family and friends, they deserve good chocolate. Do not cut corners. Cheap chocolate cannot be disguised by any amount of other ingredients in a recipe. My favorites are: Callebaut chocolates for cooking, baking and eating, and Valrhona cocoa powder. This is an amazing cocoa powder with a deep, dark color and flavor.
• Chef Laura’s golden rule—do not use substitute ingredients. Butter is butter, cream is cream, margarine is never good and non-dairy whipped topping comes from a laboratory and shouldn’t be ingested by humans.

Now that you have the rules—go forth and enjoy!

Explore your decadent side with these chocolate inspired recipes: Chili con Carne, DIY Chocolate Bubble Bath, Chocolate Pound Cake

One of the cool benefits of living way north of the GW Bridge and the Big Apple is that we are in real apple country. On a whim, we can take the kids to a local orchard not ten minutes from my house, and become one with nature. It feels just like the olden days—only back then, the farmers would pay hired hands to pick the apples, while we actually pay the farmers to please, please let us harvest their fruit.

With our toddlers in tow, it took the better part of a leisurely hour and a half to collect our bushel’s worth. There were all kinds of folks up in those trees. You can easily spot the real apple connoisseurs: they come equipped with a knife and magnifying glass—and they taste each variety, talk about it, inspect it, thumb their noses at subpar apples, and toss them to the ground disdainfully. I think they had fancy foreign accents too, but that could be my imagination working overtime.

Then there were plenty of families like mine. Our apple criteria were not quite the same as those snooty gourmets, but it was based on our own very strict checklist. To get into our basket, the apples must: 1) be reachable by someone smaller than three feet tall (there are only so many times Mommy and Daddy can pick you up), 2) have no soft spots and 3) have no worm holes.

So we picked our Granny Smiths and Romes, our Cortlands and Macintoshes, and we were on our way. It cost us 25 bucks for the experience—but honestly, I think we wound up with 50 pounds of apples. Back home, I started unpacking our produce and panic struck. HELP! What’s a gal who never baked an apple pie in her life to do with oodles and oodles of apples? OK— I can make Puff Pastry Apple Purses, and even my 4-year-old can help. Great! The Purses were super. Only 88 apples left.

I remembered that as a kid, one of my favorite treats was caramel apples. (I discovered a rocky road version—almost too fab for words.) I was all ready to fire up the caramel, when my other half interjected that it would be such a waste—he doesn’t like caramel apples.

I should have been able to predict this impasse. Since the day we got married and discovered that I’m into fish and salads and he’s all about meat and potatoes, we rarely relished the same meals. Why should we agree on apples?

The man wanted candy-coated apples. He yearned for candy-coated apples. It had something to do with his childhood, a day at the beach or the circus or something, a fight with his brother, a gift from his sister, I don’t know. All I knew was that a candy-coated apple would resolve a long-standing ache in his heart.

I put away the caramel. After all, I’m an adult. I can give up my caramel apple if it means that much to my husband. You know, I never thought I would enjoy the process, but we had such fun. I discovered that making candy-coated apples is a great activity to do with the kids, and we munched and crunched our way to family bliss!

Ah, Sukkot!  We’re eating and sleeping in huts with bamboo roofs and praying that the temperature won’t dip too low. I confess that I’m glad that the custom is for men to sleep in the Sukkah, and not women. I wasn’t much for camping, even as a kid. Now that I live in Rockland County—home to outsize groundhogs, raccoons, deer, foxes, snakes, huge crickets and wild turkeys—I’m perfectly content to peer through the double-pane windows overlooking our Sukkah, smile and wave to my husband with his knapsack and retire to my cozy bedroom.

At mealtimes, however, I love sitting in our Sukkah, watching the sunlight play off the decorations my kids and I had put up with such mirth. And I love to fill my Sukkah with guests, too, taking advantage of this enchanting ambiance as a setting for scrumptious, memorable meals. After all, Sukkot is all about remembering:  it takes us back to the Exodus from Egypt. As we sit in our flimsy little huts, we are reminded of the solid faith in G-d that we Jews had in the desert—and that we reinforce year after year in our Sukkah. Surrounded by His protection rather than material strength, we readjust our perspective to a deeper understanding of real security.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t get cold! Here in New York, we’re sometimes blessed with a Sukkot of gloriously sunny days, with just a crisp autumn nip in the air. Yet in His inscrutable way, G-d sometimes challenges us with a week of gusty, frigid weather. And that’s when I pull out Grandma Martha’s recipe for Beef Porridge. It’s a thick and filling soup, and there’s nothing like it for warming up you, your family and your guests in the Sukkah.

This Geller Classic is a perfect winter meal. I learned to make it in response to a special request. (Let’s just say I had never before seen my husband actually beg.)  It took me only five tries to master the recipe, but it’s worth the trouble. After cooking for three hours, the flanken gets so soft, it just melts in your mouth. I have substituted cubed beef, and even chuck steak, and gotten the same effect.  Since it’s for the holiday, you could go extra fancy and serve it in bread bowls. (Hey, that means fewer dishes to shlep and wash!)

As Sukkot is a time for lots of invited guests as well as drop-ins, turkey is a perfect main course—there’s always enough. Who ever ran out of turkey?  Cranberry relish complements the meal superbly and my Pumpkin Pie recipe serves 16—a crowd pleaser, literally! (Ok, so I’ve been snooping in ye olde Thanksgiving recipe box, but just see how different these dishes taste in your Sukkah.)

Did you know that there is also a traditional custom to eat filled/stuffed or rolled foods on Sukkot? So my simple stuffed peppers are another main dish option, if you don’t want to fuss with a turkey. I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear that this year I’ve graciously accepted my mother-in-law’s offer to make stuffed cabbage for our family. (We all know I can’t be bothered with that!) I doubt that she’ll come over to your place to make it for you too, but maybe if you ask nicely …

Have a wonderful Chag Sukkot, everyone!

Honestly, I’ve been baking challah for close to four years—to rave reviews and almost embarrassing oohs and ahhs at the Shabbos table. But you know me—I love every minute of it.

This time, I don’t know what happened, my challah lacked texture and shape. It was a bumpy, lumpy messy blob; ballooning at astronomical speed, then falling out of shape, falling all over itself and completely breaking apart.  They say that yeast is alive, but this was going beyond, into the unknown. The thing was living, breathing, multiplying—and mad at me.  My heart sank watching it succumb to itself and I was powerless to stop nature.  My eyes brimmed with tears…

I had done everything right.

I measured, added the ingredients in the right order, and prayed for my family, my friends, for world peace and for my challah. It’s not a joke when I tell you I do whisper a little prayer for my food to be delicious, to honor the Shabbos and to bring home its warmth and beauty through all of our senses.

This particular Friday, I got up way too early with my kids, earlier than I care to announce, threw an apron over my pajamas, and started my day—which consisted of nonstop conference calls, emails, writing, spreadsheets and Shabbos cooking. I was literally running in my fuzzy pink slippers back and forth between my home office and home—from the computer to my kitchen—balancing working and cooking, while my kids played and fought, danced and screamed.

When the Challah from Beyond made its bloated appearance, I frantically called my friend Anita. I tearfully moaned that my challah was overflowing, and in a flash, she said, “It’s a siman, a sign! It’s a Rosh Hashanah blessing!”  I said “AMEN!”—and with that, a new siman was born for this new year: May it be G-d’s will that my overflowing challahs represent overflowing health, happiness and prosperity for all of us this coming year!

It’s a good thing I called Anita, because when I told my other friends about it, they just shrugged, “better luck next time,” or “hey, it happens to all of us.” They’re right, of course; it does happen to all of us. But at this time of the year, I’m glad it was me, because it’s a good sign!

Labor Day: The Last Party of Summer

For many, Labor Day is bittersweet. We all love the long weekend, but we’re sad to kiss the endless days of summer goodbye. For the perfect send off, why not grill up some super steaks?

Whether you’re cooking for a couple or a crowd, steak is a great choice. Steaks require very little preparation and are easy to cook. With cuts like Kosher.com’s rib steaks and kosher NY strips all you need is a little seasoning, a little oil and a hot grill. Place the steaks on a well-oiled grill at a 45 degree angle and cook over high heat for one minute. Then rotate the steaks 90 degrees and cook one minute more (the steaks will develop great grill marks). Turn your steaks over then turn down the heat to medium low or move the steaks to a cooler part of the grill so they can cook through without burning (about 4-7 minutes depending on desired doneness). Since the meat undergoes a certain amount of “carryover cooking” during the rest, it is best to take your steaks off the grill before they’re done; undercook them by 5°F (see the temperature guide below).

Off the grill, steaks should rest, on a warm plate tented with aluminum foil, for approximately 10 minutes before serving. Resting also helps redistribute a steak’s juices so don’t cut into the meat until the resting is complete. There is nothing better than a juicy steak; cut your steak too early and all the juices will end up on the plate.

If you’ve got a lot of mouths to feed, choose a skirt steak, shoulder steak or London broil. Marinate the meat in an acid-based marinade of your choice for anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight. The marinade adds flavor and the salt, sugar and acid tenderizes the meat by breaking down the fibers. Remove the meat from the marinade, season, and cook on hot and well-oiled grill like you would any other steak. After resting the meat, slice it on the bias and serve.

Do pick thicker steaks over thinner ones. Denser meat cooks more slowly and evenly and you are less likely to overcook the meat.

Do use an instant read meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of your steak, taking it off the grill about 5°F shy of the desired degree of doneness (see the temperature guide below).

Do serve plenty of appetizers like Guacamole and Chips to keep your guests happy and entertained while you grill.

Do throw some chicken cutlets on the grill and serve atop this fresh parve Sun-Dried Tomato Caesar Salad for those guests who might not like steak (as crazy as it sounds, these people do exist).

Do serve some great sides like Spicy Sweet Potato Fries and Israeli Salad.

For dessert, do offer your guests something light and refreshing like a Tea Biscuit and Sorbet Tower.

Don’t use sweet barbecue sauces; the sugars will burn leaving your steak tasting like carbon. If you plan to use barbecue sauce as a glaze, put it on during the last couple of minutes of cooking or, better yet, serve it as a condiment.

Don’t overcook your meat!

Click here to see my video on how to make guacomole and chips.