Kosher Blog

Kosherfest coming up

I plan to be at Kosherfest tomorrow, so, keep your eyes peeled for exciting updates in the world of Kosher.

Kosher is the Hind

After years of hoping that someone would finally start performing nikkur aharayim (removal of forbidden fats and nerves from the rear of a kosher animal) in the US, it has finally happened.

Quick background: Upon slaughtering a kosher animal, the blood as well as many forbidden fats, veins, and nerves need to be removed from the animal before it may be eaten. Most of the forbidden portions lie in the rear half of a cow, and some of the forbidden items (such as the gid hanasheh — the sciatica nerve and its branches) are extremely difficult to remove. So, since about the 1970′s, kosher meat purveyors have stopped selling cuts rear of the 12th rib as kosher (with a few exceptions, such as skirt and hangar steaks, which are towards the front of the rear section, and oxtail, which is at the extreme back, obviously). Unfortunately, some of the best cuts on the cow come from the rear — sirloin, top of the round, and tenderloin (whence we get the king of steaks — filet mignon).

Fortunately, an Israeli-trained Sephardic rabbi/shohet named Avidan Elkin recently started performing nikkur aharayim in Hackensack, NJ. Rabbi Elkin studied in Yeshiva in Israel, where nikkur aharayim is still done (albeit not very often), so he was able to acquire the necessary training there. In addition to slaughtering meat, Rabbi Elkin also serves as the Rabbi of the West Side Sephardic Synagogue in Manhattan. I spoke to Rabbi Elkin several times, and he was always very friendly and helpful. Be warned however, that since it is a small operation and some of the more desirable cuts are small, they may not always have what you want in stock.

Rabbi Elkin slaughters and performs nikkur on the meat under the auspices of Bisra Glatt Kosher Meats. Not only do they sell the hindquarters of cows, they also sell lamb and goat, as well as traditional front cuts of beef. Subject to availability, they also sell all kinds of interesting organ meats, such as brain, testicles, and udder. Hopefully that will be a future post.

For Rosh haShannah this year, I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain a whole tenderloin from Bisra.

I cut it into a few roasts, and I saved the thin ends for carpaccio. I also reserved one filet mignon steak.

The roasts, I cooked using Alton Brown’s recipe for center-cut tenderloin roast, coated in salt, cracked pepper, and cumin. In order to fully appreciate the technique, you should really watch the episode of Good Eats in which Alton prepares the recipe. Here are pictures of my attempt, which was delicious.

Center-cut tenderloin searing on the pan

Center-cut tenderloin, done and cut open

I would just note that the roast required a good 45 minutes in the oven (rather than the 15-20 minutes that Alton recommends), and it was still too rare for my taste (as well as most of my guests). I subsequently made another one that I cooked for 55 minutes, and it came out perfectly.

I also made Alton’s carpaccio recipe, from that same episode. Not wanting to risk killing my guests, I quickly seared the outside of the meat in my Lodge cast-iron grill pan before cooling it and slicing it, as Alton recommended (upon a severe beating from his lawyers). This is effective because bacteria (such as e. coli) generally are only present on the surface of meat — not inside. It wasn’t bad, and several of my guests liked it a lot, although, understandably, several guests were afraid to try it. I am glad that I have now had the opportunity to taste carpaccio, and while I would maybe eat it again, I probably wouldn’t waste $30/lb. to make it again, since I like cooked meat so much more. Below it is pictured, wrapped in plastic. You may be able to see that the outer 2-3 millimeters are cooked, while the center is raw.

Carpaccio

Finally, I made a filet mignon steak for myself after the holiday. Unfortunately, it is difficult to grill at my apartment, and I needed to make the steak before it went bad, so I cooked it in a pre-heated cast-iron grill pan under my broiler. Also unfortunately, I cut the steak too thin, since I was trying to conserve meat for the roasts. I ended up overcooking the steak, and it wasn’t anything special. Hopefully I’ll get to try again soon.

Home-cured pastrami – for Shabbos!

Ruhlman provides his recipe for homemade pastrami, and in the first couple comments, offers his advice for serving at lunch on Shabbos. Neat!

Gordon & Alperin awarded Tav HaYosher

Gordon & Alperin, metro-Boston’s longest-running kosher butcher shop, has become the first establishment in Massachusetts to receive Uri L’Tzedek‘s Tav HaYosher ethical certification.

The Tav HaYosher guarantees standards of fair pay, fair time, and safety for employees of certified stores and restaurants.

From their website:

Launched by Uri L’Tzedek, the Tav HaYosher is a local, grassroots initiative to bring workers, restaurant owners and community members together to create just workplaces in kosher restaurants.

Rav Yosef Breuer, one of the leading figures of 20th century Orthodoxy, famously stated: “Kosher” is intimately related to “Yoshor.” God’s Torah not only demands the observance of Kashruth and the sanctification of our physical enjoyment; it also insists on the sanctification of our social relationships. This requires the strict application of the tenets of justice and righteousness, which avoid even the slightest trace of dishonesty in our business dealings and personal life.

The Kosher Blog applauds Gordon & Alperin’s move, and hopes to see this spread to the rest of our local kosher shops.

Tasting Roasted Peppers

Nothing beats a freshly roasted bell pepper, but the convenience of a jarred product can’t be underestimated. I tend to bounce between several different kosher products, never really remembering how any particular variety fared from use to use.

Today, I purchased four jars of roasted peppers – varieties common to the Boston area – for a proper evaluation: Mancini, Mt. Olive, Galil, and Roland. (First two purchased at Star Market, last two purchased at the Butcherie.)

Mancini

• 10 oz. drained weight
• $3.19 ($0.32/oz.)
• Contains roasted red peppers, water, salt, citric acid
• Product of USA
• Certified by the Orthodox Union

Probably the most commonly available roasted pepper in these parts. Clean, mild flavor. Meaty but tender. Mostly halves and smaller pieces.

Mt. Olive

• 7.6 oz. drained weight
• $2.69 ($0.35/oz.)
• Contains roasted red peppers, water, salt, sugar, citric acid
• Product of Spain
• Certified by the Orthodox Union

Another national brand that’s been showing up more in the last two years. Slightly sweeter (thanks to the added sugar), with a bit of smokiness. Slightly softer than Mancini peppers, but far from mushy. Two nice whole peppers in a single jar.

Galil

• 11.65 oz. drained weight
• $3.99 ($0.34/oz.)
• Contains roasted red peppers, water, vinegar, sugar, salt
• Product of Turkey
• Certified by the Orthodox Union

Several whole elongated peppers. Thinner flesh than Mancini or Mt. Olive peppers, yet firmer. Nice smokiness compensates for unnecessary sweetness.

Roland

• 13.35 oz. drained weight
• $2.99 ($0.22/oz.)
• Contains roasted yellow peppers, water, vinegar, sugar, salt, sunflower oil
• Product of Turkey
• Certified by Star-K

The only non-red peppers in today’s lineup. Very thin flesh, unpleasant flavor.

I’d easily recommend the first three varieties for distinct uses. For serving in large pieces, as I would on an antipasto platter, the long Galil peppers work best, and provide enough flavor to be enjoyed on their own, though the thicker Mt. Olive peppers provide a more satisfying bite. The clean-flavored Mancini peppers, with the shortest ingredient list, are good for diced or pureed preparations where smokiness is undesired, unnecessary, or provided by another ingredient.

Have another brand you enjoy? Post your own reviews in the comments. If possible, included drained weight, price, and where you purchased it.

The origins of sweet kosher wine in America

Yoni Appelbaum’s piece in the Atlantic is a must-read: The 11th Plague? Why People Drink Sweet Wine on Passover.

Finally, a worthy article about sweet kosher wine.

Spotted: Star-K on Whole Foods Cheddar

KBlog reader Emily sent in this shot – will have to check if Boston-area WFMs have this kosher item.

Update: Found the Star-K’s letter of certification.

Yossie’s Pesach Wine Buying Guide

A comprehensive set of recommendations from Yossie Horwitz, conveniently broken down into “Under $15.99,” “$16-29.99,” and “Moshiach” categories. Follow him on Twitter @yossieuncorked.

Kitchens of India frozen kosher meals

Saw these at the Star Market in Central Square, Cambridge. Available in a variety of configurations, some with naan, rice, or both. Decent price for a whole meal (about $5) and the samosas are a nice addition to the available kosher Indian appetizer options.

Baking soft matsah

I first heard of soft matsah when I was in high school, when my Talmud teacher, Rabbi Alan Brill, mentioned to us that the Syrian Jews have a tradition to eat matsah that is soft, rather than the crackery-type that most of us are used to. He mentioned that it is perfectly kosher, but it is hard to find, except in Israel. I was intrigued.

A few years later, my brother met a rabbi who imported soft matsah from Israel, and as soon as I heard that, I wanted some. We ordered it, and it was quite different. It came frozen in plastic bags with instructions to heat before eating. Once defrosted, it was bendable (to a point, beyond which it would break) and chewy, but relatively tasteless. When warm, it tasted much better. However, it was quite expensive.

A couple of years later, I discovered SoftMatza.com, where you can order regular and whole wheat varieties of soft matsah over the Internet (made in Brooklyn). It worked out to be slightly cheaper, so I ordered some. The matsot were pretty similar, but the whole wheat ones were even more tasteless than the regular ones. However, they were slightly cheaper than the ones from Israel. You can look at pictures of their soft matsah.

I was curious about how they are made, and also whether Ashkenazim could eat them. I thought that perhaps they used moister dough or a lower temperature oven. However, according to SoftMatza.com, the main difference is that they are rolled out thicker. The site also mentions that “[p]eople from Ashkenazic lineage have a minhag (tradition) to eat Matza that is as thin as possible, and therefore should consult their Rabbi to determine if they are allowed to [eat] our thicker Matza.” When I looked into it in college for a cultural event that we wanted to run, the local Hillel Rabbinic adviser was not able to determine to his satisfaction whether the matsot were acceptable for Ashkenazim. However, apparently, Rabbi Schachter at YU allows Ashkenazim to eat these.

About 8 or 9 years ago, I decided I would try to make my own soft matsah. So, I mixed together a low-water batch of dough (using only unbleached white whole wheat flour and water), rolled it out about 1/3 of an inch thick, and baked it at the highest setting my oven could produce (according to the thermometer in my oven, it reached about 650F). As I recall, I think I used about 3.5 cups of flour per cup of water (which, converting to mass-based baker’s percentages, is about 48% water). I was careful to constantly work the dough once it was mixed, and from the time I mixed it until it went into the oven was (significantly) less than 18 minutes. However, I did not use guarded Passover flour (nor did I use kosher for Passover equipment), so it wasn’t actually kosher for Passover. I managed to produce an edible softish flatbread after baking for several minutes, but it was quite grainy.

Fast forward to this past week, when I decided to try again. Since our custom is to not eat matsah for the month before Pesach (starting on Purim, although some people don’t start abstaining until the 1st of Nissan), I had to act fast. Fortunately, matsah is quick and easy to bake. My current oven no longer goes up to 650F, so I decided I would try to bake it on my pizza stone (which, when pre-heated on the floor of my oven set to 525F, gets up to about 625F, as measured by my IR thermometer).

I realized I wasn’t exactly sure how to tell exactly when the matsah was fully-baked according to halakha, so I looked it up in the Shulhan Arukh (OC 461:3). I discovered that when you break it open, it is considered fully-cooked if you no longer see threads of dough stretching between. I also discovered that you should use water drawn the previous day (presumably because freshly-drawn water is more bubbly) that is cold. So, I used water from the Brita pitcher in my fridge. I couldn’t find any information about the proper flour:water ratio, so I decided to try a 55% water recipe (since regular bread is typically 60-65%).

For the first batch, I mixed 55g of cold water into 100g of unbleached all-purpose flour. It was so dry and crumbly that I could barely get it to hold together. I needed to work it with my hands for a good 5 minutes before it held together without crumbs. I then rolled it out into a sheet (about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick), which was quite easy to do, given the dryness of the dough, put it on my pizza peel , and transferred it to my pizza stone. I baked it for 4 minutes. I then noticed that it had puffed up like a pita bread, and I was worried that the top wasn’t getting enough heat, so I flipped it over and baked another 2 minutes. When I tore it open, there were no threads, however, I later noticed, upon cooling, that the inside still appeared a bit doughy (although the puffiness had collapsed). It tasted great when hot, but as it cooled it lost a lot of flavor. It was, however, pretty soft inside, although the outside was a bit crunchy and crumbly. See pictures below:

First batch, outside

First batch, inside

For batch two, I decided to make a wetter dough, since the first one was so hard to get to come together. I also decided to poke holes in the dough to prevent puffing and to pour the flour into the water instead of vice-versa. So, I mixed 100g of unbleached all-purpose flour into 63g of cold water. This dough came together much more easily, and it was actually a bit too sticky. It was harder to roll out due to the stickiness. After rolling it out, I pricked it with a fork several times and then baked it on the pizza stone for 4 minutes. I then flipped it and baked another 2 minutes. I removed it from the oven and tore it open. I didn’t see any threads, but I realized that it was still kind of doughy inside, so after a minute or so, I returned it (on side 2) to the pizza stone for another minute and a half. At that point, I removed it. It came out much better than the first batch, but it was still a bit doughy inside upon later examination. Pictures below:

Second batch, top

Second batch, bottom

Second batch, inside

For the final batch, I decided to reduce the water slightly and bake for a total of 7 minutes (which is also how long I bake pizza for on my pizza stone). So, I mixed 100g of unbleached all-purpose flour into 60g of cold water. This dough came together relatively easily, and it was just right. It rolled out just fine. This is what it looked like, rolled out:

Third batch, rolled

After rolling it out, I pricked it with a fork several times on both sides and then baked it on the pizza stone for 4 minutes. I then flipped it and baked another 3 minutes. I removed it from the oven and tore it open. I didn’t see any threads, and it did not appear at all doughy inside. It came out much better than the first two batches. Success! Pictures below:

Third batch, top

Third batch, bottom and inside

The next step is to find Passover flour and make my own for Pesach in a KFP kitchen. I doubt that will ever happen. My understanding is that KFP flour is not available on the open market — I would have to grind the grain myself and make sure it stayed dry until mixing (annoying, but doable). Even then, however, it would not be real Shemurah matsah, although it would be kosher for Pesach. However, the custom is to use Shemurah matsah (which has been watched since it was harvested, or more precisely, since it was cut) for the Seder. That is pretty much impracticable, since it would involve an inordinate amount of work (reaping, harvesting, winnowing, grinding… and I may be leaving out one or two intermediate steps).

By the way, I should mention that it seems likely that all matsah eaten throughout the world was of this soft variety until about the 18th century, when various Ashkenazic authorities decided that it was a good idea to make very thin and crunchy matsah, just be 100% certain that it was completely baked through. That was an unfortunate development, however, in its favor, crisp matsah stays fresh a lot longer than soft matsah (which can go stale in a few hours outside of the freezer).

One last point: according to the Shulhan Arukh, matsah can be up to a tefach thick (about 3 or 4 inches). I wonder how that would come out…