A Conversation with Ted Merwin

After a 5 months long hiatus, due to voice issues and more, we will be back this evening at 11:00 pm (Eastern Time) The Kosher Scene Radio Show. Our guest will be Ted Merwin, who is Associate Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, where he is the Founding Director of the Milton B. Ashell Center for Jewish Life. He writes about Jewish theater, dance, and food for the New York Jewish Week and other major newspapers and magazines.

Professor Merwin is the author of a fascinating new book, Pastrami on Rye – An overstuffed History Of The Jewish Deli. I found it a fascinating read, very informative with just the right amount of nostalgia, a touch of humor and a tremendous love for the subject matter.

The book introduces its subject…

Is anything more emblematic of New York City than the overstuffed pastrami sandwich on rye? The picled and smoked meats sold in storefront Jewish delicatessens starting in the late nineteenth centurybecame part of the heritage of all New Yorkers. But they were, of course, especially important to Jews; the history of the delicatessen is the history of Jews eating themselves into Americans. The skyscraper sandwich became a hallmark of New York. But it also became a a potent symbol of affluence, of success, and of the attainment of the American Dream. As the slogan for Reuben’s, an iconic delicatessen in the theater district boasted, “From a sandwich to a national institution.”

The deli became an institution, an institution not only for Jews, but as the book widely attests for many non-Jews as well. Why? As the Introduction continues:

[..]…the pastrami, corned beef, salami, bologna, and tongue that were sold in storefront New York delicatessen became, for a time, a mainstay of the American Jewish diet, taking on a primacy they had never enjoyed in Eastern Jewish culture…

[..]These Jewish eateries were known for the staggering amount and variety of food on display; the delicatessen, in the words of the food historian John Mariani “represented American bounty in its most voluptuou and self indulgent form.” Smoked and pickled meat, from their roots in central and eastern Europe, help a special place even within Jewish “cuisine,” which extended from kreplach (dumplings) and knishes (savory pastries) to kishke (stuffed intestines, also known as stuffed derma)…

My mouth is watering! I can taste and smell it all…

Please listen in this evening to at 11:00 pm (Eastern Time) The Kosher Scene Radio Show for a fascinating conversation about a chapter of Americana and its Jewish roots.

Meanwhile in case you missed it, why not listen to: A Conversation with Beth Warren, MS, RDN, CDN – 2.

We’ll be looking for you, but while we are waiting I better grab some mustard…

CS

Tonight’s Radio Show – Alessandra Rovati From Dinner In Venice

Last minute cancellation due to unforeseen emergency!

Last minute cancellation due to unforeseen emergency!

Photo by: Irving Schild

Italian cuisine has earned a very well deserved place in the pantheon of superior cookery from around the world. Within that cuisine, it is the Cucina Ebraica, the Jewish Italian cuisine, which is considered its crown jewel. Our guest on The Kosher Scene Radio Show, this evening, will be Venetian born and bred Alessandra Rovati from  Dinner In Venice.com website and blog.  We will discuss the history of the Jews in Italy, a history that goes back almost 2200 years, the history of Jews in Venice specifically and, of course, the famed Jewish Italian cuisine.

Venice is where the first Jewish Ghetto came to be in 1500. The earliest known mention of Jews in Venice is around 1090. The census in 1152 showed 1300 of our coreligionists, mostly merchants, originally from Germany and  the Levant. Throughout its history, Venice has been the venue for some of the most picturesque chapters in our people’s history, featuring both famous and infamous Jewish personalities.

Please tune us in this evening on the internet’s blogtalkradio.com, at 8:00 pm (Eastern Time), for what promises to be a very interesting, and informative show.

If you missed our show last week with Ezzy Duchman from Jewpon, you can hear it here. The guest was interesting, the subject will save you money!

Please, don’t forget to tune us in this evening’s for our conversation with the charming, Alassandra Rovati, when we will explore the  history and the cuisine of Jewish Italy at 8:00pm (Eastern Time). We’ll be wait’n for ya…

CS

***UPDATE***

7:25 pm (Eastern Time) Ms. Rovati had a small electrical fire in her house and had to cancel this evening’s appearance.

Perfect Jewish

Published by Parragon Publishing, UK; 2008

From the dust cover:

The unique flavors of Jewish Regional cooking are brought to life in this fascinating new cookbook. It features an enticing range of 120 recipes from Jewish communities all around the world.

Perfect Jewish is a delightful cookbook by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen features both Ashkenazic and Sephardic dishes divided into 5 sections:

• Soups, aalads & appetizers
• Main dishes
• Light dishes and accompaniments
• Desserts, cakes & cookies
• Breads & pastries

The featured recipes cover Central, Eastern Europe and Russia, Spain, Portugal, the Middle East and North Africa. The selections and the beautiful photos paint a rich picture of our culture adapting itself to the various regions around the world that were graced with a Jewish presence.

The easy to follow, detailed recipes, and the mouth watering photos make this a must have book for every kitchen. It was hard to choose just one recipe out the many succulent selections but I finally decided upon something uniquely American, so we adapted (the original deli recipe calls for Gruyere cheese) the following from the book:

Detail from photo on page 142...

The Reubens Sandwich

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp margarine softened
• 4 slices “deli” rye bread
• 4 – 6 oz cooked roast beef, or corned beef, or pastrami, [or a combination of any of these] thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup sauerkraut, well drained
• vegetable oil or margarine for frying
• Pickled cucumbers to serve [yes, there is recipe for these on page 41, if you are truly ambitious!]

Thousand Island Dressing

• 1 cup bottled or home made mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp ketchup or chili sauce
• 2 tbsp seeded and finely chopped green bell pepper
• 2 tbsp finely chopped pimento
• 2 tbsp finely chopped sweet and sour pickled cucumber

Following the great emigration of the 1880s, by the 1920s more than 2 million Jews were working in sweatshops. They bought kosher foods from Jewish neighbors and a great Jewish-American institution, the Jewish deli, was born. It served some fantastic sandwiches.

1. Dressing: Mix the dressing ingredients together in a bowl until well blended. Store, refrigerated, in an air tight container for up to one week.
2. Spread margarine on to one side of each bread slice. Lay margarine- side down. Spread the center with 1 tbsp each of the dressing.
3. Divide the roast beef between 2 bread slices tucking in the slices to fit. Divide the sauerkraut and make an even layer over the roast beef. Top with the remaining bread slices, margarine side out, and press firmly to compress the layers.
4. Heat a non-stick skillet or ridged griddle pan over medium-high heat. Carefully slide the sandwiches into the pan. Press down on on the tops of the sandwiches. Cook for 3 minutes or until the undersides are crisp and golden.
5. Carefully turn, press down again and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden and the beef is hot. Transfer to a cutting board Cut in half and serve with pickles.

Serves 2

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

This Evening’s Radio Show and a Recipe

Right before Pessach we did a two hour show featuring various wine experts and distributors, talking about kosher wines from around the world. It ended with a half hour conversation with Chef Jeff Nathan of Abigael’s.  You can listen to the archived show here.

This evening our internet radio guest will be Chef Sarah Lasry. Mrs. Lasry is Food Editor at Binah Magazine, author of The Dairy Gourmet and The At Home Gourmet. For eight years she owned and operated Tastebuds, a very successful dairy restaurant in the Howell/Lakewood area in New Jersey. You can hear our conversation, at 8:00pm (Eastern Time) on BlogTalk Radio. To talk to our guest, or to comment, you may call in at: 714.333.3357, we will be on from 8:00 – 8:30pm.

Looking through her latest of cookbook, The At Home Gourmet, I found it well organized and easy to follow. It’s divided in seven sections (Amazing Appetizers, Simple Soups, Zestful Salads, Lazy Lunches, Delicious Dinners, Waist Watchers, Basic Desserts) )and has a well organized Index. Quite a few of its recipes are destined to become new favorites, among them some of the very decadent desserts.

While I’m a carnivore to the core, those who follow this blog also know that any recipe that calls for cheese is sure to get my attention. Therefore, out of the many mouthwatering recipes in this book, I thought the one below would be perfect…

So Cheesy Onion Potato Gratin

• 1 large onion sliced thin
• 2 tbsp.extra virgin oil
• 2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into thin rounds
• 2 1/3 cups heavy cream
• 2 tsp. Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup grated Mozarella cheese
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 4 tbsp. melted butter
• Extra shredded Cheddar or Mozzarella for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet over med-high heat, saute the onions in olive oil until they have browned (about 4-5 minutes). In a sprayed 9 x 13 baking pan, layer the bottom with the fried onions. Then layer the potatoes over the onions, covering them completely and overlapping the potatoes one on top of the other.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the heavy cream, salt, black pepper and both cheeses together. Pour the heavy cream mixture over the potatoes. In a separate bowl, add the crumbs and melted margarine, mix well and then spread generously over the top layer of potatoes. Sprinkle with a little more cheese and bake the gratin until it becomes bubbly, the top is brown and the potatoes are completely soft, about 20-30 minutes. Let gratin rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy! As for me I plan on pairing it tonight with a well chilled Balma Venetia 2006 Muscat Beaumes de Venise… can’t wait!

CS

And this Coming Wednesday’s Show…

Last Wednesday we had a great show with Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum as our guest. As you can hear, here, she was informative, witty and charming.

This coming Wednesday’s show will feature Chef Jack Silberstein from Jack’s Gourmet Kosher. What is Jack’s Gourmet Kosher? Two partners formed this young company. Who are they? As we said before:

Chef Jack Silberstein

Chef Jack graduated  from the Culinary Institute of America (America’s foremost culinary school) in Hyde Park, NY, in 2007. He worked as a private chef aboard a yacht and is a respected consultant with the meat industry. Dr. Broner is a dentist with a popular private practice as well as a professor of dentistry. Dr. Broner has a long time interest in cooking and fine cuisine having attended many courses and cooking demos both in Manhattan (many at the De Gustibus School School of Good Taste) and in Brooklyn. It was, in fact, at one such course given in Brooklyn (by Chef Jack) that the two partners met.

And what is the company producing?

Noting the lack of anything resembling good tasting sausages in the kosher world, they set out to produce them. I can attest they’ve succeeded and deliciously so!!! Not only were they the most popular stop at Kosherfest 2010, but every time I stopped by I saw most of the celebrity chefs standing in line waiting to get another bite.

To find out more about Jack’s Gourmet Kosher delicious products, check out our own reviews: Jack’s Gourmet – Part 1 and Jack’s Gourmet – Part 2.

Just listen in, gentle reader, at 8:00pm on Wednesday, February 2nd, on Jewish Radio Network. Enter the site and click on the red “here” under the white “Radio,” then wait about 30 to 90 seconds for the application to start streaming.

CS

Shabbat Comfort Food

Last Friday we posted Oyfn Pripetchik… – In the Fireplace… with an unusual but interesting kugel recipe. Today we follow up with a very easy recipe for a great Yerushami Kugel. Truth is, I’ve never been a fan of this type of kugel, the idea of sweet pasta just doesn’t do it for me, but, last Monday at Chef Lévana‘s cooking demo I tasted this and was forced to change my mind:

Yerushalmi Kugel

Ingredients

• 1 pound thin noodles, any noodles (gluten-free will work too!)
• ⅔ cup vegetable oil
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper, or a little more to taste
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar or Sucanat
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• 1/2 cup water

An individual portion of Chef Lévanas' Yerushalmi Kugel

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Boil the noodles until just barely tender. If you started with long noodles, cut through the whole pile with scissors until you get smaller pieces.
3. Place in a mixing bowl, and mix in the oil, pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, and eggs. Combine thoroughly.
4. Meanwhile, heat the sugar, agave and water in a small saucepan.
5. Reduce the flame to low and cook about 5 minutes, until the mixture turns a nice amber color (watch the cooking, don’t let the mixture burn).
6. Immediately add to the noodle mixture and stir to combine.
7. Pour the mixture into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan or a greased tube pan.
8. Bake about 1 hour, or a little longer, until the top looks set.

Delicious warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy, gentle reader, and have a gutten Shabbos, Shabbat shalom umevorach!

CS