EST. 2011 BY LIZ RUEVEN
Kosher Revolution

Kosher Revolution

I continue to collect cookbooks despite the seduction of those powerful search engines that can bring up 75 recipes for chocolate chip cookies in two secs. My kosher cookbook collection is impressive.  I also have my share of vegetarian, Italian and Israeli volumes mixed in.

In the last few years I have purchased great reads by chefs and writers I have gotten to know. These are becoming my favorites because I know these chefs’ voices through reading their blogs or through my interviews with them.Here’s a brand new release about kosher cooking that  I think is worthy of being collected. I imagine that it will soon become dog eared because of its inclusion of so many recipes from other cultures and its user friendly instructions and contemporary feel.  Sprinkled thoughout, there are  also some great classics included, like the “Be-All, End-All Chicken Soup” and “Bubbie’s Brisket”.
Kosher Revolution is co-authored by Geila Hocherman and Arthur Boehm. The subtitle is: new techniques and great recipes for unlimited kosher cooking.  Key words here are revolution and new techniques. What does this French trained kosher chef and former gourmet food buyer at Bloomingdale’s mean?
Here is the revolution she refers to. With the development of so many kosher certified products and vegetarian/vegan products, we no longer need to settle for substitutions like ersatz cream (anyone remember Coffee Rich and that slippery texture?) or soup stocks that are flavored with additives and chemicals. Nut milks are perfect substitutions because their fat and protein profiles are so similar to dairy milk. These staples were not on the shelves just a few years ago.

Hocherman encourages “cultural borrowing” of flavors and ideas in recipes like “My miso-glazed black cod”. The big news is that kosher miso and sake are now available. She offers her recipe for “ Creme Brulee” with options for using coconut milk (parave!)  as a substitute for heavy cream.  Kosher cooks suddenly have a huge and varied array of ingredients at our finger tips that were not available even five years ago.

In most of her recipes, she offers lots of options for converting the recipe from dairy to meat or parave, and sometimes from all year to Pesach (Passover). This beautifully photographed volume begins with an indispensable chapter called “the pantry”.

She describes the characteristics of specific ingredients like almond and hazelnut milks, her preferred brand and what they are best used for. She also lists less familiar ingredients like konnyaku ( a Japanese fish flavored, vegan product made from yam flour) that she uses to make dumpling fillings. “The pantry” opens up exciting possibilities for even the most capable home cooks.

 

I found all of the recipes to be clearly written and straightforward, thanks to the style of her co-author Arthur Boehm, who has written many cookbooks and lends a distinctive and friendly voice.

In addition to anecdotal introductions to the recipes and a clear coding system (meat, Dairy, Parave), this volume pulls “convert it”  instructions out of the recipe itself and uses a helpful side bar to lend clarity. Each recipe also includes “Geila’s Tips”.

Here is a fascinating and useful one, “Check the bottom of the eggplants you buy. If the pip there is round, the plant is female;  if long, it is male.  Male eggplants have fewer seeds.” WHO KNEW?!

I met Hocherman and Boehm at Macy’s in NYC this week, where Hocherman presented two recipes to a full crowd in the demo kitchen.

I loved the easy to make and richly flavored Pignoli Cookies. Here’s how to make these parave Italian bites.

2 Comments

  1. A great book indeed. Try the glazed brussels sprouts with chestnuts for thanksgiving, and yes thanks for all teh substitutes. I have been doing it for years , now there is an”official” recepie.Hooray.

    Reply to this comment

Leave a Reply

SIDE DISH
Photo by Jerri Graham Photography

Hi. I’m Liz and I welcome you to Kosher Like Me.

When I’m not caressing fruits and veggies at my local farmers’ market you’ll likely find me chatting with like-minded eaters, probing the scene in NYC or seeking inspiration in my spice cabinet. Life outside of this blog is all about my family, tasty travel adventures and power walks deep in the CT woods or along the shore.

Please brew a fragrant cup of tea, grab a nosh and stay a while.