Kosherfest Product Reviews
Old Brick English Cider (OU supervision)
I’m not a beer drinker; I’ve never enjoyed its characteristic hoppy bitterness. In college, I took to the alternative malted beverages (Smirnoff Ice, Skyy Blue, etc.) and hard ciders. Cider Jack was the most typical cider available, but after graduating, I began to discover other brands — Magner’s from Ireland, Strongbow from England, and Woodchuck from Vermont. Strongbow’s my favorite, but I’ve never been certain about the kashrut issues surrounding cider beverages. Fortunately, Old Brick English Cider is not only kosher, but kosher for Passover. It’s tasty, too, despite having a label that looks like it was printed up on a personal computer.
Mirsa Smoked Salmon (OK supervision)
Thanks to what they calls the “neo-classical” way of smoking salmon, Mirsa, Inc. offers perhaps the best salmon products I’ve ever tasted. The fish was moist, tender, and flavorful, lightly smoked and not “fishy” at all. Keith Regan, Director of Sales, explained that most smoked salmon producers use a lower quality of fish, which they make up for by using an overkill smoking process. Mirsa, on the other hand, chooses only the finest Atlantic salmon and adds only enough spice and smoke to bring out its inner flavor. Not only have they mastered plain salmon, but they offer a line of innovatively (but naturally) flavored salmons as well — tri-peppered vodka; tequila, jalapeno, and cilantro; honey whiskey; pastrami; ginger; and pesto, to name a few.
Elegant Desserts by Metro (Central Rabbinical Congress supervision)
These guys have mastered pareve desserts so completely, you wouldn’t know they were non-dairy unless you were told twice. We just sampled their “ice cream” — the peanut butter & jelly flavor was a trip — but their displays of cakes, sorbet-filled fruit, chocolates, and pastries looked like delicious ends to any elegant fleishig meal. With any luck, they’ll be available retail soon… maybe in Boston?
Allied Food Products Soup Bases (OU supervision)
If you’ve read this year’s wish list, you know I’m dying to find kosher beef and fish stocks. These guys are exclusively in the industrial sector, producing premium, regular, and low-sodium soup bases (chicken, beef, fish, vegetable, mushroom) under the brands “Concert” and “E&S” — but maybe through my casual urging, they’ll spring into retail.
Cinnabon Cinnapretzel
Bavarian Brothers Gorumet Foods has licensed the Cinnabon concept and introduced a tasty amalgamation of a cinnamon bun and a pretzel — the cinnapretzel. I wasn’t amazed by the product — it was a faint glimmer of the true (treyf) Cinnabon. It’s too bad they’re not just marketing a kosherized Cinnabon cinnamon roll with all the buttery badness of the original. If Cinnabon’s ingredients were kosher, there could be a good franchise opportunity available.
The KosherBord
All in all, this ~$200 collection of six wooden cutting boards is primarily fancy marketing. Anyone can go out, buy six cutting boards, and label each for use in a kosher kitchen. What is nice about KosherBord is the metal rack used to organize them — a well-designed, compact storage solution. I did learn an interesting tidbit, too. Apparently, according to UC Davis microbiologist Dean Cliver, wood cutting boards are actually safer than plastic cutting boards.
Soda Club Home Soda Maker
I’d seen this gadget advertised on Yahoo before, and given my very specific taste for Diet Coke and Tab, I never thought a generic soda machine would do it for me. At Kosherfest, I had a chance to try Soda Club’s homemade soda, and in all honesty, its diet cola was pretty good. With the significant cost savings over commercial soda (plus their use of Splenda over other artificial sweetners), even a diehard diet soda fanatic could consider switching.
EJ’s Chicago Style Deep Dish
So, maybe we didn’t get to try the pizza. And maybe we didn’t even get a pamphlet about the pizza. But this frozen pizza product really looked good, and if it ever makes it to Boston, I’d gladly buy one and compare to my vivid memories of Pizzeria Uno.
Reena’s Indian Meals
Reena “The Curry Queen” and Vinod Pushkarna have become household names in Israel, the most prominent Indian immigrants to Israel since introducing their line of ethnic food to the Jewish state. Their company, Presko Food Industries, has this year signed a contract with the government to provide Indian meals to the IDF. They’re now expanding into the U.S., and their range of products — from samosas to tikka masala — are very appealing, and would be a welcome addition to the kosher “heat and eat” scene.
The Sausage Scene
I refuse to devote a heading to Empire’s new “Gourmet Chicken Sausages”… largely because they stink, but especially because our friends at Neshama Gourmet have a product line leaps and bounds better. The Empire sausages were merely glorified chicken hot dogs… and simply too dry to enjoy. Luckily, Evelyn Baran of Neshama indulged us with her full ranges of sausages. Most exciting was her introduction of a kosher andouille sausage, perfect for jambalaya and other creole applications. I’m trying to arrange (with several other aficionados) a big sausage order with Neshama’s N.Y. distributor, so we can get an ad-hoc supply of these great sausages in Boston. If you’re interested, drop me a line.
Reena’s Indian Meals-I was at kosherfest and did not see their booth. I saw Kohinoor. Where were they? Do you have a web site?
Last I checked Neshama’s web site was still inactive, but more developed. On-line purchases are a must for us in the middle of the country. Did they have anything to say at Kosherfest?
Shmu and I would go in on a sausage order…
The best kosher sausages, bar none. Jeff’s Gourmet Kosher sausages in LA (they will ship) –
http://www.jeffsgourmet.com/
I’ve tried Jeff’s several times and they are excellent. However, his shipping charges are very high. The shipping is approximately equal to the cost of the sausage.
It’s been a few months since the last activity on this thread. Does anyone have any updated information on the US availability of Reena’s Indian meals?
I purchased two of the Reena Indian meals at Shalom’s in Silver Spring, MD, for $6.49 apiece: Tikka Masala (white turkey meat masala with rice cooked in a spicy sauce) and Tikka korma (white turkey meat korma with rice cooked in a cashew nut sauce). They carry the Hod Golan label as well as ‘Reena’s’ with a picture of her. Also available was turkey lasagna for $8.99 and a 4th which escapes me now for $7-something; both are labeled ‘Hod Golan’ only, but are made in the same plant-Presko Food Industries of Kibbutz Eilon. The two Indian entrees I had were superb-quality food. I would certainly purchase again. U.S. importer: Ahava Food Corp., 110 Beard Street, Brooklyn NY 11231; tel: (718)243-0400.
A close friend’s mother is an Indian Jew from Bombay-so I have been exposed to Indian Jewish cooking-this is the real thing. The picture of Reena on the box has her with a dot on her forehead-which is not something I understand was customary for Indian Jews-at least the ‘Baghdadis’ (Jews from Iraq) whose customs I have been exposed to.
The quality of Vege Burgers has deteriorated
lately. They are sticky, almost viscous.
Its true that the price is much lower than formerly, but if they are not edible, they
are not worth buying.
Do you intend to do something about it?
jewish week
She brought chicken tikka masala to Israel. He helped raise the level of kosher food in this country with his New York restaurant Abigael’s.
Now, these two culinary heavies — Rena Pushkarna, known as the Curry Queen of Israel, and Jeffrey Nathan, whose TV show “New Jewish Cuisine” airs in four countries, including Israel — are joining forces to create a line of kosher prepared foods that is expected to hit the New York market next month.
The frozen food line doesn’t have a permanent name yet, but Kedem Food Products (Nathan is Kedem’s chief executive chef) will wheel out four vegetarian dishes under the private label Tivi Valley as a test run: vegetable burgers and patties, and soy drumsticks and schnitzel. If they sell, expect East-West fusions like rice bowls, smoked chicken wings and soups to follow.
“Reena and her crew have some great ideas and concepts and we see that,” said Morty Herzog, CEO of Kedem. “The increase in the U.S. market on veggie products is tremendous. These days the average customer is reading nutritional labels, an unbelievable phenomenon. And in response to that … we want to be leading that trend.”
Pushkarna, who came to Israel 23 years ago, dreamed of bringing kosher Indian food to Israeli homes. People told her it couldn’t be done. But she developed a pareve nut mixture that could substitute for the customary yogurt sauce that is a staple of Indian meat dishes
Her vision is now being served piping hot. Pushkarna’s Company, Presko, has converted a 15,000-square meter facility at Kibbutz Eilon in the Western Galilee, five minutes from the Lebanese border, into a food factory. The factory produces imitation seafood, frozen soups, vegetarian products and ready-to-eat ethnic meals like Chinese Szechwan Chicken, Red Thai Tofu Curry, Mexican Chili Con Tofu, Lasagna Toscana and popular Israeli staples like Moroccan cigars and falafel. She distributes her kosher creations to all major supermarkets in Israel as well as a slew of international outlets in the U.S., Canada and France.
On a warm January morning, the two chefs are mixing it up at Pushkarna’s factory, munching their new fusion of East and West: Italian and Indian rice bowls. Nathan couldn’t resist instructing Pushkarna’s creative team — consisting mainly of her son Kunal and daughter Sarina — on the finer points of smoking buffalo chicken wings.
“We are taking foods that maybe Reena’s not that familiar with and using my expertise in that aspect,” said Nathan.
The goal, say the two, is to reinvent how the world sees frozen food.
“The frozen food category is increasing 10 to 12 percent a year,” Nathan said. “People are looking for high-quality frozen foods — most people are working several jobs and are not at home spending six hours in the kitchen cooking a day and doing the laundry. So in turn, prepared foods are now geared towards quality and convenience.”
hI, Just to let you know for all you travellers. I am the only kosher restaurant and delivery service in the 32 counties of Ireland.
E mail me at the above address or go to my website http://www.kosherireland.com and you can choose from our menu by emailing us.
Prior notice must be given. Under the Hashkocha of the local Kashrut Commission.
Read some of my testamonials on the website. Hinda