OU to request changes at AgriProcessors
The New York Times reports that the Orthodox Union will ask AgriProcessors/Rubashkin to change their slaughtering procedures.
Discussion of the shechita controversy is the first topic covered in Nachum Segal’s radio interview of OU Executive VP Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb and President Stephen Savitsky. Rabbi Weinreb’s main points:
** USDA had found nothing objectionable
** OU is studying video carefully
** Scientifically, shechita is a humane process — possibly most humane
** PETA has agenda, would want everyone to be vegetarians; no animals even for pets or as seeing-eye dogs
** Torah says we should not be cruel to animals, permits us to eat meat according to halacha
** PETA’s video done over 7 months; 18,000 animals slaughtered over that period; statistically, anything can happen
** Shechita, or any slaughterhouse, is not pretty
** Problems recorded in video not a problem unique to shechita; when shechita works correctly, it’s humane
** OU responding to public, looking into objections
** OU’s success comes with responsibilities, OU will live up to responsibilities
** OU “not at war” with PETA
The Des Moines Register reports that the USDA is investigating the AgriProcessors facility: they’ve had meetings and no legal actions have been taken.
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Special Announcements and Events
BODAVI BAKERY — OPEN!
After a long wait, the defunct Tuler’s Bakery of Newton Centre has been replaced with Bodavi Bakery, brought to you by Susan and Ricardo of Gordon & Alperin fame. This shomer shabbos, pas yisroel, and pareve establishment is now open for business, so if anyone with a good memory would like to do a point-by-point before-and-after comparison of their baked goods, please send it in.
DEDHAM KRISPY KREME — VA’AD SUPERVISION!
Rabbi Samuels of Newton has personally inspected the Krispy Kreme on Route 1 in Dedham and it now carries a secondary hasgacha from the Va’ad Harabonim. I believe its first hashgacha is Diamond-K.
SHIUR BY BRANDEIS MASHGIACH — SUNDAY!
Rabbi Zerkins, the mashgiach of Brandeis University’s Sherman Dining Hall, will be giving a shiur explaining his role as overseer of kashrut. The shiur will be held in the back of the dining hall at 5:30PM on Sunday, December 5th. There will be a half-hour presentation and then an open forum for questions.
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Making a Turducken
The concept of a Turducken evokes several different responses from people. Many people consider it a monstrosity – an abomination that sprung from the mind of a carnivore with too much free time. Others question the motives for doing such a thing. “What’s wrong with a traditional turkey with stuffing? Did we really need to add other birds to an already classic dish?” Another more adventurous group, sees the Turducken and asks “What does that taste like? I bet it’s awesome!“. They see the hours of work involved and say “But it’s so cool! I’ve got to make one of those.” And it’s that final group to which I proudly belong. I made a Turducken for Thanksgiving. Gather ’round, loosen your belts and I will tell you the tale.
First, some background. Turducken (or Tur-Duc-Hen as it is sometimes spelled. Get it? Tur-Duc-Chi doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way) is a culinary creation where a de-boned chicken is stuffed into a de-boned duck, and that zaftig duck is then stuffed into a de-boned turkey. When you are finished, the re-closed turkey looks more-or-less normal. Stuffings (or dressings) are also part of this endeavor – sometimes a different stuffing for each bird, and sometimes the same stuffing throughout. 8-12 hours in the oven, and you’re ready to serve. As quoted in a New York Times article about Turduckens, “It’s about as formidable [to carve] as a meatloaf.” There are no bones, so you can cut slices right through the middle, and get a cross-section with all three meats.
The archetypal turducken is often attributed to Chef Paul Prudhomme. I studied his recipe and started making plans. For the boneless birds I would enlist the help of my friendly neighborhood butcher. I decided to go with three different stuffings, as suggested in the recipe. ‘Andouille Sausage Dressing’? Sounds good. ‘Cornbread Dressing’? I can do that. ‘Shrimp Dressing’? I’ll pass on that one. For stuffing #3 I decided that we would make ‘Wild Mushroom Kasha (Buckwheat) Pilaf’. I just made that one up, but it seemed like a good choice for stuffing the chicken. Almost like a traditional Shabbos afternoon meal of roast chicken & ‘kasha varnishkas’ (kasha with bowtie noodles). It’s an Ashkenaz thing.
Chef Paul suggests ‘Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy’ to top it all off. Am I the only one who doesn’t think that either “Sweet Potato” or “Eggplant” belong in the same recipe as “Gravy”? I skipped that part. Anyone who didn’t wan’t cranberry-sauce was going to have to eat it dry. Not that I expected anything to be dry – the inner two birds kept their skins. Do you know how much fat renders from duck skin? Inside this bird, fat from the duck would be going outwards to the turkey and inwards to the chicken. My wife and I were a little scared of keeping the skins, but how else would the meat stay together? More on this later…
In the next chapter of this story, I’ll tell you all about how I made Andouille Sausage for the dressing of the same name. The story will star a meat grinder, kosher sausage casings, a water-powered sausage stuffer, and an electric smoker. Stay tuned.
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Vegetarian Terrorists Attack Kosher Giant
Face it folks, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), like everyone else, has an agenda. They use shock footage to make unassuming folks lose their lunches in the hopes we’ll disavow the consumption of animal products and cast snide stares at the barbarians who insist on eating charred carcasses. And to pursue that agenda, they’ll cross any line: PETA’s recent use of Holocaust imagery to shame the public into forgoing meat was not merely disrespectful; it added whole universes to the word “disrespectful” (to borrow a wording of Andrew Sullivan). In case you missed it last year, PETA displayed their distinctly unethical “Holocaust on Your Plate” exhibit — likening victims of the Shoah to supermarket-destined chickens and cows — not a stone’s-throw away from the New England Holocaust Memorial. According to a Globe editorial at the time, “PETA says it seeks to be a source of conscience regarding the abuse of animals. Yet its arguments and its preposterous exhibit collapse when their members think nothing of inflicting suffering on human beings.” These folks have zero credibility in my eyes.
Right up front, that’s where I stand. So I took PETA’s accusations of “Slaughter Horrors” at Agriprocessors’ Postville, Iowa facility with a large grain of kosher salt. I choose not to give in to horror footage (Iraqi hostages, US Marines in Faluja, or otherwise), so I have not viewed the video itself, but I have read PETA’s description of conditions at the plant, and plenty of news articles. So far, I’ve found the article at the Jerusalem Post to be the most comprehensive.
I have also fully read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, a gripping narrative about fast food and related industries (meat, potatoes, synthetic flavors), a book which I respect and recommend. So, to show a bit of pseudo-journalistic objectivity: I similarly have very little respect for massive meat processors. Their goal is to slaughter and butcher as many animals as physically possible at the absolute least cost.
That said, if PETA’s footage is legitimate, and their accusations are verifiable, I would fully support the five, resonable recommendations outlined in PETA’s surprisingly respectable letter to the Orthodox Union to ameliorate the accused inhumane practices.
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Unfortunately, I’ve learned over my several years of keeping kosher that “kosher” only means “ritually fit” — it does not mean “clean,” and it does not mean “friendly,” and it does not mean “pleasant.” That can probably be said of the rest of halachah, in that one may succeed in strictly following the letter of the Torah, but end up a spiritual failure due to a lack of derech eretz.
Similarly, we must consider kosher slaughter with such terms as derech eretz and hiddur mitzvah (enhancing the commandment). The Agriprocessors folks may insist they’re operating within the letter of the law — in fact, they claim to also be operating within the spirit of the law — but that should not preclude us from continually improving our shechita technology and processes whenever possible, from going beyond the call of moral duty, even if the suggestions come from such a morally-questionable group as PETA.
Kashrut has historically been at the forefront of animal humaneness. Agriprocessors states proudly:
Long before the rest of the world showed any “common decency” to animals or had the slightest concern for the treatment of animals, the laws of the Torah and rabbinic teachings command the Jewish people to treat all living creatures humanely. Secular society — including [PETA] — has still not caught up with the precepts of Jewish law in this regard.
Even with this in mind, we can’t rest on our communal laurels. We must use our law and our history as a guide to further our commitment to humane treatment of animals, to serve as an ever greater example to others in that regard, and to make us the ones who tell PETA how to operate.
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Jeff’s Sausage on Food TV TONIGHT
Tonight on Food Network, at 9PM Eastern, “BBQ with Bobby Flay” will be profiling Jeff’s Gourmet Kosher Sausage of Los Angeles in a “BBQ Holiday” episode. If you miss it, it’ll also be on at the following times:
December 01, 2004 9:00 PM ET/PT
December 02, 2004 1:00 AM ET/PT
December 04, 2004 7:00 PM ET/PT
December 15, 2004 9:00 PM ET/PT
December 16, 2004 1:00 AM ET/PT
Hopefully, I’ll be able to put aside my fierce distaste of Flay’s smarm and tune in :)
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Best pareve cookies, EVER. Ever!!!
My favorite kosher Thanksgiving guest is an easy mouth to please — she has open-minded taste buds and is just so happy to get out of NYC and take a nice field trip to good old Randolph, Massachusetts! ;) My mother bought a box of these pareve cookies — Paskesz’s Mint Creme — and we could not believe they were pareve. They are better than any cookie we’ve ever had. PERFECT FOR SHABBAT! Warning: The box will be gone before you know it.
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Hain Vegetarian Chicken-Flavor Gravy Mix
My mother can’t get enough of Ina Garten‘s homemade gravy. The recipe does look good, but I don’t usually have cognac lying around and I can’t put heavy cream into my gravies. I chanced upon an unlikely alternative at a recent trip to Whole Foods — Hain Pure Foods “Vegetarian Chicken-Flavor Gravy Mix.” It’s an unassuming packet of powder, to which one simply adds a cup of cold water and thickens by bringing to a boil. Surprisingly, the gravy tastes good without any adulteration. But, truth be told, it’s even better when you pour in some delicious turkey grease from the bottom of your roasting pan, stirring vigorously. I’m sure cognac wouldn’t hurt either!
(The “Brown Gravy Mix,” unfortunately, tastes like concentrated vegetable broth with caramel coloring. Maybe a good candidate for fleishig enhancements, but weak on its own.)
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Challah Stuffing
I like to say that Thanksgiving turkey is a great excuse to eat stuffing and gravy. I like a traditional bread stuffing, bursting with sage, and I don’t like the vegetables to play a prominent role. Don’t get me wrong, they’re critical, but they should stay in the background. A little sweetness is also welcome, accomplished by a sprinkling of Craisins and the use of sweet challah. The “pan” challah from Cheryl Ann’s Bakery in Chestnut Hill is my choice; its shape lends itself to cutting into perfect one-inch cubes.
This is my first attempt to formalize my recipe, so the spices are all to-taste, no precise measurements.
A note about using the stuffing: food-safety paranoia is running at an all-time high these days, so many folks aren’t stuffing their poultry any more, to assure the meat gets fully cooked. If you happen to be one of those “crazies,” here’s a tip to getting all the great taste of poultry drippings into your plain-baked stuffing. Load up a greased casserole dish with stuffing, dot the top with teaspoons of shmaltz, and bake until hot and browned.
CHALLAH STUFFING
1 one-pound “pan” challah, cut into 1″ cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms
olive oil
2 cups chicken broth, heated
1/2 cup dried, sweetened cranberries
sage
paprika
thyme
salt
pepper
Heat oven to 300 degrees.
Saute onion and celery in two tablespoons of olive oil until soft. Remove from pan and saute mushrooms until soft. Add mushrooms to onion and celery and set aside.
Spread challah cubes in single layer onto sheet pan and drizzle olive oil onto cubes to moisten. Sprinkle sage, paprika, and thyme generously over challah cubes. Bake in oven 15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool. At this point, you may opt to put the vegetables in the fridge and the cooled croutons into a large zipper-top bag and assemble a day or two later.
Toss half of toasted challah cubes with half of vegetable mixture and half of dried cranberries. Moisten evenly with 1 cup of warm chicken broth, mixing gently to avoid creating amorphous mush. Repeat with remaining ingredients and combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let cool and use to stuff a bird or bake in a casserole dish.
Updated Thanksgiving 2005 with a bit more detail.
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Pareve Cornbread Showdown
It was fortuitous to the point of eerie that the January-February issue of Cook’s Illustrated contained an article entitled “Rethinking Cornbread,” in which they created an ideal compromise between southern skillet cornbread and cakey northern cornbread. I figured this would be an appropriate springboard for my experimentation in the realm of pareve cornbread.
My strategy was simple: make the recipe as written, with dairy ingredients, and then compare it directly to a a non-dairy recipe I’d develop to match… and keep it moist. It would be easy to swap margarine (Fleishmann’s Light Unsalted) for the butter, but the challenge remained in replacing the full cup of buttermilk. I reached for my trusty soy milk, but it lacked buttermilk’s tang. I thought about adding a kick of extra acid — vinegar? No, lemon juice. And a bit of honey to add some extra sweetness and depth.
The dairy product was full of corn flavor, had a nice, slightly crunchy crust, and remained moist (enough) even after cooling completely. An encouraging foundation.
My pareve product maintained the crunch and the corn flavor, but I could certainly detect an undercurrent of earthy soy. Also, the soy made the batter and resultant cornbread a shade or two darker. Otherwise, the soy switch stood up to the dairy original. If I were to make another attempt, I’d consider using half soy milk and half non-dairy creamer, retaining the lemon juice for tang.
But is it moist enough? Well, judge for yourself. I’d say it’s equivalent to Cook’s Illustrated’s tried-and-true cornbread, so that ought to count for something!
BEST (SO FAR) PAREVE CORNBREAD
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 cup soy milk
3 teaspoons lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
1 teaspoon honey
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons unsalted pareve margarine, melted and cooled slightly
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray glass baking dish (8×8 or 11×7) with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined; set aside.
In food processor or blender, process brown sugar, thawed corn kernels, soymilk, lemon juice, and honey until combined, about five seconds. Add eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about 5 seconds longer.
Using rubber spatula, make well in center of dry ingredients; pour wet ingredients into well. Begin folding dry ingredients into wet, giving mixture only a few turns to barely combine; add melted margarine and continue folding until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour batter into prepared baking dish; smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.
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TastyBite Ready-Made Indian Cuisine
With the recent opening of a new Trader Joe’s near my office in Burlington, I spent my lunch “hour” punctiliously scanning their aisles for interesting kosher products. The most promising line of products that I returned to work with was TastyBite‘s ready-made Indian foods. They’re fully prepared and vacuum-sealed in a foil pouch, making them shelf-stable without refrigeration for fifteen months. The diner simply tears open a pouch, microwaves the contents for a minute or so, and enjoys.
Price
After my LaBriute fiasco, I had low hopes for these heat-and-serve products. At TJ’s reasonable price of $2.49 – $2.99 per package, however, I had no barriers to try them.
Kashrut
All of TastyBite’s Indian products are produced in India, so I wasn’t surprised to find emblazened on the box the “Kosher Inspection Service” heksher, run by Indian Rabbi Avraham Binyamin (hence the Aleph-Bet included within the symbol). According to TastyBite’s website, he’s recognized by the Chief Rabbinical Council of Israel and certifies meals for El Al.
Truth In Packaging
TastyBite’s first triumph was the close similarity between the product photo and the food itself. Granted, most Indian food has an advantage in that regard: when visiting the Burlington Mall’s food court with my coworkers, I regularly refer to Gourmet India‘s dishes as “the red slop,” “the green slop,” and “the yellow slop.” My coworkers seem to enjoy such homogenous-looking cuisine, so I didn’t bat an eyelash when TastyBite looked the same.
Preparation
TastyBite offers two product types: individual dishes (i.e. Jaipur Vegetables or Madras Lentils) and complete meals (i.e. Peas Paneer with Basmati Rice). Both can be warmed either in the microwave, or submerged in a pot of boiling water. The complete meals, though, come with a convenient plastic box with lid, into which rice and entree may be poured before microwaving.
Quality
You’d expect that a fifteen-month shelf-stable product would be made so with unpronounceable preservatives and flavor enhancers. Not so in these products. Take their “Bengal Lentils” (Chana Masala), for example. Its ingrendients are simply water, lentils, tomatoes, onions, sunflower oil, chickpeas, garlic, salt, ginger, chiles, coriander, turmeric, herbs and spices.
Taste
Each of the TastyBite products I’ve tried so far are indeed “tasty bites.” Is it gourmet food? No. Is it a good lunch alternative to my usual tuna sandwich? Absolutely. The Jaipur Vegetables contains TastyBite’s greatest variety of vegtables, plus chunks of paneer, cashews, and raisins. The cashews weren’t crisp, and the vegetables all had a consistent taste and texture not unlike Campbell’s Vegetarian Vegetable soup. But its sauce was pleasantly spicy and creamy. The Madras Lentils were a lot like soupy refried beans, both in terms of flavor and texture, but actually good. The Peas Paneer & Basmati Rice meal offered a tasty combination of peas and paneer in a nice sauce, but the basmati rice, despite its perfect texture, had an “off” flavor and odor something like an old candlepin bowling alley.
Overall
These products aren’t going to win awards for pure visual allure, but each product is flavorful, convenient, wholesome, and inexpensive. TastyBite’s Indian dishes have provided an exotic change to my other monotonous lunch routine. Plus, you can keep a stash of these in your file cabinet for days when you forget your lunchbox. Just steer clear of the disappointing basmati rice.
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