There are a wide variety of tasty soft cheese that can be made without a cheese press, but, truth be told, those just aren’t as exciting (or delicious) as hard, aged cheeses. The only problem for the amateur cheesemaker is that retail cheese presses are, simply, expensive. New England Cheesemaking Supply’s top-of-the-line cheese press, while impressive, is $239. If you’ve never made a pressed cheese before, and you’re not sure if it’s your thing, the purchase of a good press can be quite a hinderance.

If you have $20 (maybe less) burning a hole in your pocket (and a few tools) you can put together a nifty, nice-looking press made out of PVC piping. My design (note: not yet field tested) is a bit different from most cheese presses out there, in that I use actual weights to press down the curds, rather than a spring-loaded setup with a pressure gauge. The basic premise: the base sits on a counter, supports a cheese mold (and drip pan if desired) and has vertical rods affixed to its four corners. A sliding platform runs along the vertical rods and, when loaded with weights (you know, the big round ones you see at the gym), it presses down on a follower into the curd-filled mold below.

You will need the following equipment:
• Hacksaw for cutting PVC piping
• PVC pipe primer and cement
• Coarse sandpaper
• Ruler/tape measure

You will need the following Schedule 40 PVC supplies (cost me all of $11.64 at Home Depot):
• 1 1-inch Cross
• 1 3/4-inch Cross
• 4 1-inch Tees
• 4 3/4-inch Tees
• 4 3/4-inch Caps
• 27″ 1-inch PVC pipe (minimum)
• 100″ 3/4-inch PVC pipe (minimum)

To use the press, you should also buy:
• Mold with follower
• Drip pan
• Something to sit between follower and bottom of sliding platform

With your hacksaw, cut the 1-inch pipe into four equal pieces (6 3/4″ each). Cut the 3/4-inch pipe into four 6 13/16″ pieces and four 18″ pieces, leaving a bit of pipe left over. Measure and cut carefully, but you needn’t be meticulous.

With your sandpaper, sand all pipe ends a bit to remove the prickly bits.

Insert the four 1-inch pipes snugly into the 1-inch cross, so you end up with a big X. Insert each of the four exposed ends into the perpendicular hole of a 1-inch tee so that you end up with the four open tubes which will slide up and down the base’s vertical poles.

With one “arm” connected

Fully assembled sliding platform

If you wish, prime and cement the pieces together for permanence.

Now, do the same with the 3/4-inch PVC pipes and fittings, but put the longer, 18″ pipes into the top of the tees, and put the caps on the bottom of the tees.

Fully assembled base, showing vertical pipes and bottom caps

Slide the platform onto the vertical rods, and there you have it.

Since I designed the press to be 1-foot square, I’ll probably cut notches into the corners of a heavy ceramic tile and lay it onto the base as a stable surface to hold a cheese mold. I’d also like to cut a hole into the sliding platform’s cross so I can insert a small piece of 1″ piping, which will anchor the round weights I intend to load on.

Kudos to the Orthodox Union for embracing RSS, the prominent news syndicating format, as a means for broadcasting their Kashrut Alerts. An informal survey of other major certifiers’ sites shows that the OU’s the only one to have taken this step so far.

Beneath the links list to the right (just under archives) you’ll find the five latest alerts from their feed. (Should other organizations offer such feeds — wink, wink — I’ll include them as well.)

I’ve been meaning to post a link to this “Virtual Challah Lesson” since I first heard about it from Carolyn last year — it’s a great, step-by-step, photo-filled primer on challah-making, including recipe and braiding examples.

One caveat — use the “Earlier Image” link towards the top of the page to move to each subsequent step.

Yaakov shares a very amusing tale of his first business trip, over at AliyahBlog.

First strawberries, and now onions. I’ve never been so glad to not live in London.

I have to say, I’m not sure where to draw the line between use of modern technology and basic knowledge of biology on the one hand, and common sense and following the spirit of the law on the other. Sure, there probably are teeny-tiny insects in our onions and on our fruit, but there are certainly even tinier things living on just about everything we put into our mouths. The halachic standard, as far as I know, is that you can’t eat those bugs that are visible to the naked eye. That’s…arbitrary. Many of these little critters are made to be hard-to-see - green bugs on green vegetables, black ones on seeded fruit, white ones inside onions - so we’re already at a disadvantage there. Obviously, different people have different levels of visual accuity, and just because your near-blind grandfather is the one checking the lettuce, that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to eat half-inch long insects. There has to be some kind of objective standard.

But…are we losing our minds here? Remember, there’s always going to be something small that you don’t see. They didn’t have lightboxes and vegetable wash two hundred years ago, and I’m pretty sure no one was pulling apart onions layer by layer and rinsing each piece off in vinegar before cooking. From the sound of it (I haven’t seen these infested onions first-hand), I’m guessing that the average person wouldn’t notice one of these bugs without first having it pointed out to her, and even then it may be tough. I won’t even approach the issue of these new issurim (prohibitions) and complicated cooking preparation methods are being put forth by rabbinical councils made up of (drumroll, please) men, when the vast majority of the people shouldering the extra work with each new edict are (wait for it) women.

(Both links from Bloghead.)

(Cross-posted at Devarim.)

Rockville, MD restaurateur Sina Soumekhian will inaugurate a new kosher deli in Washington, DC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood by the end of the month, according to the Washington Jewish Week. “Eli’s,” named after Soumekhian’s son, will be located at 1253 20th St. N.W., offering “hamburgers, grilled chicken breasts and dinner entrees like New York strip steak, fish and linguine” as well as traditional deli sandwiches.

From the sound of the article, Soumekhian seems like a bona-fide entrepreneur with legitimate experience in food service.

Though the cafe at Washington’s Jewish Community Center serves kosher food, DC has been without a proper kosher deli since the closing of Stacks last spring.

Several months ago, our cheap cheese graters broke due to heavy usage. The folks at our local Sur La Table recommended Cuisipro brand graters, and had an ample selection from which to choose. I bought two — the fine grater (for hard cheese like parmesan), and the coarse grater for softer cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella). Both graters work acceptably for parmesan, but softer cheeses don’t stand a chance against the coarse one.

The holes in the grater are so small that the cheese (especially mozzarella) becomes a torn-apart, pasty mess before the shredding is done, and I end up wasting more cheese than shredding it. Plus, the shreds that do emerge are so thin that, unless you’re in a very cold environment, they all stick together into a giant glob.

I suppose I could try the “ultra coarse” variety, but, instead, I found a cheap box grater with really big circular shredding holes that handily shreds 1-lb. blocks of Cappiello mozzarella on one side, and Miller’s Parmigiano-Reggiano on the other.

Tastingmenu.com offers this elegant Passover dish which captures the essence of the seder plate’s salt water and egg by including two kinds of eggs: sliced chicken egg and salty caviar. The tempura enoki mushrooms (”to evoke the reeds on the shore of the Nile”) would have been tricky to prepare fresh for our seders given this year’s schedule, but it may be worth a shot next year.

Oh, yeah. Here’s another Passover recipe posted on Tastingmenu, coconut macaroons (dairy) from Seattle’s Lampreia Restaurant. Great photographs.

Allen brought the samosas (along with a cilantro/coriander chutney), which were excellent despite being fried in advanced and kept warm until dinner. They’d probably be even better freshly fried. And they’re pareve, which is convenient.

Allen’s notes: If you can’t get mango powder, substitute a squeeze of lemon juice. Feel free to peel and dice your potatoes prior to boiling them, and use three large potatoes rather than five medium if necessary. When frying the samosas, it’s handy to use a candy/frying thermometer to keep your oil to at the appropriate temperature the oil manufacturer recommends, as different oils have different smoking points.

SAMOSAS
From Madhu Gadia’s Light and Luscious Cuisine of India

Filling
• 5 medium potatoes
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 Tbsp chopped ginger
• 3/4 cup peas
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 green chili, chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp mango powder
• 1 Tbsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup water

Dough
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

• Oil for frying

To prepare filling
1. Boil potatoes. To avoid potatoes from getting sticky, remove from boiling water as soon as they are done and cool completely.

2. Peel and mash boiled potatoes into small pieces (about 1/2 inch pieces), not necessary of uniform size.

3. In a large fry pan, heat oil on medium high heat. When oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Fry for a few seconds until cumin seeds are golden brown, add ginger and stir. Add mashed potatoes and peas. Stir.

4. Add salt, coriander, green chili, mango powder, and garam masala. Mix thoroughly. Add water. Cover with a lid, heat through, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir and let stand covered for 5-7 minutes.

5. Open lid and cool.

To Prepare Dough
1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, and oil. Add water gradually as you mix.

2. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until dough becomes smooth and soft.

3. Divide the dough into 10 balls.

To assemble samosas
1. Roll each ball into a 5-6 inch circle. Cut in half. In a small bowl put about 1/4 cup water; set aside.

2. Take one half, dip your finger in the water and run it along the side the straight edge. Fold in half, joining the straight edges, making a cone. Seal edges tightly.

3. Fill with 2 Tbsp of filling. Dip finger in water and run along the inside of the open mouth and seal tightly.

4. Keep filled samosas between dry towels to avoid drying.

5. Heat oil in a wok or fry pan over medium-high heat. Oil is hot enough when you drop a pinch of dough into the oil and the dough floats up within seconds. (It is important to have the oil the right temperature because if the oil is too hot the samosas will not cook inside and if the oil is not hot enough the samosas might fall apart in the oil or get greasy.) Fry 3-5 samosas at a time until light golden brown, about 4-5 minutes on each side.

6. Serve hot with coriander chutney or ketchup. They can be reheated in the oven.

This past Shabbos, we and several friends joined forces to create a homemade Indian dinner as a showcase for Gan Eden’s Les Trois Canards wine, which is uniquely described as a “curry-friendly wine.” What transpired was strictly dairy, truly delicious, and a lot of fun. The menu included:

• Samosas with cilantro chutney
• Chickpea salad
• Naan
• Saag Paneer
• Vegetable Biryani
• Potato/Pea Curry
• Basmati rice with ginger and cardamom
• Raita
• Baklava (not Indian, but quite tasty!)

I hope to get everyone’s recipes posted on the blog, but for now, here’s the recipe I used for Saag Paneer, a saucy spinach-cheese entree, courtesy of Tovah.

A few notes: the Garam Masala spice mixture is available (with KSA heksher) at Whole Foods Market. Ghee (clarified butter) is a common Indian ingredient — feel free to substitute melted butter. Rather than frozen spinach, you can use fresh baby spinach cooked in the microwave. Yogurt may be standard or non-fat. If browing the paneer causes you major trouble (as it did me), just leave it unbrowned.

TOVAH’S SAAG PANEER
• 1 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp. turmeric
• Salt, to taste
• 1 green chile pepper (mild or hot, according to taste), minced
• 1 inch fresh ginger root, grated
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 package frozen spinach (10 ounces), thawed
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1-2 lb. paneer (recipe below), cut in 1/2-inch cubes

Heat ghee in a frying pan, and fry chopped onion until translucent. Stir in Garam Masala, cumin, turmeric, and salt — don’t omit the salt! Add spinach and simmer a few minutes.

Mash together the chile pepper, ginger, and garlic, then add to to pan. Add cream and yogurt.

Let simmer while you brown paneer cubes in a separate pan.

Pour spinach mixture into food processor or blender, and puree to desired consistency. Combine spinach puree and browned paneer. Serve hot.

FRESH PANEER
Adjusted slightly from Carroll’s “Home Cheese Making” for use in saag paneer

• 1 gallon whole milk (pasteurized/homogenized okay)
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, strained of pulp

• 8-quart, heavy, non-reactive (stainless steel) pot
• perforated ladle
• high-quality butter muslin/cheesecloth
• non-reactive colander/strainer
• wide five-pound weight

Thoroughly clean all equipment, sanitizing any glass or metal items with boiling water or in dishwasher.

Slowly heat milk to rolling (gentle) boil, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.

When milk reaches boil, set heat to low, and stir in lemon juice before foam subsides. Cook for 10-15 seconds.

Remove from heat and stir gently until large curds form — curds and whey should separate very rapidly.

Once curds and and whey are thoroughly separated, let set (unheated) for 10 minutes. Curds will settle below the way.

Ladle the curds (using perforated ladle) into a colander lined with butter muslin/cheesecloth. Tie the corners of the muslin into a knot and hold the bag under a gentle stream of lukewarm water for 5-10 seconds to rinse off the residual lemon juice. Gently twist the top of the muslin to squeeze out extra whey, being careful not to burn your hands on the hot curds.

Return the muslin-covered curd mass to the colander and place five-pound weight (bowl of water, brick, etc.) evenly on top (use a plate in between for level pressing) and press for two hours.

Unwrap the cheese and refrigerate if not using immediately. Will keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that states cannot discriminate between in-state and out-of-state purveyors when regulating direct shipment of wine to consumers. What this means for us in the Bay State is that our legislators can no longer prevent us from buying wine online from out-of-state sellers.

Naturally, this is good news — for now. Many of our legislators and other critics of the ruling profess a desire to protect our children by prohibiting direct shipment of alcohol: “direct wine sales will open the floodgates to minors obtaining wine over the Internet.” Utter nonsense. A minor would have to be pretty enterprising to both unlawfully acquire a credit card, make an online purchase, and receive the delivery at home without a parent noticing. Even were such an occurrence commonplace, as the critics insist it is, there’s a simple solution which wouldn’t penalize those of us who would legally and responsibly buy spirits online: require shippers to obtain a signature from someone who is over 21 years of age. Both UPS and FedEx offer adult signature options, and other shippers would doubtless add the service after such legislation was enacted.

The real issue at stake for our local governments, though, is tax revenue. They simply can’t tax wine sales as effectively (or at all) if you buy it out-of-state. Sure, Massachusetts has a “use tax” that is theoretically assessed on all out-of-state purchases to be used in-state, but have you ever paid your share of use tax?

So, enjoy your wine cautiously — but get ready to write your representatives should the need arise.

Fans of the Atlanta Falcons will be able to enjoy glatt kosher hot dogs next season at the Georgia Dome, according to this week’s Kosher Today update and originally reported in the Atlanta Jewish Times. Thanks to fan David Lubin, MGR Food Services has “agreed to create a cart serving Abels & Heyman hot dogs” and will be staffed by non-profit groups that will earn cash from their sales revenues.

According to the article:

The Atlanta Kashruth Commission (AKC) will oversee the operation of the cart and will approve whomever is designated to staff it. The cart will be in operation at all home games, as long as they do not conflict with Shabbat or Jewish holidays. The gate location of the cart will be announced before the start of the season.

To volunteer your organization, contact Mr. Lubin at (404) 597-5016.

Isn’t it about time we gave Bob Kraft some flack for not offering kosher food at Gillette Stadium? After all, several area synagogues already volunteer their time manning concession stands to raise money. Use this form to e-mail the Patriots front office and politely ask that they consider a kosher concession stand. Feel free to cite the recent news in Atlanta.

Cabot’s introductory discount on OU-certified Sharp Cheddar ends Monday, according to an e-mail from Clay Whitney at Cabot:

The introductory sale is ending this Monday, May 16th, but this great new item will continue to be available through the Cabot website at www.shopcabot.com (under Waxless Cheddar on the left hand bar).

…

The results so far have been good, and we are continuing to review the response.
If there is a kosher market in your area that might be interested in carrying the Cabot OU Kosher Sharp Cheddar, please ask them to contact me at the web address or phone number below, or I would be happy to contact them if you give me their phone number.

Cabot’s contact information:
• 802-371-1246
• www.shopcabot.com

KBlog afficionado Dan informs us of the May 8 episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Girl which featured fellow Brandeis ‘02 alumni Lauren and Lex Friedman. The personal transformation and home improvements were great, but, as usual, this blog is most interested in the episode’s recipe — a kosher, non-dairy tiramisu. Of course, any Hebrew scholars in the audience know that the word “tiramisu” is (could be?) a linguistic corruption of the phrase “you should fear it” — and the recipe posted on Bravo’s website confirms that translation.

In fact, the show’s recipe is entirely bogus. They completely neglect to share what quantities to use of half the ingredients. I’d suggest screwing Bravo’s version and using the pareve Tiramisu recipe from Levana’s Table (e-mail the blog if you’d like it).

But Dan asks a couple poignant questions: where to find pareve lady fingers and kosher Kahlua. We’ve purchased Paskesz lady fingers from the Butcherie, but they were crispy/crunchy rather than cake-like. If you have a pastry bag around, they’re not too hard to make using Fanny Farmer’s 1918 recipe or this more recent rendition. Try asking at your local kosher market first, or cut strips of sponge cake and toast in the oven them until slightly brown as a quick substitute.

As for Kahlua, I’m told you can still get the hekshered liqueur in Mexico, but I don’t have the full scoop. There are worthy replacements, though, such as Yikvei Zion Kava Coffee Liqueur available from Queen Anne Wine or Carmel Azmara Coffee Liqueur available from Kosher.com.

You probably think you’re drinking new Diet Coke with Splenda, but if you’re a devoted TAB drinker like me, you know the truth… it’s TAB’s robust flavor without traditional sweeteners aspartame and saccharin. Of course, I love that it’s now, once again, hip to drink TAB, albeit in a surreptious modern “Diet Coke” container.

Only question is: will this go the way of other fad flavors, or will Coke do the smart thing and abandon aspartame/Nutrasweet altogether in favor of sucralose/Splenda?

I’ve updated the layout quite a bit to maximize the use of horizontal space, and bring more sidebar content “above the fold.” It’s been tested on a Windows XP machine with both Firefox 1.0.3 and IE 6. Comments welcome.

UPDATE: I’ve been informed of a buggy view in Internet Explorer (observed on a WinXP Pro box with IE 6). When viewing a posting in detail, the left side of the content spills off the side of the browser window. Though I will work to fix the issue, this problem does not exist in Firefox, so consider switching!

UPDATE: A report of problems in the Safari browser; title bar doesn’t fill entire width of display. Testing fixes.

The glass front of Ruth’s Kitchen (401 Harvard St., Brookline) has been completely torn away and boarded up a couple feet back. Has anyone heard about what they’re up to? Almost looks like they’re creating a cafe area outside the store.

A couple recent articles at Ynetnews should be of interest to the kosher community. The first, “The rabbi and the antelope”, briefly discusses the religious, diplomatic, and economic efforts behind Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar’s ruling on the kosher status of African antelope. The second, “Empire strikes back”, is an interview with Empire Poultry CEO Robert Van Naarden.

We received word last week (sorry for the delay) that Sweet Satisfaction (318 Harvard St., Brookline) will be closing at the end of the month. Starting tomorrow, all products (including fixtures and equipment) will be going on sale.

Emily, the owner, hopes to “get a website up and running within the next year that will focus on specialty products.”

My wife and I closed on a condominium this week, and given the scheduling of the purchase and length of our current lease, we’ll have a couple months to get the new place in shape before we move. Given my affinity for the kitchen, we’ll be replacing some of the appliances. I started by consulting the Star-K appliance guide, and visiting each manufacturer’s website to collect information on their approved models. I laid the data out in an Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison. Here’s what we’ve chosen so far:

OVENS
The kitchen has an existing electric oven and microwave built into a 27″-wide wall space, but the oven is of a certain, older ilk that does not make wise use of its overall volume. The insulation around the oven cavity is substantial, and thus, the interior cooking dimensions are quite small. Luckily, manufacturers are doing good things with 27″ wall ovens these days, and offer substantially more cubic feet of interior volume.

Because all major U.S. manufacturers offer “Sabbath” modes in select models, our search is a bit easier, though Sabbath-compliant features vary from brand to brand. The Sabbath mode will typically disable any automatic 12-hour shut-off; disable beeps, digital displays, and interior lights; and sometimes allow the temperature to be changed indiscriminately on yom tov. On models with that last feature, it’s quite preferable to have a numeric panel to punch in temperatures (3-2-5) rather than a dial or up/down arrows that leave you guessing what the temperature is. (Certainly, over the course of the year, we don’t do an incredible amount of cooking on yom tov, so it’s not such a big deal.)

With plenty of religiously-sensitive models out there, we’re mainly left to choose from plenty of other nifty features that vary from one model to the next, like fully extendable racks (Dacor), temperature-probe cooking (Dacor, GE), convection (all brands, some models), self-cleaning cycle (all brands, most models), hidden bottom heat elements (most brands), and more.

In terms of our priorities, we definitely want a self-cleaning model, convection would be ideal, color isn’t so important, and temperature-probe cooking might be nice. Oh, and price: the simplest double-oven models (sans accouterments) start at around $1,300 MSRP and climb considerably higher, but actual retail prices can be much lower than MSRP depending on a variety of factors.

With all this in mind, and our spreadsheet in front of us, we quickly settled on the Frigidaire GLEB27T9DB. It has convection in both ovens, a numeric input panel, self-cleaning, and a bevy of other features. The Sabbath mode on this model is such that the temperature may be changed at any time on yom tov. Its MSRP is $1,749, but a Boston-area appliance supplier gave us a price of $1,249.

Wanting to see one in person, we visited our local EXPO Design Center, where we were told that they no longer carry Frigidaire products because they’re the “Yugo” of the appliance industry: less expensive, but poor quality. Dejected and confused, I decided to consult my parents on their recent appliance purchases. Turns out they have Frigidaire ovens, a Frigidaire cooktop, and a Frigidaire fridge, and they’re very happy with each of them.

Choice made!

COOKTOP
This choice was much easier, because I have peculiar tastes. The kitchen already has a perfectly useable five-burner gas cooktop, but since the condo has no porch or other outdoor space suitable for grilling, I really wanted a cooktop with a grill. And Dacor makes the perfect product. Four burners and a 10,000 BTU gas grill all in one, model SGM464GG. The Star-K approval was reassuring, and as a further nod to proper kosher use, Dacor sells a stainless-steel cover for when the grill is not in use to prevent dairy splashes from treyfing up the fleishig surface. The cooktop retails for about $1,200; nothing to sneeze at, but much cheaper than the “commercial-style” burner/grill combinations from Viking and Wolf. Plus, if we sells our existing appliances through the Want-Ads or Craig’s List, we can recoup some of the expenditures.

DISHWASHER
No research done yet. Recommendations welcome.