I like getting the word out there about Kosher contests. In this case it’s not a cooking contest, but a writing contest. The Second Annual OU Kosher Essay Contest is now open to students of grades 4-12:

Among the suggested topics in the essay contest are: describing your favorite OU certified candy, snack, food or drink; how eating kosher makes you feel better about being Jewish; writing a letter to a non-observant friend about keeping kosher; describing the kosher experience of walking the supermarket aisle; and how someone stranded in Montana can eat while keeping kosher. Applicants can also make up their own topic. Prizes will be $50 gift certificates to Eichlers.com, a leading Judaica website.

Gothamist and Kosher-NY are both reporting that the Second Avenue Deli, which closed at its long-standing location last year due to rent issues, is set to reopen on Monday, December 17. The pictures that Gothamist has look great. And, in exciting news for carnivorous insomniacs and those of us who work odd hours on occasion, “The new location, on 33rd Street near 3rd Avenue, will be open 24-hours a day starting Monday with a ceremonial salami cutting of ‘nickel shtikel’ links at 11 a.m.”

To avoid the apparently inevitable “my hashgacha can beat up your hashgacha” conversation, I remind you that Kosher Blog recommends that you check with your local rabbi regarding any questions about appropriate kashrut. This, in my opinion, is not the appropriate forum for that discussion, since such decisions are not universally applicable and we prefer to avoid the lashon harah that often accompany these arguments.

We’ve reached the end of Chanuka and I hope your holiday was happy, meaningful and full of good eating. I’m all blogged-out, but here are a few items of interest:
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Yes, you read that right. potato latkes cooked in animal fat. Specifically, duck fat. I did it. I ate it. I loved it.

Why? I realize that the miracle of Chanuka didn’t involve duck fat. I don’t even think that ducks were available in the Middle East at the time. But if I already use other non-miraculous oils to cook my Chanuka foods, I didn’t think a little duck fat was blasphemous.

But, why? OK, the idea wasn’t originally mine. CHOW.com published a recipe for Potato-Turnip Duck-Fat Latkes, and I was hooked. I didn’t use their recipe, though. I used the Kosher Blog Master Recipe, which I happen to love. On a side note, have you ever read any of the articles about the best french fries being made with horse fat? Don’t worry, I’m not going to be trying that.

Where did you get duck fat? I’d like to say that I make duck often enough to have a plentiful supply, but I had to go shopping for this one. Besides for being an excellent steakhouse, Le Marais has a butcher counter where Dominique will sell you a variety of French cuts and dishes. Tubs of duck fat (about a pound) cost $8. I bought 2 and only needed 1/2 of one. I guess I’ll use the rest to make confit, or something.

Aren’t you worried about your health? I take good-enough care of myself the rest of the year. Chanuka is only 8 days and I don’t do much frying during the year. Besides, I have great genes - no heart disease in the family and my cholesterol has never gone over 130, no matter what I eat. Sure, I’ll spend more time on the elliptical when it’s all over, but for now I’m going to enjoy myself.

So, how did it taste? The duck fat imparted a richness of flavor to the latkes. Well-rounded flavor. Meaty. It was a good recipe before, but now it was amazing.

No pictures? Nah. If you’ve seen one latke, you’ve seen them all.

Hang in there - one more night and day left.

I wanted this recipe to turn out well. It sounded pretty good to me:

This delicious crunchy fry with a creamy center is classic street food in the Nicoise region of France. I like to make these fries as an accompaniment to saucy fish or meat dishes. They are the perfect vehicle to soak up sauce. They also make a great hors-d’œuvre served with a garlicky aioli.

So here they are with a garlic aioli:

Unfortunately, they didn’t live up to the hype - they were dry and pasty inside. Maybe there was something to the technique that I wasn’t getting. I guess deep-frying can’t make everything better.

I’ll end this post with a poll: Of course latkes and doughnuts are the Chanuka classics - Do you fry (or cook) anything special or out of the ordinary for Chanuka?

When I heard about Deep-Fried Coke for the first time, I knew it was something I would have to try one day. Invented for the Texas State Fair in 2006, Deep Fried Coke is a funnel-cake made with Coca-Cola instead of water. After cooking, the cake is covered with whipped-cream, Coke syrup and cherries. I know that this is really low-brow, but all the frying on Chanuka brings it out of me. At least I wasn’t deep-frying Oreos!

A google-search provided me with a recipe for the fried confection. I didn’t have a source of Coke syrup, so I cheated and purchased a bottle of Cola syrup for the Soda Club machine. I imagine it must taste pretty similar. I was using authentic Coke Classic in my batter, so I think it balanced out.

I quickly discovered that making funnel-cakes isn’t as easy as it sounds. That, or my recipe wasn’t that great. Each time I tried to fry up a batch, I ended up with strands and crumbles of dough. Not that they tasted bad, mind you - just not as photogenic as I was hoping for. (Later research turned up articles that suggested that the recipes out there aren’t the authentic one. Support for this comes from this article, in which deep-fried Coke looks like doughnut-holes, rather than funnel-cakes. Maybe I’ll find a new recipe for next year.)

The fried dough alone tasted pretty plain, despite all the cola used to make the batter. That’s where the topping comes in. Here’s the finished product - a large, deep-fried, Coca-Cola, funnel-cake with whipped-cream, cola syrup and cherries:

I thought it tasted amazing - but as I’ve proven again and again, I can have pretty low-brow tastes sometimes. I also love cola-bottle gummies and cola-flavored sour-straws, so I’m probably biased. Unfortunately, most of the people I pushed it on weren’t as enthusiastic. That’s OK. More for the rest of us.

My next Chanuka posts will get a little classier. They pretty much have to.

Happy Chanuka everybody! I hope you’re enjoying your holiday. Remember to pace yourself - there’s seven more days to go. Let’s start things off with the Jones Soda Happy Chanuka Pack, 2007 edition.

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After not producing any Thanksgiving ‘07 coverage, I resolved to put all my energy into our Chanuka 5768 coverage. Following jabbet’s lead, I’m going to promise a minimum of five Chanuka-related posts over the course of the holiday. Will I make it? Only time will tell. I’m going to keep my topics under my hat, but I can promise that none of the posts will be about lighter fried foods. If you can’t enjoy a little grease on Chanuka, when can you?

I’ll get things warmed up with a few links (I’m not counting this post in my five):

• Chanuka at the New York Times
• Chanuka at the Food Network
• Chanuka at Epicurious
• Lighter Latkes at the Boston Globe
• Feed Me Bubbe teaches us to cook latkes