R&J Seafoods Kenai Select Salmon
R & J Seafoods is a new addition to the mail-order kosher marketplace this year. Their Kenai Select Wild Alaskan Salmon as well as wild halibut now have OK certification, after two years of inquiries about going kosher. R & J, a small family company, has been in business almost twenty-five years in Kasilof, Alaska, just a few miles south of the Kenai River — famous for its salmon sportfishing.
We were sent a full order of R&J’s sockeye salmon, which was shipped FedEx Priority Overnight and arrived by 10:30AM. The thorough packaging kept the fish in excellent frozen condition through its trip and until it reached the kitchen. The three beautiful filets which emerged from the box weighed approximately five pounds total.
After a quick thaw, it was ready to cook. Even in its raw state, the fish had a fresh, clean smell, the flesh was firm and deep red — a distinctive characteristic of sockeye — and the skin shiny and smooth. Their local salmon season runs from late June to mid-August, but attentive and prompt cleaning, packing, and freezing of the fish ensures high quality in the off-season.
We prepared the salmon two ways, on the grill and served with a garlic-lime sauce, and pan-seared with a lemon-balsamic reduction. In both cases, we cooked the fish medium-rare, leaving the interior abundantly moist. The sockeye had a very rich flavor, with none of the off-putting qualities of lesser products that tend to keep people away from salmon, clinging ignorantly to “safe” pale-fleshed fish. The skin crisped up nicely, providing a fine contrast to the salmon’s smooth texture.
As is the tradition with our mail-order reviews, a word about shipping costs is in order. R & J’s overnight shipping costs — a surcharge of about $9/lb. — are in line with other online purveyors of fresh Alaskan salmon. Additonally, their price for sockeye, at about $13/lb., is very competitive.
In short, R & J’s salmon has made me a believer: a high quality ingredient, cooked gently in an appropriate manner, can’t help becoming good eats.
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GlattOnDemand.com - 10% off
Alex writes in to report a new online retailer selling fresh glatt meats — GlattOnDemand.com. All products have at least one well-known heksher — OU, CRC, MK, etc. G.O.D. charges a flat shipping rate throughout the continental US — $29.99 per insulated case, which holds 24 trays of meat. So long as you buy in multiples of 24 trays, the prices aren’t that terrible: 24 bone-in rib eye steaks comes out to $13.50/lb., 24 trays of chicken legs are $2.72/lb. (Update: GlattOnDemand’s prices are actually better than the prices at Brookline’s Butcherie for the same pre-packaged Meal Mart beef.)
In terms of quality, the MK heksher on the poultry means it’s Canadian, so no feathers. The beef is labeled “Angus,” though the poor marbling on the rib steak pictured isn’t so impressive.
In any case, new customers who use coupon code “newcustomer” get 10% off their first purchase. Please come back and share your experiences if you try them out.
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Chip’n Dipped Chocolate-Dipped Cookies
Chip’n Dipped of Huntington, NY does exactly what their name implies — dip chocolate chip cookies in chocolate. We knew that much when their cookies arrived for us to sample last week, and were pleased to learn the rest of their story. Chip’n Dipped is a family business which opened up last September, selling a wide array of cookie flavors, each coated in an all-natural high-cocoa chocolate blend. The cookies themselves are all-natural as well: no preservatives, artificial flavors, or trans-fats.
The ingredient list on their signature “Classic” cookie is instructive: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, unbleached flour, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Basically, imagine the best dairy chocolate-chip cookie you could make from scratch at home, with the bonus of one end dipped in chocolate.
The two other varieties we tried were very tasty, too — “Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter” and “Cocoa to the Max,” a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips and chocolate coating.
Chip’n Dipped also bakes up brownies, blondies, muffins, scones, and chocolate confections. In the store — 201 E. Main Street, Huntington, NY — they also serve hot cocoa and espresso drinks. Visit in person, or order online: www.chipndipped.com. Kosher supervision provided by Rabbi Moshe LaBrie, Rav of the Young Israel of Huntington (chalav stam).
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Fully Kosher Search Engines
As a new free service on the Kosher Blog, I’d like to announce Kosearch.org. It features two highly-tailored custom search engines (powered by Google Coop) that only draw from websites that actual Kosher Bloggers have personally added.
The first search is just for informational resources — essays, shiurim, rabbinic Q&As, certifiers’ websites.
The second search is just for online kosher products and services — fully kosher retail sites, or portions of retail sites with kosher products.
We already have a few hundred sites identified, but I realize that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Use the comments (or the Contact Us link on the left) to submit websites (full sites or particular URLs) that you’d like to see included.
(Kosearch site also available at search.kosherblog.net)
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KosherHeaven.com Sausages & Jerky
Grilling season is in full force — who wants to get the stove and oven going when the weather’s already broiling? Unfortunately, though, in many parts of country (Boston included), it’s tough to find quality glatt kosher sausages. We’ve been tantalized by the elusive Neshama Gourmet, and, though widely available, Meal Mart’s frozen sausages are little more than dressed-up hot dogs.
Enter KosherHeaven.com, which was created recently by a group of enterprising Brandeis alumni who share a penchant for meat. For a chunk of change, they’ll satisfy your cravings for both sausages and South African biltong (spiced beef jerky), all USDA-approved and certified glatt kosher by the Atlanta Kashrut Commission.
The biltong is available in two flavors, regular and spicy, and in two forms, chunks and easier-to-chew slices. The three-ounce packages last six months without refrigeration, making them a perfect fleishig travel snack. Shipping is free on orders of three or more biltong packs.
Sausages come in five varieties, four beef (regular, mild, garlic, chili) and one chicken. We had the pleasure of sampling the regular beef and chicken sausages, simply grilled and served alongside sauteed peppers and onions. The chicken sausages were astoundingly delicious; they stayed moist despite being entirely white meat and nearly fat free, and had a pleasant, delicate flavor. The beef sausages were also tasty, but their slightly chewy texture turned me off a bit. All their sausages come raw, making them very versitile for cooking applications.
Sausage shipping costs, like with any other perishable product, are a tough pill to swallow. Eight trays (13.36 lb.) of sausage — their best value option — cost $131.92, plus an additional $37 shipping to Boston, making the effective price about $12.70/lb. But a quick comparison paints a prettier picture: homemade turkey sausages from nearby butcher Gordon & Alperin run $12.99/lb. For the quality and convenience, they’re priced quite competitively — so stock up and get grilling!
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Two Gan Eden wines still available
We have word from Craig Winchell that two Gan Eden varieties are still available. In exchange for having to charge 7.75% sales tax, he’s offering free shipping on 3 or more cases.
1997 Limited Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: $240/case
2000 Syrah: $108/case
I just opened my first bottle of Gan Eden Syrah on Friday night. Not only did it pair very well with my latest version of braised short ribs in chile sauce, but a guest who prefers non-kosher wines was even won over with this non-mevushal variety.
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Makabi Bleu
After two years of surveying the kosher cheese scene, it takes quite a bit to get me excited about a new product. When I spied an authentic-looking French bleu in KosherItalia.com’s cheese line up a few weeks ago, however, I seized the opportunity to try it. Two days later, the 1 lb. wheel arrived at my door.
Upon unwrapping, an unpleasant odor was immediately apparent (wet dog?) as was its inconsistently moldy exterior (some patches of white fuzz). Undeterred, I wiped the wheel off, cut it in half, and then excised a wedge — nice blue streaks of mold inside, surrounded by ivory. I carved off the questionable exterior, brought the wedge to room temperature, and tasted.
Creamy texture, with slight granularity, and moderately spreadable. Bold, tangy flavor with some stale/bitter notes. On pizza, it melded well with the other flavors but still made its presence known.
By comparison, Kirkeby Danablu is sharper, but far less musty, and has far fewer offensive odors. Miller’s Blue is much milder, but more enjoyable to eat in an appreciable quantity. As a table cheese, though, the Makabi is certainly the most interesting.
In closing, I have to say I’m a bit concerned about the quality of this cheese both because of the rind’s odor and the fact that the larger interior mold “bubbles” were themselves covered with a thin layer of white mold. Perhaps the wheels were stored at too high a humidity and spoiled a bit? Or perhaps my love of cheese only goes so far?
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French Kosher Cheese Co-Op
For quite some time now, GourmetFoodStore.com has offered a decent selection of French kosher cheeses. However, most of the time, they’re only available by the case (10-24 cut pieces per case), which has kept them, in my opinion, largely inaccessible to the casual buyer, and the next-day shipping charge can be an obstacle, too. As such, I’d like to initiate, on a trial basis, a cooperative effort to buy four cases and split them up among other kosher cheese afficionados in the Boston area.
Here’s how I envision it. Their Gruyere and Morbier come 10 to a case; the Brie St. Benoit and Roquefort come 16 to a case. We find 10 people to commit to the Gruyere/Morbier purchase at $25/person and 16 people to commit to the Brie/Roquefort purchase at $22/person (both prices include one piece of each cheese in the combo and 1/26th of the overnight shipping charge). Alternatively, participants can buy more than one share and reduce the number of folks required for the purchase.
Would anyone be interested?
UPDATE: Interested parties from the New York City area are also invited to express their interest; we’ll see if we can get two groups going.
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Kosher.com $25 food samples giveaway
KBlog reader Alex has alerted us to a new offer from Kosher.com. From their website:
Would you like to sample some of the vast array of kosher products currently being offered on Kosher.com, in exchange for your opinion regarding those products?
Each shipment will contain a minimum of $25.00 retail value worth of Kosher.com food products. Since we receive thousands of requests for our free samples, we must charge $3.95 to cover part of the shipping and handling costs. You will be contacted by email before your shipment goes out to confirm your eligibility.
Eligible participants will receive their first package containing approximately ten different sample products. Each participant will then receive an email with a few questions regarding their opinion about the items. Recipients of the emails will be able to respond to the questions concerning the products by email or by logging on to our site with a password.
To maintain your eligibility to receive free samples, you must respond to the emailed questions. We reserve the right to revoke your eligibility to participate in our free samples for any reason. There is no obligation, and you can opt out of the program any time you desire by sending an email stating that you no longer wish to receive such packages, to freesamples@kosher.com
Sign up here — http://www.kosher.com/FreeSamples.cfm
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Cappiello to sell cheeses online
Effective this February, OU-certified Cappiello cheese products will be available for purchase directly from Cappiello on their website. An excerpt from the message we received:
Unfortunately, at this time, many of you are now unable to purchase our products from your local markets. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, especially during this holiday season. We would like you to know Cappiello Dairy has been working diligently to rectify this situation, as it is our Number 1 goal to ensure that you, our customer, always have access to the products you know and love.
Effective 2/1/06, Cappiello products will be available for purchase via our website, www.cappiello.com. On this site you will be able to choose from our entire specialty mozzarella cheese line as well as our dairy mozzarella. These products will be shipped directly from our manufacturing facility in Schenectady, New York to your selected address within 48 hours of your order. All Shipping and Handling costs will be included in the listed pricing.
As you know, the shelf life of our specialty lines run between 6 months to 1 year, if properly refrigerated, and are Kosher-Dairy. As an internet customer you will also be notified of all new products and given the ability to purchase them in an advance period.
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