I first learned about soy creamer from a blog called A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise. My local supermarkets don’t carry it, but I recently stopped by a store in a different neighborhood and found that it carries Silk brand creamer, which is marked “100% vegan.” Alas, it is also marked OU-D. Those who follow such matters know that the OU http://outest.org/index.php/faqs/no longer uses the “DE” (dairy equipment) designation, instead marking all dairy equipment products “D,” and this was clearly one such case. Normally, when I encounter an OU-D on a product that I suspect isn’t actually dairy, I just grumble and go on my way, but this time I was so sure that the creamer was really parve that I bought it anyway. When I got home, I went to the Silk Website and found the following in the FAQ:

Are Silk products dairy-free?
All Silk products including Silk Creamer and Silk Live!™ Soy Yogurt are completely dairy-free and safe for people with dairy allergies. None of our ingredients are made from animal products, by-products or derivatives. Our natural flavors do not contain any dairy or other animal products.

And then there was this:

Are Silk products kosher?
All Silk brand products in all flavors are certified Kosher OU-D. Kosher OU-D certifies that a dairy-free product was heated on equipment also used for dairy, and designates that dairy-free products heated on equipment also used for dairy may not be eaten together with a meat product. It may be eaten immediately after a meat product, but not together [my emphasis].

Finally:

Since Silk products are dairy-free, why is the Kosher certification OU-D?
All Silk products including Silk Creamer and Silk Live!™ Soy Yogurt are completely dairy-free and safe for people with dairy allergies. While Silk soy products do not contain dairy ingredients, they may be produced on equipment that also produces dairy products. Silk follows strict allergen cleanup procedures to ensure products made on shared equipment are dairy-free.

Silk is certified Kosher OU-D, meaning they are dairy-free products made on dairy equipment.

In case you didn’t get it:

The D designates that the dairy-free product was heated on equipment also used for dairy and may not be eaten together with a meat product. It may be eaten immediately after a meat product, but not together [emphasis mine].

So there you have it. You can eat it immediately after a meat product, but not together.

I e-mailed the OU just to be 200% sure, and they confirmed that all Silk products are parve but made on dairy equipment. The e-mailer added the following:

You will not find the DE designation on a product certified by the OU. The OU designates dairy-free products made on dairy equipment with the ‘OU-D’ symbol and not ‘DE’ (Dairy Equipment). This due to the fact that the OU has seen that in industrial applications, very rarely is a proper cleanup performed after a dairy run before the Pareve run. As a result there is a problem of dairy residue entering the so-called Pareve product.

This seems reasonable to me, but I would not worry about it in the case of Silk products, since the company is adamant about its products being safe for those with dairy allergies, which requires an extremely high level of cleanliness. And of course, the OU says that you can have them after meat. So you can have them after meat.

According to R. Eidlitz, D.E. products are considered nat bar nat, so hot creamer should not come into contact with meat equipment. Therefore, you should not pour silk creamer into steaming hot coffee in a meat cup, but you can pour it into steaming hot coffee in a dairy cup and drink it after a meat meal (but not together). You can also make this ice cream* and eat it after a meat meal. Just be sure to do the cooking in a dairy saucepan and let the mixture cool before pouring it into your ice cream maker (which the manufacturers recommend, anyway).**

*I’m sure that some people find the very idea of vegan cheesecake ice cream disgusting, and I have to admit that it’s not for everyone, but I think it’s delicious. I’m excited to try more recipes from the site.
**I suspect that there are varying opinions on this subject, so consult a trusted halakhic advisor if you are inclined to investigate it further. There may also be a difference between Sephardi and Ashkenazi practice. (I am no expert on this subject. This is just guesswork based on what I’ve read. Ask someone who knows.)

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.

Rabbi Avi Finegold recently visited the Zachlawi Arak factory in New Jersey to see their production run and hear about upcoming products. Here is his report.

Mordechai Kairey decided to produce arak, a fig-based liqueur also known as ma’hia (pronounced “mach-i-ya”), after obtaining a recipe from his former landlord, an elderly Sephardic man who used to make homebrew arak for his friends. Armed with this recipe, Kairey studied at the Ethanol Technology Institute and he was off. The main component of his arak is a concentrated fig juice that he distills to make a lightly fruit-flavored spirit, which is then distilled five times with a combination of fennel, anise seeds, and star anise — which he tells me was used in the arak made by the famed Abuchatzeira family. This is all cooked in a copper still. much like mash is cooked for scotch and bourbon.

To create a truly fine drink, one needs to have a good nose and palate. The first spirits off the still are called “heads” and are not of the same quality than the later spirits. A series of tastings determine at which point the right taste is achieved and bottling can begin.

This is definitely not your typical light aperitif. For those of you who have never had arak, know that it packs a serious punch. At 86-proof and above, this definitely qualifies as a serious alcoholic beverage, yet there is much less harshness than one would expect, and there is a definite fruitiness to it. This is enhanced even more in the Zachlawi “Fig” variety, a darker, richer and smoother option. While traditionally served straight up — when I asked Kairey how he thinks it should be drunk, he responded “With good friends!” — it can be served over ice, which turns the liquid a milky white, and I can easily imagine some great mixed drinks, if that’s your thing. Kairey also mentioned that he knows of people who use it as a marinade for chicken kabobs with excellent results.

So, what’s in the pipeline for Zachlawi? In the coming weeks, they will be releasing a kosher sambuca — an Italian-style anise liqueur — and shortly thereafter, they’ll have a pareve Irish Cream ready to be bottled. Longer-term plans include a caramel-apple liqueur to coincide with Rosh Hashana. Kairey also has a cask of arak aging in the factory — he has “no idea” what he’s going to do with it yet, but I imagine it will result in a much smoother and darker arak. (Though I would opt for a seasoned cask for such aging, kashrut issues likely preclude him from doing that).

Right now the product is only available in New Jersey and New York, though he hopes to be distributing throughout the northeast and other Jewish markets shortly. Visit his website at www.zachlawi.com for more information, and product updates.

As a bonus to Kosher Blog readers, I have a Zachlawi t-shirt ready to mail out to the first person who emails me at avi at avtherav dot com and tells me what “ma’hia” means.

I was pretty excited to hear that Manischewitz — well, that anyone — would be making a ready-to-use pareve frosting, since the supermarket shelves are dominated by dairy frostings ($237-million worth, in fact), which are altogether useless in my kitchen. Frankly, I rarely if ever use frosting of any gender, but for those arms-extended, zombie-voiced, must-have-cupcake moments, non-dairy frosting is far more versatile.

Thanks to the fine folks at Manischewitz, I got my hands on a sample container of their chocolate variety (vanilla is also available, $2.29 for 12 ounces) and cracked open my unnecessarily secret stash of Duncan Hines cake mixes for a cupcake bonanza. The frosting was “rich and creamy” as the labeling promised, and it had a thoroughly pleasing chocolate flavor. It spread nicely, not too thick, not too thin, and the remaining frosting is perfectly happy sitting in the cupboard (refrigeration not required) until its next use, any number of months from now.

That is, if I’d ever use it again. You see, despite all this frosting has going for it, the King of Passover Foods has deigned to combine the worst possible Kosher for Passover vegetable oil — cottonseed — with the worst possible method for solidifying it — partial hydrogenation.

For those unfamiliar with the state of nutritional science today, cottonseed oil is in fact an industrial byproduct. After cotton lint has been removed from the cotton seed, the seed is refined to remove its naturally-occurring toxins. (Without refining, the oil is actually used as a pesticide.) It contains a startlingly unhealthy ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids, so what better process to perform on it for use in kosher food than… hydrogenation!

Hydrogenation is a now disgraced process, patented by German chemist Wilhelm Normann in 1903, which is used to convert liquid oils (unsaturated fats) into solid and semisolid shortenings (trans fats). As beneficial as trans fats are for the commercial baking industry — longer shelf life, higher melting point, better texture — they have been proven to be detrimental to heart health even in minuscule amounts.

I would imagine that, thanks to heimishe kosher food manufacturers, the frum community consumes far more than its fair share of partially-hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and thus enjoys more than its fair share of coronary heart disease. That’s why I get so worked up, because I care.

(Please give me a moment as I step off my horse. It’s harder to dismount from these high ones.)

In summary, Manischewitz has succeeded in producing a pareve frosting that spreads well, tastes good, needs no refrigeration, and will slowly but surely eat away your heart. Consider this review an earnest request for the elimination of both cottonseed oil and trans fats from all Manischewitz products.

As an alternative, try this chocolate frosting recipe from Epicurious, using standard kosher conversions. Grab a stick of Earth Balance, and leave it on the counter a while to get warm. Proceed as directed, and add just enough rice milk for your desired consistency instead of the cream.

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).

In the midst of my Seder cooking, while preparing a farfel kugel, I reached for my newly-purchased Rokeach garlic powder. Open, shake, shake…achoo!

It seems there was some sort of labeling error, and the bottle contains not garlic powder but rather white pepper. I scooped up the greyish pile of powder (I’ll never figure out why I didn’t notice color before shaking) and adjusted the recipe on the fly. A second container (also Rokeach - I wasn’t the one doing the shopping - and also purchased from the Butcherie) had the same problem, so I must assume that at least one whole lot was affected. At this point I figure I’ll survive without for the next few days. But if you found some of your side dishes this year a little more peppery than usual: now you know why.

Around this time last year, we “reported” on a peculiar new symbol from the OU, and we’ve just come upon something equally as strange:

The new Barilla product labeling seems to bear an “OU Sauce” heksher! Some new chumra we’re not familiar with?

I got an ice cream maker for Chanukkah!!!

Definitely the best toy I’ve gotten in years. I started with a few simple recipes, but I had my eye on this one from the outset. Just look at these reviews! (Yeah, I know. With three egg yolks, a cup and a half of heavy cream, and two kinds of chocolate, it would be sad if it didn’t earn four forks. But still.) Then I saw that this month’s Sugar High Friday theme was “chocoalte by brand.” It was beshert.

Unfortunately, I missed the SHF deadline for posting. No matter. The brands of chocolate that I used aren’t unusual, but they were new to me. Between budgetary concerns, having a lousy supermarket and no car, and the frequent need to keep things parve, I use Shaw’s cocoa powder and Hershey’s unsweetened baking chocolate most of the time. This was my chance to try something better.

(Before I go on, a plug: if you like making desserts, you really must visit this month’s SHF. Not every brand of chocolate reviewed is kosher, of course, but there are over 100 amazing-looking recipes.)
Read the rest of this entry »

NEW TRIBE HUMMUS FLAVORS
www.tribehummus.com (OU certified)
A longtime Sabra fanatic, I’ve recently become hooked on Tribe’s convenient “Snackers” product — four individual servings of hummus, each a different flavor — and their new varieties, including an organic line, are another great reason to give them a second look. In addition to their existing exotic flavors — like “Forty Spices,” Jalapeno, and French Onion — we tried chunky calamata, spicy chipotle, and horseradish — all excellent. Their new packaging is also very nice — perhaps their website will soon take a similar leap into the 21st century. With the label change, it seems the Taunton, MA-based company has abandoned the local KVH heksher for the more widely-recognized OU — a curious trend for many New England companies trying to build their interstate appeal.

NEW NESHAMA ORGANIC SAUSAGES (Star-K certified)
www.neshama.us

If anyone out there has an aversion to reheated turkey products, then rejoice! Not only are Neshama Gourmet’s latest additions USDA Organic, they’re made completely of chicken. These Mild Italian and Andouille links are heavenly, perfect for all-around grilling or incorporating in your favorite jambalya or turducken stuffing.

DANIEL’S KOSHER CHARCUTERIE (OK certified)
www.danielskoshercharcuterie.com
We had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Teboul, founder and chef of Daniel’s Kosher Charcuterie. He treated us to his three new kosher saucissons, smoked beef salamis which each reflect a unique culinary region of France. The classic salami,saucisson de Lyon, is a nice upgrade from your usual salami. The saucisson de Marseille is a spicy variant with which Daniel recommends a glass of Rosé. Saucisson de Paris is infused with spices and fresh garlic — all three are delicious. Our only regret was that the flavors weren’t stronger! We look forward to their spread outside New York.

GRYFE’S PIZZA, MUFFINS, AND CHALLAH
www.gryfes.com (C.O.R and/or Kof-K certified)
Gryfe’s Kosher Bakery of Toronto has the right idea when it comes to kosher baked goods — keep them natural, free of trans fats, and full of whole grains. Their muffins were tasty and conscienciously-sized. The pomegranate bran variety was refreshingly tart, and the low-fat blueberry has only three grams of fat, 150 calories, and keeps the carbs at a reasonable 28 grams. Their single-serving, fully-cooked frozen pizzas come in both regular and whole-wheat. Pop a whole-wheat pizza in your lunch box (or your kid’s) and by lunchtime it’s defrosted and ready to eat. They’re not artisinal, but they make an easy, enjoyable snack or meal. Soon to hit the shelves are their new par-baked pull-apart challahs. Out of the freezer and into the oven for a few short minutes, these all natural challahs — in plain, whole wheat, raisin, and half plain / half wheat — are a delicious way to lighten your pre-Shabbos workload.

KASHA: MORE THAN JUST VARNISHKES
www.thebirkettmills.com
Evelyn Spath of The Birkett Mills — maker of Wolff’s and Pocono Organic kasha products — reintroduced us to the wide world of buckwheat which, incidentally, spans much farther than your grandmother’s kasha varnishkes. I highly recommend ordering a copy of their cookbook which is full of delicious (though not always kosher) recipes — buckwheat chili, anyone? — and tips for incorporating the whole grain into your diet. For example, buckwheat flour works well in pastry dough since it’s gluten free — reworking won’t make your pastries tough.

OUTRAGEOUS COOKIE DOUGH
www.fatboycookies.com (OU certified, dairy)

Frozen cookie dough is nothing new, but gourmet dough that makes cookies this good while being kosher, free of trans fats, and freezable for up to a year is a welcome discovery. Each two pound box contains 27 cookie dough cubes — bake as many or as few as you like. Or make some of each of their six flavors: chocolate chunk, otameal raisin, peanut butter chocolate chunk, white chocolate pecan, cranberry walnut, and dutch chocolate chunk walnut.

SO DELICIOUS SOY ICE CREAMS
So Delicious Creamy Vanilla is the de facto pareve ice cream topping for fruit desserts in our home, and their new novelty products will also get the nod after our meat meals. So Delicious Minis have fewer calories and less fat than Tofutti Cuties, and the plastic wrapping is cleaner and easier to use than traditional paper wrapping. Creamy Raspberry and Creamy Orange bars are also low in fat and are only 80 calories each.

TEMPTATION VEGAN ICE CREAM
www.welovesoy.com (CRC certified, pareve)
Ben and Jerry’s is to standard ice cream as Temptation is to standard soy cream. This line of pareve, vegan ice creams leaves out the dairy but keeps all the richness and flavor. The mint chocolate chip flavor employs two natural mint sources for full impact, and the peach cobbler flavor was just plain superb. As an added bonus, Temptation is made by people who really mean it — a couple of bona fide vegans who are committed to a quality, premium product. Find Temptation at your local Whole Foods Market or wherever delicious, socially-conscious products are sold.

THOU SHALL SNACK: LATKE CRISPS
www.thoushallsnack.com (OU certified)
Latke crisps are a flawless conversion of the Chanukah staple into a tasty snack product. Available in two flavors — plain (pareve) and sour cream & onion (dairy) — they taste just like latkes, but they’re baked, and no grated knuckles, either. Yes, they’re all-natural and trans-fat-free. We look forward to creator Jill Ginsberg’s future snack creations!

YONI CHUTNEYS
Yoni-brand hot & spicy chutney from Israel was the surprise hit of the day among the Kosher Blog brigade. Its intense but complex flavor puts it far beyond the average chutneys on the shelf, which are often no more than simple mango jams. Unfortunately, the manufacturer’s website — toem-olam.com — is inaccessible, and their main distributor had a hard time understanding my question about the product’s availability. I guess I’ll just keep my eyes peeled.

KEDEM SPARKLING JUICES
We like to keep a few bottles of Kedem Sparkling Blush grape juice in the wine rack for our wine-averse guests, but their new Moscato, Zinfandel, and Merlot juices are pure marketing. Maybe they’ll fool your kids.

Stay tuned for more Kosherfest coverage, including the cheese scene, wines and liquors, organic meats, and security products. Review of Solo also on the way!

It’s been two years since I’ve reported on Kosherfest, what with last year’s show being a relative disappointment with regard to innovative products. This time around, flanked and fortified by a crack team of Kosher Blog product analysts, we’ve got lots of good news to share. Expect the main Round-Up by Monday, followed by special reports from other members of the team, with topics ranging from kashrut security to the latest in fine wines.

According to the latest KosherToday newsletter, Duncan Hines cake mixes will be going back to a pareve formulation. The Manischewitz mixes were a decent alternative, but I probably won’t be using them if Duncan Hines is available.

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!

This just in, these Absolut Vodkas now have Orthodox Union certification:

ABSOLUT PEPPAR
ABSOLUT APEACH
ABSOLUT KURANT
ABSOLUT RASPBERRI
ABSOLUT RUBY RED

Since unflavored vodkas are inherently kosher, plain Absolut’s new heksher can be ignored.

Have you ever been tempted to buy Ezekiel 4:9 Bread just because of its name? I haven’t.

When God tells Ezekiel to make bread from wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, He’s describing the type of food that the Jews would be forced to eat in exile. Normal bread would have been made from wheat flour alone, as it is today. This bread, in contrast, is made from all kinds of garbage. It’s supposed to taste like crap. Ezekiel even cooks it over crap (though in those days, that was considered normal). The bread is actually supposed to be cooked over human crap, but the prophet manages to wriggle out of that one and upgrade to bovine crap.

At any rate, it isn’t supposed to be good.

The producers of Ezekiel 4:9 bread explain why we should be expected to eat this stuff:

We discovered when these six grains and legumes are sprouted and combined, an amazing thing happens. A complete protein is created that closely parallels the protein found in milk and eggs.

Of course, they could have created the same whole protein from any combination of grains and legumes. But never mind; they decided to follow God’s recipe, and the result is, in fact, quite nutritious, with a full 4 grams of protein per slice in addition to three grams of dietary fiber. So when a friend left town and gave me her leftover Ezekiel 4:9 bread, I was willing to try it.

Truth be told, it doesn’t taste like crap. It tastes pretty much like bread. There’s a mild sourdough-like flavor in the background and a hint of sprouts that I think I might even develop a taste for over time. Or not. But I’ll certainly finish the package.

This experience has led me to reconsider Ezekiel’s so-called ordeal. He got to lie around for a year and a half and eat reasonably decent, high-protein bread that he didn’t have to cook over human dung after all. Compared to marrying a cheating prostitute (Hosea) or walking around wearing yoke-bars (Jeremiah), that really doesn’t seem so bad.

Cross-posted to Apikorsus.
Note: The bread is Kof-K parve.

I like to say that I’m a Caesar salad purist, and by that I mean that I subscribe to Julia Child’s account of Caesar Cardini’s famous 1924 innovation of tossing romaine lettuce leaves with little more than olive oil, coddled eggs, garlicky croutons, and grated Parmesan cheese. I strongly encourage all Caesar fans to read From Julia Child’s Kitchen (pages 431-434) to get the true story of the salad’s origins and the authentic recipe.

So, I like to say that I’m a purist. In practice, I hold true to the salad’s ingredients — olive oil, lemon, eggs, imported Parmesan, freshly cracked pepper, and worcestershire sauce — but prepare the dressing separately.

What is unfortunately beyond the pale for even a reformer like me is the Three Cheese Caesar Dressing from Beyond Classics (OK-Dairy certification).

The three cheeses are encouraging — Parmesan, Romano, and Caciotta — but ultimately the dressing is a flop. For a whopping $4.79, you get what amounts to 12-ounces of grainy lemon sauce. The original’s dash of worcestershire is misinterpreted in this dressing as — gasp! — “anchovies” and instead of eggs and olive oil they use sour cream and canola oil.

Thankfully, making the dressing from scratch is a cinch.

MILD CAESAR DRESSING
Pareve

• 1 egg, coddled*
• 1/2 cup pure olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• 5 grinds black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Crack coddled egg into a large bowl, and beat briefly with a whisk. Combine the olive oils. Then, while whisking expeditiously, slowly drizzle the oil into the egg. The mixture will get creamy and thick. (If you like washing small appliances, feel free to drizzle in your oil while the eggs are whizzing away in a food processor.)

Whisk in lemon juice, worcestershire, pepper, and salt. Makes approximately 1 cup dressing.

If serving in a dairy setting, toss torn romaine lettuce leaves with enough dressing to coat, then toss with garlic croutons and ample freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Alternatively, combine lettuce, croutons, dressing, and slices of grilled chicken breast for a great fleishig salad.

*To coddle an egg, bring a pan of water to a gentle boil and simmer your egg (in-shell) for exactly one minute. This brings up the temperature of the egg enough to theoretically kill harmful pathogens.

We were fortunate to receive some time ago several samples of OK-certified Asian Star-brand mock crab products from Zaloom Marketing. Since then, we’ve had the opportunity to try them in a few different applications, and were quite pleased with their quality and versatility.

Their flake-style “crab” made both an excellent hot dip and a tasty seafood salad. (Tasters of the non-kosher persuasion weren’t fooled, but they enjoyed nonetheless.) For sushi, the filament-style sticks made nicely-balanced California rolls every time, and each stick is individually wrapped for convenience.

If you’re running out today to buy a frozen cheesecake for Shavuot, consider Trader Joe’s (KVH, I think) — it’s the best I’ve had. If you don’t have access to a Trader Joe’s, you might want to try Sara Lee (Circle-K, I think). It’s surprisingly good, and the slices are separated with pieces of paper, so you don’t even have to cut it.

Some of you may recall my earlier post about the Logia Bible Bar - the nutritional bar that includes all of the Sheva Minim. This Tu B’Shvat I felt compelled to purchase the bars and try them (having confirmed their COR hechsher). I purchased a box of 18 bars (after all, I have kids who need school snacks) for $34 + S&H.

The list of ingredients confirmed that all 7 kinds were in there - if you incorrectly translate D’vash as honey, when the proper translation is dates. Crisped brown-rice seems to be the most prevalent ingredient. Truth be told, these aren’t half bad. I could easily identify the flavors of figs & raisins - I’m not sure what wheat and barley flakes taste like. They are pretty big bars - the standard Quaker granola bar is 1 ounce; these are a whopping 2.1 ounces. At a little over $2 a bar, I’m not going to be buying these regularly - but they make a nice treat for Tu B’Shvat. All of the bars by Logia have a COR hechsher, so if you want to eat something called Abrahams’ Bossom or Elijah’s Fire, be my guest.

NOTE: the shipment contained a christian-themed lapel pin, which I promptly threw out. If you order more than $100 worth of products, they’ll send you a King James Bible.

Hot soup can make a great lunch in the winter, but I often find that I don’t get it together to make myself soup when I want it. This year, I decided to try some of the prepackaged creamy vegetable soups from Imagine (all OU parve).

First, I tried the Organic Creamy Broccoli Soup and Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup. These are among the lowest in calories, but both were disappointing. I found them lacking in flavor, with an unpleasant soy aftertaste.

This did not deter me from trying the others, however. The Organic Creamy Butternut Squash Soup was quite a bit better, although if you’ve ever had soup made from fresh roasted butternut squash, there’s no comparison. The Organic Creamy Sweet Corn Soup was also tasty, with mellow notes of leek in the background, but I found it a bit too sweet and reminiscent of canned creamed corn. Also, it lacks texture, which I would have liked in a corn soup.

My favorite varieties were (surprisingly) Organic Creamy Tomato Soup and Organic Creamy Potato Leek Soup. It’s possible that I enjoyed the tomato soup as much as I did because the only other tomato soups I’ve tasted came from cans. Imagine’s version has the same creamy texture as canned tomato soup, but it is slightly less sweet and has a much more complex, “natural” flavor. The Creamy Potato Leek Soup is also very nice. Its silky texture comes from the potatoes themselves, not added soy milk, and the leeks add a wonderful flavor.

I haven’t had a chance to try the Organic Sweet Potato Soup or Organic Creamy Tomato Basil Soup, since they aren’t (yet?) carried by any conveniently located stores.

All in all, these soups are just what you might expect: not as good as homemade, but infinitely better than canned. They are also considerably more expensive than either. For the convenience they offer, I’d say that the better varieties are worth the occasional splurge. But, it’s up to you.

NOTE: Since this review, GrandmasChickenSoup.com has dropped their kosher options. Their remaining products are not kosher.

After a rough day at the office last week, and feeling subtle symptoms of an oncoming cold, imagine my delight to find waiting for me at my doorstop half a gallon of authentic kosher chicken soup and a golden challah!

It wasn’t from a kindly clairvoyant neighbor; it was the handiwork of “Grandma’s tried and true classic, combined with today’s dot-com technology”: Woburn, MA-based GrandmasChickenSoup.com. And at the risk of offending my mother — who’s coming over Sunday to help me make, among other things, chicken soup — it was actually very good. The broth was very clear and had just a touch of sweetness, the vegetables and pasta were an ideal consistency (firm, not mushy), the matzo balls were tasty (not leaden like the canned Manischewitz ones), and there were nice chunks of white-meat chicken.

Of course, it didn’t suprise me at all that this high-quality product was prepared for GrandmasChickenSoup by none other than Catering By Andrew of Brookline, MA, and that the delectable challah came from Cheryl Ann’s Bakery (also of Brookline).

So, here’s a personal voucher for the quality of GrandmasChickenSoup.com. The price, though, is something of a different story: half a gallon of soup (4-6 servings) and the requisite thermal packaging will run you $36.50, plus 2nd-day or overnight shipping charges (unavoidable due to perishability), which range from $10 overnight around New England to $54 overnight to the Southwest and Pacific. Their gift boxes do, however, make for innovative business gifts, at times when spending in that range may be justified.

Or, look at it another way: how else can you ship delicious kosher soup nationwide, to ailing friends, family, and business associates? Get your orders in before the holidays, through their website or 1-87-SEND-SOUP (1-877-363-7687).