This web site is dedicated to
the two women in my life who most influenced my cooking. One of them
was my mother- in-law, Bubbe (pronounced bub-bee and meaning Grandmother)
Lottie, for whom this site is named and the other is my mother Emma, who
preferred to be called Grandma, Bubbe being a too “old-fashioned” name for
her.
Lottie, on the other hand, loved
being called Bubbe and her grandchildren happily obliged her, In fact, she
became Bubbe Lottie to many of her nieces and nephews and to the adult friends
of her children. She was known in particular for her delicious
vegetable
soup (I once auctioned off a pot full at a charity fund raiser for $100
and close friends of the family now own and cherish her precious pressure
cooker in which she cooked it), her pull-apart cake and her curried
fruit (to die for).
My mother was an excellent cook. She
was a perfectionist who would experiment with recipes until they rewarded
her with a dish that met her very high standards. (See “Emma Conquers
the Knaidel”). She used only the best of ingredients, never substituted
margarine for butter, skim milk for regular, cheaper cuts of meat for the
best, etc. and her fruits and vegetables were always the freshest possible. Every
meal was a feast; every bite delicious.
The subject of Jewish cooking
always includes the question of “keeping kosher.” For many people,
kosher is as kosher does. My mother-in-law kept her home strictly kosher,
but would eat certain “traif” (forbidden) foods in restaurants. My mother’s
kitchen was not officially kosher, although her cooking style was. However,
on the weekends she would make bacon and eggs for us and an occasional sandwich
of thinly-sliced ham for my father who loved it (she once baked an entire
ham, but that’s another story) but, she could never bring herself to eat
pork or shellfish in a restaurant, instead usually ordered fish, the usual
recourse of a kosher person who eats out.
This site will include many
of both Lottie’s and Emma’s time-tested and favorite recipes, as well as
a lifetime collection of treasured Jewish recipes, both for daily cooking
and for holidays. Of course, this brings up the question of what is
a Jewish recipe. The best answer I have is that it meets one or more
certain criteria. One of those is that it is attached to a religious holiday. Another
is that somehow it has become a traditional food. Another is that it
is a food you ate in your Jewish mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen and so
for you it is a part of your culture and heritage. And last, it must meet
the standards of kashrut.
Keeping Kosher
Many cultures are defined by the foods that are eaten and their preparation
as well as their connection to life cycle events. But for Judaism, which
ranges from the ultimate of Orthodox practices and beliefs to the most secular
of identification with that religion, the rules regarding the proper handling
and consumption of food have a most profound influence.
The shohet or ritual slaughterer, who slaughters an animal
as painlessly as possible and then inspects its internal organs for any sign
of disease or imperfection may be light-years away from the nova lox /bagel
noshers who nibble as they browse through the Saturday morning ads before
they hit the department stores, but they are all part of the food-chain,
as it were, of what makes a Jew a Jew. The rules of kashrut (the
body of law dealing with keeping kosher) can be envisioned as the strong
roots of a mighty tree, which spread out and sink to a great depth, giving
nourishment and support to that tree, enabling it to both survive the storms
that would destroy it and enjoy the brief periods of sunlight that allow
it to flourish and put forth fruit.
Philosophical musings aside, I am no maven (expert) when it comes
to the rules of kashrut. I can only give you a basic overview of the
fundamentals. There are many websites and books that deal with the subject
much more thoroughly and in depth, both from the religious aspect through
the practical application of everyday implementation.
The basic tenet of keeping kosher is the prohibition against mixing meat
products (fleishik) with dairy (milchik). That means no
beef stroganoff, no cheeseburgers, no cream gravies, no bleu cheese dressing
with a meat meal. Yes, not only must an individual dish be either meat or
dairy, but the whole meal must be the same. You cannot serve a cheesecake
dessert with a steak dinner, nor can you put milk in your coffee. Luckily,
nowadays there is a gamut of artificial and approved products that can substitute
for dairy. In fact, some of them are so good that you can’t tell the
difference between faux and real.
There are some foods that are pareve or neutral, which can be served
with either type of meal. They include fruits, vegetables, vegetable
oil and vinegar, spices, pasta, eggs and fish (but no shellfish). Some
caveats do exist when it comes to eggs and fish, but for our purposes here
they are pareve.
Certain foods and any of their products are completely forbidden. They
are pork, rabbit and camel, rodents, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Birds
other than ducks, geese, turkeys and chicken are forbidden, as are fish that
do not have fins and scales, i.e., shellfish such as shrimp, lobster, oysters,
clams and crabs. Kosher meat and birds must be disease free and not
killed by another animal or die of causes other than ritual slaughter. All
blood must be drained from the animal and only certain parts of cattle are
allowed to be eaten.
Dishes, silverware, pots and pans, cooking utensils, etc. must also be
kosher. That means a separate set of everything for dairy and for meat. The
proper use of dishwashers, sinks, countertops and dishtowels can also be
important for those who observe at that level of kashrut.
Many prepared foods come with a “heksher,” a “U” or a “K,” a mark
of kashrut certification which means that the ingredients, the process and
the processing facilities have been inspected to insure that kosher standards
are observed. Again, depending upon one’s level of observance, a particular
heksher may or may not be acceptable.
Whew! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get to the
cooking part, which is the fun part of Jewish food. No, actually the
eating part is the best, but the cooking challenges, the triumphs
and the recipes which become treasured mementoes are what are remembered
and passed down from generation to generation. Bubbe Lottie…here we
come!