Issue 138

NEW COLUMN! SECRET RESTAURANT RECIPES

ISSUE 138 OCTOBER 9, 2013 5 CHESHVAN 5774

Perfect Results: Paula Shoyer is with you in the kitchen

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I used to think that it was fun to take kids to the supermarket. That was when they were young enough to all fit in the wagon. There would be a child in the part where a child is supposed to go, an infant seat in the part where the groceries are supposed to go, and an older (as in age 3 to 4) child next to him. If I brought more kids, it was feasible if the cart came with one of the plastic cars attached. Of course, there wouldn’t be room for any groceries, but the lack of space helped keep the bill low. And if the bill was still not low, at least maybe the lack of space helped offset the extra expenses of bringing children to the supermarket.

It doesn’t work anymore. Once the oldest child is too old for the wagon, all of a sudden, everyone younger than him wants to walk too.

Note to self: Do not wait until 4:30 p.m. to go to the supermarket anymore. Under any circumstances.

Yesterday, it took 90 minutes for me to purchase milk and a piece of salmon.

The good thing about my short shopping list was that it was harder for my children to hide the Kliks and potato chips under other groceries. I spotted their little sneaky additions right away and returned them to the shelves.

I used to love getting those “They’re so cute” comments.

Now I need to make believe my kids aren’t related to me.

At least one great-grandmother, though, reassured me that my kids are still cute even if they were running around the supermarket. She even had a shidduch suggestion and told my boys about her five-year-old great-granddaughter (my oldest is seven).

What’s the point here? Even though I know it’s mostly women who read this column, you can show this one to your husband and kids. Keeping a house stocked with all the basic necessities and the entire family’s favorite foods takes a lot of work. Consider that before complaining that

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the fish is underdone or overdone or that you like it better another way. A mother feels great when she knows that her whole family is happy with the meal. It makes cleaning up after dinner happy work rather than drudgery.

So, the fish is underdone. Find a positive way to say it. ( “We like this more well done. Should we pop it back in the oven for five minutes?

We can eat the salad in the meantime.”) So, we are out of your favorite soda? Ask mom if she can pick it up next time instead of: “There’s nothing to drink.” “There’s nothing to drink” can be very hurtful when we work hard stocking up.

I sound like a psychologist instead of a food writer.

If you do have a food writer in the family, there are exceptions to this rule. There are times when constructive criticism is necessary (note: constructive). To keep the constructive criticism where it’s warranted, you’ll read that pastry chef Paula Shoyer keeps Post-it notes on her cake plates, denoting the cakes that were experimental and the cakes that are finished products. You’ll hear more behindthe-scenes info about the creation of Paula’s upcoming book, The Holiday Kosher Baker, on the following page.

I’m also excited to debut our new column: "Secret Restaurant Recipes." Get involved! Do you love a certain restaurant dish? Would you like to recreate it in your kitchen? Write to me and I’ll try to track it down.

Enjoy, Victoria Dwek victoria@amimagazine.org

Be the Next Cooking Whiz DO YOU LOVE TO COOK AND INNOVATE IN THE KITCHEN? THINK YOUR RECIPES DESERVE TO BE RECREATED IN THE HOMES OF THOUSANDS? ENTER THE WHISK COOKING WHIZ CHALLENGE FOR A CHANCE TO BE WHISK’S NEXT FOOD COLUMNIST. Four finalists will have their recipes professionally photographed to appear in a Whisk feature. One of the finalists will be the winner.

TO ENTER, SUBMIT: 1) A 200-300-word summary of your kitchen personality. Tell us why and what you love to cook.

2) One sample food column that shows off your style.

The sample food column should include three recipes and one introduction—just like you see in Whisk’s columns.

To submit your entry, email whisk@amimagazine.org

DEADLINE: OCTOBER 31, 2013

Florentine Bars

BY VICTORIA DWEK RECIPES BY PAULA SHOYER

Upon the debut of her second book, The Holiday Kosher Baker, I speak to Paula Shoyer about the food writing life, the pleasure of dessert ...and achieving perfect results.

From Scratch Last week, in Whisk’s Isru Chag Diet issue, I wrote a bit about the food writer’s challenge in balancing constant recipe testing with eating light. It’s not as difficult when those recipes are salads, soups, sides, and mains, and we can save the dessert tastetesting for Shabbat.

But it doesn’t work that way if you’re a pastry chef working only on dessert recipes and nothing else.

Whisk columnist Paula Shoyer’s second book, The Holiday Kosher Baker, which debuts November 5, includes 120 new sweet recipes, with each chapter devoted to a different Jewish holiday.

It isn’t Paula’s style to try developing a new recipe one day, and if it doesn’t work, try it again the next day. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll make it again right away. Baking and baking...I’ll bake up to 10 desserts a day.”

“How do you stay skinny if you have to taste so many desserts every day?” (Isn’t that the first thing you’d also want to ask a pastry chef ?)

“It’s not like it’s easy and it’s not like I eat whatever I want,” Paula says. “Since I know this is my life, I don’t eat a lot of bread.

I don’t eat pasta or rice. I eat protein and vegetables. I try to eat light food. You can’t love to eat desserts all the time and not cut back somewhere else.”

“So who is eating all those desserts?” I ask her—unless it’s cake for dinner every night. (It’s not.)

“I have four teenagers, and all their friends come to taste. My neighbors know to come over at 5:00 p.m. on Shabbos, knock on the door, and come in for cake,” she tells me.

Some cakes, the “recipes in progress,” have little disclaimer

Post-it notes attached to the cake plates. It’s not just the perfect cake that’s available for tasting. There’s also cake attempt #1 and cake attempt #2.

“Before Rosh Hashanah, I developed two new honey cakes.

One was a honey cake with a chocolate filling. It was good, not great. Then I made a second cake and delivered both to a neighbor’s freezer. The first had a sticky note: ’Honey Cake. Good One.’ The second sticky note read: ’Honey Cake. Great One.’” There are no honey cakes in the Rosh Hashanah chapter of the Holiday Kosher Baker, though. It’s not Paula’s personal favorite.

“A friend of mine called me a month after I finished developing all the recipes for the book. She said, ’You have to include a honey cake.’ I hate honey cake, so I challenged her to come up with a new idea. ’What if you turned it into a cookie?’ she suggested. ’Ah hah. So it tastes like honey cake, but it’s a cookie?’ I got into the kitchen, looked at my honey cake recipe, and came up with a plan to turn it into a cookie. Two more tries, and it was done.”

Can Desserts Be...Healthy?

When I first ask Paula that question, she says yes and starts naming some desserts from her book that are naturally light, like the granita; a strawberry ice cream made from whipped egg whites; the pavlova; or those that have a healthier twist, like rice pudding made with quinoa.

“But honestly...I’ll do events around the world and people will come over to me and say, ’Your babka has too much margarine 5 C H E S H VA N , 5 7 7 3

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in it.’ It’s babka! I’ll have one small piece on Shabbos. Desserts are one of the great pleasures in life. Sit down with a good cup of coffee and a homemade piece of cake. It’s so simple and satisfying. When I was a lawyer, I saw that many people I met in the law world were not as happy as the people who were baking.

Even if babka is not supposed to be healthy, portion control is important, which is why I made little babka bites for this book.

They’re really yummy and really cute. Stopping at one or two doesn’t always work, but having mini versions of babka might help. And I don’t know if anyone will really notice, but the new book does have much less margarine and more whole grains than my first book,” Paula says.

From the Roman Ghetto

Lots of Paula’s recipes have very inspired beginnings—like the one she discovered when she found herself in the Jewish ghetto in Rome on a Friday.

“That Friday, I saw beautiful Italian Jewish women in fancy clothes and shoes lining up outside the kosher bakery in the ghetto. Each of the women exited the store carrying something that looked similar to a burnt loaf of mandel bread. I had no patience to wait on that long line, but I was very curious to know what it was they were buying. I went into the cafe across the street and asked. ’That’s pizza ebraica,’ the man at the counter told me. ’We sell it here too.’ He gave me a chunk and I sat down to eat. I still don’t know why Italians like it burnt. I would have had to ask in Italian and my Italian is pretty bad. I make pizza ebraica now and stuff it with dried fruits and nuts like the Italians, but I just bake it until it’s brown,” Paula shares.

Some desserts originated closer to home, like the apple cake

recipe, which came courtesy of Paula’s friend Annette Lerner, who is the wife of the owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team. “The apple cake is Annette’s family recipe. There are so many apple cakes out there, but this one is unique. The apples are cut into matchsticks so they melt into the batter. It’s a moist cake my family loves.”

Holiday Specials

For Chanukah, Paula worked on gingerbread cookies, an almond olive oil cake, chewy olive oil chocolate chip cookies, and lots of versions of doughnuts...including cupcake doughnuts, churros, baked donuts, and funnel cake. I want to try her limeflavored donuts with mango passion filling.

“I used this line in one of my columns in Whisk: Like people, donuts don’t like to be in crowded places. It’s important that you avoid putting too many in the oil. If you’re making donut holes, never more than eight. For full-sized donuts, never more than four. And you can’t do anything else while you’re making donuts.

You have to stand there and watch them. They don’t fry for so long and they will burn if they don’t have your complete attention. I also keep a thermometer in my oil and check the temperature between batches, to make sure it’s in the right range.”

Paula’s favorite baking holiday, though, is Purim. “I want to write a whole book on hamantashen,” she says. “I brought a batch to a sales meeting with my publisher. There were perhaps 90 non-Jews and 10 Jews there, and they all loved the cookies.

When you use a lot of flour to roll out hamantashen, they get too dry and become difficult to close. So I tried chilling the dough before rolling instead, like I do when making shortbread or sugar cookie dough. After one hour, the dough was so much easier to

Florentine Bars 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 3 large egg whites Zest of one large orange (or 2 teaspoons juice) 1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped into ¼-inch pieces 11/3 cups sliced almonds (blanched or with skin) 1 cup chocolate chips Vegetable oil for greasing pan 1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 9- X 13-inch pan with vegetable oil.

Press in a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the bottom and go an inch up the sides of the pan, making sure you press it into the corners. Grease the top of the parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together

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the confectioners’ sugar, egg whites, and orange zest. Use a silicone spatula to gently mix in chopped cranberries and nuts, being careful not to crush the nuts. Scoop into the pan and use the spatula or your hands to spread evenly in the bottom of the pan. The easiest way to do this is to push the batter into the edges and corners first and then fill in the middle. You will have a thin nut layer.

3. Bake for 25 minutes, or until nuts are golden. Let cool one hour. Pull up the parchment to lift the bar out of the pan. Place another piece of parchment on top and then turn the bar over onto the new parchment.

Peel off the bottom parchment. Melt the chocolate chips either over a

double boiler or in the microwave oven in for 45 seconds, stir, melt another 30 seconds, stir and then for 15 seconds more, if needed, until melted. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate on the bottom of the bar.

If desired, you can use a serrated knife to make lines in the chocolate to decorate it. Slide the parchment and bars onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up. Cut into squares, triangles or rectangular bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days or freeze for up to three months.

Makes 20 square bars or 32 triangles

Babka Bites

Babka Bites Dough ¼ cup warm water ½ ounce (2 envelopes) dry yeast ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided 2½ cups all-purpose flour Dash salt 4 tablespoons margarine, at room temperature for 15 minutes ¼ cup canola oil 1 large egg plus one white Filling ½ cup (1 stick) margarine, at room temperature for 30 minutes ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa ¾ cup sugar 1/3 cup mini-chocolate chips

1. Place warm water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon of the sugar into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit 10 minutes, until the mixture bubbles and thickens.

Add the ¼ cup sugar, flour, salt, margarine, oil, egg, and egg white.

Combine with a wooden spoon or a dough hook in a stand mixer until all the ingredients are mixed in. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise 1½ hours.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling.

Place the margarine into a medium or large bowl and beat until creamy. Add the cocoa and sugar, and beat until combined.

Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature while the dough is rising.

3. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place mini-muffin papers into a 12-cup mini-muffin pan. You will need to bake in batches.

4. Divide dough in half. On a large 5 C H E S H VA N , 5 7 7 3

piece of parchment paper or other surface sprinkled with a little flour, roll each piece of dough into a 9- X 12-inch rectangle so that the 12-inch side is facing you.

Sprinkle a little flour on the rolling pin if the dough starts to stick to it. Use a silicone spatula to spread ½ of the chocolate filling all the way to the edges. Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips all over the chocolate filling and roll up tightly the long way. Cut into ½-inch slices and place one into each of the muffin cups, cut side up. You will have about 24 slices.

5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Repeat with the other dough. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store covered at room temperature for up to four days or freeze for up to three months.

Makes 46-48 bites |

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Almond and Olive Oil Cake

roll and I only needed half the amount of flour for the rolling pin. Chilling overnight is even better. It’s good to know that you can prepare hamantashen dough in advance. I also use less baking powder in my dough so the cookies keep their shape and don’t puff up.”

Paula’s hamantashen are truly unique. One of her original flavors is green tea hamantashen, which includes green tea (matcha) powder in the dough. “When I drink regular green tea, the flavor is very light. The powder has a concentrated taste that’s much more flavorful. It’s not sweet and it’s very unusual. It’s hard to compare the taste to something else.”

On Perfect Results

Even if her home kitchen could double for a bakery, Paula does not buy commercial ingredients. (The only item she does buy in bulk is her favorite Alprose chocolate). She shops in kosher supermarkets and buys the same brands that you

buy, because she wants her recipes to come out the same way in your kitchen as they do in hers.

But that doesn’t mean they have to be perfect every time.

“In the book, there’s a mini dvar Torah before each holiday chapter. My favorite is the Chanukah message. We often wait to start something in our lives when everything is lined up perfectly, and we keep waiting. Chanukah teaches us that even if we are not ready, we can take the first step. If they decided they wouldn’t light the menorah until they had the right amount of oil, they wouldn’t have seen the miracle. I’m one of those people who learned early on that there’s no perfect anything.

You do the best you can do and that’s good. Even when you test a recipe over and over again, there will always be someone who tells you, ‘It’s doing this or that in my oven.’ There is no ‘perfect.’ You just have to try.”

In desserts, and in life.

Almond and Olive Oil Cake 3/4 cup sliced almonds (with or without skins) 1 cup sugar 3 large eggs ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 cup all-purpose flour ½ cup ground almonds 1½ teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon almond extract ½ teaspoon orange zest (from one orange) Spray oil containing flour

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Trace an 8-inch round pan on parchment paper and cut out. Grease and flour the pan, press in the parchment circle and grease and flour the top of the parchment and sides of the pan. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on the bottom of the pan and spread to cover.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, and olive oil together until creamy, about one minute at medium speed. Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, almond extract, and orange zest and beat until combined. Pour over the sliced nuts. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

3. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then run a knife around the sides. Turn the cake onto a wire rack and let cool. Serve almond side up.

Store covered at room temperature for up to four days, or freeze for up to three months.

Serves 8-12

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Ombré Layer Cake Cake 2 cups sugar 4 large eggs 1 cup canola oil 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2½ cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 English Breakfast tea bag steeped in ⅔ cup (160ml) boiling water Gel food coloring Seven-Minute Icing 1½ cups sugar ⅓ cup warm water 3 large egg whites, at room temperature for one hour 1 tablespoon light corn syrup Dash salt 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract To make the cake 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and flour four 8-inch (20-cm) round baking pans; I use the disposable ones.

2. Place the sugar, eggs, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla into a large mixing bowl and mix well.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well. Squeeze the tea bag into the cup, discard

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the tea bag, and add the brewed tea to the batter. Mix gently. Divide the batter among four mixing bowls; there should be about 2½ cups of batter for each bowl.

3. Color each bowl of batter a different shade of the same color. I set aside one bowl of batter to remain white and color only three bowls of batter. Add one drop of food coloring to one bowl, two drops to the second. And then three drops to the third. Mix the batter in each bowl.

Add more color to the darkest batter to make it as dark as possible. Adjust the lighter colors by adding more coloring— only if necessary to make sure there is enough contrast between them. Keep in mind that you can always add more color, but it is impossible to remove the color once you’ve added it.

4. Pour each bowl of batter into a prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cakes comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Every once in a while, move the cakes around so they do not stick to the rack.

The cakes may be made in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored at room temperature for up to two days or frozen for up to three months.

To make the icing Pour a few inches of water into the bottom of a double boiler or a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Off the stove, put the sugar and ⅓ cup (80 ml) warm water in the top of the double boiler or in a metal bowl that can sit on top of a saucepan without falling in.

Whisk to dissolve the sugar. Add the egg whites, corn syrup, and salt, and beat for one minute with an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Place the top of the double boiler (or metal bowl) over the gently boiling water and beat with an electric mixer on high speed for a full 7 minutes. If the water starts to bubble too

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much, turn the heat down. Remove the pan from the heat, add vanilla, and beat for another 30 seconds, until the frosting is thick and has soft peaks.

Assembling the layers 1. If the cakes have a dome on top, trim the tops so they are flat. Eat the scraps.

Stack the cakes and then trim the sides so they are straight. Separate the cake layers on pieces of waxed paper. Place the lightest-colored cake layer on a serving plate and tuck pieces of waxed paper underneath it to catch any drips of icing. Spread the layer with ¼ cup of white icing. Place the next darkercolored cake layer on top of the first layer and spread it with icing. Add the next darkest layer, spread it with icing; and then add the last and darkest layer to the stack of cakes, with the bottom side facing up.

2 Take the remaining icing and divide it among four bowls. Leave one bowl white. Color the icing in each of the other bowls three graduated colors (I try to match the cake colors). Ice the outside of each cake layer with the opposite icing color, so that the white cake is surrounded by the darkest color icing, and so on. Use a metal flat-blade spatula to scoop up the darkest color icing, and ice a band of that color around the bottom white cake layer. Scoop up the next lightest icing and ice another band the height of the next cake layer.

It is okay if the colors blend a little; this helps achieve the graduated color effect.

Repeat until you get to the top. Spread the white icing over the top of the cake and onto the first inch or so (from the top down) on the sides of the cake. Heat the metal spatula with some boiling water, dry it, and then use it to smooth the sides and top of the cake, blending the colors to achieve the “ombré” effect.

Store in the fridge for up to four days or freeze for up to three months.

Serves 16-20

RESTAURANT RECIPES Dear Whisk, A few weeks ago, Glatt A La Carte in Boro Park featured a Cornish hen on the menu as a special.

Can you find out how it is prepared?

-Ruchelle Spitz

NEW COLUM N

Nine years ago, when I was engaged, I remember ordering a salmon entrée at a restaurant. Salmon isn’t my favorite fish, so I was surprised when I actually enjoyed it a lot. I remember thinking, “It must be complicated to make.” At that time, I didn’t know how to cook. I thought that all restaurant dishes must be difficult to prepare.

Of course, now I know better, and I know that good food doesn’t need to be complicated. Sometimes, restaurant dishes are not accessible to home cooks. They utilize ingredients not found in our local supermarkets or entail three-day processes.

Most often, though, restaurant recipes are very simple.

We just need to convince the chefs to share their secrets.

Please share your favorite restaurant dishes with me, and I’ll try my best to track down the recipe. —Victoria

ESTABLISHMENT: Glatt A La Carte LOCATION: Boro Park SUBJECT: Cornish Hen

ROASTED CORNISH HENS WITH ORANGE-HONEY GLAZE

Send your “Secret Restaurant Recipes” requests to victoria@amimagazine.org

Chef Mark Green, executive chef of Glatt A La Carte, responds: Cornish hens look like elegant miniature chickens, and they cook much faster than regular whole chickens. On the Glatt A La Carte menu, it appeared with a side dish of sweet potatoes and carrots. Chef Mark’s Apricot Dijon BBQ Sauce also works as a quick and easy stand-in for the orange glaze below.

2 cups orange juice 2 cups red wine ½ cup honey ½ cup soy sauce 4 Cornish hens Salt and pepper to taste 1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a baking sheet.

2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine orange juice, red wine, honey, and soy sauce. Cook until sauce is reduced to a syrup consistency.

3. Butterfly the Cornish hens by

cutting out the backbone (this is the long thin bone on the bottom). This is easiest done using kitchen shears.

4. Place hens on prepared baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Baste half of the glaze onto the hens. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Baste the remaining glaze on the hens and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES AND CARROTS 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 cup water ¼ cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons margarine, melted 1½ teaspoons orange zest Salt to taste Coarse black pepper to taste

Yield: serves 4 to 8

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, carrots, water, brown sugar, margarine, orange zest, salt, and pepper.

Spread on prepared baking sheet and cover with foil.

3. Bake for 30 minutes or until fork-tender. Uncover, raise heat to 450ºF and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yield: serves 6 to 8

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Food Currents

By Racheli Sofer

The Sous Chef Whisk responds to your cooking queries

Y.R. ASKS: What’s the difference between chicken stock, chicken broth, and chicken soup? What’s a good recipe for chicken stock/broth?  WHISK EDITOR VICTORIA DWEK ANSWERS: The short answer is that stock is made from bones, and broth is made from meat. Chicken soup is the finished product that results when other ingredients are added.

You might see all of the terms used in recipes interchangeably.

Choose what’s convenient for you: whether it’s homemade stock

Fizzle Out It looks like sugar isn’t the only culprit when it comes to causing obesity, as far as soda is concerned. According to a new study published in the journal Gastroenterology, carbonation is also to blame.

Italian researchers using brain scans discovered that the fizz in your drink can decrease the brain’s perception of sweetness. Carbonation, they discovered, also makes the brain incapable of deciphering sugar vs. artificial sweetener. Sorry to burst your bubble, soda drinkers!

or broth, the liquid broth that comes in a carton, the strained chicken soup from your Friday night leftovers, or…I won’t tell... powdered chicken consommé (powder mixed with water...yes, I’ve used it too... Don’t tell my chef friends).

Since I don’t have a specific recipe for stock or broth, I turned to Chef David Kolotkin, who provides all the basics he uses to create the dishes at The Prime Grill in the recently released The Prime Grill Cookbook.

BASIC CHICKEN STOCK 8 lbs. chicken bones, skinless and rinsed 6 quarts water (cold or room temperature) ½ lb. onions, medium dice ¼ lb. carrots, medium dice ¼ lb. celery, leaves re-

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moved, medium dice 1 sprig thyme 1 bay leaf 10 crushed peppercorns 2 garlic cloves 3 sprigs Italian parsley

cube trays to freeze for later use. This is great to have in your home to add to sauces or soups as a last-minute flavor booster.

Yields: 2–2 ½ quarts

Place the chicken bones in a stockpot and add the water.

Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to a lazy bubble. Skim the foam and grease from the surface of the mixture and discard. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, for six hours, continually skimming the foam and grease that rise to the surface. Remove the stockpot from the heat and strain the stock through a fine colander. Skim off any additional foam or grease. This stock can be reduced down to ¼ volume and placed into ice

CHEF’S TIP: The key to this stock is to bring the mixture to a simmer immediately after boiling. Don’t forget, a good stock is a clear stock! If the stock is not turned to a simmer immediately, the impurities that rise to the top will be boiled back into the stock, yielding a cloudy stock.

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$390

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From The Prime Grill Cookbook: Redefining the Kosher Experience, by David Kolotkin and Joey Allaham, © Joey Allaham, used by permission of the publisher, Pelican Publishing Company, Inc..

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The value of the food the average American person wastes each year.

When in Doubt, Throw It Out?

According to a new study performed by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), thanks to confusion surrounding the different labels on our food, including “best by,” “use by,” and “best before,” Americans waste food that hasn’t yet gone bad and eat food that is no longer safe to consume. “The date labeling system in the US is not a system at all. It is a mess,” explained Dana Gunder, NRDC scientist. The study found that nine out of ten Americans prematurely toss out food that can still be eaten, for fear that it is no longer safe.

The next time you clean out your pantry, consider what these really mean: PACK DATE: This is the day the product was manufactured. It’s helpful in case of a product recall.

SELL-BY DATE: This is not for consumers, but for retailers. It’s a note about when to pull a product from the shelves. Most products are still safe to use after this date, but grocers generally remove them because the items still need to have additional life in the consumer’s home. Milk, for example, can still be good for up to five days after the sell-by date.

BEST-IF-USED-BY DATE/USE-BY DATE: This date indicates when quality and taste start to decline, although the product is still edible after this date. How quickly a food will spoil depends on the product and how it’s stored and handled. Canned goods last indefinitely if the can is not dented or damaged.

ENJOY-BY DATE: Vague and promotional, but similar to the use-by date.

FREEZE-BY DATE: A reminder that freezing the product can extend shelf life. Milk, for example, lasts one month in the freezer.

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FRAUDULENT FOODS BUYER BEWARE: THESE FOODS AREN’T ALWAYS WHAT THEY CLAIM TO BE. POMEGRANATE JUICE

Watch out for pomegranate juice that’s been diluted with other juices, water, acids, or sugars. Stick with better-known brands and stay away from juices that are too cheap to be the real deal.

BLACK PEPPER The US Pharmacopeial Convention has found cheap fillers in ground pepper, including plant stems and buckwheat flour.

Opt for whole kernels that you grind yourself.

HONEY Your Yom Tov season staple might include artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and water. Manufacturers often purposely mislabel the country of origin, and the honey from some countries has been banned

from importation due to persistent problems in food safety.

GROUND COFFEE Your morning cup of joe might include corn, seeds, barley—even twigs— especially in products made outside of the US. If it’s listed on the label, it’s not considered food adulteration. Also check the label for ground chicory root, used commonly as a filler, especially in instant coffee. Stick with recognizable brands and, when in doubt, buy whole coffee beans and grind them yourself.

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

If it’s too cheap, it is too good to be true—especially if you have nut allergies.

Cheap olive oils might contain peanut or hazelnut oil.

WIN!

Last chance! Send in your “Sous Chef” questions and “Breaking Bread” recipes to racheli@amimagazine.org to win a copy of Starters and Sides Made Easy. Winner will be announced in the next “Food Currents.”

Kitchen Lab Why do fresh sliced deli meats sometimes have a rainbow-colored iridescent sheen?  It’s because of “diffraction”: the way light bounces off the surface of your fresh sliced pastrami. A piece of meat is composed of strands of fibers that are tightly packed together in parallel bundles. When it’s sliced, the cut ends form a series of grooves, and when white light hits those grooves some of the light is absorbed and some is reflected. The reflected light bends at different angles and results in a kaleidoscope or iridescent effect. Processed deli meat has a firmer, tougher texture, and so raw meat doesn’t result in this “rainbow.” Only cuts that are sliced against the grain, or perpendicular to the direction of the meat fibers, show this iridescence, since the protruding severed ends of the fibers produce the fine grooves. The sharper the slicing instrument, the

cleaner the cut, the smoother the surface, and the more intense the display of rainbow hues. The good news? Iridescent deli meat is perfectly safe to eat, and the taste isn’t affected. But proceed with caution when it comes to raw meat, which can occasionally exhibit iridescence. A colorful glow on a raw steak can be caused by light reflecting off a surface film of liquid produced by microbes. To determine whether that steak is good to go on the grill, lightly wipe the surface of the meat with a paper towel.

If the sheen disappears, then the meat is likely harboring slime-producing microbes, and it is ready to go...straight into the garbage.

BREAKING BREAD A simple yet scrumptious version of a Shabbos favorite MARVELOUS MARBLE CAKE

3 eggs 2 cups sugar 3 cups flour 1 cup oil 1 cup orange juice 1 ½–2 teaspoons baking powder 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar Chocolate swirl: ½ cup cocoa ½ cup sugar ¼ cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar, then alternate adding flour with the oil and juice. Add baking powder and vanilla sugar.

Pour ¾ of the batter into a 9- x 13inch pan or a greased Bundt pan.

2. Combine cocoa, sugar, and hot water with remaining batter for the chocolate swirl. Pour over the batter in the pan and marbleize.

Bake for 1 hour.

Thank you, Peri Friedman, for this quick and easy classic cake.

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Basya’s Menu SUNDAY: fast.

MONDAY: Breakfast: coffee, egg whites. Snack: apple. Lunch: tuna sandwich. Snack: sliced red peppers.

Dinner: baked chicken, string beans, brown rice. Dessert: mango.

TUESDAY: Breakfast: coffee, banana.

Lunch: salmon salad. Snack: almonds, walnuts, grapes. Dinner: tuna steak, grilled zucchini, couscous. Snack: grapefruit with yogurt.

WEDNESDAY: coffee, oatmeal. Snack: plum. Lunch: salad with hard-boiled eggs. Snack: vegetable sticks with hummus.

Dinner: baked chicken, kasha, white asparagus. Dessert: fruit salad.

THURSDAY: Breakfast: coffee, apple.

Snack: egg whites. Lunch: tuna salad.

Snack: nut bar. Dinner: tilapia, salad, brown rice, sautéed vegetables.

Dessert: fat-free yogurt with honey.

FRIDAY: Breakfast: coffee, fruit salad.

First Seudah: whole wheat challah, egg salad, steak, grilled cauliflower, baked potato, salad, fruit. Second Seudah: whole wheat challah, chicken soup with kreplach, teriyaki salmon, tahini with vegetables, baked chicken, cauliflower, zucchini kugel, fruit salad.

SHABBOS: Yom Kippur. Motzaei Shabbos Breaking-the-Fast: eggs, whole wheat bread, tuna salad, sliced vegetables, big salad, whole wheat pasta with pesto sauce, mango.

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COFFEE CONVICTIONS My friend Sarah’s cousin Chava is a health food enthusiast. She and Sarah are close, but it bothers Sarah when Chava lectures her about eating right and about the “poisonous” foods she eats.

“You actually eat bleached white flour?” she’ll ask.

I have been privy to a few of these interactions. I won’t call them altercations, because my dear friend Sarah takes it like a champ, smiling politely, and saying things like, “It just tastes so much better!” or, “I’m not as strong-willed as you.”

Sarah does admire her cousin and fills me in on her latest health information and discoveries. Chava was the one who introduced Sarah to wheatgrass shots, which she drinks once in a while, and shredded flax seeds, which Sarah adds to her smoothies and yogurt. I have Chava to thank for my introduction to these very interesting foods. She would call them actual food, and she’d call a lot of what I eat “food-like products.”

Chava was Sarah’s guest for Sukkos, and oh boy, does she have a lot to say. “White sugar is addictive and harmful,” was just one of her declarations. Other than her food rants, Chava is a really fun and nice person, and when we don’t talk about how much more healthful it is to eat everything raw, including potatoes and zucchini, we actually have a lot in common.

“Do you know that there’s a great substitute for coffee? Green tea, or even better, chai tea. Tea has much less caffeine than coffee, and some teas don’t have caffeine at all!” she declares when I visited.

“You’re not telling me coffee is bad too?!” I blurted out.

She rolls her eyes, dramatically, “What isn’t wrong with coffee? Coffee is a drug like any other. It’s actually a stimulant drug, which is why people get a buzz from drinking it,” Chava explains, everknowingly.

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Chal le

Basya

STARTING WEIGHT

200

CURRENT WEIGHT

171.5

GOAL WEIGHT

150

POUNDS LOST THIS WEEK

1

TOTAL POUNDS LOST SO FAR

28.5

I laugh to ease the tension that has permeated Sarah’s kitchen.

“Well, I don’t know what I would do without my coffee; I could never give it up. I need it. For me the advantages far outweigh the negatives,” I tell her.

“Well, that’s because you’re addicted. It’s a drug,” she concludes.

Chava came over for a meal on Yom Tov, along with Sarah and her husband.

I dreaded having Chava watch me eat what she considers poison and did not look forward to having her see me eat that one piece of apple pie, the one my mother baked for that one meal. Her face said it all when I washed it down with a soy latte.

Basya

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THE CONTEST

iet

Basya and Devoiry each want to lose 50 pounds. The first one to reach her goal wins a trip to Florida or $500. Follow them weekly as they share their diet journeys with us.

WEEK THIRTY-ONE

enge

Devoiry

STARTING WEIGHT

203

CURRENT WEIGHT

161.5

GOAL WEIGHT

153

POUNDS LOST THIS WEEK

+1

TOTAL POUNDS LOST SO FAR

41.5

NACHAS FROM THE 12 STEPS I had no idea last year, as I pleaded with Hashem for a good year, that I had so much good coming my way! Buoyed by my realization of how drastically my life has changed for the better, my tefillos intensified tremendously. I davened for continued success in my program. Grey Sheet is not only about how many pounds I can lose. It is about my whole life, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

I was not counting on the extreme fatigue I felt on Yom Kippur. From almost the first minutes of the fast I felt like I was banged over the head with a sledgehammer. I was so nauseous from the fast that right after shul I needed to lie down and sleep for an hour before I

Devoiry

could consider putting even one morsel of food into my mouth. That has never happened before! When I broke my fast, I ate slowly, and walked away from the table feeling good, instead of having the stuffed, I-can’t-breathe feeling I used to get!

The ninth step in the twelve steps is to make amends to people you have hurt.

Every month we focus on one step, starting with step one in January. Step nine falls in September, and coincides with our time for making amends. Right before Yom Kippur I bumped into a girl whose brother I insulted years ago. What has always bothered me was that I was already an adult while he was still a child when it happened. That day he was walking home with my brother and I thought he did something not nice, and I told him off.

This young boy—duly chastened, with his face red like a beet—ran off, and my brother turned to me and asked me why I would say something so mean to him. He was adjusting to so many new things in his life having just come from Russia, so why did I have to add to it? The incident crops up in my brain from time to time, making me feel horrible.

Bumping into his sister this week, I asked her about him. She wanted to know which brother. I described him as the redhead. Her face lit up, and she said, “Heshy is doing great; he lives in Chicago with his wife and a bunch of kids, ka”h. He started a very successful business a few years ago.”

I knew that when I would start working the steps myself, I would have to make amends, and there is no time like the present. Briefly, I explained what happened and asked her for her brother’s number.

My heart was pounding as I dialed the number. I introduced myself. I told Heshy what happened and asked for mechilah.

He told me he had absolutely no recollection of the story, and was 100 percent mochel me.

What happened next, though, com-

pletely floored me! He said that it must have taken mega courage to pick up a phone, identify myself, and then admit such a story! He continued by saying that I inspired him to make the same type of call about something bothering him for about ten years. And then he told me that he is a kohen, and he showered me with brachos! When I joined Grey Sheet, I could not have imagined how my life would change so drastically in so many aspects!

Because I enjoy making nice things for Yom Tov even though I don't eat them, I called Victoria Dwek and asked her for a suggestion for a dessert. She gave me an incredible apple dessert from a past Whisk that she always enjoys.

It was nice leaving the Yom Tov meals without the usual feeling that I overate. I know I am always only a bite away from that. In my home, in my own kitchen I feel more in control. I gravitate to my childhood comfort foods when I'm in my mother's kitchen. For Basya, in your mother’s house it could not have been so simple. I'm glad it worked out.

Devoiry

Devoiry’s Menu

I need fast and easy cooked vegetables, but I get bored so quickly with the same old foods! Today, I took broccoli and steamed it until it was just crunchy. I added 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and a half-ounce of toasted sesame seeds. I tossed it to coat and then added some granulated garlic and soy sauce. As I type, I can’t wait for supper so that I can have some more!

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