Going Kosher Jewish Foods Are Simple And Robust, Created During Thousands Of Years Of Tradition

Paying attention to what you eat. Searching out pure, quality ingredients. Choosing meatless meals on occasion.

Pages from the food bible for the 1990s? To be sure. But they’re also principles that Jewish people have lived by for thousands of years.

A complex set of scripturally derived dietary laws, called “kashrut,” spells out what types of foods Jews should eat, in what combinations. Mixing meat and dairy products in the same meal, for example, is forbidden.

The resulting diet is called “kosher” - meaning fit, proper, clean.

“The philosophy underlying it is, you are what you eat,” says Rabbi Jacob Izakson of Spokane’s Temple Beth Shalom. “You have to think about your food. You don’t just stick your nose in the dish and start eating.”

The entire community can get a taste of that tradition at the 55th annual kosher dinner Sunday at the temple, 1322 E. 30th.

The menu includes roasted beef brisket; potato knishes, mashed potatos baked in pockets of dough; carrot tzimmes, in a savory orange sauce with prunes; challah, a braided egg bread; coleslaw; cooked, cinnamon-spiced apples and apricot kuchen, a rich cake.

“It’s what you would be served at my house if you came for New Year,” says Ethel Grossman, who’s helped with the kosher dinner for 40 years.

Actually, that’s Rosh Hashana, celebrated in September or October instead of January. And the challah would be round, to signify life without end and a complete year of health and happiness.

Many Jewish foods are tied to holidays. Cheese blintzes - basically rolled-up crepes - are eaten at Shavuot to symbolize the scrolls of the Torah. Potato pancakes, called latkes, are a fixture for Hanukkah. Passover commonly calls for gefilte fish, boiled balls made from a mixture of fish - to encourage “all of the fishes of the sea to live in harmony,” Grossman explains.

Such foods typically aren’t eaten for everyday meals. “The more you secularize it, the less special it becomes,” Izakson says.

In itself, Jewish food is nothing fancy. It tends to be hearty fare, focusing on such staples as potatoes, carrots and cabbage, reflecting the European ancestry of many Jews.

“It’s common food,” says Dr. Dennis Twigg, chairman of this year’s temple dinner. “A lot of the (Jewish) immigrants who came here were poor, used the foods they had.”

But food is one of the cornerstones of the Jewish faith.

“Judaism takes the everyday, mundane things of life and raises them to the spiritual level,” Izakson says. “Food is one of the things we raise to a spiritual level.”

Kashrut draws on several scriptural references to establish eating guidelines.

Many animal foods are forbidden - such as birds of prey, fish without scales and fins (which excludes shellfish) and mammals that don’t chew their cud and have cloven hooves (which eliminates pork).

“The animals we are permitted to eat are pastoral,” Izakson says. “The message is, we need to be a peaceful people.”

For their meat to be kosher, approved animals must be slaughtered as humanely as possible. A prayer, asking for forgiveness, is said before each animal is killed; the blood is drained into a bucket filled with dirt and buried.

“It goes to what kind of person you are - how you treat animals, how you treat other people,” Twigg says.

Some say vegetarianism is the highest form of kosher, because no living beings are harmed.

“It’s really a philosophical approach,” Twigg says of kashrut. “People always try to attribute it to health reasons, but when you go back that far, they really didn’t understand nutrition.”

There are practical benefits. Kosher meat is always Grade A prime, as no flesh from diseased, injured or otherwise blemished animals is allowed.

Because the scriptures say that blood is life, any remaining blood must be removed from the meat before cooking. That’s done by soaking, salting with coarse kosher salt and rinsing.

The prohibition against mixing meat and dairy products is based on biblical orders not to cook a kid (goat) in its mother’s milk.

Subsequent scholarly research has shown that was a pagan fertility ritual common in Canaan at the time Jews were moving into that land, Izakson says. But the reasons behind the rules aren’t what’s important, he stresses. It’s making the effort to follow them, as a matter of faith.

“One of our sages said the dietary laws help us understand the idea of discipline,” Izakson says. “What a message today, when no one wants to hear the word ‘no,’ ever.”

Keeping kosher can be difficult, particularly in Spokane. Kosher meat and other products aren’t easily found. The city’s only kosher deli, Weiner’s Market, closed in 1988.

“It’s not like New York or Los Angeles, where you can walk into a store and find anything you want,” Twigg says.

Several Jews here order kosher products from out-of-town suppliers through a co-op established at the temple.

But finding kosher food is only the first challenge. Separate sets of cookware, dishes and utensils must be maintained for meat and dairy meals. Some families go so far as separate refrigerators.

“If I have a frying pan where I just made eggs in butter, that’s considered to be a dairy pan, no matter what I do to it,” Izakson says.

Over the years, many Jews have stopped following the dietary laws to the letter. But the number who keep kosher is again growing, Izakson says.

“With the renewal of spirituality, I think it’s increasing,” he says. “I talk to a number of people who would like to start kosher homes.”

Many non-Jews also seek out kosher products because of their purity, Izakson says, for example people with allergies to food additives that show up in such small amounts, they aren’t listed on regular labels.

Izakson has been called on to certify as kosher a whole host of regionally produced products, from lentils and peas to prepared pizza crusts.

That involves a rigorous inspection process to make sure that ingredients are pure and food processing and packaging is free from contaminants.

For example, if juice is packaged in containers that include recycled plastic from milk jugs, it becomes a dairy food and could not be consumed with meats.

The local kosher dinner has been a meat meal from the beginning, when it was held at the old synagogue at Fourth and Adams (which fell victim to freeway construction).

Grossman remembers marveling at the 200 meals that were served when she was dinner chairman in 1962. Last year, the total was almost 2,400.

For this year’s dinner, 1,200 pounds of meat was ordered. Another 350 pounds of carrots are being cooked, and 80 cakes were baked.

“We try to make sure we have more than enough, but last year, we ended up with one brisket left,” says Twigg.

“We don’t make a lot of money off this,” he adds. “It isn’t a real fundraiser. It’s mostly to tell people that we’re here, let them know we’re a part of the community.”

Adds Lois Rubens, another kosher dinner veteran: “A lot of people are curious about what kind of people we are.”

Preparing for the dinner also helps draw the temple’s congregation together.

“It’s an awfully good social occasion,” Rubens says as she shepherds apricot cakes along an assembly line in the temple kitchen.

“People come and make new friends. A lot of new people find this is a wonderful way to get established in the community.”

The following recipes are from “Shalom From Our Kitchens,” a cookbook prepared by the Spokane chapter of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s organization.

Grandpa Howie’s Fabulous Chicken Soup

“Be sure to use enough dill so that the soup is green and the aroma fills the house,” says Michael Botnick, whose father always told him: “If it isn’t green, it isn’t soup.”

1 whole chicken (the fatter, the better)

1 medium to large onion, chopped

4 or 5 stalks of celery, chopped (use innermost stalks, leaves and all)

4 or 5 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 parsnip, chopped (optional)

Lots of fresh dill (use dried if fresh not available)

Garlic powder, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

Put all ingredients in a large soup pot, cover with water and simmer for 3 hours, until chicken begins to fall off bone. Take chicken out and remove skin, bone and gristle; return chicken meat to the soup. If you like, add matzo balls (see note) or dry egg noodles to cook in the soup before serving.

Note: Matzo meal can be found in some larger supermarkets; a matzo ball recipe is printed on the box. Matzo ball mixes are also available.

Challah

This recipe for a traditional Sabbath egg bread comes from Eva Lassman.

1 tablespoon yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

1-1/4 cups warm water

4-1/2 to 5 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 well-beaten egg yolk, for glaze

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; set aside until spongy. In large bowl, sift flour, sugar and salt. Make a well and add the yeast mixture, oil and eggs; mix to form dough. Knead on a floured board until dough is elastic. Brush with oil, place in a covered bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.

Punch down and knead again. Let dough rest for 2 minutes, then divide into 3 parts. Roll each part into a long strand, and braid. Place on greased baking sheet; let stand until doubled in bulk. Brush with egg yolk. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes.

Gefilte Fish

Mary Noble calls this “my food processor version of Mama’s unbeatable recipe.”

Fish mixture:

1 pound sole

1 pound red snapper

1 pound cod

1 large onion

6 celery sticks

1 large carrot

6 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups matzo meal (see note)

1/3 cup oil

3 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Stock:

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, diagonally sliced

3 stalks celery, cut into chunks

For the fish mixture: Use fish that is fresh, or completely thawed. Cut onion, carrot and celery into chunks. Process 1/3 of vegetables in food processor, until coarse; add 1/3 of the fish (use some of each type) and process until finely ground. Empty into a large bowl and repeat twice more, until all vegetables and fish are ground.

Blend the combined mixture to an even consistency. Add eggs, sugar, matzo meal, oil, salt and pepper. Mix by hand until thoroughly blended. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

For the stock: Fill a 12-quart stock pot (or two smaller Dutch ovens) half-full with water. Add seasonings and vegetables; bring to a boil. Moisten hands and form fish into egg-shaped patties. (Cook one or two test pieces to make sure they don’t fall apart. If they do, add more matzo meal to fish mixture - be generous - and try again.)

Drop balls into boiling water; cover and simmer approximately 1 hour. Remove from heat and let cool completely before removing from pot with slotted spoon. Garnish with carrot slices. Makes 3 to 4 dozen pieces of fish.

Note: Matzo meal can be found in some larger supermarkets.

Carrot Tzimmes

This recipe from Temple Beth Shalom’s kosher dinner was adapted by Ethel Grossman.

1 medium onion, chopped

3 tablespoons margarine

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon seasoning salt (preferably Spike brand)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup orange juice, mixed with 1 tablespoon corn starch

2-pound bag small, peeled carrots

8 to 10 dried, pitted prunes

In a deep frying pan, saute onions in margarine until browned. Combine honey, brown sugar, seasoning salt, ginger and lemon juice with orange juice mixture and blend well. Add whole carrots and heat through. Add prunes. Pour sauce over all, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes, either on the stove or baked in a casserole dish in a 350-degree oven.

MEMO: This sidebar ran with story: DINNER TIME The 55th Annual Kosher Dinner will be served Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Temple Beth Shalom, 1322 E 30th. Admission is $8 for adults, $4 for children aged 11 and under. Advance tickets are recommended, and available at several locations; call 747-3304 for information.