Kosher connection

Paul Paroff and his band of capable helpers pulled an all-night shift in the kitchen of Temple Beth Shalom last weekend. There was Lloyd the anesthesiologist, Jeff the plumber and Scott the food distributor, to name a few. But on this night, the men broke from their usual professions and became cooks for the temple’s Kosher Dinner.

The dinner is a regional gathering scheduled for Sunday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the temple, 30th Avenue and South Perry Street. About 250 people, from the temple’s matriarchs and patriarchs to its youngest children, help make the dinner an annual success, dating back to its origin 64 years ago.

“To have that many people help, in this day and age,” said dinner chairwoman Rebecca Lee, “It’s amazing.”

This year’s overnight crew included nine men. Their job was to prepare the main course of the Jewish feast – the brisket. The beef was ordered from a Kosher butcher in Chicago. Guests of the dinner will gobble up about 1,000 pounds of brisket as organizers anticipate more than 2,000 people will pass through the temple for the traditional meal, Jewish music and dance.

The side dishes will include potato knish, a potato mixture wrapped in crust; tzimmes, a sweet carrots and prunes combination; challah, a soft braided egg bread; Mediterranean apples, sliced apples in a rich sauce; and apricot kuchen, a coffee-cake like dessert. Those who like coffee with a meal or dessert will have to drink it without milk or cream. Mixing dairy products and meat at the same meal is not kosher.

Kosher, which is Hebrew for “fit” or “proper,” refers to a method of food preparation and the dietary laws governing its consumption. Kosher foods conform to strict Jewish biblical laws pertaining to what foods can be eaten, what foods can be eaten together in one meal and how the animal is killed.

While congregants do a lot of the preparing, the temple also uses outside help from kosher bakers. But much like men who take charge of the grill at summer barbecues, the men of Beth Shalom take pride in cooking the enormous amount of brisket, which is frozen and thawed in time for company.

“My first job was scrubbing pots, so I like to say ‘I worked my way up,’ ” said Paroff, this year’s dinner chairman who has been involved in the Kosher Dinner since 1976.

As for disclosing their recipe for their sweet, tender beef, the chefs keep it to themselves.

“We want to keep our friends in the community coming back,” explained Lee. “Our recipe is based on 1,000 pounds of brisket. I don’t know if we would know how to break it down to a family recipe.”

However, that’s not to say there aren’t other brisket recipes to share.

“We all have different recipes,” said Jeff Yaeger, who helped prepare this year’s brisket. “And everybody always has the best recipe.”

Joan Nathan, foremost authority in Jewish cooking and author of eight books, explains in her new cookbook “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook (Schocken Books, $24.95), “Before the middle of the 19th century, beef was not widely eaten. Most Jews ate chicken, goose, or in the Middle East, lamb. Potting what beef was available was a good way to preserve it. It is no wonder, then, that every Jewish mother has her special pot roast recipe, something that can be prepared in advance for Jewish holidays” (and throughout the year).

Dennis Twigg, a longtime volunteer of the Kosher Dinner said the temple has tried a variety of brisket recipes over the years – a different ingredient here, a different ingredient there – but it has gone back to the tried and true.

“It’s one of the tastiest and it appeals to the congregation and the guests,” Twigg said.

As for one of the secrets the cooks aren’t shy about divulging, Paroff said, “Cook it a long time. Cook it until it gives up.”

Here are two recipes are from “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook.” Lee also provided her family recipe.

My Mother’s Brisket

From “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook”

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

1 tablespoon black pepper

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup chili sauce

1 1/2 cups white vinegar (see note)

1 (5-pound) brisket of beef, shoulder roast or beef, chuck roast, or end of steak

1 cup chopped celery leaves

2 onions, sliced

4 carrots, sliced

2 cups water

Mix the salt, pepper, brown sugar, chili sauce and vinegar together. Pour over meat and let stand overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place meat in an ovenproof casserole and pour the marinade over the meat. Cover with celery leaves, onions, carrots and water.

Cover and bake for two hours, basting often with marinade. Remove the cover and bake for one more hour. (Allow approximately 30 minutes per pound for roasting.) When done, strain the marinade and reserve.

The dish is best prepared in advance so that the fat can easily be skimmed from the surface when it has cooled. When ready to serve, slice brisket and reheat the strained pan marinade.

Author’s note: You can also put all the ingredients in a covered casserole and bake in a 200-degree oven overnight for about nine hours. This slow cooking breaks down the membranes of the meat, making a more tender roast.

Stanford Herskovitz, known as Mr. Brisket in Cleveland says that when the brisket is roasting, the point (fatter side) should be down; when reheating, the flat (leaner side) should be down. “Use a choice, whole brisket; never use a first cut, because the butcher throws away the fat and it’s drier.”

Recipe tester’s suggestion: The vinegar in the recipe can be cut back to 1 cup, depending on the tenderness of the brisket you choose.

Yield: 8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 480 calories, 23.6 grams fat (10.5 grams saturated, 45 percent fat calories), 54 grams protein, 9.5 grams carbohydrate, 171 grams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 896 milligrams sodium.

Probably the most popular of America Jewish cookies, this horn-shaped treat was made in Europe with butter; cream cheese was added in this country, according to Nathan.

Rugelach

From “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook.”

For the cookies:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Confectioners’ sugar

For the apricot filling:

1 cup thick apricot preserves

3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

For the chocolate filling:

1 cup (about 8 ounces) shaved bittersweet chocolate, preferably imported

1/4 cup sugar

For the cinnamon-sugar filling:

4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

To make the dough, place the cream cheese and the butter in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle. Cream at a low speed until combined, about two minutes. Add the flour and mix until a very soft dough is formed, about two minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with baking parchment.

Mix the ingredients for the apricot or chocolate filling and divide the dough into four balls. Rolls the balls out into four circles about 1/8 -inch think and 9 inches in diameter. Spread the apricot or chocolate filling over the dough. If using the cinnamon-sugar filling, brush the melted butter on first, then the combined cinnamon and sugar.

Using a dull knife, cut each circle of dough into 16 pie-shaped pieces about 2 inches wide at the circumference. Roll up from the wide side to the center. Place the rugelach on the parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake in the oven on the middle and lower racks, switching after 12 minutes, also switching back to front. Continue baking about 13 more minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the rugelach to racks to cool. Sprinkle the apricot and chocolate rugelach with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Yield: 16 cookies

Approximate nutrition per serving: 432 calories, 27 grams fat (15 grams saturated, 56 percent fat calories), 5.3 grams protein, 43.7 grams carbohydrate, 55 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams dietary fiber, 53 milligrams sodium.

Mom’s Brisket

From Rebecca Lee, Temple Beth Shalom

Brisket of beef, untrimmed

4 medium onions, sliced

1 (14-ounce) bottle ketchup

1 (14-ounce) bottle water (use empty ketchup bottle to measure)

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon thyme

Black pepper, to taste

Potatoes (one per person)

Brown the onions and brisket at the same time on top of stove in Dutch oven, being careful not to burn the onions. If the meat still needs more browning, move the onions on top of the brisket. When the meat is well browned, remove both meat and onions and pour off the fat.

Return to Dutch oven and cover with ketchup, water, brown sugar and seasonings. Turn stove to low and simmer covered for 3 hours. Add cut up potatoes after three hours and simmer for one additional hour.

Cut across the grain and serve.

Yield: Varies

Nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate due to recipe variables.