No doubt about it – kosher is "in", and not just within the kashrut observant community. The popularity of kosher food in the US has soared, as have the number of products now boasting kosher supervision. New kosher cookbooks are following the trend.
I've just had a chance to review two of them.
Gil Marks spent years researching material for his fascinating Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. He's written over 600 pages on every subject related to Jewish food that you could imagine – and many that you've probably never heard of. (How about Csipetke, Kharcho and Dukkah?) With much detail, Gil discusses ancient and modern foods from Jewish communities all over the world. This is not a standard cookbook, but many delicious and moderately easy-to-make recipes are included.
Although the book cover is absolutely gorgeous, smatterings of black and white photographs don't make this a glamorous read. In fact, it's not a "read through" kind of book at all, unless reading encyclopedias are your thing. But I've been making my way through it slowly, enjoying it immensely and already using it as the exceptionally well-written and interesting reference it's meant to be.
The Kosher Baker by Paula Shoyer is a glamorously designed book with an eye-catching cover and top-notch color photographs throughout. It's organized by preparation time, rather than type of food, which I found a bit awkward.
The premise of Paula's book is that you can re-do any of those gorgeously fancy dairy baked goods you've drooled over for years and make them parve.
She may be right, but at what price to your health? Most of her recipes call for large amounts of solid fat (stick margarine or Crisco), parve whip topping, parve coffee creamer, parve sour cream and cream cheese, and frozen puff pastry.
Here are the ingredients of some of the products called for in her recipes:
Rich's Whip Topping: Water, high fructose corn syrup (sugar), hydrogenated coconut oil, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, more sugar, gums, stabilizers and other various chemicals, flavors and colors
Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry: Unbleached enriched wheat (white) flour, water, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, mono and diglycerides derived from hydrogenated soybean oil, and soy lecithin
Although some of her recipes do use canola oil and soy, rice and almond milk, the majority are dependent on artery-clogging hydrogenated fats and lots of sugar. While recommending these products, Paula claims in her introduction that "…many studies link milk consumption with various medical symptoms and diseases."
Is she referring to dairy allergies or lactose intolerance? If so, how can you compare these to heart disease – the number one cause of death in the US, brought on in large part by diets high in saturated fat, sugar and way too many calories?
I guess Paula and I are just on different wave-lengths when it comes to parve desserts. Her idea is creamy, rich, sweet and loaded with saturated fat, while I prefer desserts made with fresh and dried fruit, nuts, whole grains, olive and canola oil. Maybe there's another kosher cookbook waiting to be written?
"Maybe there's another kosher cookbook waiting to be written?"
ReplyDeleteYES!
I look to vegan deserts frequently because they're parve, and I cannot get over the horrible items in these recipes! Fine, don't eat eggs or milk, but fake whipped topping?
I have been playing with substituting olive oil in my deserts (it works with most things, but not my lemon cake, sadly) and flours made from nuts.
The one thing I'm really stuck on is cake frosting. How do I make a yummy parve cake frosting without using margarine, or Rich's, or tons of white sugar?
So, I repeat: YES! :)
Chana, I am working on getting kosher people away from processed, packaged parve desserts and bakery items with fillings that come from huge bins. Baby steps. Homemade is healthier. I wish we had healthier and tastier margarines and whipping creams and I am ready to be the one in the lab creating those. Everywhere I appear, I preach portion control and if a dessert is more satisfying, you eat less. I am a fit kosher pastry chef with no major health problems - proof that you can eat desserts as long as they are part of a healthy diet. I am already moving towards more whole grains and less fat, see pumpkin bread on my website www.paulaspastry.com. When I was in the midwest giving a talk about planning healthier meals in the Jewish community and told them to avoid heavy kugels, they almost ran me out of the room.
ReplyDeleteYes Alisa, parve cake frosting is problematic if you're looking for a fluffy "dairy look-alike". You can top a parve cake with a simple citrus glaze or powdered sugar. For an easy chocolate glaze, melt 8 ounces (225 gm) semisweet chocolate with 2 tablespoons of canola or light-tasting olive oil.
ReplyDeleteDear Paula,
ReplyDeleteI think we agree on a lot. I'm certainly not against eating desserts. I love to bake, and usually eat at least one small piece of dark chocolate a day, while still staying fit and slim. Unfortunately, we are probably in the minority when it comes to eating well and exercising regularly.
As long as people in our community continue to eat high calorie, high-fat foods as frequently as they do, getting them to take small steps - like portion control and adjusting their recipes is a great strategy. I also encourage saving baked goods for Shabbat and holidays.
But when it comes to hydrogenated and trans fats, whether home-made or store-bought, they are just not good for you. There's really no difference if the product comes from the grocery store or a bin at a commercial bakery. The only margarine I might use is Earth Balance (did you catch the typo - Earth's Best, in your intro?), though I'm not a fan of palm oil.
Your pumpkin bread recipe sounds delicious. I'll try it with winter squash, since we don't get canned pumpkin here. And maybe silan instead of honey for an Israeli touch.
I lived in Chicago for 10 years and in Milwaukee for 5, so I know just what you're talking about. People thought I was an Oregon "health-nut" because I served salmon instead of cholent for lunch on Shabbat.