Schmaltz Is Chic — And All the Week’s Hot Dish
Image by Courtesy of By the Way Bakery
Schmaltz is a key ingredient in the base for Ivan Orkin’s shio ramen.
Schmaltz is hot, says hip mag.
At Ivan Ramen, the Lower East Side spot from the New York chef who took Tokyo, Ivan Orkin, schmaltz is a key ingredient in the base for his shio ramen.
Chef David Santos, who operates a Nashville-style hot chicken pop-up, tells Modern Farmer that “traditional hot chicken sauce is made with pork fat. I chose chicken fat, a.k.a. schmaltz, because its melting point is lower so it coats my hot chicken better.”
And Chef Kevin Adey of Brooklyn’s Faro says schmaltz “is awesome. I caramelize chicken skin, puree it with the rendered chicken fat, and use it to finish items like white asparagus and scallops, even cauliflower and dark leafy greens.”
Hamantaschen Goes Rogue
Image by Courtesy of Moishe's Bake Shop
Other bakeries may be going rogue with their hamantaschen flavors this week, but Lower East Side staple Moishe’s will be keeping it traditional.
Not that we need an excuse, but there’s still time to stock up on hamantaschen before Purim. And a few spots are moving beyond the usual varieties.
Brown’s Deli in Maitland, Florida, always offers apricot and raspberry, but just rolled out envelope-pushing flavors like reverse-chocolate peanut butter, s’mores, almond coconut delight, cherry pie and cinnamon apple.
Image by Courtesy of By the Way Bakery
Delicious gluten-free, dairy-free hamantaschen from By the Way Bakery.
San Francisco’s Arizmendi Bakery has whipped up chocolate ganache and poppy-walnut versions. By the Way Bakery, New York’s gluten-free kosher fave, added raspberry to the mix along with apricot and prune this year. Breads Bakery added coffee and cheesecake flavors to the mix. And for traditionalists, there’s always the mothership: Moishe’s Bake Shop in New York’s East Village, where classics — like lush poppy and prune — reign supreme.
Bison & Bourbon in Brooklyn
Bison and bourbon are coming to Brooklyn’s white-hot Gowanus ‘hood. Yeahthatskosher reports that Bison & Bourbon, a glam Glatt kosher restaurant and event space, should open “in the near future”.
Owner David Shagalov tells DNAInfo the meat-focused menu will include traditional entrees as well as small-portioned, tapas-like “bites.” More to come.
Forward Editor to Speak on Fatherhood at Books + Booze
We’re not biased, but this edition of Books + Booze at the 14th Street Y should be especially engaging. And not just because the Forward’s own Adam Langer is a panelist, or that the topic is On Jewish Fatherhood (and how to survive it). Or that it’s a free event with noshes and tipples…
Jewish + Sushi = Jewshi
Image by Courtesy of The Salsa Truck
Video of the week: Dan Salls, owner of Chicago’s Salsa Truck, demonstrated his technique for making “Jewshi” for the Chicago Reader.
“We’ve got a gefilte-fish sashimi with beet horseradish, and we’ve got a potato-pancake nigiri with corned beef and pastrami with horseradish mustard. And of course everything is covered in fresh horseradish, because you can never have enough of that,” Salls told the Reader.
He was throwing down in response to a challenge from a local restaurateur who’d just opened a Polish-Korean eatery. “The joke’s on him, because that’s, like, the easiest ingredient in the world for me,” Salls said. “Being a Jew, I grew up on it.”
Wow, Who Knew? (We Asked, Sarcastically…)
Breaking news from The Daily Beast: Jewish food is having a revival. Russ and Daughters Café! Sadelle’s! Mile End Deli! Who knew?
Somebody should do an event http://events.forward.com/ about this!
Telegraph Discovers Tel Aviv
The UK Telegraph took a weekend break in Tel Aviv last week, and discovered some of the city’s crackling food culture.
Recommended stops: Modern-rustic spot North Abraxas (for “simple, local” dishes, including whole roasted cauliflower served on a paper sheet), organic joint Meshek Barzilay for breakfast, wine bar Halutzim 3 for Italian/Mediterranean, fusion-y spot Oasis and Euro-Asian mashup Mizlala for everything.
Pastrami-Flavored Steak in New Jersey
There’s some Jewish flavor at American Cut, the new Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, steak joint from celeb chef Marc Forgione.
His pastrami hanger steak was inspired by none other than Katz’s Deli, Forgione tells NorthJersey.com.
“I knew I wanted to do an homage to N.Y.C., and while eating a pastrami sandwich in Katz’s, I thought, ‘Why not season steak with pastrami spices and put it in the smoker?’ ” It was, he said, an instant hit.
Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward.
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