JW Magazine - Summer 2015

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Summer 2015

(Baseball) Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

A Passion for Pickling

Women Take Over the Grill

One Mother's Campaign Against Cyberbullying

ROBYN SUE FISHERFOUNDER & CEO,

SMITTEN ICE CREAM

Success on a StickWomen entrepreneurs are innovating with ice cream (and other cool treats).

JW Magazine | jwmag.org2

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GIVE NOW: jwi.org/nli

creating 100 childrens libraries in domestic violence shelters nationwide by 2017


5 BEYOND THE REGISTRY The wedding gifts they can't wait to receive and

some they didn't know they wanted.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

11 ALL GEARED UP In the U.S. and Israel, on baseball diamonds and

lacrosse pitches, girls are building skills, confidence and team spirit.

BY ELIANA BLOCK

17 PICKLED PASSION A new generation of picklers blend a love for

traditional fermentation techniques with a belief in eating locally, sustainably and organically.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

28 I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM From scoop to stick, these entrepreneurs are

making cool treats that impress foodies and make summer festive.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

41 THE HEAT IS ON Barbeque is getting hot in the kosher world.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

44 THIS GIRL IS ON FIRE Move over, dudes: More and more women and

warming up to the grill.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

55 STYLE FOR ALL Lauren Rothman has a recent book and a growing

cadre of clients seeking her advice on how to look appropriate and stylish in the workplace.

BY ELIANA BLOCK

58 TWEET OTHERS AS YOU'D WANT TO BE TWEETED

Linda Rottenberg wants to help us all think like entrepreneurs.

BY BRETT SACHS

S U M M E R 2 0 1 5


Volume 18Number 2

EDITORSusan Tomchin

CREATIVE DIRECTORDanielle Cantor

CEOLoribeth Weinstein

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONSMeredith Jacobs

BOARD OF TRUSTEESKim Oster-Holstein, Chair

Vivian Bass, Chair-ElectNicole Feld

Susan FeldmanMeryl FrankToby Graff

Mardi KunikErica Leatham

Laurie Moskowitz

Diane RadinDeena SilverBeth SloanEllen Stone

Susan W. Turnbull, Immediate Past Chair

Sandy UngerSuzi Weiss-Fischmann

JW is published twice annually in print by JWI, and year-round online. In-spired by our legacy of progressive womens leadership and guided by our Jewish values, JWI works to ensure that all women and girls thrive in healthy relationships, control their financial futures and realize the full potential of their personal strength.

JW magazine is distributed to donors and supporters of JWI and is available for purchase at $5.99 per issue. Postmaster: Please send address changes and inquiries to JW, 1129 20th Street NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036.

Contents JWI 2015

The articles and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the view of JWI or any member thereof. Advertising in JW does not necessarily imply editorial endorsement or guarantee kashrut of products.

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The fall 2015 issue mails in August; call 202.464.4803 or email [email protected] to reserve space now!

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The fall 2015 issue mails in August; call 202.464.4803 or email [email protected] to reserve space now!

The wedding gifts they can't wait to receive and some they didn't even know they wanted.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

PRACTICE


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Crystal and stainless steel TRIANGULAR WEDDING VESSEL ($175) by Israeli artist Anat Mayer holds shards from the glass

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A gift to give before the wedding:

above: DANCING TREE OF LIFEKETUBAH ($220) from Fresh Ketubah

by Naomi Broudo; available on Etsy

top left: LOVE PERIOD KETUBAH ($250) by Baruch Sienna

bottom left: ETERNAL LOVEKETUBAH ($250) by Veronique Jonas

(also available with GOLD LEAF for $350). Both designs and many, many

more available at ketubah.com

photos courtesy of ketubah.com; artwork Baruch Sienna and Veronique Jonas

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In the U.S. and Israel, on baseball diamonds and lacrosse pitches, girls are building skills, confidence

and team spirit.

BY ELIANA BLOCK

photos courtesy of ketubah.com; artwork Baruch Sienna and Veronique Jonas

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ASPIRE


ith one gaze, 11-year-old Natasha Cohen signals to the catcher before whizzing a fastball over home plate, striking out her opponent. With the 9th inning ended and

the game won, both teams line up for cus-tomary high fives. After cheers of victory, Co-

hen will celebrate with her teammates, who have become some of her best friends. Eleven of them are boys.

Cohen, a self-described half-Jew, half-Mexican from Los Angeles, became interested in baseball at the age of four. She loved competing with her cousin in whatever he was doing.

I chose baseball because I got jealous of my cousin and I wanted to play better than him, Cohen said. We were su-per competitive.

While she began playing out of rivalry, challenging herself to outdo her cousin, Cohen learned to love the sport and has stuck with it for seven years.

Im probably even better than him now, she said. Hes bet-ter at hitting, but Im better at throwing.

Cohen is just one of over 100,000 girls in the U.S. who play organized baseball, according to Baseball for All, a non-prof-it that works to educate and empower female players.

While most of these girls practice on male-dominated teams, Justine Siegal, who founded Baseball for All, is trying to change that through mentoring girls, educating commu-nities and creating female-only baseball tournaments.

After being told that no man would ever take a female coach seriously, Siegal decided early, at age 16, that she would pur-sue a doctorate in sports psychology. The PhD was another means to break the norm, she said. I felt that I had to be better to have the same opportunities coaching.

In 2007, Siegal was the only woman to coach baseball on the collegiate level. Two years later she became a pioneer as the first woman to coach a professional team, the Broxton Rox. Siegal went on to become, in 2011, the first woman to throw batting practice to a Major League Baseball team the Cleveland Indians. She later pitched batting practice for the Oakland As, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Mets and the Houston Astros. She became a national sensation featured on TED talks, The Queen Latifah Show, espnW and MLB.com and in Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Ms. and the New York Times. She currently coaches and advocates for her organization, Baseball for All.

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Natasha Cohen in action


Over 7,500 miles away, from the U.S. Pacific coast to Israels Mediterranean coast, 17-year-old Mikaella Rutenberg loves playing midfield in what she says looks like a mans sport. Israel is so new to organized sport that Rutenberg regularly gets stares while wearing her lacrosse gear.

When Im going outside in the streets with my stick every-one stops me asking, What is it, or just says, Wow, you play lacrosse? she said. Its so awesome! My friends tell every-one that Im a lacrosse player.

Rutenberg was introduced to lacrosse when four coaches Emily Brodsky, Taylor Roy, Amanda Tuck, and head coach Hannah Deoul, all of whom had played lacrosse in high school and college and made Aliyah to Israel began adver-tising the sport to schools in Ashkelon.

The Israel Lacrosse Association began with mens and wom-ens national teams after its founding in 2011 and organized teams for boys in five cities in 2011. Until the coaches took the initiative, no program for girls existed. In fall 2014, they started U-19, a national girls team in Ashkelon, Baltimores sister city.

Deouls first hurdle was making running around and getting sweaty appealing to teenage girls. In a society that values glamorous Middle Eastern femininity, Deoul was selling slicked ponytail hairdos and lacrosse sticks.

We started to grow our team culture mostly within the girls themselves who thought they couldnt be sweaty and take pictures, she said. Getting our girls to all put their hair in ponytails sounds little, but it means that theyre gaining con-fidence that you can be sporty and attractive, and weve seen them become really proud of that.

According to assistant coach Emily Brodsky, they had to work to change the conception of sports in a country where girls are doing gymnastics and dance. Most girls, she said, hadnt been on a team or couldn't understand the concept of competitive team sports. Coaches not only had to con-vince Israeli parents to allow their daughters to play, but to pay for it. Additionally, she said, parents often dont under-stand the commitment of having their daughters show up to every practice.

Parents dont think sports are a reason to spend money, which is so different from in the U.S., where sports are a huge part of life and sometimes a priority, Brodsky said.

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U19's Mikaella Rutenberg pursues a shot.


Below, top and bottom: Justine Siegal, founder of Baseball for All, coaches some of the girls;

Center: Natasha Cohen pitching a game

Above, top and middle: Coach Hannah Deoul helps U19 player Shirel Fresh

Bottom: Player Rotem BenZino

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The team is heavily subsidized by Balti-more donors and the team prides itself on not turning any girl away because of financial issues. To play in the league costs 100 shekels a month, equivalent to 25 dollars, for stick, goggles, and la-crosse balls. If the players cant afford the fee, they still get to play.

This understanding has allowed par-ents to trust the coaches and the girls to build a community and a love for organized sport.

The spirit of the coaches made me want to join the team, Rutenberg said. The team is like a big family.

Deoul also called her team a family and shares in players personal victo-ries off the field too.

We just attended a graduation for three of our girls, she said. They cried when they saw us there.

It is really inspiring to see how much they have changed and grown since starting lacrosse, said Brodsky. They are confident, committed to learning about the game and proud to represent Israel. They work together and support each other.

Adds Deoul: Time management, self-confidence, trust in others, working with people, commitment, its a perfect activity to train them[and] all those things translate directly to training for the army.

On Los Angeles baseball diamonds, too, girls are building skills, fostering strong relationships and making mem-ories with teammates.

Cohens dad, Josh, attends all of her regular baseball games, but he said when his daughter played on Siegals U-11 team during a tournament it was pretty amazing.

When she played with the girls, there was an instant connection because they all seemed to be the same as her, Josh said. The kids there were also the only girls on their teams and she was able to relate to them in a way that she doesnt relate to her [boy] teammates.

Cohen has kept up her relationship with Siegal, and interviewed her role model one-on-one for a school project. She recalled the skills Siegal taught her, like catching and stealing bases, but what was far more memorable was the star coachs lasting impression on the preteen.

I think its really cool that she made this organization for girls to play and that you can meet girls that play just like you, Cohen said, I know she was the first woman to do that and thats re-ally cool.

For me its all about the girls and Im really honored when I can bring atten-tion to them, Siegal said. The next step is showing that a girl doesnt need to be a superstar to play baseball. We need to celebrate all the girls who play.

But for Josh Cohen, his daughter, the pitcher, is a superstar.

Right now shes a little more ad-vanced, he said. Shes probably one of the top two or three players on her team, and Im not just bragging!

Siegals first Girls National Baseball Tournament took place at the Walt Disney Resort from May 30-June 4. Rutenberg, coach Deoul, and the rest of the members of Israels national girls lacrosse team will compete at the 2015 FIL (Federation of International La-crosse)Womens U-19 World Cup in Edinburgh, Scotland, July 23rd through August 1st.

Eliana Block is an intern at JW magazine.

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It is reallyinspiring to see how much they have changed and grown since starting lacrosse...

They are confident, committed to learning about the game and proud to represent Israel.

They work together and support each other.


Above: Rooftop Yoga and Meditation (left) and Bootcamp Workout (right).

Below: Cake Pops and EntrepreneursBottom: The Young Women's Leadership Conference

D.C.'s young Jewish professionals are having fun in the city with

JWI's Young Women's Leadership Network!

New networks are starting soon in New York and Denver...

Join us at jwi.org/ywln!

PickledPassion


NOURISH

A new generation of picklers blends a love for traditional fermentation techniques with a belief in eating locally, sustainably and organically.

BY SUE TOMCHIN


ne of cookbook au-thor and food writer Karen Solomons ear-liest memories is going

with her mother and grandmother to Jewish

delis in her home town of Worcester, Mass., and near her

grandmothers home in Deerfield Beach, Fla. We would sit down and there would be a basket of rolls, and bowls of pickles and sauerkraut. I would be perfectly happy eating just those things, she recalls.

Though she obviously didnt know it at the time, pickling cucumbers, cab-bage and a wheelbarrows full of oth-er veggies would become one of her passions. In this season when home gardens are flourishing and farm-ers markets are overflowing with lo-cal produce, JW decided to check in with Solomon as well as three other women Miriam Feiner, Blair No-son and Julia Braun who are mem-bers of a new generation of picklers. They combine an interest in tradi-tional fermentation techniques with a craving to recapture the flavors lost in mass production and a belief in eating locally, sustainably and or-ganically. None of them think twice about putting up a crock of cukes or kraut to ferment or turning a basket of beets into a tangy condiment to add spunk to a main dish or sparkle to a salad.

In the dedication to one of her cook-books, Solomon credits her mom, Arlene, with teaching her how to take pleasure and refuge in the kitch-en. When growing up in Worcester and later in Florida, she often stood at her moms side to watch as she pre-pared such familiar Ashkenazi Jewish dishes as kugel, chicken soup and stuffed cabbage.

Yet, as Solomon told me when we spoke, making pickles or other con-diments from scratch wasnt on her moms radar. To this day she has 6 or 7 bottles of bottled salad dressing and jars of commercial pickles in her refrigerator, she says.

Solomons interest in the power of homemade condiments was born while she was in college and visited her future partners parents for the first time. I ate a salad with home-made dressing I thought was amaz-ing. It made me think, if dressing could be that good, what about other things?

That revelation ultimately inspired Solomon to make from scratch the staples most of us are used to buying at the store, among them not only salad dressing but crackers, mayonnaise, ketchup, butter, marsh-mallows, smoked fish, jams and pickles from green beans to daikon to kimchi. What she learned became the basis of two cookbooks: Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It.

When people need food items, they add them to the grocery list, she

says. I love being able to open peo-ples eyes and give them the option of making something themselves. To do this, they probably already have everything in the house they need.

Despite her forays into many differ-ent kinds of food preparation, Solo-mon says that she always keeps com-ing back to pickling. In her critically acclaimed recent book, Asian Pickles: Sweet, Salty, Cured and Fermented Pre-serves from Japan, Korea, China, India and Beyond, she writes: Although I love all my kitchen creations the way a mother hen loves her flock, pickles have truly captured my heart (and my stomach!). Asian Pickles is a book filled with new pickle possibili-ties, including an array of chutneys and kimchis, the latter a nonnego-tiable part of the Korean meal.

In the Jewish gastronomic realm, Pickles were there to cut the heavi-ness and fattiness of food, Solomon says. Anything acidic wakes up the taste buds and makes rich, fatty food taste better. And in Jewish cuisine we have always had sweet and sour fla-vors in such things as cabbage rolls, created by using citric acid.

Solomon has a tried and true recipe for kosher dills for which she uses ei-ther the traditional Kirby cucumbers or sometimes Persian cucumbers, which were just coming into season when we spoke. And, since she can get cabbage pretty much year round, I always have a kraut going, she says. At the end of the season she pickles whatever tomatoes are left in her small home garden in San Fran-ciscos Mission District that havent been sliced or fried. Everyone in the household loves pickles, including her two young sons, even her dachs-hund.

While pickling seasonal vegetables is enjoying a surge in popularity, back

in the days before refrigeration, Jews living in colder climates where veg-etables couldnt be obtained year round, regarded pickles as a necessity and kept crocks of pickled cucum-bers, shredded cabbage and beets on hand in their root cellars to help get them through the winter. Pickled vegetables were an important source of vitamins and an original way to flavor food, says Solomon.

While pickles is a catch-all word, referring both to pickles made with vinegar and those made with brine, says Solomon, the kosher dills, half-dones and sauerkraut one associates with the delis of yore were generally in the latter camp. The brine is com-posed of salt and water that, when used in the right ratios, and in com-bination with the bacteria naturally found in the vegetables, induces a process called lacto-fermentation. A crock or jar of pickles or sauerkraut is left in a warm place for two to three weeks until it reaches the preferred flavor; refrigeration then halts the fermentation process. Eating lacto-fermented foods is thought to boost healthy bacteria in the body, a valu-able aid to digestion and immunity.

I love the way the way pickled things taste and having them in the refrigerator, says Solomon. I always love discovering a jar Id forgotten about hidden in the back.

Miriam Feiner: Pickling the Harvest

Miriam Feiner had been working in environmental education and for Jewish summer camps when she saw that Adamah was offering fellowships at its farm at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Vil-lage, Conn. The program combined farming using organic and sustain-able methods with hands-on experi-

ences with ecology, food systems and spiritual practice. This seemed like a perfect fit for Feiner's interests and an opportunity to increase her knowledge about gardening. Taking part in the fellowship in the summer of 2006, she recalls, took things to a whole new level for me, growing cucumbers and then learning to pre-serve them using the same traditional salt water brine methods used by our ancestors.

She returned two years later to work on Adamahs staff, serving as its Val-ue-Added Products Business Manag-er in charge of preserving the farms produce. We would start cucumber seedlings a couple weeks apart and they could come in in stages but we could harvest hundreds of pounds at one time, she recalls. It would hap-pen so fast. I felt like it was a very big responsibility making sure they didnt go to waste.

adamah's pickled turnips & kohlrabi



Despite the pressure, she enjoyed working with the team of Adamah fellows as they transformed the pro-duce they picked into a few thousand jars of pickles, kimchi, dilly beans and fruit preserves. We would play music and dance and then process food. Friendships were formed from the conversations going on, she says.

After Adamah, she ran a school gar-den program in San Francisco in which she did planting, gardening and cooking, and now works for the Berkeley School District, though not in the environmental field.

One of the biggest pleasures of my experiences is being able to go to the farmers market and get vegetables in season, creating combinations that maybe no one has made before. Its exciting to use my creativity.

Blair Noson: Creating a Pickle CSA

Like the other women, we spoke to, Blair Noson, 30, of the Detroit area, had no family tradition of pickling. Her initial interest in food preser-vation came from an unexpected source. My mom read me Laura Ingalls Wilders books when I was young. I dont know if she intended to impart to me pioneer values, but thats what happened. I became en-amored of being self-sufficient.

Noson taught herself to cook in col-lege and worked in a pizzeria, along the way becoming interested in the slow food movement and environ-mentalism.

In 2008 she had a three-month sum-mer fellowship at Adamah that com-bined farming, pickling and other tangible life skills with Jewish text study on agriculture, the environ-ment and sustainability. At Adamah, I learned about Shabbat in a farm-

ing context, she says. You work for six days and then take a day to stand back and experience the world as complete. She stayed on that fall to work as a pickle apprentice under Miriam Feiner, helping with pickle production.

When Noson returned to her native Michigan after Adamah she found that the urban agriculture movement was flourishing. People were inter-ested in learning about food preser-vation because they wanted to get control of where their food is coming from. Called upon to teach classes about pickling, drying and canning, she decided that she would start a pickle business.

In addition to teaching classes, friends began asking Noson to make pickles for events. She also started a pickle CSA. People would pay me at the beginning of the season and I would give them two jars of pick-les every month for six months. All told there were a total of 12 different types, including butternut squash kimchi, dilly beans, pickled cauli-flower, shredded beets, and parsnip kimchi. During the second year of her CSA, she grew her own cucum-bers so she could make dill pickles from her own crop.

The fact I had a refrigerator filled with foods I had made added value to my life, she says of those two years running the business.

At the end of the second year, she realized that for the business to grow she needed to scale up by rent-ing kitchen space and adding staff. However, her interest in the Jewish community took her in a different direction. Noson became involved in two Jewish initiatives in Detroit: She co-founded (with a black and Jewish synagogue member who was president of her block club) Eden

Gardens, a Jewish and African-American inner city farm project, and co-created PeerCorps, a program teaching Jewish teens about social and environmental issues. Ultimate-ly, she decided to go back to graduate school for a masters in Jewish educa-tion at the Jewish Theological Semi-nary in New York.

Though her life no longer centers on pickling, Noson's immersion in fermentation and pickling continues to inform her perspective. Preserv-ing and fermentation made me think about Jewish texts differently, she says. Among those things that she approached with new insight is mat-zah and its connection to sourdough, which is based on fermentation. Read her fascinating dvar Torah, To Celebrate Passover, We Must Learn to Bake Bread.

Julia Braun: From Kraut to Kosher Adventures

I was a food entrepreneur from an early age, says Julia Braun, 32, who

julia braun's pickled kumquats


now runs Noshland, a kosher cater-ing company in Oakland, Calif. At 9 or 10, I started a jam business with a neighbor. I would pick blackberries and had the idea to make and sell jam. It didnt last.

Pickles were an infrequent presence in her childhood growing up in the only Jewish family in the town of Bandon, Oregon. Her main exposure to them, came, like Solomons, at del-is in the Northeast. She and her mom would travel to the East Coast to see family and would enjoy deli lunches with her grandfather.

I associated the half sours we had with my family on the other side of the country, she recalls. Her mother was a gardener, but not a pickler. Braun does remember making pre-serves from some of the blueberries for which Oregon is known.

Pickling entered her life in earnest 5 or 6 years ago when she was living in New Orleans. Cabbages are thrown during the citys St. Patricks Day parade. I am against food waste, so I started pickling, not with cucum-bers, but cabbage. She discovered a book by fermentation revivalist San-dor Katz called Wild Fermentation, and became infatuated with the pro-cess, regularly making fire kraut and kimchi.

When she moved to the San Fran-cisco Bay area with its burgeoning artisan food community in 2012, she took her pickling knowledge to the next level by working for two years at The Cultured Pickle, a shop that on any given day offers at least 10 kinds of sauerkraut, 4 varieties of kimchi, 14 different types of seasonal special-ty pickles, among many other things It was really more of an apprentice-ship than a job, learning from some of the best how to transform vegeta-bles into new flavors, she says.

Interested in revitalizing the tradi-tional Jewish foods of Eastern Eu-rope, she launched a bicycle-powered food cart/catering company that she named Hugs and Knishes, selling Eastern European Jewish street foods such as pirogies and cabbage rolls.

"when i am fermenting vegetables

i feel like i'm part of a process much

bigger than myself. . . lacto fermentation

is a living breathing biological process. i feel like i'm only the person igniting this process. everything

else is up to the bacteria. it's very

humbling and miraculous to me."

The positive response to the cart in-spired her to learn more: she studied at the Brooklyn Center for Kosher Culinary Arts becoming a certified kosher chef and returned to the Bay area to launch Noshland, a company which combines food, classes and events, to create a fun environment full of community and connection.

At Noshland, she has taught classes in fermentation, but also on making

challah, crafting wood-fired bagels and homemade cream cheese and perfecting such Jewish pastries as babka and rugelach. She also caters events both large and small: Her pop-up Passover Seder in the garden in-cluded a 5-course dinner inspired by the Seder plate. Pickled watermelon radishes adorned the salad and rib-bons of fermented beets added a pop of color to the main dish: Matzoh flatbread with horseradish braised lamb, cauliflower puree, parsley oil and fermented beet.

When she pickles she tries to be as creative as possible, while honoring the flavor of the vegetables. She has fermented beets from her own gar-den with coriander, mustard seeds and shallots and cured kumquats in tangerine brine to which she added chipotle pepper and chiles de arbol, a Spanish chile similar to cayenne. She says that one of her best krauts is cabbage with green apple and lemon-grass. I tend to focus a lot of my fer-menting on root vegetables and bras-sicas (cabbage family), she notes.

To me, when I am fermenting veg-etables I feel like Im part of a pro-cess much bigger than myself, she says. Lacto fermentation is a living breathing biological process. I feel like Im only the person igniting this process. Everything else is up to the bacteria. Its very humbling and mi-raculous to me.

Our food system can seem fast and scary. By creating pickles and sau-erkraut, jams and other preserved foods, we become part of the process and part of the food system in a way that feels safe.

Sue Tomchin is editor of JW magazine.


Fermenting Tips, Tricks &

Resources (from Julia Braun of Noshland)

Experiment with different vegetables. I enjoy fermenting root vegetables, hearty greens like turnip greens or beet greens, and cabbage of all colors.

Add an allium such as a shallot, garlic, or onion for an earthy sweetness

Spices such as fenugreek (maple fla-vor), coriander, mustard seed, and fen-nel are great additions.

Use a scale to weigh your vegetables in grams. Multiply this amount by 0.025 and this will give you the right amount of salt to use.

Use sea salt to ferment. The added minerals boost nutritional value, and I have found through trial and error that the product ferments more quickly and with a less salty flavor.

I can't overemphasize the benefits of really packing down the veggies firmly in the jar. Any air pocket is a chance for bad bacteria, mold or yeast to grow.

If you notice browning, remove the brown vegetables from the jar as soon as possible and wipe down sides with a paper towel. If you notice white on your ferment, it is most likely yeast and is a result of exposure to oxygen and not enough brine. Remove the yeast and continue to ferment. Pink or green fuzz (mold) is a bad sign, and you will need to toss the ferment. Smell tells you a lot too. It should smell salty and fragrant. Any foul smell is a red flag; do not con-sume ferments that don't smell good.

Some great websites for fermentation: wildfermentation.com punkdomestics.com nourishedkitchen.com

JW Magazine | jwmag.org 23From Julia Braun of Noshland

watermelon radish pickle

These ingredients are abundant in the Bay Area in early spring. All ingredients can be substi-tuted. Any radish can work; green onions can substitute for green garlic; and regular lemons can work in place of Meyer lemons. I would not use black pepper in place of pink pepper as the flavor is much more powerful with black pepper. If pink peppercorn is unavailable, use white or green peppercorns, if possible.

Ingredients

1 pound watermelon radish, cut into quarters and sliced as thin as possible (use a mandoline or vegetable peeler for best results)

2 bulbs green garlic, white bulb sliced thin and green stem chopped fine

2 tablespoons Meyer lemon zest (about two lemons)

2 tablespoons pink peppercorns

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and let sit at room temperature for an hour or until brine (liquid from vegetables combined with salt) forms.

2. Transfer to a glass jar, packing firmly down to remove all air pockets. A tamper or pestle can aid in this, but avoid using glass to pack down vegetables, as glass can shatter and ruin the batch (It happened to me!).

3. Once vegetables have been firmly packed in the jar, use a smaller jar or bottle that fits inside or insert a bag and fill the bag with a weight, like small, clean stones. The idea is to ensure the vegetables stay submerged under the brine. Cover with some cheese cloth or an old pillowcase and secure to the jar with a rubber band to keep bugs away. You can also purchase jar lids with fermentation air locks, which is a great method.

4. Wait. Taste. Enjoy. In my kitchen, I left the radishes on the counter at room tempera-ture (about 65) for 10 days. Your time may differ based on temperature. Experi-ment and taste the ferment every day to experience the transformation. When it tastes sour and not salty, it can be stored in the fridge for up to 6 months, as long as the color stays strong and the smell stays consistent.

JW Magazine | jwmag.org24Reprinted with permission from Asian Pickles by Karen Solomon, copyright 2014. Published by Ten

Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. Photography 2014 by Jennifer Martine

"wasabi" pickled carrots

Why am I using quotes for wasabi? Because while this is bursting with wasabi flavor, there is no actual wasabi in it. Real wasabi is hard to come by. And the stuff you and I have access to in the grocery store the green-tinged powder, or that gunk in the tube is just dreadful; its full of artificial color, preser-vatives, and mysterious chemicals, and the flavor shows it. Instead, I hereby direct you to buy yourself a fresh bottle of prepared horseradish, close your eyes, and tell yourself its wasabi for this recipe and for any sushi you make at home. If you must, add a little green food coloring or spirulina powder for color. Leftover horseradish can be smeared on your roast beef sandwich, or saved for the gefilte fish on Passover.

TIME: ABOUT 1 HOUR MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

Ingredients

1 pound carrots, preferably a mix of colors, peeled

4 teaspoons prepared horseradish

1 tablespoon kosher salt

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon dried chile flakes

1 teaspoons very finely minced or grated fresh ginger (use a Microplane grater if you have one)

Directions

1. Using a vegetable peeler, cut the carrots into ribbons, getting as much out of each carrot as you can; discard (or eat) the nubs.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the carrots with the horseradish, salt, sugar, chile flakes, and ginger and toss very well, using a fork (or two, if necessary) to really work the seasoning into the carrot ribbons. Cover with a drop lid and a 1-pound weight and let sit for 30 min-utes, retaining any liquid that accumulates in the bottom of the bowl. After a quick toss, the pickle is ready to eat; covered and refrigerated, it keeps for at least 6 weeks.


kosher dill pickle These have the taste of the classic barrel-aged dill pickle of a Jewish deli, bursting with a nice boost of salt and a naturally-created tanginess. Cucumbers are the classic, but by all means, try this with green, unripened tomatoes or Brussels sprouts. And feel free to add additional flavorings such as celery seed, ajwain seed, cumin seed, dill seed, juniper, or whole mustard seeds.

TIME: ABOUT 1-3 WEEKS. THESE PICKLES SHOULD NOT BE CANNED.

Ingredients

About 2 pounds small Kirby, Persian or other small pickling cucumbers

cup kosher salt (or about 50 grams)

3 cloves garlic, lightly crushed

1-2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns

One bunch fresh dill

Directions

1. First, prepare the cucumbers. Scrub them really well, particularly the root ends, as these can leave your pickles soggy.

2. Place the garlic, pepper, and dill in the bottom of a large glass jar or crock, and stack in the cucumbers. Pack them in as tightly as you can without bruising.

3. Meanwhile, in a separate pitcher, combine the salt with 1 quart of water until it makes a cloudy brine.

4. Pour the brine over the cucumbers until they are completely covered in liquid (even if it means mixing up a second batch of brine). The vegetables will want to float: dissuade them from doing so by adding weight (such as a bag full of water over a drop lid) at the top of the jar to fully submerge them.

5. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel to let air in and keep debris out. Let the jar or crock sit in a cool, dark place.

6. After a few days, you will start to notice some small natural fermentation bubbles and a pickled aroma; this is good. You may also see mold spores or slime on top; remove them and discard, and keep checking for their reappearance every few days. Taste after 7-14 days (vegetables will ferment faster in warmer weather, and larger vegetables take longer to ferment). Feel free to let your pickles go longer if youd like them to get more sour and tender (however, note that they will also continue to sour, albeit more slowly, in the fridge). Many people let them go for months for a really tangy taste.

7. When they are ready to eat, either cover tightly or transfer to jars with lids and refrigerate. Be sure to evenly distribute the liquid with the solids (and if you need more liquid, mix up another batch of brine). These will keep, refrigerated, for several months. However, note that the flavor and the texture will continue to evolve, and that your pickles will be at their best after being refrigerated for about a week.

By Karen Solomon, author of Asian Pickles, used with permission.


From scoop to stick, these entrepreneurs are making cool treats that impress foodies and make summer festive.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

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ay the words Jewish ice cream entre-preneurs and the names Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield pop into ones brain as predictably as hot fudge does when you say sundae. Indeed these Ver-mont icons created an admirable model for building a business based on quality products and a social conscience.

But the guys who invented Cherry Garcia and Chunky Money dont have a corner on Jewish ice cream entrepre-neurship. Polish immigrant Reuben Mattus, founder of Hagen Dazs, helped revolutionize the ice cream world with his super-premium brand that boasted not only a distinctive name but a deliciously high butterfat, and an absence of the stabilizers commonly found in commercial brands. At his side was his wife, Rose, who helped build the company by giving out samples in grocery stores. As controller, she handled the companys day-to-day business affairs. Of course, we also cant forget brothers-in-law Bur-ton Burt Baskin andIrvine Irv Robbins who founded the international chain of ice cream emporiums that share their names.

Today the spirit of Jewish ice cream and frozen treat en-trepreneurship is thriving. We offer as proof the stories of three women: Robyn Sue Fisher, of Smitten Ice Cream, Kim Oster Holstein of The Crave Bar, and Fany Gerson of NewYorkina. Though their paths and products vary, they share a commitment to creating unique, artisan-caliber products that enthrall even the most exacting member of todays flourishing foodie culture.

BUILDING A BETTER ICE CREAM MACHINE

Robyn Sue Fishers affection for ice cream runs through the summer evenings of her Boston childhood like a swirl of marshmallow cream through a pint of Rocky Road. My mom would tell me that I had two stomachs, one totally reserved for ice cream, she says.

While ice cream was Fishers familys dessert of choice al-most every night, that didnt preclude special outings to ice cream shops. Those impromptu visits were filled with happy moments and spending time together.

Building a business around those moments was very at-tractive to me, she says about the origins of her Smitten Ice Cream business that recently opened its fifth location in the San Francisco area. Described on its website as new old-fashioned, Fishers ice cream is made from scratch and to order from organic milk and cream and other fresh ingredients from local farms.

Fisher didnt know at first that she was destined to become an ice cream entrepreneur. She worked for years in the corporate world but wasnt truly happy. When she went back to business school at Stanford, she says, I decided to dive into something that I loved with the goal of mak-ing it better. Her other criteria: I didnt want my biggest creations to be power point presentations, as it had been in the corporate world.

When she read the ingredients on ice cream cartons, I couldnt pronounce many of them. Why did all this stuff have to be there emulsifiers, preservatives, stabilizers? she wondered.

What she learned when she started investigating was that commercial ice cream is usually made in large batches and has to be distributed over a wide network, necessitating the additives to maintain quality and consistency.

Her conclusion: Why not make it to order and focus on the taste?

Making it to order meant finding a way to freeze it quickly liquid nitrogen would work but liquid nitrogen also made it hard to freeze each batch consistently and with-out iciness due to the extreme temperature. It took sev-eral years and Fishers life savings to come up with Brrr, an ice cream machine that would meet her goals. I was working with very smart engineers in a basement shop and we figured out how to make something that didnt previously exist, she says. We have four patents on it.

Robyn Fisher with Brrr, her ice cream machine

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In the fall of 2009, Robyn bungee-cordedBrrr atop a Radio Flyer wagon and began selling made-to-order ice cream on the streets of San Francisco, with the help of pastry chef Robyn Lenzi. People would wait patiently in line for half an hour for their cones.

During the red wagon stage, she attended her two-year grad school reunion. Her former classmates asked what she was doing. I would say, Im selling ice cream on the street and they would ask, You mean Wall Street? And I would say, No, the streets of San Francisco. People laughed.

Buoyed by the growing number of devotees, she opened her first stationary locationin a recycled shipping con-tainerin April 2011 in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. Her crew took on the title of Brrris-tas. Four other locations followed, including one open-ing this month. Smitten also offers catering which is called wagoneering, and has done many weddings and private events, especially for Bay Area tech companies.

Our customers are very discerning, Fisher says. They believe in the things we stand for and appreciate that we are making an epically good ice cream that also has or-ganic and natural ingredients.

Each location offers 4-6 flavors a day, depending on the shop. Our 60.5% TCHO Chocolate is to die for, Fisher says. And the most popular flavors are Salted Caramel and Fresh Mint Chip. The latter, she explains, uses real mint and is pale, not bright, green from the leaves, since no food coloring is used.

Chef Lenzi works on flavor development and flavors change frequently, depending on seasonal produce avail-able. For spring, for example, one may find Strawberry White Balsamic or Blood Orange with Pistachio Cook-ies; for summer, Sweet Corn with Berries or Nectarines and Cream; for fall, Crme Fraiche with Pear Caramel or Cinnamon Apple Crisp; for winter, Earl Grey with Milk Chocolate Chips or Lemon Gingersnap.

Fisher is adamant about quality control and doesnt sell her machine or plan to franchise Smitten. I dont want anything to tarnish our brand, she says.

Does she ever tire of eating ice cream? Nope, she says. I often have it for breakfast, because we taste the new flavors in the morning before the stores open.


Smitten Ice Cream's first location in San Francisco


SALTY MEETS SWEET

Chicago area entrepreneur Kim Oster Holstein believes in marriage not only her own to husband Scott (theyve been together 20 years) but also the marriage of flavors salty and sweet.

Those flavors are the inspiration for their innovative prod-uct: The Crave Bar, the artisan-style, chocolate-swathed ice cream bar borne, not on a wooden stick, but a crunchy chocolate and caramel dipped pretzel stick. Kim and Scott have introduced the bar to the Chicago-area market and ultimately plan to take it national.

Holstein (who also serves as chair of JWIs Board of Trust-ees) has always loved chocolate pretzels. Her husbands interest in the ice cream business goes back to the 1990s when his family had a Ben & Jerrys location in Chicago. Those two passions came together and The Crave Bar was born.

This is the couples second company. They founded the first, Kim & Scotts Gourmet Pretzels, in 1995 and sold it in 2012, negotiating with the buyers to retain ownership of The Crave Bar.

Once the legal issues of retaining ownership were resolved, work began in earnest on building the new brand. One order of business was to create a group of flavors to take to the marketplace. As food entrepreneurs, we love to think about new food creations all the time, Holstein says. We

spend a lot of time playing around in the kitchen. Once they come up with ideas, they turn them over to artisan creamery chefs, who help them figure out how to capture the right flavor profile.

The newest flavors are Salted Caramelicious, Peanut Butter Bash, and Mint Mayhem, joining the three original flavors Dark Chocolate Decadence, Milk Chocolate Madness and Cappuccino Craze. We love brainstorming clever names, too, says Holstein. Each variety features its own unique union of super premium ice cream, pretzel crunch and real chocolate, with a fi-nal touch of sea salt, or in the case of Cappuccino Craze, roasted coffee grinds.

We are creating an experience through the bar, says Holstein. The Crave Bar customer is the discriminating foodie who appreciates artisan inspired products, enjoys trying new things, and sees food as an adventure and an experience to be enjoyed.

Our focus is on getting to know our target market instead of trying to please everyone and be everywhere, she says. The Crave Bar is currently available at places where food-ies tend to shop in the Chicago areaselect Whole Foods locations, a local gourmet grocery chain called Marianos, and other smaller artisan markets.

This summer, Holstein and her husband are ramping up the products local presence. The Crave Bar food truck will be on hand a number of festivals and events including the

left: Kim and Scott Holstein in their Crave Bar food truck; right: The Crave Bar in Dark Chocolate Decadence

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Taste of Chicago, the worlds largest food festival. Debut-ing this summer in time for July 4 festivities is a Crave Bar location at the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan. Its in a very cute small Crave house facing the lake, she says. Ongoing catering for weddings, bar mitzvahs and office buildings will continue.

We are a small company building a brand and continue to tweak the prod-uct and the packaging, Holstein says. Recently, for example, they undertook a study of types of chocolate available and decided to make a switch to Cal-lebaut chocolate, one they felt would be more distinctive.

While Crave Bars are sold and pack-aged individually, they also are investi-gating adding bite-sized Crave Bars to their product line and are in the midst of research about creating a gluten-free version, a challenge since gluten free pretzel rods as yet are hard to come by.

Before taking the brand national, we have to be completely ready, Holstein says. Theyll need to have a plan in place for distribution and shipping to all parts of the country, not to mention a marketing plan and budget, and have recently moved to a larger production facility to handle increasing demand.

This time around in building their business, they have social media as a valuable tool. It was just becoming part of our lives when we founded Kim & Scotts, Holstein says. Now it is such a powerful vehicle and makes it more affordable for small businesses to get traction and build a large following in a creative way.

A key piece of their business philoso-phy from their earlier company that theyve brought into their new venture is a belief in giving back. As we say on our website, were raising the bar on fund-raising, by teaming up with organizations to donate a percentage of revenues to their causes, Holstein says. Making this part of our business model adds intention to what we do.

ICE POPS WITH MEXICAN FLAIR

One of Fany Gersons favorite ice cream memories, which she relates in her 2010 cookbook, My Sweet Mexico (Ten Speed Press), was a visit some years ago with her aunt Alex to an ice cream town on the outskirts of Mexico City.

Along the street were about 15 ice cream vendors. Each stand featured between 10 and 15 varieties, all home-made with flavors created from local produce and spices. By the time she and her aunt got back to the car, they had tried at least 15 kinds of ice cream.

Gerson, 38, has never been able to find that spot again (though she says she is still searching), but shes done the next best thing: She has created La Newyor-kina, her own company that sells fro-zen Mexican treats. Founded in 2010 in her adopted home of New York, she uses ingredients that are organic and seasonal, and are sourced from New York state farmers and from small pro-ducers in her native Mexico.

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Gerson came to the U.S. alone at age 19. Her parents, brother, grandmother and other relatives still live in Mexico City. Considered a U.S. authority on Mexican confections, she has also worked at fine restaurants both in New York and abroad.

When she returned from a year in Mex-ico researching her book, My Sweet Mexico, she decided to create a busi-ness to share the flavors that she had rediscovered in her travels. I wanted to continue sharing the sweetness of Mexico. I know it sounds cheesy but thats the truth. The thing is, I kind of wanted to do it all bakery, candy shop, ice creams and one day I had

a dream and it was [about] a Mexican ice cream/candy shop. I knew thats what I wanted to do.

She started by selling paletas, the rectangular, flavor-packed ice pops on a stick that she had enjoyed as a child. Every little town has at least one paletera (paleta shop)

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Helado de Aguacate

(Avocado Ice Cream)

Avocado is one of the many ingredients indigenous to the Americas, and luckily it is available in supermarkets all over the world. The Hass avocado is the creamiest and sweetest variety, but when it comes to sweet preparations, many may wonder avocado ice cream? Most people have had avocado in a salty and/or spicy format, or at least as an accompaniment to something that is not primarily sweet. If you like avo-cado, however, you will really enjoy this ice cream. Its natural oil gives the ice cream a very smooth and silky mouthfeel, and the lime juice heightens its flavor. Although it may taste too sweet before freezing in the ice cream maker, it will be just right when its done.

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

3 ripe Hass avocados

Juice of 2 limes

Pinch of salt

1 cups whole milk

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Peel and pit the avocados.

2. Place the avocado flesh in a blender with the lime juice, salt, milk, and sugar. Blend until smooth.

3. Freeze immediately in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.

and to Mexicans, paletas are like gelatos to Italians, a delicious and integral part of the culture, the La Newyorkina website explains.

Gersons second cookbook, published in 2011, is devoted to the icy treat. Entitled Paletas (Ten Speed Press), it showcases many ways to make them. Either water or cream/milk based, you can include an array of fruits, spic-es, nuts and other ingredients.

At Newyorkina, says Gerson, We have a lineup of nine flavors that include coconut, pink limeade hibiscus, horchata [Mexican rice milk made with cinnamon] and Mexican chocolate. The bestsellers are probably mango chile and cucumber lime, she adds. Other flavors come and go seasonally.

The diversity of New Yorks cultures and the flood of tourists to the city have created a varied clientele. We have many different flavors to please all sorts of palates, Gerson says. The Europeans like simple, classic flavors like mango-blackberry, coconut and lime; Indians love the spicy flavors and the tamarind; Argentinians love the creamy ones like cajeta (goats milk caramel); and the New Yorkers are foodies and love to try different ones.

She started selling the ice pops in 2010 from a cart at the Hester Street fair. (On her website, the Village Voice is quoted as saying of them: The best thing we ate at the Hester Street Fair.) She now has three carts, in addition to her shop in Brooklyn. Her paletas are also available in other stores; a list of these appears on La Newyorkinas website. The company also offers catering.

Gersons native country is never far from her thoughts: A portion of La Newyorkinas sales is donated to an organization called Crea that helps cre-ate employment opportunities in Mexico for low-income women. These women are amazing and a continuous inspiration, she says.

Running La Newyorkina is wonderful, yet challenging, Gerson says. I get to be creative and share part of my culture and my ideas. Running a business, however, is extremely stressful. You are married to your business so you miss out on a lot of important things but that is true of the food industry in general.

She went through tough times when the kitchen where she makes her products was flooded by Hurricane Sandy. Coming back from this has been a long process because the financial damages were substantial, she says. It has taken a long time to recuperate but Ive had amazing support from family, friends and customers. I feel we are finally back on track to where we were heading prior to Sandy and are growing.

A line of old-fashioned Mexican confections has been added to La Newyorkinas offerings and Gerson is at work on a third cookbook this one on Mexican ice creams. I am so excited, she says.

Running the company has brought me closer to home, she says. It feels as though I was meant to do this. I feel this is my purpose.

Sue Tomchin is editor of JW magazine. phot

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From My Sweet Mexico by Fany Gerson, used with permission.


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Paletas de Yogurt con Moras

(Yogurt Ice Pops with Berries)

The Greek-style yogurt provides a creamy consistency for this paleta, so youll have a rich mouthfeel without any of the guilt. This combination is really quite classic, but feel free to replace the blackberries with any other berry.

If you want a marbled paleta, put the blackberries in a blender and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar to taste (just a little sweet) and whirl. Pour the mixture into the molds after adding the yogurt mixture, swirling with a skewer while you pour.

Makes 8 to 10

Ingredients

1 lemon

cup water

cup sugar

1 cups plain unsweetened Greek-style yogurt

2 tablespoons honey

2 cups fresh blackberries, or the berry of your choice

Directions

1. Rinse the lemon, then peel it. (This recipe uses only the peel, so save the lemon for a differ-ent use.) Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon peel, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve, then refrigerate until chilled.

2. Add the yogurt and honey to the chilled syrup and stir until thoroughly combined. Put a bit of the yogurt mixture into each of the molds, to a height of about inch. Freeze until the mixture begins to set, about 40 minutes.

3. If the blackberries are big, cut them in half. Divide the blackberries among the molds, then pour in the remaining yogurt mixture, dividing it evenly among the molds.

4. If using conventional molds, snap on the lid and freeze until solid, 3 to 4 hours. If using glasses or other unconventional molds, freeze until the pops are beginning to set (45 min-utes to 1 hour), then insert the sticks and freeze until solid, 3 to 4 hours.

5. If using an instant ice pop maker, gently fold the blackberries into the yogurt prior to filling the molds and follow the manufacturers instructions.

From Paletas by Fany Gerson, used with permission.


Paletas de Pia con Chile (Spicy Pineapple Ice Pops)

In Mexico, fruit and chiles are often found together: in fruit stands, where ground chiles are sprinkled over freshly cut fruit; in fruit-flavored lollipops covered with ground chiles; and in many different ice pops. The spiciness in these ice pops comes from a chile-infused syrup and chunks of fresh pineapple tossed with ground chiles, so they have different layers of flavor and spiciness.

Makes 8 to 10

Ingredients

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 small serrano or jalapeo pepper, split lengthwise

1 ripe pineapple, peeled

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1 to 2 teaspoons ground chiles (piqun, guajillo, or rbol)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Add the serrano, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve.

2. Finely dice 1 cups of the pineapple and coarsely chop the rest. Mixed the diced pineapple with the chile and salt and set aside. Put the coarsely chopped pineapple in a blender or food processor, pour in the syrup, lime juice, and blend until smooth.

3. Divide the blended mixture among the molds, leaving enough room for the diced pine-apple. If using conventional molds, dont snap on the lids yet. Freeze until the mixture has a slushy consistency, about 30 minutes. (This will prevent the diced pineapple from sinking to the bottom when added.)

4. Drop the diced pineapple into the ice pops, dividing it evenly among the molds. If it floats, push it down with a small spoon or an ice pop stick.

5. If using conventional molds, snap on the lid and freeze until solid, about 5 hours. If using glasses or other unconventional molds, freeze until the pops are beginning to set (45 min-utes to 1 hour), then insert the sticks and freeze until solid, 3 to 4 hours.

6. If using an instant ice pop maker, mix the diced pineapple in with the blended mixture, then pour into the molds and follow the manufacturers instructions.

From Paletas by Fany Gerson, used with permission.


JWI's

gala luncheon & awards will beMonday, December 7, 2015

at theWashington Marriott

Wardman Park

Join us for the 15th annual celebration of extraordinary Jewish women

and their achievements!

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Barbecue is getting hot in the kosher world.

BY SUE TOMCHIN


the heat is on


rowing up kosher in the upper South, the world of barbecue with its swine-centric menu

of spare ribs, pulled pork, and bacon-seasoned baked beans was pretty much a closed book to me.

We would occasionally make kosher hamburgers or hot dogs on our portable charcoal grill and my dad would douse them in bottled barbecue sauce, but that was the extent of our foray into an otherwise verboten world.

Apparently kosher cooks have gotten tired of standing on the outside looking in on this style of slow cooking over wood and charcoal that everyone else is rhapsodizing about.

Kosher barbecue businesses are popping up in the New York area and beyond. A few years ago, Texas-born ko-sher chef, caterer and pit boss Ari White launched the Wandering Que, a travelling Texas kosher barbecue. Its centerpiece is a mammoth commercial-grade barbecue rig fueled by wood that pops up at street fairs, festivals and catering venues in the New York area. His slow roasted turkey legs were featured in New York magazine in 2013 and earlier this year he won first place in the innovation category in the Brisket King NYC contest. And two brick and mortar businesses are turning out smoked brisket and ribs among many other dishes: Milts BBQ for the Per-plexed in the Chicago suburb of Lakeview, Ill., and Blue Star Kosher in the Washington burbs.

Texas-based startup Summit Point Farms is featuring among its products kosher Hicko-ry Smoked Sliced Bris-ket, BBQ Pulled Chicken and even BBQ Baked Beans with Hickory Smoked Meat that are as close as the cooler of many kosher super-markets. Rabbis are even getting into the act. This spring, Rabbi Mendel Segal, the executive director of Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City, who organized the Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival, in-troduced a rub and sauce under the RaBBiQ label. The rub is lower in sodium to compensate for the fact that kosher meats are already salted when they undergo the kasher-ing process.

Alongside and sometimes predating these commercial endeavors is the growing kosher barbecue contest cir-

cuit. The granddaddy or should we say zayde of them all is the World Kosher Barbecue Championship, born nearly three decades ago at Congregation Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth (ASBEE) in Memphis, Tenn., as an alter-native to the citys long standingcontest of the swine variety. The festival hosts more than 40 teams and more than 3,000 attendees and is one of the synagogues best fund raisers. And other communities have taken note of ASBEEs success. Now there are 10 or so kosher barbecue festivals (see box) sponsored by synagogues, day schools and JCCs in such cities as Chicago, Kansas City, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Fairfield, Conn.

Among those who got the barbecue bug as she de-scribes it, is Leah Cohen, 42, of Staten Island, N.Y. A bio-chemist and mother of four, Cohen has joined with her husband, Ari, and friends Zvi and Debra Moskowitz, to cre-ate Breaking BBQ, a team that has competed in kosher barbecue festivals in the region.

Kosher barbecue competitions are generally closed com-petitions, Cohen explains. The organization sponsoring

the gathering provides the meat, the grill and the charcoal, and all the other ingredientswood chips, sauces, spices, etc.that teams bring with them must be checked by the on-site rabbi.

Preparation is lengthy. For a Sunday barbecue festival, Cohen explains, You go Thursday night and prepare the meat. Saturday night you start cooking.

Cohen says that she has been one of the few women involved at the contests theyve at-

tended. Not that many women stay up all night with the guys watching to make sure the coals dont go out.

One box of the finished product is presented to the judges and what remains is divided into small portions for the crowd attending to sample.

Categories include brisket, chicken and ribs, but some-times baked beans or chili. Judging is based on presenta-tion, taste and texture.

The Breaking BBQ team includes, from left, Zvi Moskowitz, Debra Moskowitz, Leah Cohen and Ari Cohen.


Many components go into the taste, Cohen says. Every team uses different spice rubs and sauces and different wood chips give different flavors. You also have to prepare the meat right or it wont cook properly or be too tough.

Cohen and her husband are self-taught through reading books about barbecue, watching videos and learning from the people theyve met along the way. They constantly work at perfecting their flavors.

We do a lot of practice sessions and have had people come and score us, Cohen says. Is it too sweet, too spicy?

So far, theyve done well in the chicken and ribs categories. Every time we compete we improve the scores, she says.

The camaraderie of the kosher barbecue world is one of its draws, Cohen says. Her husband became involved because a friend from growing up was doing it. But, she adds, Once we started getting into it, the flavors we were creating were amazing.

Last year, from Rosh Hashanah to Sukkot, she says that 80 percent of our meals were made on the barbecue. The family owns two grills that use charcoal and wood chips and a Pit Barrel Smoker in which they have made brisket and turkey for Thanksgiving.

Says Cohen, Theres nothing like a piece of meat cooked long and slow over indirect heat.

Sue Tomchin is the editor of JW magazine.

2015 KOSHER BARBECUE FESTIVALS Chicago Kosher BBQ Competition and Festival June 14

Kansas City Vaad Kosher BBQ Festival August 16

Southern New England Kosher BBQ Championship and Festival August 30

Cleveland Kosher Rib Burn Off September 7

Charlotte Kosher BBQ Competition September 7

ASBEE World Kosher Barbecue Championship (Memphis) October 18

Atlanta Kosher BBQ Competition October 18

Dallas Kosher BBQ Championship October 25

JCC Barbecue CookOff and Festival (Las Vegas) October 25

The Texas Kosher Barbecue Championship (San Antonio) November 8

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stereotype is rapidly bit-ing the dust or maybe

we should say going up in smoke.

The image of a brawny shorts-clad guy standing

with tongs in hand, flipping burgers and dogs, the smoke from smol-dering charcoal haloing his brow, is growing rarer. Not only are gas grills becoming more the norm, girls are taking their place grill-side along with the guys.

I think originally and by originally I mean at least 15 years ago grilling was done by men because it wasnt just about cooking outdoors, it was about fire-building, says Elizabeth Karmel, aka Grill Girl. A nationally recognized authority on grilling, she

has done her part to bring women into the grilling world through her website Girlsatthegrill.com, founded 14 years ago.

With the advent of good gas grills, grilling has become as easy as flip-ping on a switch and is no longer messy or intimidating to women, Karmel notes. And, even better, grill-ing is fun. Cooking indoors is essen-tially solitary, but grilling is a social activity and takes the drudgery out of food preparation. Women like joining in. You feel a sense of adventure its as close to taking a vacation as you can come, without leaving home.

Karmel recommends purchasing the best quality and largest gas grill you can afford. You may find yourself us-ing it more than your indoor oven. The only thing I cook in my oven are

baked goods, she says, and in sum-mer shell even make crisps and cob-blers on the grill and in the fall, gin-gerbread.

Because heat in a gas grill circulates like in a convection oven, you can make great bread on the grill, she adds. Loaves are crusty and evenly browned. You can even make chal-lah in your grill, but you have to put all bread on a cookie sheet.

And thanks to grilling, brisket isnt just for the Jewish holidays anymore. Its huge as an everyday food, she says. Of course brisket on the grill is Texas-style barbecue brisket and not the traditional brisket braised with onion soup that falls apart when you spear it with your fork. Texas-style brisket is smoked on the grill until the interior reaches 180 degrees, she explains. It slices beautifully and is in-credibly tender.

Karmel has also had superb results with fish. One technique that she uses is to slather a fish steak like salmon or tuna with mayonnaise. The mayon-naise holds the juice in and gives the fish a nice crust, she explains.

There are innumerable ways to prep and season food for the grill includ-ing marinades, brines, spice rubs, barbecue sauces and more, all of which Karmel explores in her book cookbook Soaked, Slathered and Seasoned, one of several she has written on grilling. But she believes

Move over, dudes: More and more women are warming up to the grill.

BY SUE TOMCHIN

JW Magazine | jwmag.org

that all one really needs to turn out delicious dishes from fish to chicken to beef to vegetables is the trilogy olive oil, salt and pepper. she says.

On the grill, says Karmel, vegetables are transformed from something you have to eat to something you want to eat. Its all about the caramelization. The difference between something grilled or roasted, and something steamed is a world of flavor. The technique is simple, she explains: Wash your favorite vegetables; cut them up, though not too small; brush on some olive oil and sprinkle with salt; the heat of the grill transforms them and the little fat in-volved isnt a problem. Its not like when you saut and the vegetables drink up oil like a sponge. On the grill you need just enough oil to coat your food.

Cooking on the grill is done either directly or indi-rectly. The key to knowing whether to use direct or indirect heat for foods on the grill is a foods size and density. My rule of thumb is the lighter and smaller the food, the less time it will take to cook, Karmel says. Potatoes, even new potatoes, are dense and can take 40 minutes or more to cook using indirect heat. Asparagus takes only a few minutes and is cooked directly over the flame.

The same is true of corn on the cob, which cooks in a few minutes. The main thing is to buy corn in the husk, Karmel explains. Soak it in the sink for 30 minutes. Shake off the extra water. Then grill it over direct heat, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes or so, depending on how fresh the corn is. After grilling the corn you can cut it off the cob and turn it into a salad. She combines grilled corn, fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil and vinegar to make a flavorful salad. Its colorful and deli-cious and defines summer for me.

With the grill, having people over to dinner stops being something you stress over. I have a menu I call my back pocket dinner, she says. Its the dinner I make if people are coming over and I only have one hour to get ready. I make my Beer Can Chicken, grilled asparagus, and sweet potato chips. If I have extra time I also make corn bread. Everyone loves it.

Elizabeth Karmel is a barbecue and Southern foods expert. She is the founder of Girlsatthegrill.com and the chef and pitmaster at CarolinaCueToGo.com, an online Barbecue Shack. She is also the au-thor of three award-winning books, includ-ing Taming the Flame and Soaked, Slath-ered and Seasoned.



the original beer-can chickenGrilling Method: Indirect/Medium Heat

Special Equipment: Chicken Sitter (optional)

Ingredients

One 4- to 5-pound roasting chicken

Olive oil

One 12-ounce can of beer

3 tablespoons of your favorite dry spice rub recipe, divided, or Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Remove neck and giblets and rinse chicken inside and out if desired; pat dry with paper towels. Coat chicken lightly with oil and season with 2 tablespoons dry rub. Set aside.

If you prefer a more classic roasted chicken flavor, omit the dry rub and use only Ko-sher salt and black pepper.

2. Use a Chicken Sitter or a beer can. If using a Chicken Sitter, pour the beer inside the Chicken Sitter. If using a beer can, open beer can, pour out about cup of the beer and make an extra hole in top of the can with church key can opener.

3. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of the dry rub inside beer can.

4. Place beer can in center of cooking grate and "sit" chicken on top of the beer can. The chicken will appear to be sitting on the grate.

5. Twist wings akimbo and make sure that the drumsticks are in front of the beer can this will stabilize the chicken on the cooking grate.

6. Cook chicken for 1-1 hours or until the internal temperature registers 165F in the breast area and 180F in the thigh. Remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

When removing from grate, be careful not to spill contents of beer can, as it will be very hot.

Serves 4

2015 Elizabeth A. Karmel, Girls at the Grill


grilled sweet potato chipsGrilling Method: Indirect/Medium Heat

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes, preferably garnet (red-skinned) variety

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Directions

Directions:

1. Peel sweet potatoes and slice into -inch thick slices. Brush or spray lightly with olive oil. (If you are making these for a crowd as I do a lot put the potatoes in a re-closeable plastic bag, add the oil and massage to coat all surfaces; this method works best, and it is the fastest and easiest to boot.)

2. Just before placing on the grill, season liberally with salt.

3. Place rounds directly on the cooking grate over direct heat and grill 2-3 minutes on each side or until well-marked. They will still be raw and will need about 20-30 more minutes to cook through.

4. Move to indirect heat to finish cooking, and turn halfway through cooking time. (I place the sweet potatoes on the warming rack of my grill.)

5. When soft and tender, remove from grill and enjoy immediately. They are best still hot, like French fries. If you are serving them room temperature, brush with a little best-quality olive oil and sprinkle with salt.



great grilled asparagusGrilling Method: Direct/Medium Heat

Ingredients

1 pound fresh asparagus (Look for fat firm stalks with firm deep green or purplish tips. Also check the bottom of the spears. If they are dried up, chances are they have been sitting around for too long.)

4 tablespoons olive oil

-1 teaspoon Kosher salt (use salt according to taste)

Directions

1. Trim off the tough bottom of the spear by grasping each end and bending it gently until it snaps at its natural point of tenderness usually two-thirds of the way down the spear. If the spear is less than 6 inches long, chances are it has already been trimmed for you. Alternatively, you can cut the ends off with a knife.

2. Coat each spear with olive oil by placing clean, dry spears in a re-closable plastic bag, pour in the oil and massage spears to coat each one with oil. Sprinkle with salt and massage again. Leave the asparagus in the bag until ready to cook. This can be done up to 1 day in advance refrigerate until grilling.

3. Place each stalk on the cooking grate crosswise so it wont fall through the grates. Grill for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally to expose all sides to the heat. Asparagus should begin to brown in spots (indicating that its natural sugars are caramelizing) but should not be allowed to char.

4. Remove from grill and serve immediately eating with your fingers enhances the experience.

Serves 4



"secret ingredient" grilled skillet cornbreadGrilling Method: Indirect/High Heat

Special Equipment: Cast-iron skillet

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow or white cornmeal

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 large egg

1 cup milk (coconut milk can be substituted to keep corn bread pareveEditor)

cup olive oil or melted butter

1 generous heaping cup canned creamed corn

2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil to keep corn bread pareveEditor)

Directions

1. Mix flour and cornmeal. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wire whisk, mix until well combined and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk and oil.

2. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add creamed corn and mix until just combined.

3. Do not over mix. Set aside. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil in 10-inch cast iron skillet. Once butter is melted and pan is hot, pour batter directly into warm skillet.

4. Place skillet immediately in the center of cooking grate. Place lid on grill and cook over indirect high heat (about 450F) for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when placed in the center.

5. Cut and serve from pan while still warm.

Serves 4

2015 Elizabeth A. Karmel, Girls at the Grill Recipe adapted from Taming the Flame by Elizabeth Karmel (John Wiley & Sons, 2005, $24.95)


tri-berry crisp with pecan toppingGrilling Method: Indirect/High Heat

Ingredients

Streusel Topping

1 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cups all-purpose flour

1 cups regular or quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

teaspoon Kosher salt

cup (1 sticks) unsalted but-ter (or pareve margarine Editor), softened, cut into small pieces

Berry Filling

2 pints strawberries, halved

2 pints blueberries

2 pints blackberries or raspberries

1 orange, zested and juiced

1 lemon, zested and juiced

to cup sugar, depending on sweetness of fruit

cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 to 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier, optional

Directions

1. Build a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill.

2. Make the streusel: In a large bowl, combine all the topping ingredients except the butter or mar-garine. Work in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles large, coarse bread crumbs. Set aside.

3. Make the filling: In another large bowl, mix the berries together. Add the orange juice, lemon juice, orange and lemon zests, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon; mix lightly. Add the Grand Mar-nier, if using. Set aside for 5 minutes.

4. Place the berry mixture in an ovenproof, 4-quart, round casserole or souffl dish. Top it evenly with the streusel mixture. Place the dish in the center of the cooking grate over Indirect medium heat, cover, and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly and the top is browned. Transfer the baking dish to a cooling rack. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.

Serves 6 to 8

2015 Elizabeth A. Karmel, Girls at the Grill Recipe adapted from Taming the Flame by Elizabeth Karmel (John Wiley & Sons, 2005, $24.95)

Its on us to change the culture. Start the conversation here.

jwi.org/ssd

Youve had a lot to drink;why dont you lay down in my room.I make sure you get home safe.


Lauren Rothman has a recent book and a growing cadre of clients seeking her advice on how to be appropriate and stylish in the workplace.

BY ELIANA BLOCK

hen, as a toddler, Lauren Rothman uttered her first words outside a Neiman Marcus in Mi-ami, it heralded what she has become known as today the Styleauteur. A fashion, style, and trend expert, she keeps her finger on the pulse of fashion, advising both organizations and individuals about style and wardrobe. The

individual clients she works with arent fashion plates, but real people who may wear size-12 skirts, still apply the same shade of lipstick from their teen years, and never consider the possibility that wearing a favorite Looney Tunes tie could delay their promotions at work. They walk into corporate meetings and through office mail-rooms, not down runways. Rothman dresses the everyday person, and her new book, Style Bible: What to Wear to Work, is becoming their holy grail, offering advice for the modern professional on how to dress to create the right image in the workplace.

Rothman grew up a Jewban in Miami (her mother was born in Cuba), but is now based in Washington, DC. She travels widely to lead seminars on executive presence and her expert style advice has been featured in Glamour, Real Simple, the Washington Post, and on Oprah.com. She also writes on style and politics for the Huffington Post and has been interviewed on ABC News, CNN, and The Insider.

Now, she turns guidebook guru, defining business casual and decoding the dos and donts of dress, while following her mantra: If youre going to spend money on clothes, you might as well make the best decisions possible.

READ


WHO IS YOUR FASHION ICON?

My mom is my style icon because I always ad-mired her confidence and eye for style when I was growing up. I love to dress up and get inspira-tion everywhere, from designers on the red carpet to leading women on television shows like Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife.

WHATS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB?

The moment when I can have a woman see herself in the mirror the way that I truly see her. It happened the other day, a client had tears of joy in her eyes when she finally con-nected with her reflection. Its a moment I look forward to and I hope I can connect to someone in such a strong way that she can let go of her insecurities. I feel really lucky.

HOW HAS LIFE CHANGED SINCE THE RELEASE OF YOUR NEW BOOK?

Its like getting a PhD. All of a sudden, Im an expert in the true sense of the word. Its fun to be quoted as an author of a book! I think the perception, in terms of my expertise, has opened a lot of doors with corporate clients and a lot of opportu-nities for speaking and motivational talks. It has certainly helped me grow my business.

HOW DO YOU STAY FASHION-FORWARD?

A lot of shopping! Shopping is always my favorite word because it doesnt always mean buying. Im just out there in the stores scouting, [which] is the primary thing I do whether its in New York, Miami, L.A., San Francisco, or D.C. So much is available online that its not necessary to travel to see a fashion show. Because my clients are real people with

real bodies, the higher-end fashion shows arent always as applicable to them. For me its really about seeing whats new in a store.

IF I DONT KNOW WHETHER IM PEAR- OR APPLE-SHAPED, SPORTY OR BOYISH HOW DO I

KNOW WHICH CLOTHES ARE RIGHT FOR ME?

I identify all those shapes in my book. Many people are a blend of shapes, so you can be an apple and a pear! The hardest muscle to move in my fitting room is always going to be your mindset its never going to be jiggling those hips into a pair of jeans. Its always going to be the mental jump and trusting that the way youve been dressing yourself for the past twenty years might not actual-ly be what looks best on you. Thats a huge revelation for a lot of women, because a lot of women are very drawn to clothing that doesnt necessarily match their fea-tures or their lifestyles.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ONLINE SHOPPING?

Online shopping is great for the ex-pert shopper but is often overused by the novice. The safest way to use online shopping is for replenishment,

meaning you already love those jeans and youre really just going to buy a pair of the exact same ones, and shoe shop-ping at Zappos and Nordstrom, free

shipping both ways. A lot of mistakes are made with online shopping and returns create such a paralysis for many women. So if you are going to do online shopping, be careful, dont do it late at night with a glass of wine, check the return policy, and be ready to make a trip to the post office, if necessary.

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Dont show spaghetti straps, exposed bra straps, or excessive cleavage.

Camouflage VPL (visible panty lines).

Look in the mirror and bend over to avoid flashing a skin belt or muffin top.

Dont wear sheer, tight, short, backless, strapless, or otherwise revealing clothing.

Dont wear stained, ripped, or frayed clothes.

Avoid wrinkled or ill-fitting clothes.

Dont wear casual leggings or yoga pants.

Dont wear flip-flops, Uggs, Crocs or cowboy boots.

Avoid chipped or dirty nails, unshaved legs, and body odor.

Avoid heavy makeup and frizzy or unkempt hair.

ARE LEGGINGS AN OFFICE NO-NO?

Documents

JW Magazine - Summer 2015