The Everything Kosher Slow Cooker Cookbook (2 page)

What is presented here is a general guideline and is in no way complete. While the kosher laws are discussed in more detail in the sources listed in Resources here as well as in other books, your rabbi is the final authority on the subject and should be contacted directly with any questions or concerns about any recipe or information provided in this book.

CHAPTER 1

The Kosher Kitchen

Imagine yourself multitasking… in another room in the house, outside doing chores, or at work, yet at the same time cooking dinner. Well, you no longer have to imagine it. This chapter will explain how to accomplish this miracle, give you lots of tips on using a slow cooker, plus offer suggestions on how to convert many of your favorite recipes for use in a slow cooker. Combine all this with the kosher-ready recipes in the chapters that follow and you will never bother to hide your slow cooker again!

Kashrut (Or, Why This Cookbook Is Different from the Others)

There are plenty of kosher cookbooks available. There are a myriad of slow cooker cookbooks as well. But until recently, those who follow kashrut did not have the convenience of a kosher cookbook with recipes for slow cookers.

So why is this such a big deal? Why can’t those who are kosher just take any old slow cooker cookbook and make substitutions as necessary? And what the heck is kashrut, anyway?

Let’s get the easy question regarding “any old slow cooker cookbook” out of the way first. Just as with cookbooks for any kind of dietary restriction, whether diabetic, no-salt, vegan, pescatarian, Seventh-Day Adventist, Muslim, or Jewish, the advantage is the convenience of having recipes that can be used “as is,” rather than having to substitute or omit ingredients in order to conform to a particular diet, simultaneously hoping that the end result will be just as tasty as the original. Plus it avoids making a serious mistake by leaving in ingredients that must be absolutely avoided, be it for health, allergies, lifestyle, or religious reasons.

Now to the more important question—what is kashrut? According to most dictionaries, kosher means “fit” or “proper.” Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Since kashrut is a transliteration of a Hebrew word, there are several valid spellings in English, including kashruth and kashrus. For consistency, the spelling used throughout this book is “kashrut.”

Since the Bible is not very detailed in its description of kashrut, and since present-day Judaism is not equivalent to biblical religion, many of the laws of kashrut are included in the Talmud and other rabbinic texts, codified some time during the first six centuries of the Common Era. During the 1,500 years since then, the laws of kashrut have been interpreted and reinterpreted by rabbis and other scholars as Jews dispersed around the world and encountered local customs along with new foods and methods of preparation. This book presents general guidelines of kashrut based on the interpretation and practice of kashrut within the traditional Jewish movement known as Conservative Judaism. It is in no way complete. While kashrut may be explained and discussed in greater detail elsewhere, your rabbi is the final authority on the subject, and should be contacted directly with any questions or concerns about any recipe or information provided here.

What Is and Isn’t Kosher

Many people think that being kosher simply means not eating pork or pork products. It is a little more complex than that, but in a nutshell, certain foods are prohibited and certain other foods cannot be combined or eaten at the same meal. In addition to pork, the list of prohibited foods includes shellfish and certain other types of fish, meat, and poultry.

To be considered kosher, meat has to come from animals that have cloven hooves and chew their cud. Kosher meat comes from animals including (but not limited to) cows, bison, goats, and sheep. Although the Bible doesn’t specify the signs by which one can recognize kosher birds, it does provide a list of kosher fowl, including chicken, pigeon, and domesticated duck, goose, and turkey. Birds of prey, such as vultures and owls, are not kosher. To be considered kosher, fish must have fins and scales. So, while tuna is a kosher fish, dolphins and sharks are not. Shellfish, such as clams, shrimp, octopus, and lobster, are also not permitted.

How do I know what foods are kosher?

If you are unsure if a food you want to purchase is kosher, check the label. If it has a hechsher, a special symbol or logo from one of the many kashrut-certifying agencies that inspect food products, then that food item may be brought into a kosher home.

According to the laws of kashrut, kosher meat and poultry must be killed by a kosher butcher as quickly and painlessly as possible, according to a prescribed method of ritual slaughter. The meat or poultry is then soaked and salted to remove all traces of blood before it may be cooked and eaten. Fish does not need to be killed according to any specified method of ritual slaughter, nor does it need to be soaked and salted.

To be considered kosher, milk and all dairy products made of milk (such as cheese and yogurt) must be produced by kosher animals. To be considered kosher, eggs must come from kosher birds. Although eggs are considered to be dairy products in the secular world, they are not considered to be dairy in the realm of kashrut.

Any food containing meat or poultry may not be combined, cooked, or served at the same meal with milk or with any foods containing milk or products made of milk, and vice versa. In this book (and as per kashrut), the term “dairy” refers to all products that include milk as one of their ingredients and the term “meat” refers to all products made with beef, lamb, chicken, or any other kosher animal (except fish).

Besides meat and dairy, there is an additional category: pareve. Pareve (also spelled parve because it, too, is a transliteration of a Hebrew word) means “neutral.” Pareve food is neither meat nor dairy. Any food considered pareve may be used alone, or in a meat or dairy recipe. Nuts, grains, eggs, fruits, and vegetables are all considered to be pareve. Fish is also considered pareve, but some Orthodox Jews do not allow fish to be served on the same plate as meat or poultry.

Cookware and Dishes

The utensils, cookware, dishes (except for glass, which is considered neutral and may be used for either), silverware, and storage items for meat may not be used for dairy, and vice versa. The only exception to this general rule is that drinking glasses, cups, and serving dishes that are used for serving cold foods may be used for both meat and dairy drinks and cold foods. Many families have two sets of everything, one set for dairy and one for meat, usually in different styles or colors to avoid accidental mix-ups.

Passover

Passover is an eight-day holiday in early spring that celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people’s ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Because they fled with no time to let their bread rise, it is traditional to only eat unleavened bread (matzoh) during this holiday. There is an additional set of kashrut rules and restrictions that apply during the eight days of Passover. Products classified as “chametz” that are permitted during the rest of the year are prohibited during this holiday. Chametz consists of any food product made of barley, oats, rye, spelt, and wheat (or their derivatives) that has leavened or fermented. Flour made of any of these grains that comes into contact with water or other moisture is considered leavened unless it is fully baked within eighteen minutes. Chametz includes bread, biscuits, cakes, cereal, coffee containing cereal derivatives, crackers, and liquids containing ingredients or flavors made from grain alcohol.

According to kashrut, it is necessary to remove chametz from one’s home, as well as from one’s diet, during Passover. Jewish law also prohibits even the ownership of chametz during this period. Therefore, many Jews arrange for the temporary sale of the chametz that they are unable to remove from their homes.

The Passover home atmosphere is created each year by the practice of thoroughly cleaning the home in order to remove all traces of chametz. It is also traditional to either ritually clean the dishes, flatware, and kitchen equipment used during the rest of the year or to store away the everyday dishes, flatware, and kitchen items and bring out another two sets of these items (one set for meat and one for dairy) that have been reserved exclusively for Passover use.

While this may sound like a major hardship, there are plenty of foods that can be easily prepared during Passover. Some recipes traditionally served during this holiday are included in this book.

Choosing a Slow Cooker

A slow cooker is an appliance that, in case you haven’t already figured it out, cooks food slowly. Unlike a stove, oven, pressure cooker, or microwave, it can take up to several hours to reach proper cooking temperature. Heating coils are built into the sides and bottom of the slow cooker, which heat a removable stoneware crock insert. This allows a more consistent and gentle heating transmitted to the food inside.

You don’t really need a slow cooker in order to cook foods for a long time at a low temperature. Just take a lidded pot and place it over a low flame on the stove or in an oven set at low temperature. But of course there has always been the potential safety hazard of a pot of food unattended on the stove or in the oven. It was a risk most shomer shabbos (Sabbath-observing) cooks took in order to feed their families a hot meal on Saturdays. Although the slow cooker wasn’t conceived and invented for this reason, Sabbath-observing cooks rejoiced at its invention!

There are several different sizes of slow cookers from which to choose. The two most popular sizes are the 3- to 4-quart and the 6- to 7-quart sizes. Generally speaking, the smaller sizes are for recipes that serve around three to four people, and the larger size is for families of five and up or to cook enough to serve dinner and again at a future time.

Less popular are the 1- or 2-quart sizes. They run at only a warm setting and cannot bring cold or room temperature foods up to safe cooking temperatures. The big advantage of these miniature cookers is using them for small batches of dips or fondues, which are great for company or buffet meals, as well as a sneaky and fun way to get kids to eat their veggies.

There are two basic shapes of slow cookers: round and oval. Do you plan to cook a whole roast beef or chicken? An oval-shaped cooker can handle a whole roast beef or chicken more easily than a round one.

Are you planning to set up the slow cooker, then leave the house? Buy one with a timer, which automatically switches to a safe warming temperature when cooking time is over, perfect for those days when you are unavoidably detained and can’t get home on time. Unfortunately, some units with this option reset to “off” if power is lost, even for a few seconds. This poses a possible health risk if the food temperature drops to an unsafe level.

Speaking of temperature, most modern slow cookers have two settings: low, which reaches a maximum temperature of about 200°F, and high, which reaches up to 300°F. Older models cook at lower temperatures. According to the Crock-Pot official website, the low and high settings of its slow cookers both reach about 300°F; low just takes twice as long to get there. Many brands have a third setting: warm, which reduces the heat to a safe “holding” temperature.