Kosher Cooking for The Infidel (From Times Series)
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Denise Phillips is a renowned chef, food columnist and the author of four cook books. She runs regular and popular 'hands on' cookery classes, as well as Date On A Plate, a cookery class and dinner party for singles. For more information on Denise, visit www.jewishcookery.com or telephone 01923 836 456. |
Kosher Cooking for The Infidel
12:04pm Wednesday 7th April 2010
By Denise Phillips »
Friday 9th April sees the launch of a new film The Infide’. Written by David Baddiel it is a comedy about a British Muslim (played by Omid Djalili) who goes through an identity crisis when he discovers that he was adopted as a child and was in fact born Jewish.
One enterprising Muslim journalist from The Guardian decided that he would try to see how it was to switch religions. So a couple of weeks ago I was invited to join his team of advisers.
My role was of course to assist with his culinary ‘kosher’ education. So one day in March, off I went to Finsbury Park for the day to teach him some basic recipes such as chicken soup and Chollah (plaited bread).
He had never met a Jewess before and I had never cooked for a Muslim! Accompanied by a photographer and a film crew we went shopping for all the normal ingredients - however the difference was I was purchasing food from Halal friendly shops.
Although Halal and kosher meats have some similarities, there are some significant differences :
· Just before slaughter, Halal requires a prayer to Allah. Kosher does not require a prayer to God before slaughtering.
· Kosher meat is slaughtered only by licensed, trained slaughterers known as shochets, whereas with halal, dhabiĥa slaughter, whilst generally performed by an experienced individual, is still common in certain parts of the world for families to butcher their own meats.
· The Shochet (Jewish slaughterman) must perform the slaughter in a single, swift, uninterrupted sweep. In Islamic slaughter, the Muslim man or woman must carry out the process in a single swift sweep. However, if they were to raise his/her hand before the Dhabh is completed and immediately returns to the process, it would still render the meat Halal.
· Islam considers the entire cattle or sheep as Halal if duly slaughtered but Jews use are only allowed to eat the forequarter and consider the hindquarter as non-Kosher.
· Rabbit, shellfish, wild hens and wild goose are permitted under Halal and Islamic Law but they are prohibited to Jews under the laws of Kashrut.
· Kashrut prohibits mixing meat and dairy products, as well as consuming or even profiting from them. Dhabiĥa halal has no such rules This is not a conclusive list but certainly covers the main aspects!
But back to my friendly Guardian journalist. We compared notes on our respective religions, swopped favourite recipes and by the end of the day I had taught him the secrets of the ultimate chicken soup recipe with knaidelach (matzo ball dumplings) and served it some home made chollah.
He certainly enjoyed the food when it came to dinnertime, it was just a shame that I could not join him – although the recipes were kosher, the food ingredients were of course Halal and his kitchen equipment was not kosher.
However, I was certainly able to convince him that you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Jewish food.
For more information about my cookery school, events for singles, and hen nights, call Denise on 01923 836 456 or email denise@jewishcookery.com
