blue artichoke

Kosher Vocabulary

Blue Artichoke fortunately explained what a hekhsher is, but there are some other terms that I'll be throwing around in the upcoming Kashrut Quest.

kashrut -- From a root meaning "fit," "proper" or "correct." Jewish dietary laws.

pareve (or parve) -- Kosher foods that contain neither meat nor dairy and therefore can be eaten with either. Yiddish for "neutral."

treyf -- Food that is not kosher, and hence forbidden.

The ramen I was going to make the other night (I had been at work for twelve hours!) was packaged in a factory that also packages shellfish, which is treyf. I chucked it (it was only a nickel) and my roommate went out and bought me a few packages of kosher ramen so that I'd have something I could make in three minutes on those really late nights. Wasn't that nice???

A quick rundown of the rules, as best as I can manage (and keep in mind I am NOT a vegetarian, so please don't suggest I do that for the next ten months):

1. Beef, lamb, buffalo, venison, chicken, duck, turkey and fish with scales are kosher.
2. Pork, rabbit, camel (you know, all the camelburgers we have these days), shellfish, birds of prey, amphibians, and insects are all treyf.
3. Meats from kosher animals must be slaughtered and completely drained of blood.
4. Meat and dairy shall never, ever, ever be put together. That means no cheese and beef on a pizza. It also means no chicken and cheese, either.
5. Pasta, rice, bread, etc, are in most cases pareve.

There are some strict guidelines as relate to Passover, but my roommate avoids his kitchen during Passover and eats out all the time so as not to have to worry about those specifics.

For more information, I suggest http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm. It has much more detail and several of the scriptures that form the basis of kashrut.

After saying I'm not a vegetarian, I am trying to vege-up a bunch of my staples. 'Twas I that submitted the pastisio recipe that set Blue Artichoke's kitchen on fire... but as that was ground beef and cheese, I need to do something else. I'm thinking of beef spices (bouillion cubes) mixed in with seitan, or wheat gluten (it sounds better as seitan, doesn't it?). It would make it strictly a dairy meal, but may have the right flavour. I will be trying it soon.

First, however, a safe mushroom stroganoff.