Cooking Tips
Practical guidance from decades of kosher home cooking — on kashrut basics, technique, substitutions, and the small things that incite lifelong arguments between family members who really ought to behave better.
Meat and dairy are never mixed — not in the same dish, not on the same plates, and not cooked with the same utensils without thorough cleaning or separate sets. Most observant kitchens maintain two complete sets of cookware, dishes, and cutlery.
Waiting between meat and dairy
After eating meat, most Ashkenazi traditions require waiting six hours before eating dairy. After dairy, many wait only until the next meal, though some wait an hour. The wait goes one direction — you don't need to wait after dairy before meat, only after meat before dairy. Worth knowing when planning a menu.
Pareve — the third category
Pareve foods — eggs, fish, vegetables, fruit, grains — contain neither meat nor dairy and can be served with either. This makes pareve baking especially valuable: a pareve cake can follow a meat Shabbat dinner without any issue. Note that once a pareve food is cooked in a meat pot, it takes on meat status for that meal.
Checking vegetables for insects
Leafy greens, broccoli, and herbs require checking for insects, which are not kosher. Soak in cold salted water for a few minutes, then rinse and inspect each leaf under good light. Romaine lettuce in particular needs careful checking. Pre-washed bagged salad still benefits from a rinse and visual check.
Browning meat before braising
Don't skip the sear. Browning brisket or short ribs in hot oil before adding liquid develops a crust that adds deep flavour to the finished braise. Dry the meat thoroughly first — wet meat steams instead of browning. Work in batches and don't crowd the pan.
Getting latkes crispy
The enemy of crispy latkes is moisture. After grating potatoes and onion, wring them out aggressively in a clean kitchen towel — more than you think necessary. The starch that settles at the bottom of the wrung liquid can be added back to the mixture. Fry in a generous amount of oil at medium-high heat, and resist moving them until they release on their own.
Challah — knowing when the dough is ready
Well-kneaded challah dough should be smooth, slightly tacky but not sticky, and pass the windowpane test: stretch a small piece thin enough to see light through without it tearing. Under-kneaded dough makes dense challah. When in doubt, knead another five minutes.
Chicken soup secrets
The parsnip is often cited as a magic ingredient — and it earns its reputation. But great chicken soup is as much about process as ingredients. Put the chicken in cold water, bring it to a boil, and skim the schmutz that rises immediately — don't skip this step. Other magic ingredients from forum members: parsley root when you can find it, fennel with the green tops, and turmeric. Turmeric adds the rich golden colour that some kosher chickens can't provide on their own, and a subtle flavour people always ask about.
Roasting a turkey: the dry brine method
Use 1 tablespoon kosher salt per 5 lbs of bird, mixed with minced fresh sage and bay leaves. Brine for a minimum of 3 days in the refrigerator — you can go longer but not shorter. Kosher birds are already salted during processing; dry brining will not make them too salty. Stuff the body cavity with a small apple and onion (not for eating — they keep the bird moist and help it cook evenly), then sew the cavity shut and tie the legs. Cook covered at 325°F for the first hour, then baste with dry white wine every 15 minutes until done. The bird is ready at 165–170°F internal temperature. Total time is approximately 20 minutes per pound, significantly less in a convection oven.
Homemade baby food — and why it's great for Pesach
Pureeing your own baby food is simpler than it sounds. Most cooked vegetables and fruits freeze well in ice cube trays — a perfect portion size. Pumpkin, sweet potato, and winter squash: bake at 275°F until soft, scoop and mash. For apples and pears, try microwaving with a fork-pierced skin for a minute rather than boiling. Use chicken broth instead of water when pureeing meat and vegetable combinations — it tastes much better. Label everything with the food and date. The technique is especially handy at Pesach when commercially prepared baby food ingredients may be a concern.
Making dairy recipes pareve
In baked goods, unsweetened oat milk or almond milk substitutes well for regular milk in a 1:1 ratio. For butter, use a neutral pareve margarine or refined coconut oil. Cream cheese in a kugel or frosting can be replaced with a pareve cream cheese — quality has improved considerably in recent years and the difference is minimal once baked.
Pesach baking substitutions
Matzo cake meal substitutes for flour in most Passover baking at about ¾ cup per cup of flour. Potato starch works as a thickener in sauces and soups. For leavening, beaten egg whites folded in carefully provide lift in cakes — Pesach baking relies almost entirely on eggs for structure and rise.
Using your stand mixer as a bread machine
Bread machines have a fixed rising time, which makes them sensitive to weather and yeast variations. A stand mixer with a dough hook gives you more control. Use the same bread machine recipes — add dry ingredients first, then wet (proofing the yeast separately improves results), then knead on speed 2 for just 2–3 minutes, versus the 20–25 a bread machine takes. Do the first rise in the mixing bowl, punch down by mixing again for 2 minutes, then transfer to a bread pan for the second rise. Visual judgement of the rise replaces guesswork. For those keeping kosher, a second bowl and hook for pareve or meat baking costs far less than a second machine.
Tips coming soon.
Preserving peppers in vinegar
A good way to keep peppers — especially a surplus of homegrown ones — is in vinegar. Bring enough vinegar to cover the peppers to a boil, drop in the peppers, let cool, then pour into a glass jar and seal. They keep in a cool dry place for a long time without refrigeration. Slice or leave whole, add garlic, onion, or pimentos as you like. The same method works well for a relish of shredded cabbage and hot peppers, with a little sweet apple for an unusual twist.
Browning crockpot chicken before serving
Chicken cooked in a crockpot for hours tends to turn an unappetising grey and falls apart at a touch. A quick stint under the oven at 350–375°F right before serving restores some colour and helps it hold together better on the plate.
Separating egg yolks without a gadget
Crack the egg as close to the middle as you can and pass the yolk back and forth between the two shell halves over a bowl. The whites fall away naturally with enough passes — no special equipment needed.
Peeling tomatoes
Plunge tomatoes into boiling water for about 30 seconds. The skins crack and peel right off. The tomato barely cooks in that time, so the flavour is unaffected.
Removing hot pepper oil from your hands
Lemon juice doesn't work well for this. Instead, rub your hands thoroughly with extra-light olive oil (or any vegetable oil), then wash with soap several times. Almost never takes more than two applications to remove the residue completely.