My darling readers — all 10 of you! — I have a confession to make: Nonnie’s cookbook actually contains more recipes than the ones that appear on this list. Continue reading
meat
A Tale of Two Briskets
Nonnie’s brisket may be the original fusion food: an implicitly kosher, theoretically cheap, classically old-school Jewish piece of meat that’s bathed in a deeply maroon, ethnically agnostic slurry of quintessential American convenience foods.
Of course, she was far from the only grandmother to mix ketchup with powdered soup and call it a marinade. Her recipe is a variation on the very same method you’ll find in all corners of the American Semitic universe, literally from sea (the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles’ online Hanukkah guide) to shining sea (this Massachusetts synagogue’s brisket bake-off). Continue reading
Meatloaf and Oven-Browned Potatoes
And so we arrive at Treif Corner.
But first, a story. Nonnie grew up in a pretty strictly Orthodox household, doing the things pretty strictly Orthodox Jews do — keeping kosher, regular synagogue trips, the whole Megillah, so to speak. Then, around age 13, she visited a gentile friend’s house, tried bacon for the first time, and — according my mom’s telling, anyway — decided the whole organized religion thing was bullshit.
Which brings me to this blog’s maiden pig-based adventure. Continue reading
And Such Small Portions! 