THIS IS HARDCORE (kosher knishing!)

Rolling dough with found equipment, the Kosher Paddle of Punishment

The fine folks at Gefilteria got in touch with KnisheryNYC to a make some knishes for an event they were catering. The catch: it's gotta be KOSHER. Not "kosher-style" where you avoid the pork and don't mix the dairy and meat, but all-kosher ingredients in a kosher kitchen under the supervision of a kosher supervisor who keeps it all, uh, kosher.

As Jan Brady never said, "Kosher, Kosher, KOSHER!"

So what's a non-kosher knishman to do? All the ingredients were collected the day before carefully, which wasn't too hard -- potato and onion and vegetable are kosher by default, the eggs and flour I use are already kosher, just had to substitute one brand of shortening for another. However, I was not permitted to bring any equipment, and would have to rely on the equipment that was already in this kitchen I never visited. If I absolutely had to bring some equipment, it would have to be cleansed in a mikvah. Or, as the East River is considered a mikvah, "cleansed" in a mikvah. Yeesh!

The earliest snow storm on record killed our street fair debut last year, and this year Hurricane Sandy brought our Kickstarter to a shuddering halt. Now the night before the Kosher cooking session, a Noreaster blew through town. With thick wet heavy snow lying on the ground, gas stations still closed or with long, long lines, and over 14 miles between me and my supplies and the kitchen, what does one do? Go for a bike ride, of course.

Powered by beans.

Slow and steady won the race, and got me into the warm, ever loving arms of the Gefilteria...

Jackie, Liz, Peter the Masgioch & Jeff. Masgioch Pete & Jeff, coming to ABC on Wednesdays!

We toiled away like little Jewish grandmas all day, with our onions, our beets, our white fish and potatoes, while Masgioch Pete jumped in with the peeling, the cleaning and the APPROVAL FROM GOD. Dough had to be mixed by hand and odd things were used to roll it, but over-all knish production went smoothly along side the production of huge amounts of gefilte, kvass and other top-secret tools of mass Jewish deliciousness.  

While the 30 miles of biking 60 lbs of supplies in the wind, snow and cold wasn't ideal, it was well worth the effort to spend the day with people of the same spirit. And before you ask, "But Noah, I only eat kosher, I need a kosher knish, can you get me one?!" I say, "Hold tight, there is an announcement coming on Monday to make you AND your treif friends happy!"

Thanks to Jeff, Liz & Jackie for sharing their kitchen time with me, and Jeff for the two pics I didn't take myself! Gefilteria is at Zabars this weekend, go for taste and pick up a loaf!