Now accepting Thanksgiving Preorders on our Pumpkin & Butternut Squash knishes! (KOSHER, too!)

Gobble gobble y'all

It's that time of year again: the biggest national food holiday is upon us! And what better way to make your fellow Thanksgiving folk kvell than with a savory pumpkin knish? 

Last year we did our very first special ordering offering for Thanksgiving: Pumpkin & Butternut Squash knishes.This year, we're doing it again. Place your order by 8am, Saturday, November 17th, and you will be able to either pick them up on Monday through Wednesday at Malt & Mold (221 East Broadway) noon-8pm,  on the Lower East Side, or have them delivered to your door on Sunday (afternoon or early evening) for a minimal fee.

AND for this week only, starting tomorrow (Tuesday), Malt & Mold will have a limited number of pumpkin knishes for sale! Go try one before you go all-in on an order. All knishes (including potato, pastrami, and kasha) are on sale for only $3 each this week!!

Special orders are:

• 6 pumpkin knishes: $20
• 12 pumpkin knishes $30
• 18 pumpkin knishes: $40

And in VERY limited quantities: Kosher pumpkin knishes! Same knish, just made under the strict supervision of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens in their commercial kitchen. 

• 5 Kosher pumpkin knishes: $20
• 10 Kosher pumpkin knishes $30
• 15 Kosher pumpkin knishes: $40

Cash only at point of pick up/delivery. They will arrive cold, and will hold up in the refrigerator quite well until Thanksgiving. [Reheat in oven at 300 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.]

To order, email knisherynyc(at)gmail.com; you will receive a confirmation email. We have limited capacity; orders placed will be filled first come, first serve.

Pumpkin knishes are vegetarian and dairy-free, not vegan (due to eggs) or gluten-free (due to wheat). Depending on availability, they are  made with about 95% organic ingredients.

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!