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!

Sandy ate all the knishes. Kickstarter to reboot for Spring!

Hello all you beautiful supporters,

I am sad to report I am pulling the plug on the KnisheryNYC Kickstarter project with about 3 days to go. Due to Hurricane Sandy, all the plans to promote and build excitement around the project in the last 10 days were delayed or cancelled, and I was too busy relocating my family to safety for the past week to give KnisheryNYC much thought.

There has been a really nice uptick in support in the past 2 days, but regardless I do not feel comfortable reaching out to friends, family, knish-lovers and NYC residents for money (or even the time to think about knishes) when our city is still reeling.

As this Kickstarter is incomplete, you will not be charged for your contributions. As much as I like to tease the borough of my youth as something I'd like to forget about, my heart aches about the ongoing fallout from the storm on Staten Island, affecting many families of the friends who, like I, left the Rock years ago. The funds you were going to contribute to KnisheryNYC, please consider donating to an organization like Tunnel to Towers, where you can direct 100% of your contributions to the relief those put out by the storm on Staten Island.

Do not worry, KnisheryNYC is ongoing. We are about to make a few announcements (hint: Thanksgiving knishes!) and will relaunch the Kickstarter in late February/early March, just in time to help us spring into the busy season! Please sign up for regular updates by going to our website  or liking us on Facebook!

Sincerely,

Noah Wildman

KnisheryNYC, Owner/Operator

PS - While I was a refugee on the Upper East Side at Hotel Grandma, I purchased some knishes from Gourmet Garage. In the midst of chaos, it was the off-flavored, mealy inspiration I needed to keep on knishin'

We(were) here, we're qunishy, get used to It!

Top row: Jorge, Fredricka, Fat Bob, Arturo. Bottom row: Spike, Ruby and Lil' Punchy

Well, we spent both Saturday and Sunday takin' it to the street (fairs), and by any measure, it was a success. I could credit the perfect weather, or the organizers for running class operations, or my wife for propping up the home front while I did the dip, or the friends for coming out and giving moral support, or the Crowleys for giving up their refrigerator to hold the stock, or the Rodens for lending me their toaster oven, or La Crepe C'est Si Bon for generously sharing their space with me, or....but I won't! All the credit goes all to me to all the customers and new friends and who purchased knishes through out the weekend!

Mrs. Plotting and Mr. Scheming

A special thank you to the Gefilteria massive. While we were all in a daze early in the morning, we made arrangements for everyone who purchased their "Old World Platter" were directed a few booths down the way to KnisheryNYC for a couple of complimentary minis. I guess I shouldn't say anything, as its obvious evidence of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world Grub Street.

All kidding aside, we had a great weekend, blew out of almost all of our 600+ pieces, and feel good about the future. I still feel a little punch-drunk, but check back this space next week for an announcement of our next few moves!

Looks like all the noise we made on social media and the two events raised some awareness: we're less than half-way through the funding period, but more than half funded on kickstarter! So, Kickstarter!!

Hester is History, Grub St is Upon Us

Buy two dozen knishes, get a free toddler!

Today went pretty smoothly, met some cool people, saw some good friends, sold a few knishes, enough to about break even and have a good number left to sell tomorrow at the Grub St event. The film crew was there to catch me setting up and selling some 'nishes, and my knish guru Laura Silver came by to show some support and give some good knish juju.

For the record:

• One request for kosher knishes
• Two requests for vegan knishes
• One request for dairy free knishes (which these were!)
• One request for gluten-free knish
• One confession that someone actually reads this blog-thing.
• One little old lady stood in front of me and ate her 3 minis in silence, looked up, and stated flatly while looking pensive, "I haven't had a knish in years. These are better than those then." Only when I told her that I would quote her on that, did she give me the whisper of a grin.

One wonder what a kosher, vegan, gluten-free would taste like....and would it be better than those then. Deep knishy thoughts....

Hope to see y'all tomorrow at Grub St, I'll be at table 28 sharing a booth with La Crepe C'est Si Bon, but if you get lost, eat some yums at Gefilteria, and they'll direct you over my way....

And kickstarter!

Hester Tomorrow, Grub the day after

Replace cake with knishes. Now make her a dude. Now shmear him with potato and flour. THAT'S ME!

Today was a bit of bizarre blur. Rolled out of bed and knocked out the spinach-roasted garlic. I was peeling potatoes when the film crew came in to film me making the pastrami knishes from boiling potatoes to getting them in the oven. When they left, my best friend who moved to Portland, OR happened to be in town for the weekend and stopped by to hang out. It was quite a change from the last few days of listening to NPR's infernal fund-raising spiel!

Today's production:

• 72 Spinach & Roasted Garlic
• 215 Spinach minis
• 72 Pastrami
• 143 Pastrami minis

I was going to go bigger on the pastrami minis, but I found that since I cut the meat large for a big satisfying taste in the full-sized, I was at risk at having only one or no pieces in the standard mini size. So i made them bigger, which resulted in fewer made. The more ya know...

Spent the evening running around picking up a toaster oven for Sunday (thanks Rodenfolk!), some grill-lighters for the sternos, etc etc. It is now 10pm, the knishes are in the fridge, the equipment check list has been checked, and I'm tired. Gotta go beddy so I can move some of these 'nishes tomorrow.

Heads up: Since KnisheryNYC is such a late add to Grub Street, we will not be on the "map" at the entrance of the fair. We're at table 28, with La Crepe C'est Si Bon, on the left towards the rear when you come in. If you can't find us, just find out friends at Gelfiteria, they'll point you our way!

And kickstarter!

2 Days to Hester, 3 Day to Grub

 So the cooking begins. First out of the gate was kasha & pumpkin, which presented a few technical problems. Without a mashed tuber or gourd to act as a binder, even the extra eggs I added wouldn't make them that tight. After baking, they were a bit too open for my taste, but their actual taste was fine and should make it to the weekend. However, rolling them into mini-form was a crumbly fumble, so I moved on.

From the trickiest to the most dependable, the potato & onion. However, another bump in the road: if you peel 25 lbs of potatoes, put them in a large pot full of acidulated water, store them in a dark closet for two days, forget to change the water, then take them out, you will have

1. smelly, mushy but very white potatoes
2. the precursor to vodka production
3. the main ingredient to "kombucha-flavored knishes"
4. a lot more last-minute peeling to do.

So rather than cry over spoiled potatoes, I peeled on, mixed it up, and got those knishes done. Today's production:

• 59 kasha & pumpkin knishes
• 72 potato knishes
• 208 mini potato knishes

I missed my goal of 72 kasha, and scrapped the mini-effort, but now I have the measurements for next time...  Nine to 9, actually that's a pretty reasonable day by food-service standards. Tomorrow, spinach & roasted garlic, pastrami, and a film crew to make me all self-conscious.

And kickstarter!