Plumluvfoods on WICC ep 62 Kosher Cuisine

The high holidays are on us and we talk Kosher food, plus we are joined by the Kosher advisor himself Chef Yair Lenchner

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Comin ver storming a world of sound.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Chef Pull on the mic, making hotspown the Jeff Jeff shotguns,
my son, Chef Dead in the background, making new be
found song, girls a peace they must at any night,
Got very conversation song, Delight and boll Mad dishes, Street

(00:30):
footstal sides, these Sesspring made Mount Guys, so it Soon
and podcast Forever, sess.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Jet, Beady f.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Me s you Otkat Marry conversation song on the Fastest,
Safe Sun on the Knee, Chef fe and the list.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
And the rest.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Oh yeah, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Saturday to you? What's
going on? Welcome to Plumb Love Foods. I am your host,
Chef Plum, hanging out with you here on a lovely
Saturday in Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Uh, it's a beautiful day.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
It always is a beautiful day because I'm joined by
my my uh perennial co host, the legendary chef Jeffy. Hey, buddy,
what's going on? Happy Saturday to you.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I don't know how to feel about being called perennial.
What is perennial? Like you come back every year? Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Is that an annual? What do they call it?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
I don't know. Yeah, that's what here. I am not
knowing venerable? Is that good? Venerable?

Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, there's all kinds of adjectives describe you, Jeff the
virile lots. Nope, I like that one that that feels
like a hairy chest thing that.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
I was going on. Is that what you think for?
That's a romance novel cover, Jeffy.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Well, we're excited to have you here on a Saturday
with us. This is gonna be an educational show, especially
for me because I'm not as educated on our topic
today as our good friend, the venerable Chef Jeffy is.
But we're gonna talking all about the Jewish high holidays, Jeff,
because it's that time of year, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
It is that time of year. I think it starts Monday.
Monday Wednesday is Russia Shana, so Shauna to Ava to
all our Jewish listeners and friends out there. Uh, that's
a That's what they say to me when I get
to work on that day because I work for some
wonderful Jewish family, So I get to cook a lot
of this food and it's really become it's it's like

(02:24):
a comfort kind of food holiday.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
I mean, it's it's really the Jewish New Year. Okay,
all right, fair, that's good. And then join us a
little bit later on. Is going to be the the
Kosher Advisor. It's a plumb love food. It's our good
friend chef. Yeah, your Linchener's going to join us a
little later on and describe and define some of these
things and help us understand it more because you know,
I'm not going to act like I know, Jeff, like listen,
as a chef, and particularly a chef, with the experiences

(02:47):
I have, I can get through it. I can definitely
wing it and make it look like I know what
I'm talking about, you know.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
But I don't want to do that.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
I want to learn more about it and be able
and be educated on it, which is a plan for
this program.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah, exactly. And it's it's kind of fun. I mean,
as Americans, I feel like there's so many different ethnicities
and cultures that we all get to celebrate together. And
it's like this is like a kind of important holiday
to a lot of Jewish people, and I think the
food is a really cool connection to the holiday. Like
there's a lot of cool foods that connect to their

(03:19):
two different holidays, and it's really great food to some
delicious food, super delicious food. And that's and I feel
like there's always like a myth of like you know,
different reasons people like connect like sweet wine is a
lot like I think a Mani chevitz when I think
of like Jewish food, or you think matsa, right, Like
those are like the two things that are like super
everyone knows what matsa is, everybody.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
You were telling me off air that that's not really
for this holiday though, right.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
I don't think it is so much for this holiday.
I think it's there sometimes, but I don't it's more
of the hola on this holiday. I think matsa is
more for Passover, which is you know, a different story.
You know this all connects to, like, uh kind of
like the religious part of being Jewish.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
A lot of this food too, Like doesn't it all
kind of has like a meaning I can always kind
of means something. It's not just on the plate for
nor reeason at all. You know, like it all kind
of means something, doesn't it absolutely?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Absolutely? In fact, like you said, it's the Jewish uh
New Year, right, so we're celebrating the new year like
it's a and and uh because of that, everything's kind
of sweet, right, we want to everyone's like the symbolism
there is we want to have a sweet new year.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
You see, like apples and honey a lot exactly.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Apples and honey is like a quintessential thing at Rasashana,
Like if you'll see it, like in almost every dish
there's like a little honey or apple or it's a
little sweeter than it would normally be. Yeah, but as
a chef, I find it really fun because I see
some of these traditional dishes and where they were going,
and like stuff that I can do to kind of
like elevate them or make them interesting. And then it's

(04:48):
it's it's it's really cool.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
And well it's great because here in the state too,
Like I I've always wanted to take you to some
of these. We have some amazing orchards, especially this time
of year out here in Connecticut, like and the place
where we can go and and are making a amazing
like apple cider and like you apple cider that are
kind of you know apple cider you just go adun't
drink kind.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Of situation going on. Yeah, that sounds great.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
There's so much fun stuff and like, you know, there's
so many great orchards out here. I mean, it's it's
we could do a whole show on orchards. I did
one for MPR years ago. It's a really fun I mean,
this time of year, that's where it's at and out here,
it kind of makes sense.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
How fun is apple picking too? Like bringing the whole
family out to the orchard and like hanging out and
like walking around and like, you know, filling the giant
bag about a lot of apples though, isn't it home?
Oh man, so many apples And then they usually let
you eat as many as you can while you're picking,
you know, like you can just walk around and keep
eating them. I know that.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
I always feel bad. I'm like, I don't want to
pick it likes someone Yea, I don't know. It's I like,
come back with like ten apples. I usually eat about
ten apples in the orchard.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
I feel like that's that's kind of the thing, right, Yeah,
I go, I go like one for me, one for
the bag, and then yeah, it's kind of the thing.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
But there's so many great orchards out here, and uh,
you know, it's it's like a blue Jay orchard. It's
one of my favorite places to go. And there their
cider donuts are just incredible. Anyway, that's not neither here
nor there, but I'm just it's a great time year
to go orcharding orcharding. That's why I said I use
it as a verb, jeffy orcharding.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, it's good. Maybe it's a great thing to do
with the family. If you are celebrating Russia, Shana, go
get your apples from an orchard. Yeah, I love that idea.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
But also too, so we talked. You mentioned holla before,
so that's like the round. Holla is like a It's
like a very simple symbolistic types of thing, right, Yeah,
So hollo is usually u you see it braided. You
know it's a braided Yeahad it's like a loaf this
time of year. It comes in a circle and usually
people add honey and raisins to it to make it
a little sweeter.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah. I kind of like it plaining personally, but as
bread to begin with, buttery, flaky. I love it. Yeah,
And I think I believe it symbolizes like a crown too,
because it kind of looks like a crown. Yeah, like
when it's in that circle, I think that's one of
the other things. It's kind of fun. Like I said,
I've read up on this stuff over the years, like
why do we why this?

Speaker 4 (06:51):
You know, because like, well, you work with the Jewish family,
so you have to know about these things.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know. Yeah, I don't have to know it, but
I just for me, I like to connect like the reason,
Like I need to know a reason why sometimes for
it to make sense to me, like why I would
do with this, And then it's kind of I like
to see, like I said, like why other cultures are
doing certain things, and it makes me excited. I'm like, oh,
that's cool, that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
I also think of pomegranate, which I think it's kind
of become. I mean, I know it has the traditions
you know, for for the holiday here for but it
for me, pomegranate also kind of feels like a fall thing.
Is that. I don't know why I feel that way.
I guess it just kind of does.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
I feel like pomegranates are a fall thing. I feel
like they're always coming around this time of year, and
I think for the symbolism for the holiday. I believe
it's because there's like a lot of them inside. So
it's like, you know, may like you know, like the
blessings be plentiful, you know, so you kind of like
eat the pomegranate seeds and like that kind of thought.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
By the way, that kind of stuff. I want to
give everybody my tip for pomegrans. I learned something and
it's the best thing ever. We all cut a pomegranate open, Like,
how do I get these delicious little purple seeds out
of here?

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Right?

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yeah, I'm sure you don't think that, but you know
what I'm saying. Right, one of the best things you
can do. Cut it in half, get yourself a bowl,
turn the cut in half part upside down so the
round part is facing towards your face. Get a spoon,
a nice, good heavy spoon the back of it and
smack it where you're going and smack your pomegranate on
the skin and those seeds pop right out. And then

(08:17):
if you really want, you to throw a little bit
of water to rent off, if you want to rent them.
I don't really care about that, but like you can it,
They'll pop right out of the half that you cut,
and then you can get all of them out.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
There's no waist. Yeah, that is cool. You know the
other way I like to do it. If you ever
cut along the slits, like you cut the top like
a yeare off, yeah, and then you cut it into
like suprems, and you can kind of break them off
of that and then they kind of peel off. You
can kind of like then take them and use your
fingers and just sort of like peel them.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
But you know how weird I am about stuff, and
like this is the thing, Like anytime you say peel
and use your fingers, it grosses me out. I'm absolutely not,
absolutely not, We're not doing any of that.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
I feel like I'm always using my fingers, and like
I feel like my fingers in my hands are my
best tools.

Speaker 4 (08:59):
The hands are the best in the KITCHENO question about it.
But I still I'd rather like, let's make it a
gloved hand, jeffy.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Okay, So with my gloved hand, I peel and separate
the seeds from and then the word peel just sounds
gross too.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
I mean, like it's a holiday, we're using that kind
of word.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
What are we doing? Yeah, holiday peel peel? Gross?

Speaker 4 (09:16):
Just use your back, your spooning, your knife, that way
tools using tools.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
I like that. I do like that way. But you
know what always happens to me when you pound them
on the back like that, they fly all over the place.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
No, we're not doing you're doing it wrong. I'm doing
it too hard.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
I guess I have too much power in my spoon pounding.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
It's more about finesse when it comes to you doing
a pomegran power grans are fantastic. I mean, it really
is delicious, and I think it what people don't understand
or think. I shouldn't say people understand. I don't like
to wait, I don't like that phrasing. That's an NPR phrasing.
What people you don't understand? I want you to know
about these things I used to hate when they would
make me say stuff like that. I think a forgotten
thing or something that maybe a lot of people don't realize.

(09:52):
Is that how great pomegranate is with steak?

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, oh, pomegrand it's friends with a lot of things.
I mean, because it's a it's it's sweet and but
also slightly acidic, you know, so it works right well
with a lot of different flavors and with like a
little squeeze lemon or lime with some just some pomegranate
seeds is delicious, you.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Know, and yeah and great and a salsa great on
I mean it really is. I mean a pomegranate like
mix some pomegranate seeds with some melted butter then let
it like come back together, like, oh, it's just great
copound butter.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Absolutely. I've actually made relishes for turkeys and chickens with okay, yeah,
that are also really delicious. And I really like the
crunch of a pomegranate seed as well. Yeah, you know
becauld you eat the whole thing and it just got
that like pop crunch.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
I didn't know we had so much things to say
about pomegranate. I can tell you more stuff too. I mean,
like throwing a bunch of pomegranates into a blender and
blading them up until like it almost comes like a mush.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
It's delicious on top of pork. Oh, pomegranate mush crunch.
I don't know if you call it like I would say, relish,
but like you know.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
I'm just to shout to it.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
It's great. That sounds delicious. Actually, that sounds delicious. Yeah.
So anyway, we're going on a pomegranate tangent, which is great.
That's like, I like that word. But anyway, pomegranate seas
is a lot of them. It symbolizes, you know, plentyful
yea the year. So almost on every table there's a
round holla, there's apples and honey, and there's pomegranate seeds

(11:15):
of some kind on the table. That's that's part of the.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
None of the stuff seems that crazy to me yet,
like I'm kind of on board all this.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah. No, then there's I mean, there's some other dishes.
I mean then usually it's uh yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
So one of the things I want to bring up, Jeff,
that I want to ask you about and see if
you've done this, because like we're talking all the fun things,
but this is one of those things that's not so
fun to me, and people are gonna be like, what
are we talking about here? Fish or lambheads? Like being served,
like why why do we We don't need to do that.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
So that's like, I think, like a deep traditional situation.
Like I think that's like if your family's into eating
a lamb. I mean I grew up I'm Italian and
we had lamb heads on Easter. You know, at times
we'd have the whole head. They would roast it, yeah,
and everyone would eat the you know, pull the pieces
of meat all around it, and people eat the eye,

(12:03):
and like I would always be like, yeah, I was
always a little freaked out, but as a kid, after
you taste it, you're like, oh, it's delicious and everybody
else is eating it. So then I just kind of
grew up not being freaked out by that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Like yeah, no, I'm not talking so much about the
freak out part because I do understand what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
With that part.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
It kind of becomes normalized the more and more you
see it. I'm just saying, like, it's a lot of
work for not a lot of meat. Like you don't
get there's not a lot of yield on this.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
You know, there's not a lot of yield. But you
know what it is, it's there's a certain anxiousness to
I'm gonna say, really weird unctious head meat. I don't
know if that's a word head meat, but it's like
I'm trying to think, you.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Get nothing, you lose, good day, sir, But it's anxious.
What you say, I've all messed up now me, I don't.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
I don't want to keep okay, punctious. I don't want
to say the word ancious either. Really delicious pieces of
it's like extra moist the meat from around the face
and in the head the uh you know, there's like
a lot more like collagen and connective tissue in there,
and after it roasts for a long time, it like

(13:12):
it gets very like the mouthfeel of it is just
really rich and delicious, and I just think it's special.
So people who are into eating things like fish heads
and lambheads, if.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
You like to eat head, this is the time of
year to do it.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
It could be this could be a good time of
a year. Okay, terrific. Listen, you brought that up. I
don't be clear.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
I mean it's a tradition though. It is a tradition though,
Like that's why I'm bringing it up, because.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
It is a tradition. It is tradition in some in
some homes. Like I said, I've worked for Jewish family
for a long time. They've never requested that I cook
a lamb's head.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
I'm gonna ask Yer when he comes on about this,
because I'm sure he sets some information right.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
I'm sure Yah has cooked a lamb's head at least
once in his life. And do you see I have
questions what about fish heads?

Speaker 4 (13:52):
Fish heads are also a thing, right well, fish.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Heads, I mean again a delicacy that a lot of
people don't use. But these are things that are usually waste.
But if you take a fish head and you could
stuff it and you know, roast it, and then you
can eat the cheek off of it, and then all
the other pieces of meat around the head, there's little
pieces of meat underneath all the skin. That's very delicious
if you want to pick through it, but it's like

(14:15):
it's it is like a little bit more work, but
it's very very very very delicious little pieces of meat,
little pockets of meat.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Really.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, Like behind the eye, there's like a muscle that
when it's cooked and you get that little muscle out,
it's it's like, you know, people kind of like fight
for that little piece of the of the head because
there's only like the cheeks are fantastic, you know, I mean,
you can't well, I.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Remember I think of cheeks too, like I get the
cheek part because I remember, you know, when we go fishing,
we would take the fish cheeks like it's it's a
thing I get that.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, the tongue, I mean that's inside the head. It's
its absolutely delicious piece of meat. No, you did not
say that, Jeffrey. I did. And I know some people
at home are freaking out right now, and I'm not
going to serve this on our russiashana table. But it
can be it can be known as you know, at
the head. You know, we're at the head, not the
tail in the New Year, so we served the head.

(15:08):
You know. It's a lot about symbolism in these meals
and connecting with history. So some people, like I said,
if you grew up eating lambsheads or fisheads, it's probably
not weird to see it at your house. Yeah, I
just think it's crazy. I don't know. I mean, I
don't think it's crazy.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
I get like the traditional part of it, but still
like it's a little bit shocking to see on a table,
I would think, you know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
I'm it's definitely jolting. Like I remember the first time
I saw it come out of the oven, and you know,
it was in like a brazier pot with like the lid,
you know, and they sat it on the table and
everyone got around and was all excited and they pulled
the lid off and it's you know, this a face
in that's been cooked in like a like a tomato

(15:52):
stew with like kind of potatoes and carrots and you know,
all the fishead and no, this was the lamb Shead
for me. And I just remember being like, whoa, that's ahead,
you know, and everyone's like yeah, and I was like, whoa,
that's what we're doing, okay, And you know, you don't,
you know, as a as a kid, you don't want
to be weird. You want to kind of fit in.
So I just kind of went with it, you know,
at least that's kind of kid I.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Was, you know, I mean, it all is just crazy
to me, and it just makes me think of that song.
I was trying to find the song from back in
the late eighties, the fish Head song, and just play it. No, no,
I don't hear the song fish it's fish heads, roly
poly fish heads. Fish it it's fish heads, eat them up, yum.
I did not find the song, by the way, I

(16:34):
just you know.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah, because it's it's a it's a weird song, and
I'm do you know what song I'm talking about? Though,
I do and it's freaking me out that you want
to play it for me.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
Oh well, it would have worked out if I could
have found the song to make it work. But boy,
there's some you start searching fish Head song on YouTube,
crazy things show up.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Wow, another dish that shows up on the table, And
I think, uh, I think you've done a rasashana with
me before I have. I have and uh sis, oh yeah,
that ms is like a it's traditionally it's a sweet
stew of carrots. I think sims means like multiply or

(17:21):
many or something like that in Yiddish. Uh So it's
like a table. It's like sometimes it's like it's like
it's a stew of carrots, usually with dried fruit and
brown sugar, and it's it's sweet. And you know, I
like to do it with spruns or dates and carrots,
and I usually had sweet potato and I try to

(17:43):
make some sort of like glaze and I kind of
roast and then glaze them less uh sims two point zero.
It's it's less stewy and more like roasted vegetable like
sweet yea, like a roasted vegetable with like a lot
of sweet sauce around it is kind of more what
I kind of shoot for. But yeah, I think it's delicious.
I mean, can he throw some onions in that too?
It's great, absolutely, absolutely onions or whatever it's it's it's

(18:05):
actually a cool dish, and it's it's only usually made
this time of year. So yeah, I mean, here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
There's so much great food when it comes to this
these holidays. I think it's just kind of forgotten. I'm
excited to kind of explore some of that on this
episode of the show and kind of dive into it
and give some recipes.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
And of course we have our.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Jewish Kosher advisor coming on and we don't speak. That's
not a joke, friends, That's really what he is, which
is awesome. Yeah, you're literary. He's a chef. He's a
private chef. It's been cooking this food for his entire life,
plus for clients, so have him on as well. He's
kind of a I mean we can call him an expert.
That's why he's the Kosher Advisor.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah. No, and he literally grew up in a kosher household.
His parents ran a kosher catering company Man Catering in
New York City. For I think almost forty years. Wow,
how about that? Yeah, which is crazy. So he literally
grew up in a kosher kitchen, working with this food,
eating this food his whole life. So it's it's kind

(18:57):
of cool to see that he's turned it into a
business as well.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
So yeah, and so we'll get the information on that
and you can we can answer some questions as well,
which is kind of great, especially for me because I
have so many questions. Particularly on these heads of animals
being served just seems a little like final.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
I don't know. Well, no, like I said, it's got
to be traditional. I don't think you would just serve
it to anyone, like you wouldn't serve a fishead to
just anyone. Here it is, we found it, found it.

(19:33):
I'm glad you found this. This is a song, dude,
this is a song. But we're not trying to have
fish heads on our table, laughing happy fish heads.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
I'm gonna this is a song out to play.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
In the soup fish head soup delicious. You're not You're
not with us, all right, I'll turn it off? Sorry
about that? Let me.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
I mean, I bet when we started recording the show,
you didn't think that song was gonna be coming out,
did you.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
I did not. I didn't think we were gonna spend
that much time talking about heads of animals.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
But it's the thing, though, and I think it's something
that's interesting for people to learn about. I don't know, Listen,
here's the thing we got. We're gonna go to break
here in a second. But there's all kinds of things
to talk about. I mean, you know, we've talked about
the sweet things and all that sort of stuff, but
what about the main courses and man, we're talking you know, brisket,
roast chicken, all those sides that make a Shana dinner
like just delicious. And it's literally so many great things

(20:29):
to have there, so much great food to have there,
and I think it's kind of underrated, Jeffy. I mean
I remember doing those carrots with you. Just unbelievable delicious.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
You know. Yeah, the semisis is really great and like
the actual full rush of Shana menu. I think we'll
get into next break well, we'll really break down all
the amazing dishes that go together. So far, we've only
talked about the apples and honey, the round halla, the
pomegranate seeds and the fish Heads.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
All right, I won't keep playing the Fishead song. Sorry,
I haven't heard the song forever. Mayde have so much
to think about it, I was like, oh, the Fishhead song,
that's appropriate, let's play that.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
No. And then also at the end of the show,
the last segment, we're going to get into the Amkaport,
which is a fun one because it's a breakfast where
you ast for a while and then break it in.
That's a that's a fun meal because people are starving.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
Oh you just kind of go to town then huh.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you can really throw down and
do a lot of stuff. And I'm excited to hear
what Yaya talks about that. I'm sure he's yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
And Yairo join us on the break three, which we're
excited to have him on to talk about stuff, and
of course friends, it wouldn't be Plumb Love Foods without
a brand new song from our friends the Flames. They
wrote a song for our friend Yair. Can't wait to
play that for him and get his reaction, which I'm
sure will be He'll he'll love it.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
He's he's all love it.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
We're talking about Rashashana. It is the Jewish High Holiday
season here on Plumlove Foods. We're gonna spore some more
of this food and get into it. And when we
come back, you're checking out Plumblove Foods on WIS to
see the Voice of Connecticut with Chef Plumber, Chef jeff
Stay right there, we'll be right back friends, Plumb Love

(22:18):
Foods right here on WYCC, the Voice of Connecticut. Of course,
you're having a fantastic Saturday. Thanks for hanging out with
us a little bit here. Whether you're driving in your car,
you're listening to the podcast, listen to the radio live, Jeffy.
Plumb Love Foods is everywhere, and we are here to
help with everything you've got going on. And we're talking
the high holidays today. That is the Jewish High Holidays, right, Jeffy.
Just to clarify, it's it's Rosashana. Yeah, I'm poor. They

(22:41):
all kind of fall in that category, right.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
That is right Russia. Shana is the first of the
high holidays in Judaism and it's the new year. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
And you have a lot of expertise in this because
you work with clients who are in this who celebrate
these things and as well as our guests today are
Kosher Advisor, our resident Kosher Advisor, and Private Chef of course.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Chef.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
Yeah, your lunch is going to join us the next
break and help break down a lot of these things
and explain stuff. He's a good talker, smart guy. It'll
be nice to have him on to kind of explain
some of these things. Great guy, great, Yeah, we like Yayer.
He's a good guy and also friends. I'll forget if
you missed any part.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Of the show.

Speaker 4 (23:15):
You can get this stuff anywhere, Jeffy.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Anywhere you get your podcasts right, anywhere you get podcasts anywhere.
Anywhere you download your podcast Apple Music, yeah, or Apple
podcasts rather Spotify podcasts are us.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
That's my favorite place. Left podcast we're there too, Left
Handed podcast speaker uh Bigsy's podcast Emporium newly added to
our list. We're there now as well, so make sure
you go there. Yeah, you can downce stuff there.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Of course.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
Follow us on social media as well at chef Plum,
at four King Chef, and of course plumb the Foods
on Instagram as well. We're gonna do more with that
stuff soon. We're really bad at it. We gotta get
better about it.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
You're getting better though, we're getting better, trying to, trying to,
trying to. So we've been talking a lot about the stuff.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
I thought maybe before we get ya, ought it'd be
fun to kind of talk about setting a menu here,
like an actual like like, let's get the menu set.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Up for how we're gonna do this dinner, how we're gonna.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
You know, kind of get this traditional feast, you know,
like like how do we get it set?

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Like what are we going to serve? That kind of stuff?

Speaker 4 (24:13):
You talk about some of the somebolic foods, but you know,
the holiday menu, get it ready to go, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, let's write let's write out of holiday menu like
we were gonna host Russia Shana. Yeah. I like that.
That's a good idea. This sounds great.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
So I always start with not enough you do, but
I do. I start with the protein, like what do
we serving? Protein wise? Like what's the first thing that
when it comes down to it, like what are we
talking about? Were talking fish? We talk and chicken? What
are we serving?

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Jeffy, I couldn't agree more. I like to build the
menu around the protein. Me too. I do.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
When you go shopping, do you shop proteins first? I
do I do, and drops my wife crazy like.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
I can't always actually almost always, Yeah, I almost go
straight for proteins. I want to I want to see
what the protein is because that could change everything.

Speaker 4 (24:52):
Right, If it doesn't look good, we have to change
the little mealing.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Oh I wanted to do this kind of steak or
I wanted to do, you know, a pork chop or
whatever it might be, and it looks or it's not there,
change the game. Enough of them, you gotta change everything up.
So I think, yep, protein first, all right, So we're
talking this meal here? What kind of proteins were talking
about here, Jeffrey, Because I'm thinking, you know, I mean,
it doesn't have to be just one. If we're gonna
serve a couple, what shows you do? What should we
start with? The undisputed star of the table on almost

(25:18):
any rashashana is a brisket ah brisket.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
And also that's not an easy piece of meat to
cook either.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
No, I mean I have a food proof way to
do it, which is braizing. You know, braizing stuff, you know,
cooking stuff in liquid, tightly sealed covered. I do it
three hundred, three hundred and twenty five degrees three hours.
See that's a great technique. I like that.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
And just for those who don't know, brazing means to
cook in a floorful liquid for a longer period of time.
You know, just because your ovens at three hundred and
twenty five degrees doesn't mean that the liquid itself is
three hundred twenty five degrees exactly, because liquid can't get
that hot. It just can't get that hot exactly.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
So if it steams a little inside the pot and
then you know, kind of trinkles back down on top
of it, it.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
Almost creates a rain cloud in there exactly, which is
pretty cool. Okay, so we're gonna season the brisket up.
Are you gonna Are we gonna pick it or we're
gonna do anything to it before we cook it?

Speaker 1 (26:09):
What are we doing? I usually I just heavy salt
and pepper it and then I see it really hard
in that pan, and then I usually then add a
little mirraquais and then add some herbs, and then add
the brisket back on top of that, and then pour
the liquid over it.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
What liquid you're using using stock or wine? What are
you doing well?

Speaker 1 (26:26):
For russa shaana, I usually use the bottle of manichevits
old straight up concord graat man of chevitz. It's sweet,
it's fortified, and uh, it just it goes really well
with beef. It's kind of like I like to quote you,
they're best friends.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
Yeah, they are best friends. And four to five whi
Jeffy is talking about that means that it's actually had
sugar added to it, so, which which can add a
lot of flavor to it. So we're gonna cook that
brisket three twenty five for three hours, bring it out,
let it rest, And are we slicing?

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Are we shredding? High we serve this? I like to
slice mine. That's why I like to just go three
hours and pull it out, because it's gonna be done
to the hole. It's not gonna be falling apart. Done.
And I think if you go too far or if
you don't. And I like to pull it out of
the liquid and let it cool out of the liquid
a little bit, because then I like to reduce that
liquid down and get into a glaze. And then I

(27:11):
like to like when I heat it back up, I
then put it in the glaze. Oh yeah, that's good.
You know, I might reserve some of the liquid to
just put, you know, to kind of like let it
sit in some of the liquid. But I'll take the
vegetables out, reduce it all down to make a glaze. Yeah,
I mean, it's funny vegetables.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
If you make a sauce out of a pan, you
want to seem really a chefy, just strain it. I'm
telling you, just strain it. It changes the entire complexity
of the sauce.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah. Oh, definitely. Straining things in general just changes everything.
It's like you get such a smooth, clean representation of
what you're trying. Absolutely, you know, it's like just even
tomato sauce, if you use some fresh tomatoes and you
just pure them up, just straining that out big changes.
Oh my gosh, it's like it blows people's minds. It's
like such a chefy thing that to massive. BIG's such

(27:52):
a Yeah, it's an easy thing.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
So we've got our brisk out on the table. So
if we're gonna serve, I mean, we can serve a fissure, right,
we could do a salmon dish, because I have a
salmon dish I do for.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Oh oh yeah, so I love for me. I like
to do I like to give my dianers a choice,
you know, because it is it's a big holiday, and
that it really eats the same things. So it looks
beautiful on the table too. Yeah, especially nowadays, not everyone
needs red meat. Somebody you know this and that you
know the other. So I like to always give him
a second choice. I think salmon is a great choice.
What would you serve?

Speaker 4 (28:21):
So with the salmon, I actually did this particular dish
I'm gonna tell you about I did with when I
when I did a video for Jacqua Pen the Jaca
Penn Foundation. It was a great dish where I take
a whole side of salmon. I think, a whole side
of salmon. It's not that expensive, and it looks great
on a table. It looks like, you know, it's impressive
to have a whole side of salmon on the table.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Beautiful.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
So season up a little bit a little lemon zest, salt,
olive oil, nice high heat on an oven definitely to
where it pressed the brown on top. Now you can actually,
if you want to, you can mix a little bit
of honey with some lemon zest and butter and you
can kind of brush that on top of it. If
you want, or a little olive oil on honey on
top and then let it get nice and that beautiful

(29:03):
color and you want that browning on there, which is great, right,
love that. So then I take it out and I
top it with a little bit of pomegranate seeds lemon,
and you can do it. You can mix it off
with olive oil a little bit and put that on
there if you want. You know, a little margarine works
as well, but it kind of gives a little buttery
sauce in there too. And then a couple of dil
fronds just kind of spread around to kind of add

(29:23):
some green rey tool. But it looks really good because
pomegranate seeds and the green dill fronds that are around there.
It looks really pretty and it tastes great. It's just
a delicious you know, it sounds delicious. It goes right
right there with it, and it kind of gets a
little crust from that little bit of a sugary, you know,
from the honey glaze you kind of put on top
of the salmon. It's delicious and looks great on the table.
And I serve a whole I don't slice it, serve
a whole and people can just take a fork and
break a piece off.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Perfect for Russia, Shana throw it back to the first segment.
We learned that pomegranates and honey big big parts of
big pile.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
I will tell you one of my one of my
big things though, I'm serving a side of salmon. You'll
see from one side where where the top dorsal fin
is as it goes down to where the belly flap is,
I tend to take the belly flap off. Oh why, well,
I think when I'm serving a whole side of salmon,
I don't like how it looks on the plate.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
It is.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
It's more aesthetic for me than anything else. But I
do find sometimes that belly flap can get very very oily,
and it can be too much oil on the plate.
But I will save it though, because you can make
salmon bacon.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Out of it. You can't make salmon bacon out of it.
But the roasted salmon belly might be my favorite little piece.
Yeah it is. It is so oily and the skin
gets a little crispy, and it's like it's I'm trying
to get beautiful on the platter. You know, I hear you.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
I mean I'm not saying it's the right or wrong
way to do it.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
It's just how I do it. Just a great fatty
mouthfeel so good. I don't like when you say fatty mouthfeel.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
I don't like that. Like whenever you say that this is,
I just feel like this is.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah. No, Jeffy, no fatty mouth. The crowd is not
like mouthfield. All right, whatever, fine.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
All right, So we're doing salmon, we've got brisket.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
Is chicken an option? Yeah, I was just gonna say,
I love to do poultry, and I think a chicken roasta,
just a classic roast chicken, or a capon, which is
like a larger chicken. I think it's a year and
a half old hen. You know it's an older hen right, Yeah, yeah, great, great.
I mean maybe a capon is a different bird altogether.
I think I might be misspuoting here. Oh okay, look

(31:11):
that up while we're talking. Yeah, I've always thought it
was an older bird.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
As I thought, I thought it was an older you know,
like a couple of years older or something like that. Oh,
Jeffy's doing doing googling because you stop talking.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Cape. He is a young male chicken, our rooster. That's
been castrated at a young age to prevent muscular, strong
tasting meat.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Oh okay, it seems like very unnecessary, but okay, sounds great.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
So yeah, so it's a it's a it's a castrated
male chicken, so which I love.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
That's interesting because I've always thought it was something completely
different than that.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
But you know, and I I had a feeling we
didn't really know, and that's why I went to the Google, Matt.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
You know.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
But but my head and my head's always been like
the older an older chicken is called something like that.
We'll find out later. Let's keep it going here. So
you're gonna get the capon and you're gonna roast in
the oven. What are you doing with that, Jeffrey.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Oh yeah, I'll stuff it with apples and herbs and
maybe a couple of lemon halves. I'll just fill the
cavity with that, tie it up.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
Do you find that makes it take a little longer
to cook?

Speaker 1 (32:18):
I do find it takes a little bit longer to cook.
But I'm also of the mind that I will blast
the chicken because I like to get the outside pretty crispy,
and because the inside is stuffed. If I blast it
out a high heat and then kind of pull it
out and then cover it. It'll usually carry cook and
be just so moist and juicy all the way through that.

(32:39):
I it's just you know, unmatched. It's just so good.
And you can make a great pant sauce on that.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
So you have to roast it because you get I mean,
do you put a little like mirra pois in there
with it?

Speaker 1 (32:49):
And like you know, but definitely I cook mine on
a rack of mirrapos. So I'll take leaks and split them.
I'll take onions and cut them into thick just rounds.
Take carrots and with them pieces of celery and split
it and just kind of build a rack. I'll cross
section all those vegetables to kind of lift the bird
out of the pan a little bit. Yeah, yeah, all right,

(33:10):
that makes sense.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
And what about sometimes you do it well, first off,
you're gonna do that and make a pantsaf. So you
want to get that fond off the bottom of the pan.
You know that that those are the crispy, delicious bits,
that the brown bits that's stick to the bottom of
the pan. When you deglaze it, that comes off and
adds so much flavor and deglazing. It's getting it hot
and pouring a liquid on top of it. Usually you
can use wine, chicken stock, heck, even water works. If
I use a bad word like heck, I apologize for that,

(33:32):
but you can use water if if nothing else, you know,
you can definitely.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Use water if nothing else, but I need a little
wine goes a lot further, helps really get it up,
gud of a wooden spoon in there, really scrape and
get all that flavor out of it. It's just makes
the best gravy one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
You definitely want that because it adds so much flavor
to it. So yeah, but you also can do a
turkey breast too, right, don't you turkey turkey breast sometimes?

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Oh yeah, I do love to do a turkey breast,
And I like to take a I'll get, you know,
both sides of the turkey breast. I take it off
the bone, and then I'll I'll take the turkey breast
and put one side down, you know where the lobe
is kind of thick on one side and thick on
the other side. Yeah, yeah, light a light pound on
each one to kind of kind of even it out
a little bit. And then I'll put the thin side

(34:15):
on top of the thick side and vice versa and
tie it that way. And I usually stuff it with
some chopped herbs and lemon zest and orange zest.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
Add a lot of flavor to it too, and you
brind it. You also buy brin the chicken as well, right, I.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Usually don't brind that turkey breast that when I stuff
it that way, and then I will I'll season it
really heavily and let it kind of dry brine it
the night before. Okay, you know, but I do love
a cider Brian turkey or a cider Brian bird. I
usually will actually brind the capon, you know.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
Cider brining or just using cider and cooking I think
is a really cool thing, especially this time in year,
because you can get some great flavors out of it.
I think a cider almost being like a wine to
cook with because you can get so many deep flavors
out of it.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Definitely, definitely, and there's a lot of sweetness there. You
don't really have to add any sugar to your brin
when you use a nice sight, or you can just
kind of add enough salt to have the transference of
flavor to happen. You can add so much other fruit
with cider too, to bring out other notes in the cider.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Totally, it's really a little orange ast to It makes
a big difference.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah, absolutely, I love apples all fall.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
So we've got the chicken, we've got the fish, we've
got the brisket. We kind of got a lot of
things happening here on this table, which I think is
great and it all sounds delicious. And you know, I
think here in Connecticut to some great butchers like you
can go out to your you know, any of these
great local butchers we have out here. And you know,
our friend Matt Storch at Saga Talk Provisions down in Westport,
like he's a good help. He can help you get
any of these things or source these things that you
wanted to go for kosher meat and things.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
He can definitely help with that. You know.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
It's one of those things where you just just ask,
just ask. It's really really simple. I mean that they
want to help you. They want to make it work,
you know, so they're happy to help you. I think
it's you know, yeah, I mean Crown Up in West
Hartford is a great place. There's just so many great
and you can also order stuff online. Don't you order
some meats online?

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yep, yep. I love a place called Grow and Behold,
which is just a really high end, uh kind of
kosher meat company. Yea. Yeah. You know one thing about
kosher meat that I think is pretty cool that uh,
I don't know if you know this, but uh, it's
actually already salted in the process of it being kosher.
You know, it has to be butchered a certain way. Uh.

(36:23):
You know, the animal has to be killed a certain way.
The meat has to be butchered a certain way, and
the whole time it's uh overseen by a holy person
like that is a you know, taking a rabbi or
something knows well, it's like a rabbi. It's someone who
I can't remember the name of the title of the person,
will have to remember to ask chef yahyar next break.

(36:45):
I think, uh, it's really cool because the meat salted.
I didn't know that, you know. So the first time
I did a kosher party, I had kosher meat, and
I salted it like any good chef would. You don't
lick raw meat to test, you know, I just overted it. Oh,
everyone tasted it and people were a little upset. Luckily,
there was some left in the freezer that we quickly
thought and I can cook it, and everything was fine.

(37:07):
But I got a lesson that day. No tip. My
tip was, now, you know.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
Listen, it comes salted. It's already got seizing on it,
which is interesting though, but it makes.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
It makes it Honestly, the meat is delicious because of
that reason. In my opinion, I think because it's already salted.

Speaker 4 (37:22):
You think draw some blood out or something to make
it taste.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yeah, that's exactly right. Like there's certain cuts of meat
that can't be kosher because of where they are in
the animal right, It's like I think tenderline is one
of those.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
Well it makes sense. I mean, I think that's great.
I've just I didn't know all that until you were
breaking it down for me.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
Before.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
I just didn't know that was a thing, cause, like
I said, I haven't done a lot of this cooking.
I've done minimal amounts of this sort of stuff. And
it's interesting. I think, you know, it almost it's almost
like its own cuisine itself, you.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Know, it is absolutely absolutely, I mean it's a and
it's it's a family traditional and it's also religious traditions,
and it's also connect to a place so or places right,
you know, depending on where these Jewish families might come from.
You know. So the foods can be so much you know,

(38:12):
so creative and so yeah kind of you know, but
they all kind of based off of these traditions. You know.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
I think you're seeing now why Jeff and I we
started this whole, you know, this segment on talking about
how when we go shopping, we shop for proteins first,
like we spent you know, the majority of the segment
just talking about the protein party. We've got a few
minutes left though, so I want to jump into some
of these side dishes that get served. I think it's
important to get them in there. And one of them,
you know, is that carrot dish we've mentioned before in

(38:38):
the past, Simus, is that what's.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Called yep simmis yep exactly.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
Which is a beautiful roast carrot dish essentially, right, Yeah, Well,
traditionally it's like a stew of carrots with dried fruit,
and usually I think it's like Menishevit's and a little
bit of stock and it's delicious.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
I think I don't like it stewed. It's a little
mushy to me, like a mushy carrot. So I like
to roast my carrots hard and then glaze them with
something sweet, usually like a honey and whiskey or a
maple syrup and whiskey glaze. And then I add like
dried prunes or dried dates, and maybe some dried cherries

(39:15):
and kind of bringing into a little bit of the future.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Yeah, and I think you have to have some sort
of green vegetable here too. And I tend to lean
toward the Brussels sprouts. I think that's a great option
for something like this. You can seize them up nicely,
roast the hole in the oven. They come out great,
that little crunch on the outside. It's definitely in my
in my opinion, Brussels sprouts or you know, it's kind
of an underrated dish when it comes to, you know,
family meals.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I think, yeah, well, I think I mean nowadays, when
I was a kid, Brussels sprouts were like the devil
because the only time you saw them, they were like
poached and then had like cheese sauce on them. You know,
like that was like a big move for Brussels sprouts,
but now people eat them so many ways. I mean,
oh yeah, you know, shredded and caramelized. I've seen them,
you know, just roasted. I've seen them.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
My clients a little balsamic vinegar to finish them.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
Oh my gosh, it's great. Yea, Oh, so many cool
things to do with or Brussels brown and they're so
delicious because it's like a sweet little head of cabbage. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:09):
Well, let me ask you this because I was curious, like,
is there any are there any rules of the vegetables,
like can we not have green beans for some reason?
Like is there or can we have any vegetable?

Speaker 1 (40:17):
No? I love green beans. I think green beans are
not you, I mean just in general, like, oh, and
it's a great false side dish. And I don't think
I don't think there's any rules about what you can
eat or not eat when it comes to vegetables. I
think it's more milk and meat can't be in together.
There's like there's like certain rules to how you can eat,

(40:39):
what you can eat, what type of fish you can eat,
what type of meat you can eat? Beans? The goomes
that kind of thing, right, Well, that that takes place
during passover, but there's definitely you know, rules in it,
but I don't think vegetables fall into that. And I
believe eggs never fall into that either for some reason,
like you could always eat eggs.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
Right, It's the best time in year two for vegetables
because it's like that fall time. There's still farmers market.
They're still great vegetables coming out the fall. Vegetables always
beautiful squashes. So there's a lot of great things you
can do there. We've touched on Google really quick. We've
got about three minutes left here. We have touch on
Google a little bit. Can you talk about that?

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, Well, Google is basically as it's a casserole and
super traditional, Yeah, super traditional. It's a it's a casserole.
It can be savory, savory or sweet. It can be potato,
or it can be noodle. I tend to gravitate to
the noodle one myself. The noodle one that I've always

(41:32):
enjoyed is kind of like almost like a custard, Yeah,
a vanilla custard. Then I usually add some apples to
like chopped up sometimes, and then we'll sprinkle brown sugar
and you know, kind of make like a quick strusle
with just brown sugar and butter on the top of
it and bake it off and it gets crusty on top.
It's great creamy inside. It's so delicious. And then you

(41:55):
can do that same thing savory, where you just kind
of make it a little salty and sweet. You know,
it's a little a little more on the savory side
of things, and.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
There's no right or wrong with it. Basically, you can't
really but mess up a Google.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
No, you can't. But potato coogle for instance, it's it's
a lot like scalloped potatoes in right, right, right, which
is delicious, you know.

Speaker 4 (42:17):
Yeah, I love scalp tis. My kids make me making
for the holidays. It's one of their favorite side is
is I make. But let me ask you this. So
the noodles you're talking about, What kind of noodles are
we using here?

Speaker 1 (42:25):
Oh? Like egg noodles, like a wide egg noodle, you know,
the kind you can get in the grow. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's coming. Like the bags, right yeah, the bags they're
you know, usually like a twelve ounce bags. It's a
it's like a weird number.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
Right right, Well, I think that's great. I mean, and
in the different ways you can do it and maybe
even serving like you know, uh Google, you know, with
the brisket is awesome. And it also you can do
it like without dairy if you're making like you said
that that one, it's kind of like a like a
like the potatoes you're talking about. No, you can use
like a coconut product for that right to make a
custard or yogurt.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yeah, you cana coconut product. You can use the yogurt,
the you know so product, you just can't use dairy,
you know. But definitely with the potato you can make
it kind of like with egg and make it sort
of like a hash Brown cast role.

Speaker 4 (43:11):
Man, so much information here, Jeffy, Like I had no
idea how much you knew about this.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
This is great.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
You kind of got me excited about cooking some high
holidays food now.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Yeah, you know, I've been cooking Rasshashana dinners off and
on for over twenty years. Man, you're killing it. It's great.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
When we come back here on Plumlove Foods, we're gonna
be joined by the Kosher Advisor to the Stars and
Private Chefickscordinaire Chef Yayia lynch Is gonna join me and
Jeffy here to talk a little bit more about this
and get some definitions and kind of define some of
these things, because he's the best at this, and not
that Jeff's not doing a great job, but having another,
you know, another voice in it to kind of break
it down for us.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
So we're talking.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
High holidays here on Plumblove Foods right here on wys
to see the Voice of Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Stay right there. We come back.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
We're'd be joined by chef Yaira Lynchner, and I kind
of feel when we come back, we're gonna be playing
his intro so on that our house banned the flames.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Bro.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Stay right there. You're checking out Plumblove Foods right here
on wys You see, we're right back.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
He is.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
He is, he.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Is, yea Lunch, the son of the po.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
Yeah Lunch, son of the kosher adviser, rich and famous.

Speaker 6 (44:47):
From Wag You to White Truffle Hill, keep it kosher
and for everything else. He said, there's kosher a Jason, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
He Publa Foods here on a Saturday.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
Oh my gosh, right here on the Voice of Connecticut.
Wiz Jeffy, I don't know how I feel about this song.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
To be honest with you, ah fire, we are.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
Happy to welcome in a good friend of ours and uh,
a fantastic chef and his own right, very very talented
gentleman a uh and the Kosher advisor as you heard
in the song, and apparently the son of Dan we
heard in the song as well. Gentlemen joining us right
here on Plumla Foods to talk all about the high holidays,
our good friend chef.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
Yeah, your listener, How you doing, guys, Good to see you.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
What's up, buddy? How are you doing pretty?

Speaker 3 (46:00):
I'm pretty good, getting ready for the high holidays?

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Yeah? Do you first?

Speaker 4 (46:03):
What do you think of your interest song that Jeffy
had our band prepare for you?

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Well?

Speaker 7 (46:07):
On a personal level, on flatter, you know, it's been
a long time since some of them someone has written
a song about me, much less you know, my father musically.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Musically, I think we have some work to do, you.

Speaker 4 (46:19):
Know, I mean it kind of had some things going
on there. I was like, what kind of style of
music is this? And jeff started quoting it, and I
was like, all right, I don't know, and I don't
know which one of the singers is singing the song.
I mean, we have a band that comes up with
these songs because Jeff gives them like certain I don't know.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Some criteria and they went with like, you know, a
Jewish electronic funk.

Speaker 7 (46:36):
Listen, they can't always be hit. Sometimes you got to
write the fourth track on the album. You know it
is where it is.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Absolutely I couldn't agree with that anymore. Yeah, Yeah, we
appreciate you coming on. Man, do me a favorite just
I don't know, because you've been a chef a long
time yourself. Man, you've done it. You've worked in this
business a long time. Just tell us a lit bit
of your background, just so we can kind of set
the table for who you are and kind of why
you're an expert in this category.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
Well, you know, I think like a lot of chefs
have moved around a bunch, you know.

Speaker 7 (47:00):
I started in the front of house doing some fine dining,
went back to culinary school, came out, and moved into
kitchens like restaurant kitchens.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
For a while.

Speaker 7 (47:09):
But more pertinent to our topic tonight, my parents had
a coacher catering company for forty years and sort of
throughout my time in college and then working my way
through culinary school and frankly just taking side hustle gigs
along the way.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
I worked a lot for them.

Speaker 7 (47:28):
I wound up going to college at what's called the
joint program at Columbia and the Jewish Theological Seminary, So
I studied some more you know, Jewish history and Jewish law.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
And things like that there.

Speaker 7 (47:42):
And so when I finally made my drump from restaurants
to private, having this second set of knowledge around culture,
dietary laws, Jewish culture helped helped me at least bridge
some of my culinary skills and that knowledge in order

(48:03):
to bring sort of a more niche I don't know,
outlook to some of these.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
Jobs and having clientele who appreciate that sort of thing,
because not everybody, I mean that's not been a chef
for thirty years. I can't do that, you know, I mean,
which is pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
I kind of think that's a cool way to take.
You know, we talk a lot about, you know, on
the show, about the different jobs you have as a
person of cook's food, Like this is a whole different
version of that. No one's even you know, what everyone
talks about.

Speaker 7 (48:26):
So there's so many, there's so many I mean and
dicator en world as you know, I know you guys
both know, is so different than the restaurant world. It
is different than the private chef rold totally. So you
bring all those parts together and you do the best
for your clients.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
So what does your role as the Kosher advisor entail
for clients who may not be deep and familiar with
the laws? Like how I mean you have to give
us like all of it, but like a couple of
things that would be like obvious for a chef that
they could mess up, you know.

Speaker 7 (48:50):
Sure, well, I think there's a couple of different pieces
at play. A lot of what I do these days
is with private clients, and so what I try to
do is create a experience for them that makes sense
for their level of observance, their guests level of observance,
and just their comfort in general. So I don't come
from the kind of religious background where I believe there's

(49:12):
only one right way to do things. I have the
I have the rules in the back of my head,
like I understand sort of what we're working with. But
not every family does things the same way. You know,
In the home that I grew up in, we kept
two different sets of dishes right meat and dairy, and
when Passover came around, we had a whole new set
of dishes.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
For other families.

Speaker 7 (49:32):
You know, the family I work for right now, for example,
we don't we don't have two sets of dishes, but
we don't eat pork and shellfish, and we don't use
a different set of dishes on Passover.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
But we do change a diet.

Speaker 7 (49:44):
So part of what I try and do is help
educate them around what their guests may or may not.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Need and make what make what might make them more comfortable.
And I try and.

Speaker 7 (49:58):
Create an environment where they are comfortable, where the hosts
are happy with what they're offering. And the truth is
that's really it, because I don't believe.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
There's a right answer.

Speaker 7 (50:09):
I'm really just trying to find the place where everyone
feels good about what we're doing that night. So, for example,
the family that I work for you know right now,
like I said, they are not particularly strict in their
level of observance, but they may have guests come over
for Ushashana that do have a slightly higher level of observance.
So I might want to talk to them about, well,

(50:32):
what sort of what synagogue do they go to and
that might inform me on you know, what style of laws,
you know, what style of Kosher they might partake. And
so if I know they come from a reform background
or a conservative background, or an Orthodox background, I might
advise them in a different direction, or in the case
with my family, I may just take care of it

(50:53):
in a different direction.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Wow, that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
I didn't know that the synagogue made a difference A Jeffe.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah. Well, I think the cool thing there is that
it's it comes from so many different angles. It's like
a it's like a cultural tradition, but it's also a
religious tradition, and it's also like a family tradition in
a lot of ways. So it's like depending on who
he's talking to and what he's talking to and what
they are doing, you know, whether it's like religious and

(51:17):
they're trying to be very strict, whether it's just like, oh,
this is how we do it as a family. You know.
I think being able to balance all those hats is
probably a lot of fun.

Speaker 7 (51:26):
Absolutely, And just to give just to give like one
example there and jump off of what you just said,
A lot of this is about family tradition. So for example,
a number of years ago, the Conservative movement decided that
on Passover, it used to be that, you know, Eastern
European Jews, for example, didn't eat rice, didn't eat corn,

(51:49):
didn't meet things you know that we call ket legumes,
and Sephardic Jews, Jews from Morocco, Spain whatever did eat
those diddy keep And what that created was what it
meant was that if Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews wanted to
get together.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
For Passover, it created a problem, like which rules.

Speaker 7 (52:09):
Are we going to follow? The Sephardic Jews wanted to
have their rice, it was traditional to them. The Ashkenazi Jews,
we don't eat rice. There's like right that you sort
of round up in this awkward spot. Well, the Conservative
movement said, what's most important to us is coming together
on the holidays. So we're going to allow Ashkenazi Jews
to eat to eat rice and to eat corn and
eat legums.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Well, great, now everyone gets to come together.

Speaker 7 (52:30):
However, even though the rules say that, like I was
talking about before, we're trying to create a comfortable place. Well,
my mother still doesn't eat those even though it's totally allowed.
Her rabbi says it's okay, but.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
That's not what we do in our family.

Speaker 7 (52:43):
And so for her it was okay, Well, if someone
wants to come over and eat that, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
I'm not going to eat that.

Speaker 7 (52:48):
We're not going to do that. We're not going to
serve those sort of things at our table, but we
might loosen what can come into the house, you know,
something like that. And so I just like to remind
my clients they're doing it right. Whatever they decide on,
they're doing the right thing.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
It's gonna be fun.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
That's awesome. That's awesome. Do you have so is there
like a story that you can think of of like
a particularly challenging Russia Shana, Like you're like like like
a challenging.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
And early speaking, yeah, yeah, yeah, like like like.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
A challenging meal maybe, or like somebody that like they
came like like like you're saying, there's like these is
is there like a rules at a table maybe that
like you know, somebody wants uh, you know, a noodle
google you know, but they also want risk it and
they also want this, and they also want that Like
like how do you how do you how do you

(53:37):
balance all those things together?

Speaker 3 (53:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (53:39):
Well I guess I guess the best advice. I'll start
by saying this. I don't know that I have a
hyper specific example here, but similar to what I was
just saying, is like a lot of this has got
less to do with the Jewish law than it does
with managing personalities and politics at a table. Right, So, like,
what's the hardest thing about Thanksgiving dinner? Like, maybe it's

(54:00):
the turkey, but really it's that weird Uncle Steve.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
You know that's coming out with is weird? You know whatever? Like, right,
it's Uncle Steve. It's always Uncle Steve, you know.

Speaker 7 (54:09):
And that's kind of where I find myself going when
it comes to like, well do you have a particularly
challenging story, Like, you know, I'm a chef, You're a chef, right,
We're all chefs, Like we grew up learning how to
cook for one hundred, two hundred, three hundred people at
a time. Often the culinary part is the easy part, right,
So you know, in my house, my parents really don't

(54:30):
like the old school traditional Jewish.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Foods, and we stay away from a lot of that.

Speaker 7 (54:33):
When we invite friends over, they you know, know now
they know the drill, but they would come over and
be like where's the brisket, or like, how come there's
no semis at the table? And for our listeners, semis
is like a carrot casserole kind of dish. But like,
that's sort of the biggest thing that happens because my
traditions run into someone else's traditions that miss out on someone.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
Else's, and I think just managing that.

Speaker 7 (54:56):
Is is I think often the biggest challenge. That's for
something something that someone else takes for granted, well, that's
of course we're gonna have simys. That's what everyone has,
and you show up at someone's table and it's not there.
So I think that the piece of advice I would
give to people that are hosting and want to make
sure that stuff works out is not don't just ask
about allergies and dietary restrictions, and don't just ask about

(55:16):
the law, but ask what makes us on a special
to them specifically. You know, for some people it's raisins
in the halla. You know, my mom sometimes does raisins
and sometimes does some other sweet thing, but just scrucle
on top. And that sounds great, right, like right, it
sounds it Just I'm like, what's wrong with that? God
didn't say and thou shalt put raisins in your damn jala. Sorry,

(55:38):
But like you know, so, I think it's really about
trying to make sure everyone has something special at the table.
And if the answer is simis make the simis, it's
like they'd just characters just do it.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (55:51):
Yeah, So like, okay, from from your perspective, you know,
what is there? Is there current? Is there trends in
like high end kosher cuisine or is it kind of
just a it's kind of what's always been.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
No, I wouldn't say that. I think that there are
there's like multiple groups or multiple lanes here when it
comes to that. And I think that.

Speaker 7 (56:16):
The I don't know, higher end of you know, kosher
cuisine is doing their best to not feel like you're
eating back in the schedtle.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
And so the answer is the schedtle.

Speaker 7 (56:27):
The small little communities back in Poland got it very
insular and very contained, and they all did these things
the same way and tradition based and et cetera.

Speaker 4 (56:36):
Ironically, our first house banned the schedtle. Remember them, Jeffy,
those guys in the.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Last long not very good they were, they were. It
was not good sorry, but no.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
That's all right, that's all right.

Speaker 7 (56:49):
So what are the trends. I wouldn't call them like
kosher trends, but I would say. What I would say
is that over the last bunch of years, I think.

Speaker 8 (56:56):
The foodies among us have of realized that there's no
good reason that kosher food has to be old school polish,
stewed carrot, over cooked chicken.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
Whatever.

Speaker 7 (57:09):
You can make most food really good. And like I'll say,
one thing I learned from cooking with my father is.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
He really really really strived for that he I think
it was I think it was New York magazine.

Speaker 7 (57:21):
He once got a write up about his food and
he was nicknamed or I don't know what you want
to call it, but the phrase was the kosher caterer
who won't cook cookle And that was really totally yeah,
like me, when I see you guys send it, that's
a great article, but it's great, And like that was
how he liked to cook.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
He was like, we don't.

Speaker 7 (57:40):
It doesn't need to be boring, it doesn't need to
be bad, it doesn't need to be bland. It doesn't
need to taste like you cooked it, you know, at
the edge of Siberia, Like, we can make delicious food.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
We just got to get kosher ingredients and then be creative.

Speaker 7 (57:52):
So I think that's a lot of what goes on
on the so called trend to your side of kosher
cooking is they're putting aside, you know, the twelve things
that people traditionally eat, and they're saying, Okay, well the
tradition is sweet. Great, Well let's make some honey glaze
this or that, or let's incorporate pomegranate seeds somewhere else,
Like it doesn't just have to be you know, the eight, nine,
ten things that we've eaten forever, and if it is,

(58:15):
we can upgrade those too, like they don't have to
be let grandma made it.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Yeah, I like that mentality, Jeff.

Speaker 4 (58:19):
I was thinking, you know, we talked about this stuff,
and in the first two breaks we talked about this.
If you miss any part of this, you can obviously
download the podcast anywhere you'll find digital audio content. But yeah,
I was thinking that too. It's always the same things.
But I like what Chef's saying here, How nah you
change it up? Don't They don't have to be so
hardcore with the rules, you know, Jeffrey.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Yeah, no, I love that, and I think that's probably
the best part of your job is to be able
to kind of steer clients into interesting things, like just
be like, well, you could do the simple you know
brisket that everyone always does, or we could do short
ribs and smoke them and then glaze them with the honey, you.

Speaker 4 (58:58):
Know, seventeen step Jeffy. Here we go.

Speaker 7 (59:00):
Absolutely, but hang on, but it's true. I mean, that's
our job. We're adding value. Like I said, you know,
we're used to cooking for one hundred people, you're cooking
for ten. Well, yeah, you got to show off somewhere.
And sure, you know, I think that part of it
might be and being twelve step Jeffy, you know, and
like adding some complications where they don't necessarily need to be,
and like I.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Don't mind five of the game steps.

Speaker 4 (59:20):
But sometimes Jeffy were like, no, this dish is gonna
be incredible.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
Yeah, no, it it's my limit for sure.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
It's a little bit out of control.

Speaker 4 (59:26):
He wanted me to make a basket out of corn silk,
Hare like, we a basket out of it?

Speaker 1 (59:31):
We and it and did you see pictures of it?
I know you plumb.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
You got daughters. You know how a French braid. Let's
get here.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (59:38):
I'm a very good French braider. That's very, very true.
But we'd be there all day long making one.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Showed he showed no skill or or creativity that day.

Speaker 4 (59:47):
All right, Jeffy, that that hurts you say that I
got take notes. Now appreciate that you weren't ask him
a question. I interrupted draft threw you off track?

Speaker 1 (59:55):
Well, no, you know, in the next segment we're gonna
kind of talk about Young Kapor and stuff like that.
You could you help kind of define for everybody what
Yam Kapoor is and what we were going to be
doing at this for the holiday.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Absolutely so. In short, Young Keeper is the day of Atonement.

Speaker 7 (01:00:12):
It's we are supposed to repent for our sins and
we're supposed to admit our sins before God, and we
spend a lot of time in synagogue. You go, if
you're doing this traditionally, and buy the book. You know,
let's say it's on a Tuesday night. You know, you
would have your meal, you would go to services Tuesday night,
you'd come home, you would go back to services in
the morning. You would come home, take a break, and
go back to services again at night. You spend a

(01:00:34):
lot of hours and services. If you're doing it, like
I said, kind of traditionally or by the book obviously
not obviously, sorry, it's traditionally. It's a fast day. I
would say that for a lot of Jews, you know,
who sometimes coin themselves, you know, a three time a
year Jews or whatever, like Young Keeper is.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
One of those. It's considered the holiest day of the year.

Speaker 7 (01:00:53):
If you're only celebrating one holiday all a year, it's
off on Young Keeper.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
That's why you hear all these stories. You know, Sandy
Kofax wouldn't pitch the people and.

Speaker 7 (01:01:00):
This, you know, it's like it's because it's the day
if you're doing if you're doing Judaism at all.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
That's usually the day you're doing it, okay, And so
a lot.

Speaker 7 (01:01:09):
Of people, you know, put focus on the meal, the
last meal before that fast, and the and the first
meal after that fast.

Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
So that that that kind of holds the same weight
as like a Christmas.

Speaker 7 (01:01:19):
Sure, yeah, I guess so if you're gonna do Chris,
if you're going to be Christian once a year, you're
probably doing it on Christmas or on Easter or whatever. Yeah, exactly,
exactly that kind of a thing. And it's a somber day.
It's not usually a celebration. It's often you know, you
come to services either in like a lot of people
don't wear leather. You sort of dress a little more modestly.
You put away some of your luxuries like things like that.

(01:01:42):
Now I'm sure you're asking a little more about the
food than what shoes you wear.

Speaker 4 (01:01:46):
Yeah, you got to know that. That's interesting. That's actually interesting. Yeah,
it's probably leans. It probably leans into the food. I'm guessing, yeah, totally.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
But yeah, you said something interesting, like the prefast is
probably super important meal.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
So it's interesting. You know, I've always.

Speaker 7 (01:02:02):
I actually think of the breakfast as this like more
because it's celebratory and it's like we've did it, we
finished our fast whatever. Like in my experience, this is
not by law, it is not by law, but in
my experience, a lot of people put more weight on
the breakfast than on the pre fast meal. In my
home growing up, it was always chicken, soup and rice.

(01:02:24):
We always had a salad with it, and my mom
always had an apple on the way to Syagogue Now,
none of that has anything to do with tradition or.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
Laws or that's your family's tradition.

Speaker 3 (01:02:35):
Though that's what our family did, And so it's funny.

Speaker 7 (01:02:39):
When they asked me at work, like, well, like, what
do you think we should do before the fast?

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
The only answer I had was, well, my mom has
chicken soup.

Speaker 7 (01:02:46):
Like I like, it was actually kind of stunned because
I never actually thought of it in that way. Right,
So what I just tell people is like, there's no
way to, you know, trick the fast into being easier.

Speaker 3 (01:02:59):
You know, are there foods you should eat?

Speaker 7 (01:03:01):
Yeah, sure, have protein and complex carbs, but like you're
still fasting. Should you have a giant meal, Well then
that stretches your stomach out. Should you have less food,
well then it doesn't, but you've had less. It's like,
I just tell people, it's gonna be what it's gonna be.
It's supposed to be hard, have a meal you enjoy
that feels good, and just proceed.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
So we got about a minute left.

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
But I was curious if you had any kind of
advice or someone hosting their first high holiday there, like,
what would you tell somebody I give you a piece
of advice?

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
In one minute.

Speaker 7 (01:03:29):
I would say, think thematically, try not to get stuck
in the weeds.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
About you know, is this the right food? Is that
the right food? What do I serve? What do I
not serve?

Speaker 7 (01:03:41):
Restaurants a time for sweet, it's honey, it's pomegranates, it's
new fruit. It's fruit and veggies you haven't had in
a little bit. So that's your seasonal fall stuff. And
it often comes down to apples and pomegranates. So I
would just say apples, pomegranate's funey. Incorporate them wherever you can.
There's no right and wrong way to do it. Don't
overthink it, don't make your grandmother's necessarily unless it makes

(01:04:01):
you happy. And the other piece I would say is
take a deep breath. You know, just take a deep breath.
This is supposed to be.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Fun, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:04:09):
God is, depending on how you feel about them, is
either not paying attention at all.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
Or is pleased with whatever you're doing.

Speaker 7 (01:04:17):
I would say, take a deep breath, have a good time,
and watch out for Uncle Steve.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
There it is Uncle Steve.

Speaker 4 (01:04:22):
Uncle Steve mess up everything, no doubt about it. Chef
Linchener joining us. He is a kosher advisor of private
chef and pretty good guy too.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
We like, Yeah, he's a great guy. Man.

Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
Thanks for the time to hang out and explain what
stuff for us. Man, We appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Dude, you're the best.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
And I'll make sure that Jeff sends you that song
so you have it so you can when you enter
the kitchen you can play your music.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
I'm gonna need that. That's my new anthem.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
It's gonna be incredible, right, I love I think you're
gonna love it. I think it might start playing everywhere
you are.

Speaker 4 (01:04:51):
Oh geez, that sounds awful, Jeffy, Oh my gosh, Chef,
thank you very much for your time. Man, We appreciate
You'll see you on down the road. Absolutely, tick care
all right, Jeffy, I was awesome. I feel like I
learned a lot there, buddy. I feel like that was
a whole lot of information. I just got like educating.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
He's the kosher advisor. He means at all. He grew
up in it, he knows it, and he's also Jewish,
which helps a lot, I'm sure. But uh, you know,
he's he's the one who made me a hebro, you
know he bro. Okay, I got it, I got it. Well,
it was educational. I feel like I learned some stuff.
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:05:20):
I might try to mix up some of his foods
myself and see what I come up with to make
it fun.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Why not? Right? Oh? Absolutely? And if I ever have
a question about any dinner that I have to do
that has any kind of kosher anything, yeah, you're almost
always knows the answer, like with that of doubt, or
you can call his dad who also probably knows the answer.
I think that's great.

Speaker 4 (01:05:39):
I love all that, and it's a great resource to have.
You're checking out Plumblove Foods right here, WICC. Happy Saturday.
Year We're talking all about all kinds of fantastic kosher foods.
Stay right there, we'll be right back right here on
Plumblow Foods, Plumbla Foods, righty on a Saturday. Happy Saturday, everybody.

(01:06:22):
I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I hope you're having
a great time. Maybe you're gonna go out to dinner
to night and find something delicious to eat, which I
highly highly hope you go do, or maybe you'll start
looking at some kosher cuisine. Man, that could be a
good idea. Why not give it a try. I see
what's going on. By the way, if you missed any
part of this radio program, it's a fine program.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
To Jeffy, it's a wonderful program, a very fine program.

Speaker 4 (01:06:43):
You can get the podcast available everywhere you get your podcasts,
so co find us, look around all the spots, type
it in there you can get it. It's fantastic and
it's an easy way to pick up any parts you miss,
especially on episodes where we may have a lot of
things going on, jeffe if we have like a lot
of top pic or a lot of I don't know,
a lot of guests, or a lot of.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Info that's dropping gems on them.

Speaker 4 (01:07:06):
Yeah, a lot of knowledge, that's for sure. So yeah,
go down the episode and check it out there. I
think you'll enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
You'll do an episode, go on back there, go in ahead.

Speaker 4 (01:07:16):
Well, if you go really far back, you're some of
the original plumb love food stuff, which is not probably
the best for everybody listening to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
But then on and on too, will beat the dead horse.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
Yes, yes, this is before I was a radio professional.
Actually that's probably not true, jeff I think I was
a radio professional.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
We drink more than.

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
Okay, that's probably true. That's that's all actually probably true.
Thanks for pointing that out. Uh So, we've been spending
some time today talking all about the High Holidays and
kosher cuisine. We were joined for a few minutes ago
by our friend chef, Yeah, your Lynchener. Yeah, he had
a fantastic song which he he didn't seem quite a
grateful for.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Jeffy's. A lot of our other guests love it. We're
gonna play it. People don't know me and work together
a lot, and I'm going to play that for him
and probably pass it out to everyone he knows.

Speaker 4 (01:08:06):
Okay, well, this all sounds like a great plan. Do
you have his parents' email? You can email to them too.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
I do, I actually have Dan's email. Oh my gosh,
you have to send it. Yea loved.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
But my boy, in learning all these things today and
being educated and you know, getting more of an idea,
I recently learned that Yam Kapor is uh you know,
part of the High Holidays as.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Well, correct? Yeah, an important one in fact, a big one. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean he said, it's a it's like you know
he he equated it to Catholicism and Christmas or you did,
and he agreed, Like it's a it's like the big one.
If you're going to celebrate one, this is the one.
That's the one where you repent basically for all your
sins for the entire year. Uh, and God wipes him

(01:08:52):
clean because you're fast and you say you're sorry, and
you know that's how it's It's beautiful. All right, Well
that's good.

Speaker 4 (01:08:59):
So there's also like, I mean the fasting thing you do?

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
You can?

Speaker 4 (01:09:04):
You do you ever have knowledge to explain the fasting parts. Wait,
I just understand it, and like the pre fast meal
and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
I believe the holidays eight days after Rashashana and it
starts this year, it'll be Wednesday, October first, and the
evening at around six pm usually sundown, it'll start. Everyone
will start fasting, so people will have like an early
dinner usually and then fast after the early dinner until

(01:09:31):
the next night at sundown, where they'll break the fast
and have like a big celebratory breakfast okay, or breakfast
some people have like big breakfasts.

Speaker 4 (01:09:42):
Yeah, I mean break the fast is like the actual
like like you know determinot.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
Wait are you saying breakfast and breakfast are the same thing.
I'm saying the same thing, Jeffrey. It's the same plan.
How about that?

Speaker 4 (01:09:59):
How about that? The spelling of it, the spelling of it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
That's good, that's funny. I like funny things. Yes, yes,
I am.

Speaker 3 (01:10:11):
So.

Speaker 4 (01:10:12):
Let's just you're getting us off subject here, Jeffrey with
your crazy talk and some of the like for that
pretty fast meal for instance, Yeah, they do uh, boiled chicken, lentils, eggs,
very bland, bland food and and something. Yeah, And isn't
that kind of the idea that like, yeah, you were saying,
how you know, if you go to masks, maybe you

(01:10:33):
don't wear like some of your fancy watches or jewelry
and ane.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
Of that stuff. I don't they call it masks?

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
Do?

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
I say? Mass? That's a synagogue? I did? I Yeah,
you definitely did, which is okay because you grew up
in Virginia and that's probably you know different. Uh so
here we are with that's amazing. You look so upset

(01:11:03):
right now. Okay, Yes, traditionally very bland foods, like yeah,
you were saying his family had chicken and rice soup,
with you know, a little bread just like real plain.
I have often made bigger meals when I've worked for

(01:11:27):
families that have wanted a different food, So I've made
like pizza different nights, I've made lasagna, the for the
you know, the pre the pre meal. I know. I
think it's kind of all about family tradition. Like though, right,
I have, I've had, I've for it, like I think, yeah,
you're nailed it perfectly with it's all about family tradition.

(01:11:50):
So depending on who you're having over for dinner, uh,
and who you're breaking the fast with kind of or
or or or starting the fast with. You might go
to synagogue with some friends and you know, have the
pre dinner prior to going synagogue, And I think it
kind of depends on what their tradition is, because you

(01:12:11):
would ask, you know, like, hey, what do you guys
do and if they're like.

Speaker 4 (01:12:13):
But I think for purposes of this program talking to
the food part of it, you know, traditionally it's bland,
not tradition.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
You were saying, it doesn't have to be it's just.

Speaker 4 (01:12:24):
No, no, we established that, like yeah, but just from
a food standpoint, traditionally it's very bland food. Yeah, yeah,
I'm not saying that in an offensive way. I'm just
that's just the fact, that's what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Yeah, lentils, eggs, you know, probably like rice, you know,
but but some of these bland foods, it's not even
really a way.

Speaker 4 (01:12:47):
I'm trying to think, like, you know, how can I
you know, kick it up, make it feel a little
bit better? Can we something fun with it? How can
I make bland food not as bland yet still bland?

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Well, I think, like, you know, if you're gonna boil, right,
you're gonna boil chick and and and and then pull
it and then you're going to add it to rice,
for instance, maybe you take some of that stock and
you reduce it a little bit, and you add a
whole bunch of fresh herbs and some you know, lemon
zest and brighten it up and turn it into something
a little bit yeah, no flavor stuff, you know. I

(01:13:18):
think the idea is not to do that, you know,
not to have something super salty and all that kind
of stuff. The idea is to avoid thirst, because you know,
you're supposed to be fasting from all these things.

Speaker 4 (01:13:27):
But wait, okay, avoid okay, Wow, I wonder why they
have the ideas to avoid thirst.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
I think, I mean, I think some people fast from everything,
you know, like they don't, they don't, like they just
just water, like you know when they're like super oh, gotcha, gotcha.
So it depends on the level of like your fasting. Yeah,
now I understand. I don't understand. I understand.

Speaker 4 (01:13:51):
Yeah, I don't know, man, it's just it all sounds.
I guess I get the religious part of it, you know,
I get that part of it. But like this is
this is in particular not a fun food holiday for me.

Speaker 1 (01:14:01):
This one. It's it's well, so the pre the pre
game for a lot of people is not very fun,
and I, like I said, it's it's a lot about
your traditions and what you do in your household. But
the breakfast it comes in, I mean, that's where you
can kind of get really fun. It's a celebratory time.
It's uh, you know, you know, we always at the

(01:14:23):
places that I work. Most of the time it's you
a huge bagel spread. Sometimes you'll get caviar and we'll
do I'll do you know, every kind of like smoked fish.
I can find and make different kind of salads and
just a whole, big fun spread of food and just
kind of have a good time with it. But you
I mean, I've seen all sorts of stuff, you know,

(01:14:45):
for the breakfast, like big, big fun meals.

Speaker 4 (01:14:48):
I mean, and there's also tons of great bagel places
here in Connecticut. I mean, you know, I mean, it's
just there's so many. I'm not gonna start naming places off,
but there's just I mean, I feel like Connecticut and
bagels go hand in hand.

Speaker 1 (01:14:58):
I feel like, I don't know, is that a thing
for me? No, it's it's absolutely, it's absolutely a thing.
I And from restaurant road Trip, I learned that, you know,
prior to that show, I had no idea that bagels
in Connecticut. I would never have went to Connecticut for
a bagel. But after what was the name of that
bagel place? I can't think it off the top of
my head. Oh yeah, I got a New Haven right

(01:15:19):
but right in New Haven, close to the college, right
off campus there, and it was awesome. And it was
like a chef, super super great chef with tons of
accolades who kind of like decided to start making bagels
cut partly because he because he was trying Omo. Yeah, Olmo, Yeah,
olm O, Yeah, awesome, awesome bagels. And then I found

(01:15:44):
out that there was a couple other bagel spots in
Connecticut who had won best Bagels in the Country against
New York bagels, which was, you know, a mind blowing
to me. And it happened in a big place because
you know, I do think that most great things come
from New York, but you know, know, bagels. Apparently I've
gotten perfected here in Connecticut. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:16:04):
I mean, bagels are delicious, no doubt about it. And
you know, I didn't realize how much of a connection
to Connecticut they have. But there's definitely some great bagel
places here.

Speaker 1 (01:16:13):
There's someting like the bagel spread man, the breakfast on
a bagel everything.

Speaker 4 (01:16:17):
Yeah, yeah, I believe I'm not I'm not a smoke
fish guy on first of all, for breakfast and then
for my bagel, I just know, thanks.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
How about tuna fish salad?

Speaker 4 (01:16:27):
I mean when like for breakfast on a bagel, I
mean like a bay making a sandwich out of it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
Well, we're breaking it fast and it's a party. It's
like like, Hey, you're coming over to break fast with us,
and we're having a bagel spread, and like they's gonna
be smoked fish, and there's gonna be tuna fish salad,
chicken salad, and you got salad.

Speaker 4 (01:16:45):
Let me ask you this. You got cinnamon raising bagels
of peanut butter.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
I could pull that out of the pantry for you
over and you asked for that for sure. Just don't
eat it next to Susan because she's allergic.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
Oh well, I'll stay away from Susan, no problem. Yeah,
I'll make sure I stay far away from Susan. But
googles also are done sometimes on the breakfast, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:06):
The sweet sweet coogles, coffee cakes, creps, creps, craps, crips.
How do you say that you got it? I nailed
all the ways to say it, you got it. But
all those things I think are it's, you know, having
like a sweet it's it's a breakfast. So a lot
of times it's like breakfasty type foods. I've done a

(01:17:27):
lot of for Tata's, you know. I mean, I think
Michelle Augustus, good friend, chef Michelle Augustus was there once.
She made her for tata Okay, we called you to
just give her some pointers just to make sure.

Speaker 4 (01:17:41):
Yeah, Jeffy's doing inside jokes now for friends. But because
apparently I can. I can narrate every time I cook food.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
So you're talking about it was a great time, and yeah,
that was great. It was great. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
I mean I think that Google's are are delicious and
fruit is okay?

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
Right, what don't mean fruit is okay? Fruit is always okay,
always kosher, always delicious, and it's it's uh, you know,
I think fruit tarts, you know, fruit in the crapes,
fruit in the blintz fruit. Uh, you know, fresh fruit,
like just getting like delicious fread fruits where we talked

(01:18:20):
about having pomegranate everywhere. Yeah, for the other holiday, I
think let me ask you a question, keep it going.

Speaker 4 (01:18:27):
This is a question that actually was I thought about
earlier and I meant to ask and I didn't ask you.
So I'm asking now out of some of the foods
we've talked about here, you know, do you ever have
you ever thought about or have you ever for let's
just pick Kogel, Like I'm not saying you have to
say kogl but like any of these dishes that we've
been talking about made this version of it or kogle

(01:18:49):
for a an Unjewish customer, like like, you know what,
this is just a great dish. I'm gonna make it,
put it on the menu.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
Hmm. I mean, I've definitely done the glazed carrots situation.
I haven't called it a sims but or simmas, but
I've definitely done like that two point of version where
I've done like different like maple and like you know,
brandy kind of like glazes with prunes and or dried

(01:19:21):
dried cherries on. You know, I've done that for Thanksgivings
and stuff like that. I love that dish, which is
like the most kind of one of the most traditional.
I think you see it in a lot of households.

Speaker 4 (01:19:34):
I think of these things too, like like you know,
like I don't want to say just brazing a brisket,
Like I feel like that's pretty simple, you know, like
not not following that kind of but really kind of
leaning into the you know, the Jewish part, like Okay,
I'm gonna make you know, I want to make I'll
make this this kogle for you know, so client.

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
The other thing is Google reminds me like a potato. Google,
for instance, reminds me so much of scale potatoes. It's like,
very very very similar. So at least the way I've
made it. You know, I'm sure there's people out there
who might be screaming at the radio right now. That's
not how we do it. But you know, everyone does
it different, I'm sure. But and I love that. I

(01:20:13):
love a potato casserole. I love a dish with you know,
not a sweet one, which I've had, which is in
very interesting. But I sweet potatoes to me are not great.
I don't know how you feel about that. A sweet
potato I love. No, No like potatoes that are sweetened. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(01:20:35):
potato like white potato that's been sweetened. That's not gonna
work for me. I'm not with that, you know. It's
just it's interesting. It's not my thing. I guess I
shouldn't say that.

Speaker 4 (01:20:45):
I haven't had it enough to formulate an opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:20:46):
I think. So the one way I have had it
that's really great. And it's like an Eastern European dish.
And it's like you take a potato and you make
almost like a potato dough, like almost like a you know,
but the word genocchi yoky can't why do you chi?
They like loki? But with the end yoke. Yeah, well

(01:21:07):
I say it so many ways. They've heard it so
many ways. The only way it's you. That's the only
way with the correct all right. So the way Plum
said it, you make that kind of dough and uh,
you make a disc. And then what we would do, Uh,
when I worked for a Dono God Rest the soul,
we would take a plum and then we'd take a
piece of butter and then a spoonful of brown sugar
and we'd wrap the plum in the dough and make

(01:21:30):
a like a ball out of it, and he would
steam them and then we'd serve them with more brown
sugar and like this like toasted bread crumb and almond situation,
and then would break open. It would have this little
sauce inside it. They were steam so they weren't like
crunchy on the outside. Yeah, yeah, no, they weren't crunchy.
It was like soft and it was like a dumpling.
It was like a like a steam dumpling, a plum dump,
a sugar plum dumpling is what he called it. And
it was it was delicious, and uh, that was the

(01:21:52):
only sweet potato thing, Like sweet I say sweet potato,
not like a sweet potato, but like sweetened sweet and
sweet end potato sweet dish that I've ever been like,
Oh that's really cool and love that.

Speaker 4 (01:22:04):
And yeah, that is interesting. I'd look to actually try
that and try to do a version of that. I
think it's that sounds pretty good. Yeah, it's fine. I
mean with the sugar plumb in their or the sweet
plumb in there, the sugar that sounds delicious.

Speaker 1 (01:22:16):
I'm in, I'm all. I love all that.

Speaker 4 (01:22:19):
But some of these techniques are also two classic cooking techniques,
like we talked about in the first break, you know,
doing the brisket, you're brazing it, Like, these are all
techniques that are you know, we're not talking anything new
that you've ever heard of before, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
No, it's definitely not new stuff. And a lot of
it's comfort foods. It's a lot of it's it's foods
that are that are you know, connecting with family and
connecting with your community and connecting with people's traditions and
when you're getting together with a lot of people and
celebrating these kind of things, it's kind of like learning
about someone's family at the same time, you know, and
it's like like you said, it's not reinventing the wheel.

(01:22:52):
It's like, but there's like little things, like little key
things that they add to their dishes to make kind
of more symbolic for the holiday, like the round holla
bread and the raisins in the apples and the pomegranate
and the honey, you know how those are really important.
And then like you know, the the bland food prior
to the breakfast. You know how that's important. But it's like,

(01:23:13):
you know, and then the different levels of kosher, which
I'm really glad. Yeah, you're popped in and gave us
like a real lesson on that because you know, there's
a lot. There's a lot there. There's a lot to
be talked about.

Speaker 4 (01:23:23):
Yeah, it really, it's incredible. I mean it's been quite
the education this program today, Jeff. I feel like I've
learned a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
Yeah. I thought it'd be a fun one to do.
You know, I think I think it's it's a food
that a lot of time gets passed over. You know,
there's there's a lot of really great kosher restaurants all
around the state. You should look for them. There's you know,
there's some in Westport, there's there's some in Norwalk. There's
some uh in Waterbury. I mean, you know, just look around.

Speaker 4 (01:23:48):
I can't think of the place I always wanted to
go to in New York City. I think it might
be in the Village maybe, But they had a guy
there who was like playing music and they serve like,
you know, like egg creams at the table and they're
doing shot.

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
It's a vodka. Oh, and they serve schmaltz. Yeah, the
chicken levers and stuff like that. It's like a diner situation.

Speaker 4 (01:24:07):
It's like yeah, yeah, oh, Paul's no, no, it's something
it's something like that, something Romanian or yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
But I always wanted to go there. I'm not sure.
I it's still open, but I know that.

Speaker 4 (01:24:19):
They would have a guy there like Billy Loves and
they're playing guitar, playing piano.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
And singing you know New York.

Speaker 3 (01:24:24):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:24:24):
He says like it sings like juw York, jew York.
You know, like, yeah, it's I've always wanted to go
there and check it out, but just to have it,
you know, I mean, the egg creams and just like
the brisket and just I don't know, it sounds really
fun and everyone gets up and dances and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:24:39):
Kind of sounds like an amazing place. Sammy's Romanian Steakhouse.

Speaker 2 (01:24:42):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
That's it, that's it. Is it still open? I believe.
So sit in your microphone Sammy's Romanian Steakhouse and yes,
it is still open.

Speaker 4 (01:24:53):
Oh my gosh. Wow, we got to go there. We
don't make a trip there. That's I've heard. It's just
a hoot. And it's like a night. You go there
and you eat, and like by the end of the
night you're all jumping around, like like dancing together, running
around the restaurant.

Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
Apparently that's the thing. It is closed. Oh that's a shame.
Wait then it says it reopened. Oh yeah, it reopened
in a new location. Oh okay, that's great. We had
about that close in twenty twenty one because of the
COVID and then it's opened up again just last year.
Where is it? It is nearby the original, that is

(01:25:30):
what it says. On Christie Street.

Speaker 4 (01:25:32):
Do you have a I mean you can't access to the menu.
I'd love to just hear like two menu items off
there before we have to get off the show.

Speaker 1 (01:25:37):
This place is straight up snowed for its fried creplock,
chopped chicken livers, sweetbreads, lachkas, ice box and case vodka
syrup jars with schmaltz.

Speaker 4 (01:25:53):
This all sounds great like this, you kind of want
to check this out.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
Oh yeah, it was a it was like rendered fat
as a table contiment. Let's go.

Speaker 5 (01:26:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26:03):
Yeah, it's really serious.

Speaker 4 (01:26:05):
Man, we gotta check us out. Samwichs Romanian. Jeffie does
an education today. This is a good show. I feel
like you you helped me learn things. And shout out
to our friend chef. Yeah, your Lenscha for joining us,
our kosher advisor, for giving us a little bit more
education and teaching us a little bit more about this
type of cuisine, this food and the people.

Speaker 1 (01:26:22):
It's kind of got me excited.

Speaker 4 (01:26:23):
Jeffy, I'm thinking about I don't know, Like I said, now,
I want to go eat some of this food.

Speaker 1 (01:26:27):
That's what happens. Let's throw a brisket on the smoker.
I'm in. Let's celebrate it. I love it.

Speaker 4 (01:26:32):
Make sure you follow the show on Instagram at plumb
Love Foods, and of course at chef on a score
plum and at chef I'm Sorry for King Chef on
Instagram fok King Chef on Instagram. Friends and remember food
is one of the most important things we have in life.
Everything important life evolves around food. We'll see you guys
next week right here on Plumb, Love foods on WICC,
Take care of friends

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
And the rest