I had the pleasure of attending a Brit yesterday – the food was absolutely amazing! Everyone commented so I asked the hosts – The Bermiesters who did the food. They told me that they got your card from the Shir Madness Festival- they said that you to made the “ best Borewurst they have eaten since leaving South Africa! I hope that you get many more referrals as a result of the exposure.
Fantastic!
Cheers

Sharon ********

Hi, Just wanted to let you know that I was a bris on Sunday @nefesh shul and the food was GREAT!!!!! It was so good to enjoy a fresh change. The little quiches were delicious and the triangles went in a flash!!!
Good luck for the coming year
blessings
romy *********

Shop to you drop magazine

It was nice to be asked my opinion for Shop To You Drop on slow cookers. For me they are imperative for both work (during sous vide) and at home (for dinner). The home models are so inexpensive these days that there is no excuse for not having one. I have been making a routine of preparing dinner at home quickly in the mornings. Tajines, French braises, Mexican moles, there are just so many options. Popping everything into the slow cooker really takes the pressure off in the early evening when the kids are hungry and I need to get that final email out.  All the best John.

Being a kosher caterer can be an expensive business. Before you jump to conclusions, I am not going to diatribe about the cost of Kosher meat, or the weighty labour and on-costs that are associated with producing fine food and providing quality service for the most discerning clients. Well…i guess I just did…but no… you see I was in the home office researching and writing some kiddush menus this morning when the topic of salmon bagels caused my stomach to grumble. An impromptu trip to the shop, and organic bakery resulted in a yummy self assembled smoked salmon, creamed cheese, cucumber and organic bagel lunch and a dent of $18.50 in my hip pocket. Well… a smoked salmon bagel is a luxury item, and one with an interesting history.

Salmon bagels with cream cheese are a traditional part of American Jewish cuisine. Traditional salmon bagels were (and in the best delis still are) made with Lox. Lox is actually cured salmon, not smoked, but pickled in brine in the days before refrigeration. In Brooklyn, old-style Lox was very lightly smoked, and remained quite salty with cream cheese providing the perfect foil for the saltiness, and smoothing out the crumble of the bagel. Unsmoked Lox is something that we are starting to prepare this month for L’amour menus. It is handsliced and has a cleaner flavour and firmer texture than the mass-produced, often frozen, commercial smoked salmon that we buy at the supermarket (including the salmon I just bought for lunch!). I, for one, am looking forward to tasting the difference.
Keep well!
Until next post, John

New Jewish Cooking

Ok….so I came across this book at Borders, and don’t tell my wife but… I had to buy it. Purely out of interest. It is written by the head chef at Bevis Marks, a fine dining Kosher restaurant in London. The chef, Jason Prangnell, is a gentile like yours truly, and Bevis Marks is owned by Kenny and Susan Arfin who were kosher caterers. So you can see how it piqued my interest.

The sometime London based Australian food journalist Terry Durack, who as a reviewer is well worth his Fleur de Sel de Guerande, rates the restaurant highly – “The owners continue to pull kosher food into the 21st century in a likeable, accessible, and desirable fashion. Bevis Marks is a charmer.”

I will let you know my opinion on the book in a later post.

I wonder whether the market in Sydney could sustain a quality Kosher restaurant like Bevis Marks? Any thoughts?

Eat well

John

“Dear John

We would like to thank you very much for all the hard work you put into making the Annual Yeshiva and Our Big Kitchen cocktail party at The Sydney Convention and Entertainment Centre such a success.

You and your team did an exceptional job, from the planning of the menu right through to the cleaning up of the two kitchens after the event.

It was a pleasure to host you and your staff in Our Big Kitchen for the proparation and cooking. Your team consistently set a very high example to all the other caterers who use the Our Big Kitchen facilities.

We, as well as our esteemed guests, were delighted by the quality and presentation of the food L’Amour prepared and we are looking forward to planning many more functions under the skill of L’Amour Kosher Catering.

Would you please pass on our gratitude as well to Sean for all of his hard work and his talent in the Kitchen.

May you continue to grow from strength to strength.

With warm regards”

Rabbi Dovid Slavin and the Our Big Kitchen family