The Food Inspector
When I was younger, a friend of mine's little brother nicknamed me the Food Inspector, because of my habit of staring intently at what's on my plate before it goes in my mouth. Right now I am blogging to you from a mashgiahh (kashrut supervisor) gig that I'm working for a week here at the end of the summer.
Sorry, not going to give any identifying information about the event, organization, or location in this forum.
Anyway, here are my short bursts from the front line of kosher food service.
Number 1 — if you want to be a good mashgiahh, you need to be nosey and paranoid. Lucky for me, I've got those qualities down; although I'm not quite as paranoid as the conspiracy-theorist I subletted an apartment from in Jerusalem a few years ago, who was convinced that the Mossad was out to get him. I used to wonder what would happen if they came to the apartment and found me instead of him. It might also be beneficial to be a megalomaniac, but I've heard that that's more of a chef kind of feature than a mashgiahh one.
Number 2 — We got in a whole load of chickens for a barbecue. There were 4 boxes. Two of them came from a chicken farm whose name I recognized from college, which has two hekhshers: the OU, and Crown Heights. The other two boxes came from Kiryas Joel. I found this very amusing. If you don't get what's funny about it, just ask.
In other news, they've got Staghorn Sumac trees around here, and I finally was able to make myself a cup of sumacade. Tasted like a combination of unsweetened lemonade and unsweetened tea.
Oh, and the internet access here stinks. That's why y'all haven't seen me around the Judeoblogosphere lately. Should be coming back in the middle of this week.
Sorry, not going to give any identifying information about the event, organization, or location in this forum.
Anyway, here are my short bursts from the front line of kosher food service.
Number 1 — if you want to be a good mashgiahh, you need to be nosey and paranoid. Lucky for me, I've got those qualities down; although I'm not quite as paranoid as the conspiracy-theorist I subletted an apartment from in Jerusalem a few years ago, who was convinced that the Mossad was out to get him. I used to wonder what would happen if they came to the apartment and found me instead of him. It might also be beneficial to be a megalomaniac, but I've heard that that's more of a chef kind of feature than a mashgiahh one.
Number 2 — We got in a whole load of chickens for a barbecue. There were 4 boxes. Two of them came from a chicken farm whose name I recognized from college, which has two hekhshers: the OU, and Crown Heights. The other two boxes came from Kiryas Joel. I found this very amusing. If you don't get what's funny about it, just ask.
In other news, they've got Staghorn Sumac trees around here, and I finally was able to make myself a cup of sumacade. Tasted like a combination of unsweetened lemonade and unsweetened tea.
Oh, and the internet access here stinks. That's why y'all haven't seen me around the Judeoblogosphere lately. Should be coming back in the middle of this week.
carved on the walls of the caverns by Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) at 8/24/2008 09:13:00 PM
5 Comments:
have a good time
I heard a Swiss frummie use the expression "Aufsichtsbeamter" the other day, literally an oversight official, sounds incredibly prewar, if not 19th century, as if appointed by the Kaiser.
Kiryas Yoel? Aren't they more kosher than kosher? Sort of glatt le mehadrin min hamehadrin min hamehadin min hamahaddadaddada?
Betcha they'll beat the crap out of those Lubby birdies, hah! It'll be the boxing match between Teitelboim and Shneerson all over again!
Ah, I am so sorry to have missed the Jewish Event Which Must Not Be Named, especially if sumacade was involved. Can you
1. post a recipe?
2. explain how to distinguish staghorn sumac from poison sumac?
3. discern any difference in flavor between the ideologically irreconcilable chickens?
1. Take a berry cluster, submerge it in a bowl/cup of water, and rub it between your hands to break/bruise the berries. Leave it there for a while until the water changes color. Then strain through cheesecloth or something else (i used napkins) to get out the solid bits.
2. Poison sumac has white berries. Staghorn sumac has very fuzzy red berries. Also see this post at Stkappleto.
3. Didn't notice any ;-)
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