Kosher Can Be Fun.

Dealing with religious requirements can add a different dimension to preparing for a supper club dinner party. Whether it is meeting the catholic “fish on Fridays in lent” or Kosher rules it does require a bit of thought.

As I write this blog I have to confess to serving a meal a few months ago that got me excommunicated from two religions in one sitting. I had a menu that included both beefsteaks on Good Friday and bagels (leavened bread) during Passover. A few additions got me out of the religious penalty box. I added a tuna steak for the Catholics and matzos for the Jews.

In today’s culinary world people are generally less demanding with religious requirements. I grew up working at a Jewish country club in New York and Lobster night was a big crowd pleaser even though shellfish is a Kosher no-no. I have a friend in London that is a strict Muslim. I have seen him order Lobster at a Chinese restaurant and have the wait-staff bring the uncooked lobster to the table so that he could pray over it. Somehow his prayers absolved him of potential halal sins. Or maybe he just liked lobster.

Most of my formal Kosher training has come from working with a friend in Israel. Tuvi Soreq who is a major food distributor has explained to me that most of Kosher law has its roots in ancient practicality. Pork in ancient times presented health risks. Today not eating pork has become a tradition. Of course there is the difference between reform and orthodox Jews. When I first met Tuvi 20 years ago I remember being concerned about Kosher requirements when selecting a restaurant for Tuvi and his son Ofer. Any concern I had dissipated pretty quickly when Ofer ordered Oysters Rockefeller as the dish breaks at least 3 kosher rules.

I once wrote a menu for a supper club dinner party where one of the hosts kept a Kosher home. The host called me with concerns and I offered to “Kosherize” the menu for her. Making substitutions is pretty easy when you know some kosher basics like no shell fish and no mixing of dairy and meat.

I did get in trouble the night of the party. The college-aged daughter of the hosts was watching me prepare a dessert dish. When I added some lime zest she asked why. I explained that it was a culinary trick that added a fresh dimension. She asked me if I knew any similar tricks. I couldn’t help myself. I told her I knew that her mom kept a Kosher home, but one trick is that you can add bacon to almost anything and people will like it. With a sparkle in her eye she said: “I have heard that”.

When you know that your guest may have dietary concerns, a quick Google search and a few substitutions will go a long way to keeping everyone happy.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

Do You Feel Like You Are “Surrounded By Assassins?”

When you are writing a supper club menu or cooking a dinner party meal you can feel like you are “Surrounded by Assassins”. Everyone can be a critic. In today’s world it seems it is easier to complain versus complement. My experience with supper clubs is just the opposite.

When you are hosting people to enable socializing over a meal, people are generally very appreciative. Supper clubbers are just glad to be there. If they don’t like a menu or the meal you might not hear about it. People that have been invited to a dinner party tend to be nice.

It is sort of like the scene from the movie “Notting Hill” where Julia Roberts who is a vegetarian is asked by the cook how she liked the Guinea Fowl? Her response was: “It is the best guinea fowl I have ever eaten”. The cook was complemented. As Julia Roberts is leaving the cook’s wife tells Julia that: “I’ll wait till after you leave before I tell him you are a vegetarian”.

It is pretty much the same at supper clubs. People are filled with complements at the party. As they walk to their cars or when you next see someone in the neighborhood you might hear a bit of negativity.

The most common downfalls involve over cooking. My blog about cooking the perfect steak should alleviate that risk for my blog readers. I have been the target of criticism that menus I have written are too difficult. There is another blog about that one.

The beauty of supper clubs is that with several items on the menu and several cooks involved in the preparation the chances are pretty good that you won’t go home hungry.

If all else fails there is pretty much always alcohol involved, My father used to always comment about his challenged carpentry skills that: “Paint covers a lot of sins”. Having a decent bottle of wine will usually keep the assassins happy.

Cell Phones At The Dinner Table

One of my pet peeves is people using cell phones to make calls in the middle of a dinner party. I have to state up front that I like many of us am addicted to my cell phone. While I am not the nerdiest of nerds, in my circle of baby boomer friends, I am definitely up there as far as being addicted to technology. If you really want to be bored, I can take you through the app I have developed to calculate golf bets. With this said, I also believe you have to draw the line.

There have been times where a guest has made a call from the table at a supper club dinner. It is one thing to get a call, but a completely different thing to make a call. One guy made multiple calls to his daughter while she was on a date. I guess he wanted us to know that his daughter was dating the starring baseball player from the local high school. (Ten years later, the pitcher has signed a $127 million dollar contract. He didn’t marry the daughter.)

For the next supper club, I wrote a menu and put a notice stating, “Please refrain from making cell phone calls from the dinner table” on it. I am not quite sure if it was because of the notice, but the offender dropped out of the club. Virtually the same scenario has happened more than once over the last 15 years.

The rules on the use of cell phones at the dinner table are changing. My wife simply hates it. I find myself using it occasionally. Many millennials have phones as extended appendages. The key with a supper club is to establish ground rules that members can agree on or at least respect.