Arthur Schwartz likes to say: “If a kosher Martian landed in New York City today and observed what Jews were actually eating, he would think pizza and sushi were the most Jewish foods on earth.” I like to think that a copy of Schwartz’s new cookbook, Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited, would screw that misguided Martian’s head on straight.

Also called The Food Maven, Schwartz is known for being the man the New York Times Magazine dubbed “a walking Google of food knowledge.” His expertise extends far beyond Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine - still, Jewish Home Cooking is a true homecoming for this Brooklyn native.

Far beyond a collection of Yiddish recipes - Jewish Home Cooking offers a vivid snapshot of a particular era of Jewish life - the slender seltzer bottles delivered to your doorstep, butchers who knew your name and order, frothy egg creams with Fox’s U-Bet syrup, and slow-simmered tzimmes - that has all but vanished from today’s New York. With recipes that honor tradition (but aren’t stifled by it), and historical photographs and anecdotes of New York’s long-gone Jewish culinary hot spots, Schwartz breathes new life into Jewish cuisine with humor and love - but without the sloppy side dish of kitsch that usually (and annoyingly) comes along with Yiddish retrospectives.

Win a FREE copy of Jewish Home Cooking! Tell us your favorite Passover dish or food tradition and be entered into a drawing to win. Only one comment per person will be entered into the drawing - comment before Thursday, April 17.

Below the jump, Schwartz’s Passover Apple Cake.

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Thanks to all the readers who shared their favorite cheese recipes and were entered in the raffle to win a gift basket courtesy of Sugar River Cheese Co. Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The randomly selected winner is…Naomi! Naomi thinks cheese is at its best in a butternut squash and Gruyere souffle. “It’s much easier to make than it sounds, and is unbelievably delicious,” she said.

As for your own cheesy winners:

2 of you thought cheese shined in a quiche - or as ck so brilliantly described it “fancy omelet pie.”
5 of you preferred your cheese straight up, with maybe some crackers or slices of crisp apple.
5 wanted your cheese melty and hot in a fondue
9 raved about cheese sandwiches - everything from grilled cheese, to slices on Italian bread with sundried tomatoes, to a dang quesadilla.
11 agreed with Mark’s suggestion that Mac n’ Cheese was the ultimate way to consume cheese.

Read the interview with Mark Rosen, president of Sugar River Cheese here and find out how you can get your hands on some of their chipotle cheddar or here.  Also, check back on The Jew & The Carrot for more giveaways around Passover!

Sugar River Cheese Company’s gourmet kosher cheeses are a contradiction in terms. The Chicago based company makes handcrafted, hormone-free Cheddars and Monterey Jacks from the milk of pasture-raised cows. Each salty block is infused with a swoon-worthy combinations of jalapeno and cilantro, peppercorns, chipotle, garlic and green onion, or olive and sun-dried tomato. But (here’s the kicker) - they are also certified kosher.

While the world of ethical, gourmet kosher cheese is slowly gaining momentum (find the short-list here), it continues to lag significantly behind its non-kosher counterpart. Sugar River President, Mark Rosen, a technology man with an MBA, who traded weekly flights to New York for life as a professional cheese entrepreneur, considers it his personal mission to prove that while good cheese may be stinky, kosher cheese does not have to stink.

Below the jump, he shares his thoughts on happy cows and why he thinks a ham and cheddar sandwich is good for the kosher industry. He also shares his family’s recipe for Chipotle Macaroni n’ Cheese.

Want to win a gift basket of Sugar River cheese? Tell us your favorite cheesy dish below, and be entered into a drawing to win a delicious assortment of Cheddar and Monterey Jack from Sugar River Cheese Company. (Only one comment per person will be entered into the drawing - comment before Thursday, April 3.)

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Even though my school was eliminated from the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament in the second round, I’ve still got a slight case of bracket-fever. Taking a little inspiration from this book, I decided to try my hand at creating a Jewish food tournament. I created four Jewish food “regions” (beverages/desserts, shabbat/holidays, ashkenazi, and Israeli/sephardic) and ranked eight corresponding Jewish foods 1-8 in each region. Then I seeded them in the tournament, which I plan to play out in the next few weeks leading up to Pesach. Since I decided to go with a 32 “team” format instead of 64, there were necessarily some tough choices that had to be made (no apples & honey; only a generic “kugel” instead of a spot for both potato and noodle, etc.). 

You can see the results here, and even make your own predictions. I’ll be “playing out” this battle of the Jewish food all-stars over the next few weeks, so it’s not to late to get that office pool started! Feel free to post any thoughts, suggestions, predictions (and of course, complaints) in the comments here. I’ll be sure to keep them in mind for the 2009 tourney.

Here are two interesting tidbits from the wild world of Jewish food - the first about sustainable agriculture in Israel, and the second about Manischewitz-inspired cuisine.  Dig in!

Putting their money where their mouth is
The Robert H. Smith Family Foundation recently pledged $15 million to Hebrew University to support their work around sustainable agriculture. The grant, which will go to the university’s Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences in Rehovot, is part of a $51 million “Feeding the Future through Sustainable Agriculture” campaign to put the school at the forefront of research into sustainable agriculture. (Hat tip to JTA)

Cooking up a storm - Manischewitz Style
The Jew & The Carrot Contributor, Alix, made us laugh with her tales of the “Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off,” regional semi finals. Now things are getting serious. Next Wednesday, 6 semi-finalists will compete in Manischewitz’s National Kosher Cook-Off in New York City. Whose (kosher) cuisine will reign supreme? Meet the finalists here.

I’m pleased to announce the winners from our most recent raffles on The Jew & The Carrot (drum roll please….)

Sharon Lebewohl won a framed print of Karl Schatz’s gorgeous photo and Joshua Lichtman will receive a copy of Sandor Katz’s book, Wild Fermentation.  Thanks to everyone who purchased a raffle ticket and left comments about their favorite fermented foods!  The Jew & The Carrot will offer many more chances to win healthy and sustainable goodies in 2008 - check back soon!

Fermentation is the foundation of warm sourdough bread, crunchy pickles and cold micro-brewed beer.  And Sandor Ellix Katz is, in our humble opinion, the rebbe of fermentation. 

Two weeks ago, Naftali posted a review of Sandor’s book Wild Fermentation.  Now, you can read the exclusive (and incredibly inspiring) interview with Sandor, and answer the following question for a chance to win a copy of his book:  What is your all-time favorite fermented food? 

Interview with Sandor Ellix Katz

Who is Sandorkraut?

Sandorkraut is an affectionate nickname I was given by friends thanks to my love of sauerkraut, my constant production of it, and more broadly my evangelical zeal about fermentation. My name is Sandor Ellix Katz. I’m a queer Jew born and raised in New York City who has been homesteading in rural Tennessee for the past 15 years.

My interest in fermentation developed out of overlapping interests in food, nutrition, and gardening. My book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods has propelled me into a mission of what I call cultural revivalism, spreading fermentation skills and fermentation fervor.

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Thanks to the mysterious random number generator, The Jew & The Carrot reader, Larry Lenhoff is the winner of The Jew & The Carrot’s birthday raffle:  He will be sent a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.   Congratulations Larry!

Want to purchase a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook? click here. 

Read other entries from the birthday raffle, here.

Another Chance To Win!

Win a print of the stunning photo above, taken by Karl Schatz.  Simply purchase a $5 raffle ticket (or two, or seven!) to be entered in the raffle. All proceeds go to Hazon, and the winner will be announced on January 8th, 2007 at Hazon’s New York Ride Launch Party.

Buy your ticket here.

When Brian Malarkey was trying out to be a contestant on Bravo’s favorite TV show, “Top Chef,” I can guess that he never imagined that one day soon, he would be presiding over a Manischewitz cook-off.
But there he was today at a San Francisco Hilton on the border of Chinatown, looking dapper in a pin-striped suit rather than his chef whites, acting as emcee for the Simply Manischewitz regional semi-finals. This is the second year of the contest.

With some of my regular clients on vacation, I didn’t have anything in particular to do today. So when I heard about the Manischewitz cook-off, I thought, “I’m into food. I’m into Jews. Why the hell not?”

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So maybe they did stop their covert nuclear activities almost five years ago, but now there’s a chance that we’re supporting the axis-of-evil with our choice of snack:

World Briefing | Middle East
Israel: The Hunt for Illegal Nuts

Published: November 22, 2007

Israel has asked the United States for help in cracking down on illegal pistachio nut imports from Iran, an official said, after Washington warned that the trade was hurting efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. Israel imports pistachios worth $26 million annually, mostly from Turkey. But Washington says nuts from Iran are mixed in with the shipments, undermining economic sanctions meant to force Iran to stop developing its nuclear abilities. An Agriculture Ministry official said Israel was willing to help but, as in the past, the problem was how to figure out the nuts’ origin.

A much more adversarial description of this exchange can be found here.

Fear not, gentle readers - if you want your eating to contribute to peace, love, and understanding, enter the Build a Sustainable Gingerbread House competition over at Bake for Change.

And about those pistachios…maybe we should just start a nougat for nukes exchange program .

Somewhere during the flurry of the Food Conference and the final shift from autumn into cozy “wintery-mix” weather, The Jew & The Carrot turned one year old.

This first year was a biggie - mentions in the Wall Street Journal and
New York Times, two awards (best new blog and best kosher food/recipe blog from The Jewish & Israeli Blog Awards), interviews with food experts like Michael Pollan and Joan Nathan…phew. We hope that our second year will continue to bring growth to the blog, as we continue to bring you the best news, writing, recipes, and resources from the new Jewish food movement.

In celebration of this milestone, we have two gifts for readers. The first is a recipe for my mom’s “Moistest Chocolate Cake.” This is the best chocolate cake (no, seriously) and a birthday staple in my house growing up. I’ve written about this recipe elsewhere, but couldn’t resist sharing it with you all in honor of The Jew & The Carrot’s birthday. Get the recipe below the jump.

The second is a chance to win a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables! Farmer John is a CSA farmer based in Illinois. He’s got a serious farming heritage and one of the most entertaining personalities in the fields (note the red feather boa accompanying the coveralls on the book cover.) His cookbook offers seasonal recipes, photos, and stories from his farm Angelic Organics. Answer this question to be entered into a raffle for a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: What is your favorite birthday food tradition? (It can be wacky or sweet - but it has to be something food-related that you do for birthdays. Only related comments will be entered into the raffle.)

Cake recipe below the jump… Read more »

5-Spoke Creamery - As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, 5-Spoke Creamery is the place to look if you’re looking for raw milk, artisanal, amazingly delicious, and kosher certified (Kof-K) cheese.  Now, it seems event the New York Times agrees.  Hazon was blessed to have Alan, Barbara, and their kids serving up samples of their delicious cheese - including their recently released, Tumbleweed variety (see left) - at the Food Conference.  Click here, to find out where you can get your hands on some.

Lantern Books Essay Contest - Lantern Books - publishers of books on animal advocacy, religion, social justice, and environmentalism announced its 2007 essay competition. The aim of the competition is to allow new thinking to emerge on the key subjects of Lantern’s publishing program and to encourage new voices to step forward to shape the debate for the future.

The first prize is $1000. There is no entry fee. Essays should be no longer than 1500 words. The deadline is December 31, 2007.  For complete guidelines, as well as prior years’ winning essays, click here.

Thank you to everyone who answered the question: “What is your all-time favorite Jewish comfort food?” and was entered into the random raffle for a Thou Shall Snack gift basket.  Our winner Karen (who claims “chopped liver, straight up” as her favorite Jewish comfort Food) will receive a basket filled with Thou Shall Snack treats, a TSS apron or T-shirt, and a beautiful latke serving platter. 

Congratulations Karen!  Stay tuned for more great foodie give-aways from The Jew & The Carrot…

Chanukah starts next week - don’t let the opportunity to give meaningful, sustainable gifts to your loved ones pass you by.  Check out The Jew & The Carrot’s Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide for creative, eco-friendly gift ideas for *nearly* everyone on your list.

And - as thanks to our wonderful readers, The Jew & The Carrot teamed up with Thou Shall Snack to offer a special Chanukah gift to you - the chance to win a free gift basket filled with delicious and healthy goodies from Thou Shall Snack.

Click here  and enter by December 5th for your chance to win.