Chances are you've often seen food packages that claim to be kosher. This may have led you to wonder how kosher food is prepared. Obviously, there has to be certain guidelines. There has to be more to it than just avoiding pork products. Preparing kosher food involves certain steps that are taken directly from the Torah. The following steps will help you better understand Jewish culture and prepare kosher food.
Instructions
1. Choose kosher meat products. Pork isn't the only type of meat that is prohibited. In fact, many Jewish butchers sell only the front part of animals because the back half contains the sciatic nerve and adjoining blood vessels, which may not be eaten. While this nerve and the blood vessels can be removed, the labor is so time-consuming that butchers choose not to do so. According to kosher laws, animals that have cloven hooves or chew their own cud are considered kosher. Kosher law also allows certain fish and poultry to be eaten, but shellfish are not allowed.
2. Drain or broil blood from meat. Before kosher meat products can be consumed, they must first be drained of their blood. The blood can also be removed through broiling or soaking and salting the meat. This process is usually taken care of by kosher butchers, but if a kosher butcher is unavailable, this step will be left up to you.
3. Prepare the meat using kosher ingredients. Meat products cannot be prepared with dairy. For example, cheeseburgers are not kosher. Instead, meat products should be prepared with produce or grains. It's important to note that meat can also be prepared with fish and eggs. If you prefer to have dairy, these ingredients can also be prepared with dairy. The important thing to remember is to not mix dairy and meat.
4. Use separate utensils and cookware for meat and dairy recipes. When preparing kosher food, you will have a set of utensils and cookware for dairy and one for meat. The items used to prepare either type of food must not come in contact with the other type. For example, you cannot cook a steak in a skillet you used to make a cream-based sauce.
5. Serve meat and poultry with grains and vegetables, but never dairy. Not only is it against kosher law to prepare meat products with dairy, but you should also avoid serving them at the same table. In fact, kosher laws states that you must wait 3 to 6 hours in between eating meat and dairy.
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