Savoir Pair - Katie Loeb article

[KatieLoeb]

Just curious, isn't there a difference between wines which are merely Kosher and those that are Kosher for Passover?

No difference. Wine is Parve, and doesn't contain leavening or chametz if it's already kosher so it's OK for the holiday. There are a few normally kosher spirits that I mentioned in the article that are not acceptable over the holidays because they're made from grain. Also, a few of the regularly kosher sweet wines (Manischevitz Cream Peach for example) aren't kosher for Passover either. You must read the labels and have a source you trust.

You can, however, drink potato vodka!

[bloviatrix]

You can, however, drink potato vodka!

Don't forget - Slivovitz is also legal.

Edit: spelling. hic.

Edited April 4, 2004 by bloviatrix (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

And that stuff, slivovitz, a plum brandy made from bluish (not Jewish!!) plums, can be used as a paint remover as well!! Just don't smoke when you use it ... liquid fire!

I bought a poire eau de vie on a recent trip to California and it is so strong it makes one's eye's burn .. before even drinking a capful ...

Edited April 4, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[Casetta]

Excellent article Katie. I'm sending it to my Jewish winophile (is that a word, if not it should be) boss. I'm sure he'll appreciate it given he keeps Kosher. I always thought Kosher wine was crap - guess this gentile should not be so judgemental! Thanks for opening my eyes!

I promise if I meet a hunky Jewish boy you are so set up!!

Anna

[Gifted Gourmet]

I always thought Kosher wine was crap - guess this gentile should not be so judgemental! Thanks for opening my eyes!

To be sure, much of it is sugary sweet ... but the newer drinking wines we are seeing today, as Katie so appropriately notes, are a far cry from what we accepted as the norm earlier .... a good place to insert "you've come a long way, cabernet!!"

[KatieLoeb]

Excellent article Katie. I'm sending it to my Jewish winophile (is that a word, if not it should be) boss. I'm sure he'll appreciate it given he keeps Kosher. I always thought Kosher wine was crap - guess this gentile should not be so judgemental! Thanks for opening my eyes!

I promise if I meet a hunky Jewish boy you are so set up!!

Anna

Thanks Anna!

Your boss is the perfect recipient of my research. Just the target audience I suspect would really use the informaion. I hope that he finds the article interesting and that he can locate the items he wants at Blue Star Wines.

Speaking of Blue Star...

I stopped there this afternoon to pick up a case of kosher for Passover wine for the restaurant. We'll be offering it as a courtesy to our observant guests for the next week. I hope if it goes well I have to go back for more.

I also picked up some dessert wine (Tierra Salvaje Monastrell Dulce) to take along with me to the seder I'm attending. I've been celebrating Passover with a very close friend and her family for about twenty years, so I thought I'd bring this along as a treat for providing me with the inspiration over the years that helped while I was writing the article.

Oh and about that hunky guy...screen him for personality characteristics first before talking religion.

[Fresser]

Excellent article Katie.  I'm sending it to my Jewish winophile (is that a word, if not it should be) boss. 

The word your searching for is oenophile. I know--it sounds dirty, but it's a real word.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Excellent article Katie.  I'm sending it to my Jewish winophile (is that a word, if not it should be) boss. 

The word your searching for is oenophile. I know--it sounds dirty, but it's a real word.

Actually, when I think it over rationally and logically, perhaps he is more of a "winophile" due to his volume and choices of wine ...

oenophile doesn't sound dirty unless you add the old Monty Python phrase which they guaranteed would add the element of smut to pretty much anything: "know what I mean? wink, wink, nudge, nudge" ....

[bloviatrix]

Excellent article Katie.  I'm sending it to my Jewish winophile (is that a word, if not it should be) boss. 

The word your searching for is oenophile. I know--it sounds dirty, but it's a real word.

Actually, when I think it over rationally and logically, perhaps he is more of a "winophile" due to his volume and choices of wine ...

oenophile doesn't sound dirty unless you add the old Monty Python phrase which they guaranteed would add the element of smut to pretty much anything: "know what I mean? wink, wink, nudge, nudge" ....

Anyone remember the old SNL skit with the Whinners?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Excellent article Katie.  I'm sending it to my Jewish winophile (is that a word, if not it should be) boss. 

The word your searching for is oenophile. I know--it sounds dirty, but it's a real word.

Actually, when I think it over rationally and logically, perhaps he is more of a "winophile" due to his volume and choices of wine ...

oenophile doesn't sound dirty unless you add the old Monty Python phrase which they guaranteed would add the element of smut to pretty much anything: "know what I mean? wink, wink, nudge, nudge" ....

Anyone remember the old SNL skit with the Whinners?

The Whiners were a favorite of mine! They were so much like my family that I failed to see the humor in the beginning and decided it must be a reality show ...

but then I woke up with a start and realized that (1) reality shows hadn't been invented and (2) the Whiners only lasted about 7-8 minutes when my own family just continued on and on ....

[kosoffj]

katie....many thanks, i made the morrocan fish for a mini sder last night (just me and my hubby, we did the family thing sunday night when people were back in town) and it was fabulous! He really loved it :)

[sand]

Just curious, isn't there a difference between wines which are merely Kosher and those that are Kosher for Passover?

No difference. Wine is Parve, and doesn't contain leavening or chametz if it's already kosher so it's OK for the holiday. There are a few normally kosher spirits that I mentioned in the article that are not acceptable over the holidays because they're made from grain. Also, a few of the regularly kosher sweet wines (Manischevitz Cream Peach for example) aren't kosher for Passover either. You must read the labels and have a source you trust.

You can, however, drink potato vodka!

We determined last night that tequila (assumed rabbinical supervision of course) also qualified, since it's derived from cactus/cacti(?).

[KatieLoeb]

katie....many thanks, i made the morrocan fish for a mini sder last night (just me and my hubby, we did the family thing sunday night when people were back in town) and it was fabulous! He really loved it :)

Cool! Glad it went over well. If you have any leftover Charmoula sauce, I'm thinking it would be delicious on any sort of leftover protein like another piece of fish, a grilled chicken breast, a turkey burger, almost anything!

Gotta make some of that, maybe this weekend. I should probably link this to the "make your own condiments" thread.

[bloviatrix]

So Katie, what did you think of the Yelca Dulce?

[KatieLoeb]

So Katie, what did you think of the Yelca Dulce?

Ahhh! I'm glad you asked. I forgot to post on this thread about it. It was positively luscious! I really liked it as did most of the other dinner companions. A couple of folks there aren't quite dessert wine drinkers yet so I think it freaked them out a little. I thought it was almost like a plummy/berry flavored port, but with less of a madirized/oxydized taste than a port, and less alcohol if that makes any sense. It was definitely the perfect pairing with the chocolate covered matzah and chocolate covered coconut macaroons. I'd imagine it would be sublime with a flourless Chocolate Torte!

I'd definitely get it again. It was a very excellent quality red dessert wine for any occasion.

[LARRY WIENER]

We really appreciated Katie’s discussion and recipes. We are now a couple of days into Passover with some more to go, and here are some notes on our experience to date.

GEFILTE FISH. We were pleased to see Katie’s recipe using salmon. We are originally from Oregon, so the use of salmon wasn’t that unusual. This year we used a 50/50 mix of salmon and red snapper. The resulting fish had a nice light pink color. We also mixed the fish with beaten egg whites, to keep the texture light, and not rock-solid as it had been a couple of year ago.

We found that the fish balls we made grew during cooking; the resulting diameters were about 1-1/2 times what they had been originally. My advice to any newbies is to start them smaller than the size you would like to see on your plate.

One area where we part company with Katie’s recipe is in the cooking time. We didn’t understand why you only cook the fish for 5 minutes. The NYTimes Cookbook and “Love and Knishes” both call for a two-hour cooking time, and that is what we used. Otherwise, you might have to include in the seder ceremony one of those statements about the use of undercooked foods being possibly harmful (the eleventh plague).

WINE. We live in Alexandria, VA and do most of our wine shopping in the District of Columbia. There are independent liquor stores there, many of which carry a few Passover wines; none carries a lot. This year we went to the Calvert-Woodley. For our seder we used Teal Lake 2002 Shiraz. This Australian wine was dark purple in color, very flavorful, and very smooth. We also bought, either for taking somewhere or for later use, Weinstock California White Zin, 2002, and Delagrave French Red Bordeaux, 2002, Herzog Selection. We had used this latter wine a couple of years ago and were pleased with it.

LARRY AND SANDY

[bloviatrix]

Larry, what's the oak situation with the Teal Lake Shiraz? I loved the 1999 vintage (I cornered the market on it and still have half a case) but found in 2000 they started to go wood crazy and it overpowered the wine.

[LARRY WIENER]

Gee, I don't think we noticed any oakiness in there. Maybe I don't know what to look (taste) for, but it just seemed to be a nice deep rich wine.

LARRY

[bloviatrix]

Larry, you couldn't miss the oak in the 2000. It was so strong it hit you over the head with a mallet. Based on your comments, I'll assume they've gone back to their old ways -- thank goodness.