MEAT

The meat tray consists of chicken, beef, lamb etc.
In Australia, ready and labelled meat packages are available in supermarkets; also meat can be purchased from butcher shops, most people have their own family butchers to get their meat from.

Protein is an essential factor in our diet, it can be found in meat, chicken, fish also in legume-beans, tofu etc.
Not everyone likes the taste of meat, not everyone believes that they should have meat to get the protein because of their belief or religions.

The consumption of meat has various traditions and rituals associated with it in different cultures such as kosher and halal, and its production is generally regulated by state authorities as well (Wikipedia)

Meat is expensive; however, my family enjoys the meat dishes, so the meat is a regular item in the shopping list.  Family get together is celebrated with food, a meat dish has always been one important food in our menu.  Every family has its own tradition and culture. The culture that makes me curious is the traditional Jewish family.  The ritual and the food make the Jewish.

I have never been sharing the experience at a table in this culture, but I have a cooking book "The Book Of Jewish Food" a Christmas gift for 2000 from my daughter Mel, from it I learnt about their cooking and its culture.



Jewish  Meat Cookery

' A woman runs to a neighbour to borrow a pot for meat.  The neighbour embraces her warmly and proceeds with an enthusiastic monologue'.  "Mazel tov!  When is the wedding?  How do I know?  You must be cooking a lot of meat.  You only cook meat on Shabbes or holidays, and this is the middle of the week, so you must have something to celebrate.  Your husband is sick, and your two sons are out of work.  But you have a daughter, may the evil eye not fall on her.  That must be it, may she live in good health with her bridegroom, and may you have much joy from them and many fine grandchildren." (From a story in Life Is With People: The Culture of the Shtetl by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog.)

Jews have always had a passion for meat, and it has always been the most highly prized food.  If they could afford to eat plenty of it, they did, and they cooked it in a huge cauldron.  But in the shtetl world, people could usually afford met only once a week.  In the nineteenth century, a tax on kosher meat was imposed in Russia and in several countries in Eastern Europe, the proceeds of which went to the state treasury.   There were also communal taxes on kosher meat to raise funds for the community and charities to help the poorer brethren. So kosher meat was twice as expensive.  It was seldom eaten and was reserved for the Sabbath, holidays, and special occasions.  The poor hardly ever ate it.  The cheaper offals - feet, spleen, lungs, brains, liver and intestines - were widely used and became famous.  These form a characteristic part of Jewish cooking which has mostly been abandoned in the new countries of immigration-especially the Anglo-Saxon countries, which have long been squeamish about organ meat.

Because the dietary laws allow only the more robust, more muscly forequarters of the animal to be eaten, and require that meat koshered within seventy -two hours of slaughter, which is not enough time for it to hang and tenderise, kosher meat usually tough.  (An excellent hanging time for non - kosher beef is two weeks.) This meant that the best way to treat kosher-beef is to stew it gently for a long time or to chop it.  Long slow cooking which is also typical of peasant cooking and cooking for large families everywhere, characterises Jewish meat cookery.  The two main cultural influences are the German, typified by the use of fruit, and the Polish, evident in sweet and sour flavouring.
(From The Book Of Jewish Food, by Claudia Roden)

It is winter time, I think it would be nice to cook meat with a braising method in a Jewish style.  It is Beef Stew with White Beans.  


I typed for you (below),  the introduction of the recipe and also the recipe by Claudia Roden.

Beef Stew and White Beans
Serves 8

In this long-simmered stew where the beans turn a delicate shade of brown, and the meat is cooked to melting tenderness, fatty meat that does not go stringy is best used.  The melted fat can be skimmed off the top at the end.

8 small onions, peeled
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 kg beef-breast, brisket or flank
500g butter beans or haricot beans, soak for 2 hours or overnight
salt and pepper
500 potatoes, cubed
250 cups of shiitake mushrooms sliced (optional)


In a large pot, gently fry the onions in the oil, shaking the pan and occasionally stirring, until lightly coloured.  Add the garlic, the meat to brown.  Cover with water and bring to the boil.  Remove the scum and add the drained beans.  Then simmer, covered, for 2 and 1/2 hours, adding salt and pepper when the beans have begun to soften, adding more water if necessary.
Add the potatoes and mushrooms, and cook 1/2 hour longer.

This meat is not kosher, I purchased from the supermarket.  I was lucky enough to find this dried haricot beans.

Gravy Beef

Dried Haricot Beans

To be Continued, Stay Tuned

Thanks For Visiting

Susy