Pastrami and Olive Cornmeal Flatbread

So……. you thought that being ‘the butcher’s wife’ would mean an endless supply of the best cuts of meat – wrong! It’s that same old story, the shoemaker goes without shoes… you know the rest. The first lesson I learnt, marrying into a fourth-generation family of butchers, was that the popular kosher cuts such as Scotch fillet, lamb chops and veal schnitzel would never make it onto our table. These were ‘for the customers’ and it was not negotiable. So if it wasn’t one of the popular cuts it either landed up on our table or it was turned into ‘polony’! After 25 years of experimenting, creating and improvising, I feel confident enough to finally dispel the old myth that because we can only eat from the forequarter we are limited to tough, dry and boring meat! Kosher meat is of the highest grade and quality and hopefully with the notes, tips and recipes in this site, you’ll never have to be nervous about ‘trying something new’. Cooking with kosher meat doesn’t mean we can’t be creative. Lamb shanks don’t have to be burnt offerings on a Seder plate and poor ol’ beef shin doesn’t have to be a piece of meat bobbing around in a soup pot. It too, can be uplifted to its full potential as Italian osso buco. Whether it’s meaty bones, mince or brisket, each and every cut on the forequarter has its own unique flavour and texture and there is most certainly ‘life after Scotch fillet’!Cooking with kosher meat is not different from cooking with any other meat. If it’s French cuisine you fancy, or tantalizing Thai you’re trying, making it with kosher meat should be no different. With the ever-increasing kosher products and non-dairy alternatives continually being added to the list of ingredients, we just don’t have any more excuses. Almost every kosher caterer in South Africa and elsewhere in the world is able to keep up with the times by offering every type of cuisine imaginable at their functions.

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