How to Cook for the Kosher Diet

Jewish dietary law allows for the consumption of beef.

Learning to cook for the kosher diet can, at first, be confusing and intimidating. A list of Jewish dietary laws must be followed pertaining to which animals can and cannot be consumed; how these animals can be slaughtered; and keeping your kitchen and cooking utensils kosher. Following these steps will help you learn how to cook in accordance with Jewish kosher laws.

Things You'll Need

• 2 separate sets of kitchen supplies -- utensils, dishes, cookware

Instructions

1. Enlist a rabbi to assist you with "kashering" your kitchen, which is the process of eliminating any traces of unkosher food in order to make your kitchen suitable for kosher cooking. Cleaning your entire kitchen is followed by a 24-hour waiting period. The kitchen can be kashered once the 24 hours have passed, which involves using boiling water and a blow torch, or other sources of very high temperatures, to heat your utensils, appliances, dishes and pots.

2. Use only kosher foods to cook with. Meat, such as chicken and beef, must be blessed and slaughtered by a "shochet," or a butcher trained in Jewish law. Fruit and vegetables are considered kosher unless bugs can be detected, the presence of which make the item nonkosher. Shellfish and pork are forbidden in the kosher diet.

3. Purchase a separate set of kitchen supplies, such as pots, pans, plates, bowls and utensils. This set should be used for kosher cooking only, as kosher food should never be prepared using nonkosher cookware.

4. Prepare meat and dairy products separately. The same pans, utensils, silverware and plates that have been used to cook and consume meat should never be used for dairy and vice versa. Dairy and meat cookware must also be washed separately, with different sponges, dishwashers and drying towels.

5. Use a kosher cookbook for meal ideas. Alter your recipes that combine meat and dairy products. For example, replace the ground beef in a cheesy meat lasagna with fake-meat crumbles.

Tips & Warnings

• Differentiate meat and dairy cooking equipment, as well as kosher from nonkosher cooking equipment, with stickers or labels placed on the handles.

• Look for a mark called a "hekhsher" when purchasing food products. A "hekhsher" is a mark that denotes food items that have been certified as kosher.

References

• Jew FAQ: Kashrut
• My Jewish Learning: Kashering (Making Kosher)

Resources

• My Jewish Learning