Chef Q&A

Revital Melech Revital Melech is an Israeli pastry-chef that has a flair for breaking with tradition. Her desserts are not only sweet- they are complex and provocative. At Abboccato, an upscale Italian restaurant that she works for in Mid-town Manhattan, Revital reinvents classic Italian desserts and gives them a twist. I wanted to get to know the woman behind the sophisticated desserts, and on the road we discovered how her Jewish heritage influenced her baking.

Why did you become a pastry chef?

It's tedious. It's annoying. It’s a struggle. It tests my own limits and what I can do. You have to be very precise, because you can't go back once your done. It's pretty- don't quote me on that.

How would you describe your baking style? What spices and flavors are you attracted to?

It has to be classy in a way, and have its roots in Italy— whether it’s the ingredients or the actual desserts. I like making Italian desserts but with a twist, so that they are up-to-date and not old-fashioned. Most of my desserts have some sort of spice or tweak to them. I like to use salt, it brings out the flavor of caramel or certain nuts. Pepper is also a really great thing. If you don't tell people it's pepper, they later find out that it's nice.

How has your Jewish heritage informed your cooking?

It's mostly being Israeli- I bring things that work with Southern Italian flavors. Like, I made a sesame mouse. I also made an orchid flower custard with rose petal semi-freddo. It was really good. I got the rose powder when I went back to Israel and once I ran out I had to take it off the menu at Abboccato. I had a honey cake for a while. It was to show that I could make a good honey cake because they have such a bad reputation. People were asking for the recipe afterwards because they couldn't believe it was a honey cake.

TiramisuWho are some of the major players in Israeli cuisine?

I don't know. The last few times I went back to Israel, I went to high profile places and was really disappointed. My friends blamed New York. I know that Brassiere is doing very well. There's also Nitzan Raz who used to work at Sushi Samba in Israel. I don't know, it's hard to keep up. My culinary experience in Israel was very limited, because I left after I served in the military and came straight to the US to go to the Culinary Institute of America.

Is it hard to be a woman in a professional kitchen?

Yes and no. It’s a hard job to be on your feet all day long. But to say kitchens are chauvinistic? I came from the Israeli military— not to brag about it, but it was a hardcore experience, so now, I'm fine. You do find less women in (professional) kitchens overall, but its really different in every kitchen, and I have had a really nice experience working in most kitchens.

What do you think is the essence of good cooking?

To like it. You need to have passion and enjoy it. You need the right technique and skills, but without passion, you don't have anything.

If you had one last meal, what would it be?

A brownie. A really excellent brownie.

Meet Shoshi, a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jew, personal chef, talk show host, blogger, upcoming author, and self-described "luscious lifestyle diva." This woman does it all! She was able to spare some time, though, to tell us about her lifestyle company, services, and kosher soul food.

You call yourself a "Luscious Lifestyle Diva." Tell me a little bit about what that means.
My work is all about helping people live luscious lives by design. I am the founder/CEO of a lifestyle company in New York City. I hope to follow along the lines of Oprah and Martha Stewart, but hipper, cooler, more personal, and kosher, baby!

How'd you get into this business, anyway?
I ended up becoming a lifestyle entrepreneur because I decided not to go to rabbinical school. I used to be very active in the Jewish community on various committees at Makor, the JCC, UJA, Temple Emanu-el, but the work was not movng me anymore. When I realized that was not the right path for me, I looked for something that I could do that would help people. I ended up taking life coach training. Long story short, my life coaching became a bigger thing and has expanded into what I do now. Most of the work that I do now in the Jewish community is for unaffiliated people.

You specialize in kosher food, raw food, and soul food. What has influenced your cooking style?
I would say that living in the South really influenced my cooking. I grew up in Houston, Texas, where it's all about fried chicken, cornbread, greens, and macaroni and cheese. My household wasn't kosher. My mom loved to throw down in the kitchen and make catfish.

I consider cooking an art, and a way for me to create civic dialogue and social change is through food. I am on a quest to make kosher food more fun, exciting, and downright delicious not just for Jews but for the masses.

So what kind of services do you provide through your company?
My lifestyle company is called Center of Female Empowerment, LLC, which I keep expanding. My services include persoanl chef, performing life ceremonies, reiki, and personal styling.

My most popular cooking class is the kosher soul food brunch class. I mainly teach that in people's homes for private instruction. I also do kosher soul food cooking demos at private dinner parties, and I speak about the origin of the food.

There are times when I act as chef and celebrant at smaller weddings, most recently a Mewish wedding (Jewish and Muslim). More than half of the ceremonies I perform are interfaith and/or intercultural. I think that people feel comfortable using me for the "inter" ceremonies because it is the work that I prefer to do.

So what exactly is "kosher soul food"?
When I first started doing kosher soul food, my intention was Southern and soul food with a Jewish twist. As I jumped more and more into the work, it has become about making Jewish food from different cultures and inter-cultural food. However, the cookbook I am writing is solely focused on traditional Southern/soul food that is kosher. Two of my favorite recipes are Sweet Cornbread and my Sweet Potato Latkes.

Tell me more about this cookbook.
I am writing a cookbook titled "Kosher Soul Gourmet," which will have some of my favorite recipes from growing up and also recipes that I have developed by fusing African American food and Jewish food. The book will also have original artwork and will include a food ceremony that will be great to use for multicultural seders.

I have made the decision to self-publish the book so that I can have more control over the creation and vision of it. It's taking me longer than I thought to write! I want to make sure the recipes are tight. I hope to have it completed by March 2008.

Tell me about your talk show, "Schmoozin' with Shoshi."
I actually just changed the name of the show to "Luscious Living with Shoshi." Sometimes I have a guest on the show and sometimes the show is just me giving advice, talking about community and events. In December I will be launching an online radio show called "Luscious Living." The show will have a bunch of fabulous guests, writers, sexperts, foodies, performers, and so on.

Are there any upcoming events you're hosting or speaking at?
In December I will be performing a few selections from my solo show "Triple Minority" at the Bowery Poetry Club and for Groove Mama Ink's Women's Week at Center Stage. The show is about my joys and oys as a black Jewess and about my work. Eventually, when I have worked out some things technically, I will be cooking during the show.

Photo by Erica Kuciw

Previous Pickled Q&As
Emily Reed of Jacobs Farm
David Sax of Save the Deli
Katie of Don't Eat off the Sidewalk
Adam Roberts, the Amateur Gourmet
Vegan Cookbook Guru Sarah Kramer

Betty Bakery: A store of delicious and delectable treats.My roommate and I walked into Betty Bakery to cool off and get out of the Brooklyn heat. We split a slice of Betty's red velvet cake, and it was love at first bite. Rich, creamy and chocolatey, it was the best I ever tasted. I wanted to know the secret behind this recipe. I suspected I could weasel it out of Betty’s owners, Ellen and Cheryl. They shed some light on Jewish cuisine in the process.

What was the inspiration for Betty Bakery?
Ellen: Cheryl and I met in the 80s and as pastry chefs we ended up doing the same thing. We crossed paths again when Cheryl needed a partner and I needed more space. That’s what brought us here.
Cheryl: We named the bakery Betty’s to honor our old baking teacher. She is still working and has more energy than I do and she’s eighty, but she’s so warm and loving. The name encompassed everything we wanted to do through food.
Ellen: The name also evokes the 50s and Betty Crocker, which was a feeling that we were going for. We call our food “retro-modern.”

How has your Jewish heritage influenced your cooking?
Cake for Rosh Hashananh: Don't you wish all honey cake looked this good?Cheryl: Completely. Totally. Growing up I spent all of the holidays with family, and we’d throw the events at our house. It would be a crazy whirlwind of activity in our house, everything was fast and precisely measured, and everything would come out looking beautiful. It’s still like that, here at Betty's, deadlines and all.

Ellen: My taste naturally goes towards what my grandmother made— she had these wonderful cinnamon cookies that my brother, sister and I all loved. I look for that cinnamon flavor in everything.

Do you celebrate the High Holidays?
Ellen: We try, in a food-related way. We offer special desserts for the holidays. For Rosh Hashanah we made pomegranate tarts, honey cake and “Happy New Year” cookies.
Cheryl: I’m a bad Jew. I observe the holidays in my heart and give all of our Jewish staff the day off.

How do you break the fast?
Ellen: I eat left over honey cake.
Cheryl: Cookies or cake.

Red Velvet Cake: Creamy, smooth, soft, and scrumptious— the best I've ever had.What’s your last meal pre-fast?
Ellen: I know that I’ll eat an apple. Maybe left-overs or dessert.
Cheryl: It could easily be half a pound of cookies.

What’s the secret behind your red velvet cake?
Ellen: The right ingredients done the right way. I never liked red velvet cake, I just kept working on it until I found something that I liked.

What is your all-time favorite cake?
Cheryl: Brides ask me that and I tell them that I am fickle. This is the land of plenty, what do I want today?
Ellen: Cheryl’s lemon bundt cake is my now favorite cake.
Cheryl: My favorite cake is Betty’s chocolate cake. There’s coffee in the icing— its homey and sophisticated.

And now for a question inspired by Anthony Bourdain. If you had one last meal, what would it be?
Ellen: It would be something that I would think about after death. As many lobsters as I could possibly eat.
Cheryl: I’d have a hodge-podge of all my favorite foods. For the appetizer I would have chocolate pudding. For the entrée I’d have chicken noodle soup done by my aunt. Then I’d have scalloped potatoes and to finish it off I’d have perfectly in-season raspberry and cherries. I could drop dead after that.
Ellen: I’d also have to have something doused in garlic— more garlic than a person could reasonably eat, served with pasta. I’d have chicken soup— my mother’s which is beyond perfection with light as air matzo balls. It would have to be served with challah bread and maybe some Venezuelan chocolate for dessert.
Two bakers at work: Putting in extra hours on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

After interviewing Cheryl and Ellen, I was very hungry. They served me a perfectly tall glass of strawberry lemonade with a slice of Verona chocolate cake, and I have to say, life couldn’t have tasted any sweeter.

Betty Bakery
448 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY, 11217
(718) 246-2402

The Challah Connection website offers “gourmet kosher gift baskets with Jewish traditions in mind.” What began in 1994 as a small company that delivered challah to homes and synagogues now enjoys booming success thanks to owner Jane Moritz. A photo of Moritz holding a glossy, golden brown challah loaf is stamped on every page of the Challah Connection’s site. Intrigued, we called her to chat about challah and how she made a Jewish food company so successful. She shares her challah recipe below.

Jane MoritzHow did you start the Challah Connection?
My husband and I sold our advertising business nine years ago, and I decided I wanted a different career--something to do with baking. There was this company call the Challah Connection here in Westport and I thought I could use my background in direct marketing and business to grow it. I thought if people wanted challah, they’d probably want other Jewish baked goods like babke and rugelach. I bought this business and plodded along for several months, and then I got this fabulous write-up in the New York Times, so we got all these calls.

How many of your customers are Jewish?
A lot of my customers aren’t Jewish. They call and they want to get the right thing--they’re sending a gift to a Jewish friend or relative, like for shiva or sympathy. There are so many people who want to understand Jews. Because I’m on the phone with them, this is my mitzvot: I’m helping people understand us.

So does challah make up the majority of your business?
No. Before I took it over the Challah Connection was only doing challah. The Challah part of it is a hook – we do have challah, but it’s less and less a part of our business.

Why is that?
It’s a novelty bread, which is too limiting. You use challah for Shabbat maybe. But we will always have challah. If I was starting the business today, I wouldn’t make it the 'Challah Connection.' It’s funny, last May we stopped home delivery to our customers in Westport. They asked me, “Where should we go?” I told them, you know what you really should do? Bake your own! On my website there’s a recipe you can make in a bread machine, which makes it easy.

Challah dates back to Biblical times. How would you modernize it?
I think it would be really fun to work with great bakers… who use all of these wonderful and fresh flavors. Wouldn’t it be fun to experiment with it and make it more of a gourmet thing? Who says it has to be in its regular shape? If you can find chefs who are doing that kind of thing, call me.

Jennifer Felmley (center left) in cooking class.Jennifer Felmley is a nutritionist, chef, and cooking teacher with an infectious laugh who lives in San Diego. We talked to this culinary historian about Jewish cuisine and one of its most infamous components: Gefilte fish. She provides an upscale recipe for the stuff – gelatin included – below.

Why do you think Jewish food’s popularity is waning these days?
Well, traditional Jewish food is made with cheap ingredients, like brisket and whitefish, that are difficult to prepare and not as delicious as more expensive, and often fresher, food.

How do you modernize old recipes and make them more appealing?
I try to take traditional Eastern European food that we grew up with back to its roots by using the freshest ingredients. When immigrants came to the U.S., they had to make do with canned products and poorer qualities of meat. I try to keep things as fresh and clean as possible.

Why has gefilte fish gotten such a bad rap?
Many people, when they think of gefilte fish, think of a ball of fish suspended in goo. Not delicious. The dish came from Germany and was a small dumpling cooked in liquid. When the fish sits for a while in its stock, the collagen and protein from the fish gelatinize, which keeps it fresh, but also has a gross texture.

Tell me about your recipe.
The first time I made the salmon gefilte fish recipe, I thought “Oh, I’m so special!” But when I got to the fishmonger’s at the crack of dawn in L.A., there were these chichi ladies from Beverly Hills and private chefs buying salmon for their gefilte fish.

How do you serve it?
My grand-aunt made her herb sauce, which I tweaked a little bit. Adding fresh herbs is the way it was traditionally done. I also do a horseradish and sour cream sauce with lemon.

Do you prepare it often?
You know, I’d make it as part of my last meal [before fasting] if I could. When I do it for Passover, I make mountains of it, and I eat it for days afterwards.

How does being Jewish affect your cooking?
I’m the Martha Stewart of Judaism. I’m not going to sit at home and study Torah, but I will cook a huge meal for all my friends and family. I love Passover. I prepare for days. For the first few years I did it, I made the whole meal completely kosher, but it’s gotten so big, with over 50 people, it just got too expensive.