2007年VOA标准英语-New York Tour Features Kosher Jewish Cuisine Fa

By Liu Enming
New York
20 March 2007
 
watch Enming report

Kosher foods are items made and served under proper Jewish dietary guidelines.  For example, there should be no mixing of meat and milk, which symbolize¹ death and life respectively, and the process of making kosher food has to be under rabbinical supervision² and certification.  One gourmet³ food expert offers visitors to New York City tours of some well-known kosher food shops in Manhattan. 

 
Susan Rosenbaum
Susan Rosenbaum takes visitors on gourmet tours of the lower east side of Manhattan.  The first stop on her kosher food tour is a bialy shop, the only one in Manhattan.

"We are at Kossar's Bialys and Kossar's has been here since 1935,” she says.  “They have been making a bialy, which is very traditional eastern European bread that comes from the Polish town of Bialystok."

A traditional bread dish in Jewish cuisine⁴, bialys look similar to bagels, but Rosenbaum says, they are different in many ways. 

"Here we have the bialy and the bagel.  You can see some of the differences,” she says.  “With the bialys, you have the depression in the middle, which is filled with onion or garlic filling.  With the bagel, it's going to have a hole in the middle.  There is also a difference as far as the baking.  With the bialy, it's just baked, where with the bagel, it's boiled and then baked."

Small in size, the shop happens to be the oldest bialy shop in the U.S. and sells 3,000 bialys every day. 

"You have four ingredients: water, flour, salt and yeast,” Rosenbaum says.  “Those ingredients will go into the machine where they are mixed to form the dough⁵.  After the dough is formed, it will come out to have its first rising.  It will then go into this machine," she points out, "where it will be individually portioned into the right sized ball.  From here, each of the balls will go into the wooden tray and they have their second rising.”

“He will lay them out on the table,” she says of the baker⁶. “He takes each bialy by hand and pulls it to form a depression.  He will then add onion or garlic.  And then it moves into oven.  This oven is kept at 600 degrees Fahrenheit⁷ [315 degrees Celsius] and the baking process is seven minutes."

Rosenbaum's next stop on her gourmet tour is a kosher pickle⁸ shop.

 
Pickles⁹ at The Pickle Guys in New York
"The Pickle Guys is another kosher shop and you know it's a kosher shop because you look here right on the wall, there is a sign that says ‘Under the rabbinical supervision of…’  All kosher food that's prepared outside of the home has to be under the supervision of a rabbi or a rabbinical organization,” she says.

Pickle Guys pickles almost all vegetables, from cucumber, mushrooms, tomatoes, to olives – you name it. 

Will is the head pickler at the shop.  "We have several different types of pickles,” he says.  “You have anywhere from very sour to not too sour and the middle.  You add salt, water, pickling spices, and garlic.  To pickle anything, basically what is, it's time.  The longer you let it sit, the more sour they get."

Rosenbaum explains pickles will stay in a huge refrigerator for two weeks to three months until they are ready to be served.

"There are two pickles I am going to try.  The first one is the new pickle,” says Susan.  “This is the pickle that has been in the brine for just under two weeks.  Oh my gosh, it's like eating a cucumber with a little salt in it.  The next one I am going to try is half-sour.

The half-sour has been in the brine for two to three weeks,” the gourmet guide says.  “It's still going to be crunchy, very crunchy.  It is beginning to take on more of the spices.  As you can see, the first one looks very much like a cucumber.  The next one is beginning to cure. It's getting lighter¹⁰."

Will, the head pickler, explains, "As you put any vegetable into the brine, it will absorb the salt.  If it has sugar, the sweetness of the sugar, and sour may be the vinegar from it.  Every single item here you see has its own brine."

 
Bialys at Gertel's Bakery
Gertel's Bakery is another certified¹¹ kosher food shop which supplies other bakeries in town as well.

"When a rabbi comes here, he is going to check for a couple of things,” Rosenbaum says.  “The first thing is he wants to make sure the flame of the oven has been lit by a Jewish person.  Then he is going to make sure all the ingredients are kosher.  There are no non-kosher animal fats that are used here.  Then once that is determined¹², you will either have dairy pastry¹³ or pareve [made without milk, meat or their derivatives] pastry."

Gertel's Bakery is almost a century old.  Of the more than 300 kinds of pastries¹⁴ the Gertel's Bakery makes, challah is one of the most popular.

"Challah is traditional bread for the Sabbath,” Rosenbaum says.  “It's twisted bread, is made from egg and is a little sweet.  You will typically have this for your Sabbath meals as well as some of your traditional holidays that we have."

Bialys, pickles or challah – kosher foods are no longer only enjoyed by the Jewish community.  By virtue¹⁵ of the word "kosher," which means "fit" or "proper," kosher foods have found their way into the diet of the general public as well.

1 symbolize   

vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表

参考例句：

• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。
• Dolphins symbolize the breath of life.海豚象征着生命的气息。

2 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

3 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

4 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

5 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

6 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

7 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

8 pickle   

n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡

参考例句：

• Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
• Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。

9 pickles   

n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 )；处于困境；遇到麻烦；菜酱

参考例句：

• Most people eat pickles at breakfast. 大多数人早餐吃腌菜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want their pickles and wines, and that.' 我要他们的泡菜、美酒和所有其他东西。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛

10 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

11 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 pastry   

n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。

14 pastries   

n.面粉制的糕点

参考例句：

• He gave a dry laugh, then sat down and started on the pastries. 杜新箨说着干笑一声，坐下去就吃点心。 来自子夜部分
• Mike: So many! I like Xijiang raisins, beef jerky, and local pastries. 麦克：太多了。我最喜欢吃新疆葡萄干、牛肉干和风味点心。

15 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。