A new year in the CBA kitchen

Donations to the CBA Kitchen
We have alot of Thank Yous to make to our CBA Community.
Our potlucks have been fantastic thanks to you. Members make food in the CBA kitchen to share and members bring foods to be used for our Shabbat potlucks and onegs. We have had potlucks ranging from 40-–100 people, and we couldn’t have done it without your generosity.
We also have been a recipient of a new wall clock and a new scale thanks to Ahuva.
We thank you all, you help to make our CBA community (and tummies) happier!
Simple Ideas of Foods to Bring for our Synagogue Potlucks
We have been requested to provide ideas of what to bring to the potlucks or onegs that are simple to do.
The easiest is to find kosher packaged foods (looking for the kosher symbol). Just bring the unopened packages for the potluck. Our mashgiach will double check (those symbols get smaller & sneakier every year), and we’ll plate and use them (unless we have already open or older packages, then we use the older first and save the newer for next time). Pick what best fits your budget. There are kosher packages of cheeses, yoghurt, milk, bread, crackers, chips, cookies, cakes, cans of tuna fish, sprats, sardines, kippers, jars of herring, salad dressings, applesauce, juices, juice drinks and lots more.
A note on cheeses; domestic cheeses that are not processed are okay without a Kosher Symbol (this is okay per Rabbi Miller and by the USJC movement see: http://www.uscj.org/JewishLivingandLearning/Kashrut/default.aspx ). Again, they should be in the original sealed packaging. Imported cheeses need to have the Kosher Symbol.
How’s that for simple & easy?
The next easiest is simple salads. If you want to bring salads, keep them simple with raw vegetables and raw fruits (sorry, no cooking at home allowed). Avoid croutons, dried noodles, and processed nuts (whole raw unprocessed nuts are okay), unless you find kosher products, then, just bring them in the original sealed package so we can verify, and then add them to your salad before serving.
If you want more ideas of what to bring, just check out the latest Food and Potluck Guidelines. Of course, feel free to ask and share ideas. And if it can’t be done in your home, think about making and sharing your delights in the CBA Kitchen.
Safety in the CBA Kitchen
We are a social group, especially when it comes to cooking; however, anyone who has worked in a kitchen knows what hazards may occur while working there; and they know that the possibility of accidents increases with more distractions.
Because we want to make certain that everyone in the CBA kitchen are kept safe from accidents, please use the main doors to the entrance hall as your entry and exit to Social Hall & Sanctuary, and please do not use the kitchen door to the parking lot as an easy exit or entryway.
Broiling
As of now, our Beth Ami potluck guidelines allow baking cakes and cookies in an oven which hasn’t been used exclusively for kosher items, does this include broiling?
Several factors are involved which can affect questions of Kashrut:
Generally the heat source for a baking oven comes from the bottom of the oven, whereas in broiling, the heat source comes from the top of the oven.
Even more importantly, the temperatures involved in baking are usually cooler than those used for broiling.
Broiling is used most frequently for meat and poultry, which means that the utensils involved are affected if the meat is not kosher to begin with. According the principles of kashrut utensils which may be kashered (for example metal pans) can only be kashered at the same or higher temperature with which they are used. For example, a broiling pan would have to be brought to red heat in order to purge it of any non-kosher food it would have absorbed in the process of broiling.
Regular baked good such as (un-iced) cakes and cookies have been acceptable under the pot-luck guidelines since it is generally assumed that the utensils used in baking are used solely for that purpose. In addition, the assumption is made that the ingredients in the vast majority of cakes and cookies don’t pose a problem with regards to kashrut.
Recently, it was decided to permit icing to be used for icing cakes and cookies made in a dedicated saucepan – or similar utensil – that was never used for anything other than kosher items.
Since broiling involves pans that are used in the preparation of meat items, such pans and utensils would not be usable for items to be brought in the synagogue.
In addition, the high heat required in the course of broiling adds another dimension to the question of the kashrut of the item.
However, in a case where the broiling method is being used at relatively low temperature and all ingredients are kosher—such as for melting cheese on fruit; and where the pan and other utensils are used for regular baking; such items will be judged on a case to case basis until the Kitchen Committee has the opportunity to adopt a general policy regarding broiling.