Nicole,

I can't answer your Kosher questions but I'm sure somebody who can will be along shortly.

As for the breakfast meat...I think grilled salmon would be wonderful with your menu. Keep it simple. Just a light spritz of olive oil, S/P, fresh dill sprigs across the top, & lemon juice squeezed on last minute before serving.

Sounds like a nice menu & a fun July 4!

/tricia

Making a quiche with cheese and any kind of meat is definitly a no-no. Even a very relaxed Jew would not eat that.
You need to either keep your brunch all dairy ( fish, eggs and cheese) or all meat and no dairy, turkey bacona nd eggs, no cheese.
Linda C

Hi Nicole!

I was just going to say what Linda said - you might want to check with them on serving milk/dairy with meat (Tricia's fish would be OK, though). If they don't eat pork or shellfish I bet they won't do the breakfast meats either.

IF they do - your turkey bacon would be OK, but I've never used it so I can't speak to that product.

'Sausage' can be kosher or from a permitted animal. Its just ground meat with seasonings. However, you need to read labels to ensure that the manufacturer doesn't use pork casings! The only time a 'part' of the animal isn't kosher is chateau briand because a big vein has to be removed and its too much work for the butchers (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Hope that helps!

Turkey bacon tastes fine - although it can be a bit dry. You can also buy turkey ham also, and I often fry slices of that in a bit of olive oil. The turkey ham tastes more like bacon than the turkey bacon because you can slice it a bit thicker and it holds up better. Turkey bacon fries to almost nothing - it's generally sliced way too thin.

You should try visiting a kosher meat market. I went to a Halal market in Culver City (not knowing it was kosher) and asked for a pork shoulder, which of course they did not have. You should be safe shopping in a Halal market, however, and for me they are easier to find. I'm going to a Burmese Halal market (and restaurant) in Culver City this afternoon for take-out.

Lars

I would suggest running your menu past your guests. Jews are like vegetarians...there are many degrees of observance. They are also like vegetarians in that they appreciate the thoughtfulness of a host who might not be familiar with Kashrut taking the time to check with them.

Pork seems to be the "last stand" of even non-observant Jews. As far as I know, there is nothing that makes the injunction against pork any more important than the injunction against lobster or shrimp, or against milk & meat served together, but many Jews who will not eat pork will have a shrimp cocktail or beef stroganoff without batting an eye.

If you don't feel comfortable asking, it would be safe to have, as tricia suggested, fish as a side meat with your egg dish, fruit, cake and strawberries. I bet a bit of smoked salmon or kippers would be wonderful for your spinach & ricotta bake in lieu of the bacon.

Try approaching it from a different different direction. Instead of trying to adapt your familiar, bacon and eggs, non-kosher menu, learn to make a real kosher breakfast. When I visit Jewish friends, they are able to serve a very tasty kosher breakfast which is enjoyed by all. Having no bacon, real or fake, is not a hardship, IMHO. Kosher breakfasts are yummy.

Jim

I agree....sort of.
You might make you quiche without the "bacon", and add bagels with cream cheese, sliced nova salmon or gravelox and a platter of slices tomatoes and onions,
A bowl of cut up fruit and you are there!
Linda C

If they keep any type of Kosher my guess is (like linda said, "making a quiche with cheese and any kind of meat is definitly a no-no."

However I and my family and many friends are living proof that "a very relaxed Jew" will combine milk and meat and eat bacon.

if you don't like smoke fish I would just drop the meat and possibly add a vegetable of some kind. There is a brunch place near me that has an option of a lightly dressed mesclun mix with the house vinaigrette. It is really nice with egg dishes. Griddled tomatoes are good too.

-Robin

Thank you for all of your feedback. DOH! I totally forgot about not mixing meat and dairy!

I'm not trying to create a bacon and eggs breakfast, as my main dish doesn't have any eggs. Ultimately what I'm trying to come up with is a meal I would enjoy (which means no eggs or smoked fish) that my guests would be *able* to enjoy. Maybe I should just serve berries, coffee cake and champagne and call it a day!

I guess the best thing to do would be to talk to my guests. In the meantime, any other ideas?

Nicole

Oh my goodness! Talk about being blinded by my own habits! It never occurred to me that your spinach & ricotta brunch bake wasn't some form of fritatta or quiche!

I'd have to see the recipe to make really intelligent suggestions, but with the limited info I've got, it seems that bacon was included as a strong flavor to sort of "spice up" the more mild ricotta & spinach...so something else with a strong flavor could be substituted. Sun dried tomatoes or roasted red bell peppers perhaps? Adding a bit of salt to make up for that which the lack of bacon subtracts? Or, kalamata olives with no added salt?

As Robin suggested, this meal would go wonderfully well with a delicate mix of greens and dressing...perhaps a balsamic vinaigrette tossed with baby greens, toasted nuts & berries of some kind or mandarin oranges?

I observe Kashrut but have many friends who do not. When I go to a party I usually don't have a problem finding some items I can eat and just politely avoid those that I can't. If the host is someone I know well enough, I ask in advance about the menu and offer to bring something along that everyone can share. My advice is to serve what you already planned and add a similar main course dish without any meat. If I were at your party I would find plenty to eat: fruit salad, coffee cake, chocolate covered strawberries and the cheese plate I would bring along as a gift to the hosts. It is very thoughtful of you to consider the special dietary needs of individual guests. Have a wonderful time with your guests and don't worry too much about whether there is enough variety to eat. There is!

I agree with mimsic. If you serve meat, make sure you put it in a separate serving dish so your friends can have some or not as they wish. Although your friends are not strictly observant, they may shy away from having meat and dairy at the same meal because that's not kosher.

Being vegetarian, kosher isn't much of an issue for me. But here's a suggestion--use fake meat. Fake bacon bits to flavor the quiche (use a light touch, that stuff is strong) and fake sausage. Most of my meat-eating friends like the fake stuff well enough when I serve it. You can find it in the frozen foods aisle in almost all grocery stores, in some form or another.

Otherwise, make a frittata sans dairy and baked goods made with margarine and no diary and use turkey bacon and sausage.

I've had the turkey products, I think they are OK, but I can't weigh in very strongly on that aspect since I don't like meat in general. To me the stuff tasted OK for a meat product. I made the turkey sausage and bacon when my folks were here visiting.

Tread lightly here. In an effort to accommodate your friends you can end up making them feel self conscious and uncomfortable and the afternoon conversations awkwardly centered on the laws of kashrut and other religious practices. Your friends know you don't have a kosher home and if it were a big issue for them they would either talk to you about it in advance or quietly pick and choose what they eat. By the way, isn't that what everyone does at a party - due to allergies, diet plans, health issues or simple food preferences. You have planned a good and varied menu, relax about this and have fun with your friends.

Are you having a sort of party where many people are invited, or are you specifically having these friends (only) over? I got the impression it was the latter.

I'd make the spinach dish without any meat and serve the meat on the side as was suggested above. That way no one is uncomfortable because they CAN'T eat something and one is uncomfortable because something they WANT to eat isn't available.

Halal and kosher are different, even though they may seem similar to outsiders. Kosher has more physical requirements than halal, while halal requires prayers. In a pinch observant Muslims are allowed to use kosher meat when they can't get halal, but not vice versa.

Kosher observances include the following:

- no forbidden animals -- sometimes called "levitical kosher" (because the rules are listed in the book of Leviticus), especially by those non-Jews who also observe this;

- eating only kosher meat, which requires appropriate slaughter of premitted animals plus post-processing (note: the sciatic nerve must be removed before the hindquarters of mammals can be eaten, which not usually done in the US, but there matters only in conjunction with the other requirements for kosher meat);

- not eating milk and meat together; and

- using separate pots, dishes, etc. to avoid cross-contamination.

Most people consider "keeping kosher" to be all of the above, but in reality people pick and choose both for their homes and what they do outside of their homes. Clearly Nicole's friends keep the first provision even outside their home, and it sounds like they don't keep the last. In between, without asking, the only way to be sure the guests will be well-fed is to have at least one protein dish that contains no meat whatsoever. It's not that there aren't kosher breakfast meats, but people who don't mix meat and dairy and like their coffee with cream would probably be happier with non-meat choices. And if you are having a crowd, that takes care of the vegetarians as well.

BTW, some vegetarian "meats" are very good.