A Southern Jew in Jerusalem: The Hunt for Crisco | Leigh B. Pennington
In the 2011 film The Assistance, 1 of the main characters, a black maid named Minny claims “I reckon if there is anything at all you will need to know about cooking it is this (Crisco), the most important creation considering that they place mayonnaise in the jar.” She divulges the numerous wondrous uses of Crisco which include moisturizer for toes, instant gum remover for hair, oil for squeaky doorway hinges. It is derived from cottonseed oil and undergoes hydrogenation to turn it from a liquid into a reliable. 1 of the important positives of Crisco for the Jewish cook is that it is thought of parve.
In “The Tale of Crisco” a recipe ebook by Marion Harris Neil he quotations the Rabbi Moses S. Margolies of New York stating “the Hebrew Race had been waiting 4,000 a long time for Crisco.” When this vegetable shortening very first premiered in the early 20th century in addition to turning into a staple in southern cuisine it also revolutionized the American Ashkenazi kitchen area. For the initially time there was a kosher cooking body fat outside of schmaltz or butter offered to balabustas that authorized them to make parve dishes to go with meat or milk. Crisco seemed like an complete godsend to my family members who were being nestled in the land of pork fats, a little city called Waynesboro, Virginia.
When in Israel I have become fairly accustomed to shifting my food tastes from the Ashkenazi and Southern American foodstuff of my youth to the predominantly Mediterranean food stuff tradition of Israel. However for this Thanksgiving I was established to develop some nostalgia and experimented with my hand at producing pumpkin pie from scratch for the to start with time, and in the words and phrases of my mom “a superior crust requirements Crisco.”
I considered that undoubtedly in the land of kashrut vegetable shortening is king and it would be reasonably straightforward to find Crisco or its equal near to my apartment in the Shuk. Nonetheless the course of action was far less straightforward than I to begin with assumed and my research came up with unsatisfying results. So I tapped into the infinite understanding of the Key Jerusalem Facebook group and acquired many tips for wherever I could be equipped to come across Crisco. I determined to check out out the most repeated advice, the Tremendous HaMoshava on Emek Refaim. Easy enough, right? Erroneous.
The worker in spite of his very best endeavours to aid me experienced no thought if they carried Crisco or what is vegetable shortening. Discouraged but nevertheless hopeful I ongoing to take laps around the retail store and I seen that I was in superior company as there have been many Us citizens on the hunt for pumpkin pie accouterment. A single gal was debating no matter whether or not to buy a pre-produced graham cracker crust just so she could use the pie pan it arrived in.
In the isle of aluminum baking merchandise I discovered a person on the floor, an assortment of diverse sized pie pans lain out ahead of him and on the cell phone with what could have only been his spouse, speaking about the pie pan width to depth ratio. We have been all in the same Thanksgiving frenzy. “Excuse me sir,” I stated, “I could not aid but overhear the text pumpkin pie coming from your cellular phone. You haven’t by any prospect viewed Crisco listed here?” “Crisco,” he replied in contemplation, “wow I haven’t heard that phrase in years. I don’t know if they carry Crisco, my spouse does the cooking, but I would feel so? It is perfect for kosher cooking, revolutionized the Jewish kitchen area.”
We talked about Crisco’s symbolism in our shared Jewish American origins, him hailing from Brooklyn, myself recounting tales from underneath the Mason-Dixon line. I will have to have peaked his curiosity because he graciously provided to guide me in my quest.
Following various minutes of intense seeking and no Crisco we resolved to connect with it quits, I thanked him for his enable, and he returned to the pie pans. Discouraged and emotion like I experienced just squandered a terrific offer of time I remembered that I required a bottle of canola oil for my pantry. Then it transpired. There resting on the quite top rated shelf future to the coconut oil was Crisco in bulk. I did a very little dance, sang a very little ditty and rushed to find my close friend to present him my discovery at which he replied with a smile, “well I am heading household substantially happier now.” I explained to him, “Sir, I can say the exact same.”
It is been more than a 12 months because I have viewed my family members or visited Virginia. While I have been trying to enable myself grow to be freely absorbed in Israeli culture and culture there are some recollections I just can’t appear to be to permit go so significantly so that I hauled all the way to Emek Refaim for a container of vegetable shortening. It makes everything a minor much easier when you are not of Israeli society to be able to find these bits and pieces of you within it. Even my compatriot in the grocery store received a small nostalgia excitement off of the incredibly phrase Crisco. You may well will need to dig all around, consider a couple of distinctive grocery stores, or inquire for advice, but the payoff is really worth it.
Born and elevated in Richmond Virginia Leigh Pennington at this time attends The Hebrew University of Jerusalem pursuing a Masters diploma in Jewish Scientific studies at the Rothberg Global Faculty. Prior to shifting to Israel Leigh examined Anthropology, Artwork Background, and Faith at Concordia College in Montreal. She has been involved in several cultural preservation and historic establishments and currently interns for The Ethiopian Nationwide Task as an oral heritage advisor for Task Ti’ud.
