SUBSCRIBE

FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintFriendlyShare

Holy Smokes! This Female Pitmaster Is On Fire

FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintFriendlyShare
How I went from Hebrew school teacher to shaking up the Kosher BBQ scene.

Mom. Wife. Teacher. Foodie. Orthodox. Pitmaster. This is how I describe myself these days. How did I get here? So glad you asked.

Since I can remember, food has been at the center of all family get-togethers. And

almost always in a Jewish setting. I grew up surrounded by my mom’s large traditional South African family and my father’s midwest Conservative family. Every Friday, we had Shabbat dinner and it was always lively. Aunts and uncles, my grandparents and great grandparents, and cousins. Let’s just say “quiet” isn’t in my family’s vocabulary.

I was considered the “super Jew” out of my friends growing up because, well, I was just a Jewish nerd. I owned it. We were one of the only families in the neighborhood who kept kosher in and out of the home (veggie style out of the house). We celebrated Shabbat every week. Went to synagogue. And I loved every second of it. In middle school, everyone just assumed I would be a Conservative Rabbi when I grew up, but that wasn’t my destiny.

This is me at 3 years old

I never cooked food for Shabbat, I just loved eating. My mom and both grandmas are great cooks. I was always tasting the food, especially the meat! Proof is in the pictures, from Spring 1993 when I was only x years old, you can see I was eating a lamb chop bone in one hand and a chicken drumstick in the other. I loved the special occasion dishes, the lamb stew for winter shabbat dinner, Chicken Marbella, and brisket, of course!

When I got married at 21, I had to learn to cook for real. I'd call my mom, panicking "MOM! The rice looks like mush! Help!" or “The chicken has way more liquid in it than yours does! Why?!” Eventually, I got the hang of it and then I started to experiment. I wanted to try different cuts of meat and cooking styles that were harder to find in kosher restaurants. I started with sous vide and soon became obsessed. That’s when my journey really begins.

As I started playing with fire to sear the meat after cooking in the sous vide, I realized how much I liked playing, I mean cooking, with fire. So the sous vide was put aside for a short time and I got a charcoal grill. The first brisket I smoked in the charcoal grill was unbelievably bad. I refused to give up, so I kept at it over the course of 3 years. I got an electric smoker, then a pellet grill, and finally an offset smoker.

Meanwhile, I received a Master’s degree in education and began teaching teenagers in middle school and high school. I loved it! I was excited to show these students how their faith and tradition could be used to guide them for the rest of their lives. On the first day of class, I held up an iPod nano (circa 2005). Most thought it was an Apple TV remote! I explain that they don’t know what it is because technology changes so fast around us. Then I held up a book of Torah and said “this stays the same. These stories, these lessons, can teach us new things time and time again. It’s why we reread it every year.” I taught my students how they can turn to their tradition and faith in the best of times and the worst of times. They don’t need to be “super Jews” they just need to learn and be open.

As I honed my craft and learned more about meat and BBQ I opened myself up to a whole new world.

While traditionally a male dominated industry, that didn’t matter to me. I never let gender roles get in my way before, in fact I played varsity golf against boys because there was no girls program. Being a girl is never going to stop me. When someone tells me no I can’t, I tell them yes I can.

I have religious obligations as a Jewish woman, anything after that is fair game to me. Plus, there is actually a whole community of women in the kosher BBQ competition circuit as well as in the non-kosher world of BBQ.

I have taken my skills and passion as a teacher and my love and obsession for meat and BBQ and took a leap of faith.

After 6 years teaching teenagers about Judaism and cooking BBQ for hundreds I decided to go out on my own and cook and teach about meat. I’ve been inspired by flavors from all over the world and use a lot of Asian influences in my food from my Gochujang glazed korean lamb riblets to my smoked bone broth ramen soup with sliced brisket.

With Holy Smokes Kosher BBQ, I am currently offering Shabbat and holiday take out along with catering, pop ups, and classes. Once a teacher, always a teacher. I have a passion for both Judaism and meat, so I offer a variety of classes from Kosher Meat 101 to cooking demos to educational kashrut and cooking lessons for schools and synagogues. I am stoked to be combining these passions to bring it to a wider audience here on Jewlish.

My first lesson for you is on marinating. Get my recipe and how to guide for Carne Asada Marinade.

Click here to comment on this article
Advertisements
Advertisements

DISCOVER MORE

guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
EXPLORE
LEARN
MORE
Explore
Learn
Resources
Next Steps
About
Donate
Menu
Languages
Menu
Social
.