Culinary traditions are created not in restaurants for gourmets, but by the hands of nature itself. It is nature that dictates our gastronomic habits - if the land is rich, fertile, so the dishes will be very diverse, if the climate is severe - the cuisine will be characterized by boring food. It is on this principle that the cuisines of the peoples of the world have developed historically. Today, in spite of the fact that bananas and coconuts have become available in the north, as well as venison with cloudberries in the south, the concept of national cuisines has not yet disappeared.
The only exception is the Jews - they live (and historically) in different parts of the world, while their kitchen is one, and "standardized" not by "Mother Nature", but by Holy Scripture. The food of the Jews is called kosher food, which means - suitable food, correct, useful.
Kosher rules
Kosher food is the food permitted by kosher. Kashrut is a set of rules that dictates not only the list of allowed products, but also the methods of preparation. At the same time, the word "kosher" can easily be applied not only to food, but also to a person, situation, subject. In any case, "kosher" will mean correct, positive.
About what kind of kosher food is said in the Bible are animals with "cloven hoofs" and "chewing gum". This applies to authorized animals. Animals need not only to choose correctly, but also to score. The Jewish communities issue permits to the butchers, and they must cut the carcass by all the rules - completely drain the blood, carry out a preliminary examination. Meat before cooking soaked in salt water.
As for plants - they are all kosher.
Meat
So, let's consider in detail what kind of food is kosher. First of all, you need to deal with the meat. Animals must be simultaneously cloven-hoofed, and herbivorous, so it means:
- cows;
- sheeps;
- goats;
- moose;
- gazelles;
- mountain goats;
- giraffes.
Pigs are prohibited from kosher, because they do not "chew gum." In addition, it is not kosher and sick or caught on a hunting animal. Salo, located near the stomach should be removed, as well as the sciatic nerve. In the animal, only the first half of the body is edible by kosher. On an example of a cow - starting from the udder, all meat is not kosher.
Bird
Kosher are considered domesticated birds, which are slaughtered by a carver with permission from the community. That is, it's chickens, geese, quails, turkeys, pigeons, ducks, etc. Kosher eggs should be from allowed birds. If a blood clot is found in the egg, it should be removed.
A fish
Kosher fish should be with fins and scales. It would seem that the whole fish should be approached, but not everything is so simple. Sturgeon, acne, sharks, catfish, whales, dolphins do not have kosher scales. Hence, their use is prohibited. The same prohibition goes to shellfish and shellfish.
Combination of products
In the recipes of kosher food, the combination and order of consumption is very important. So, all the products are divided into dairy, meat and neutral. Dairy products can not be eaten with meat, but neutral can be combined with the first and the second. After consuming meat products, it should take several hours before the use of milk products is allowed. Also, you can not eat food, in the preparation of which combine meat and dairy products. Fish is considered a neutral product, but traditionally it is not combined with meat.
The laws of kosher are so strict that the kitchens have separate accessories, tables, lockers, and even sinks for dairy and meat food. In principle, after the first "ohs" of indignation, we can come up with the rule of hygiene in cooking, which says that to work with different products, you need to have separate knives, cutting boards, vessels. And in the kitchens of restaurants, like the Jews, fish and meat, as well as vegetables, are washed in different shells.
Simply put, "kosher" is just a way to protect, improve a person's nutrition, the ability to teach him to follow what he eats and how he cooks it.