By Ben Schneider
SKOLIE, Illinois — Yay Kosher began on the advice of a friend of my wife, Caryn Padowitz. The friend, who is a professional chef and successful blogger, had seen the way that others reacted to Caryn’s cooking and noticed that she had gained a certain amount of culinary respect among our peers. In simpler terms, everyone wanted to eat at our table because they knew Caryn would have cooked a delicious meal.
Over years of hosting Shabbat and Yom Tov meals for family and friends, I started to include some of my recipes in the meals that Caryn served. The agreement was, and still is, that Caryn always has to approve of whatever it is that Ben makes as he tends to get very “experimental” with his recipes. Based on these experiences, we decided to start blogging about some of our favorite recipes; and Yay Kosher was born.
Always up for a challenge, we could not have chosen a more tumultuous time to start this new venture. The Yay Kosher website was launched during Covid lockdown while four of our young children were home on Zoom school and our newborn fifth child was still not sleeping through the night. We figured what better time to add something else exciting (and time consuming) to the mix! Our focus is on posting kosher recipes that the average household can make right at home. We try to use simple ingredients and easy processes with equipment and ingredients that one already has at home. All of our recipes are strictly kosher. One of our favorite things to do is take a recipe we have seen elsewhere and replace all of the non-kosher ingredients or combinations with kosher ones, something we have titled “treif hacks.” Despite our love of food and of cooking, we come from very different culinary backgrounds.
I began cooking when I was young by trying to follow recipes that I saw on cooking shows. It seemed so easy to do and at the end you had a full dish or meal. I was intrigued by the process and took any opportunity I could to try to make simple recipes at home like biscuits or brownies. My mother likes to remind me that my recipes did not always go so well, like the time I put a cup of salt into a batch of brownies instead of one teaspoon. I learned some hard lessons over the years but I never stopped experimenting with food. One of the things I like so much about cooking is that you can explore so many different ingredients and flavor combinations. As part of Yay Kosher, we like to give suggestions of ways in which our recipes may be tweaked or altered to accommodate others who feel the same as I do. Sharing my suggestions is one of my favorite parts of Yay Kosher.
Caryn was born and raised in San Diego and grew up in a household where both her parents were South African, so her culinary background is much different than Ben’s Midwestern upbringing. In the 1980s, my paternal grandmother, Bella Padowitz, was the cook and baker for the once- known-as Pitluck cafe at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla. She says, “My mother used to make all of her South African recipes for our extended family and friends who all used to rave about her cooking. From time to time, I would help in the kitchen and I became accustomed to using spice and seasoning combinations to bring out the natural flavor of a dish. When it came time to start cooking for my own family, I drew on the experiences I had growing up. I think that is what allows me to get the same reaction to my cooking as my mom got from hers. Above all else, I try to maintain the same sense of quality recipes in Yay Kosher as I do in my own house. I really do see Yay Kosher as an extension of my own table, and I like to make sure that I do not post anything on Yay Kosher that I would not be happy to serve in my own home.”
YayKosher.com is a kosher food blog that posts new recipes several times a week and is open to guest recipe submissions and comments.
*
Ben Schneider is the co-owner of Yay Kosher.