East County cook batters the competition

Chabad of Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch hosts its second Kosher Cook-Off.

By Amanda Sebastiano
| 6:00 a.m. February 24, 2016

Tricia Ledezma, Steve Weinshel and Ruthy Hyatt were the top three winners of the cook-off.

East County
News

When she was 5 years old, Ruthy Hyatt perfected the art of taste testing.

Now a Lakewood Ranch resident who has a family of her own, the Moroccan native spent evenings after school licking the inside of bowls her mother used to make almond cookies.

Her time spent “helping” her mother in the kitchen stirred up an interest in cooking. Her passion for cooking dishes from her home country and her skills in the kitchen helped her win the second annual Kosher Cook-Off, Feb. 21, at Chabad of Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch.

What is kosher?

Foods that are considered kashrut, or kosher, are ones the Jewish community has deemed fit or proper to eat in accordance with their religious beliefs.

“A food being kosher is most about the ingredients that are used,” said Rabbi Mendy Bukiet of Chabad of Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch. “Eating kosher is something that’s found in Jewish law and teachings. That’s why we follow it.”

Four main labels mark foods that meet kosher standards. Those groups include The Orthodox Union (OU), KOF-K, Organized Kashrut Labs (OK) and Star-K.

“Sixty to 75% of the foods Publix sells are kosher,” Bukiet said. “You don’t have to limit yourself to just that one aisle in the store.”

Whether someone follows kosher eating principles often is based on how strictly a person practices Judaism. Orthodox Jews follow the guidelines closely.

“Eating kosher foods isn’t a health thing,” Bukiet said. “It’s a holiness thing.”

For more information on what constitutes a kosher food or meal, visit chabad.org.

“I love to be creative in the kitchen,” Hyatt said. “I’ve been working, or playing, in a kitchen since I was a child. My mother was a gourmet chef and a great baker. I get that interest from her.”

Nine contestants each cooked a dish between Friday and Sunday, and 50 attendees voted on their favorites on Sunday night.

The contestants’ only restrictions were to only use kosher ingredients and they had to cook their dishes at the Chabad, to ensure cooks used proper ingredients.

The top three winners received prizes. Hyatt took home a $100 gift card to purchase kosher foods and Tricia Ledezma and Steve Weinshel, who tied for second place, received spatulas, pot holders, a cookbook and an apron for their efforts.

“This event is always fun,” Steve Weinshel said.

After the cook-off, attendees divided into five teams and cooked some more.

Each table had a centerpiece of random ingredients, such as applesauce, chocolate syrup, bananas, graham crackers and tuna, which teams used to craft a dish for three judges.

“Let’s use the chocolate syrup to drizzle over everything, like they do on TV,” attendee Pam Weigert said to her teammates. “We need to add more color to get the judges’ attention.”

Cook-off connoisseurs

Name: Ruthy Hyatt

Dish: Kosher crab cakes

Home state/country: Morocco

Background: She has been cooking since she was a child, when she would help her mother prepare for dinner parties and other social events at their home. Now she cooks for her husband, Ron, who is retired, at their home in East County. The Hyatts are active in fundraising at Chabad of Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch’s community events.

Fun fact: Ruthy never uses recipes to cook a meal. She believes it limits her creativity in the kitchen.

Name: Steve Weinshel

Dish: Chicken and wonton wrap

Home state: Wisconsin

Background: He’s different from the other winners, because he doesn’t spend most weeknights in the kitchen cooking. He actually doesn’t think he’s eve a very good cook. Weinshel prefers to barbecue food, such as steak and chicken, for his wife, Laura, who helped make the wraps. She also specializes in making reservations rather than meals, she joked. His father, Leo, did most of the cooking when Weinshel was a child.

Fun fact: Prior to retiring two years ago, Weinshel was a neurosurgeon.

Name: Tricia Ledezma

Dish: Chicken étouffée

Home state: Texas

Background: She enjoyed cooking with her parents as a child, while none of her two other siblings did. Today, her siblings still call her for instructions and tips on how to cook family recipes and Cajun food, Ledezma’s favorite type of food to make. Various Cajun foods are prepared with fish, so she has been creating new recipes that substitute other meats for the sea critters. Her three sons said they enjoy her experiments in the kitchen.

Fun fact: She doesn’t like cheese, which is a staple in many of the foods her family enjoys and cooks each week.

Chabad hosted the cook-off to encourage the community to cook foods that are considered fit or proper for the koster diet.

“This event is a fun way to get people thinking about what kosher means,” said Rabbi Mendy Bukiet, of Chabad of Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch. “It’s not that hard to take that plunge to kosher eating. Start with one meal at a time.”