Latest / Meet Me At The Deli / Deli Recommendations with Liz and Jeffrey
Transcript
- Heeb Media: Welcome to Meet Me at the Deli, a food advice podcast where the pickles and slaw are always free. I'm Liz. And I'm Jeffrey. Every episode we're answering your burning food and culinary questions. And we're sharing our stories and insights from years working in the industry and living in our self-made shtetl. Jeffrey, we're here. It's our first episode. We did it. We're on the Lower East Side. We have like steps away from catses. I know. And Russ and daughters. So good. So good to be here. You know, we have been working together since 2012 as the Gafilteria. We have traveled the world. We've written our cookbook, the Gafilta Manifesto. We've fielded questions from people about Ashkenazi cooking, about deli, about Gafilta fish, about all of it, you know? Listen, I've got a quick question for you. Okay. It's not going go unnoticed. You are wearing a shirt that says slurper on it, and I do feel like that is, it's catching my eye. You might know that I have a long-standing party that I throw, separate from what you and I do together, and this party is called Queer Soup Night, and it's been happening for nine years across the country. Chefs come together making soups. We raise money for amazing organizations. We're having these parties in bars, restaurants, whatever. And our chapter, we have chapters all over the country, and our chapter in Austin screen printed these shirts. ⁓ And here's what's incredible about these shirts. They made this. They were like, would it be cool if we make merch? And we were like, great, please, somebody make merch. We don't have time for that. So they went, and as only people outside of New York can do, they went and thrifted shirts. So they thrifted the shirts, and then they screen printed them with the slurper logo on it. And it was a fundraiser. We're still selling them sometimes at our events, so check it out. This is my favorite one. Some of them are a little more subtle this third pushers because again, they're thrifted shirts So, you know, there's like some like fun pattern shirts that have the slurper logo sort of like dotted in but this one is really bold and I don't know it felt right for a podcast it felt You know felt like something the world should see and of course because we make soup We slurp So you know make sense. Well, okay. Thank you for sharing that. So very quickly. I didn't want to tell you last week I came to the Lower East Side. I took my family to the Tenement Museum, my niece and nephews. Oh, you told me you were going to do that. How'd it go? And I walked them around the streets of the Lower East Side. I took them in. I took them to Pickle Guys. I took them to CoSars, Bialy's. I gave them sort of that Lower East Side tourism experience. Economy Candy, my sister's a health nut. And the thing I was going to tell you is we actually started out by going to Elbow Bread, which is a really wonderful bakery in Dimes Pretty new. Pretty new and got them caniches and violets and all that. And my sister was like, this is the best caniches I've ever had. Whoa. And so was a pretty profound Lower East Side. were literally around the corner. Oh, you know, we're on Orchard Street right now. And I just felt like I had to tell you that. What, could you just tell me what flavor caniches you had? I think it was like one main canich flavor. It was just like the, it's like a potato. There's some dill in there. There's some garlic and onion. It's just, it's a really nice canich. Nice. Is it the flaky dough or the pastry dough? It's a flakier dough. So some canish purists might say, you know, is it a real canish? It's a fantastic canish. It's a great bite. It's small, spicy. You're critical consumer as you should be. So my hope is that on this podcast, we talk a lot about canishes and something tells me we will. You know, it comes up a lot. Yeah. Nice. Maybe we'll go after this. So I think we should get to questions because this is the heart of the podcast. This is what we're really trying to do is we are addressing these questions that we've been getting for all these years. ⁓ We have some newer questions and seasonal questions today. So I am very excited to dive into the questions, which is really the heart of this. So why don't we're going to ask our producer Felicia to read the questions. I'm coming to NYC this spring and I know a lot of the old delis have closed. What are your favorites that are still open? Where should I eat? from Steve in San Diego. We get this one a lot. We get this one a lot. So this is good. This is good. And we are Meet Me at the Deli. So it's good. This is good. Let's dive in. It's true. A lot of delis have closed. This is a perpetual concern or anxiety. In fact, would say, argue that we started the gefilteria years ago when we started reading all these articles about the death of this cuisine. The second Avenue deli, I remember it closed in like 2008 or so. I wanted to move back to New York and I shed a tear because that was my family's deli. Luckily we opened, now there's one on first and third, know, so I always like to say they split the difference. But yeah, so this is like a close to our heart deli. So we haven't talked about this specific question in a while. Where would you stand, Steve? It's a good question. Okay, so you know that I grew up in Long Island and the deli that I grew up eating in, Lido Kosher Deli. Still open and thriving. So for me, I would say, Steve, if you happen to be on Long Island with some family, check it out. That is an old school deli, still open, same family, absolutely thriving. And sometimes, I always like to say that sometimes it's really, leave Manhattan. Leave Manhattan and you will find things. We all know bagels and pizza are thriving outside of Manhattan and even outside of the five boroughs, let's admit it. So shout out to the 516 Lido Kosher Deli. However, you need to go there. You and I have a history of taking people to Second Avenue Deli. I will say that is a standard. For me, the thing I like about Second Avenue Deli is you are going to have the deli experience, the Jewish deli experience that is not dissimilar to what you might've had decades ago. So if you are wanting the sort of historically grounded gruff server, need to know what you're ordering, delicious and kosher deli, I would go for Second Avenue. That would be my first stop if that's what you want. But there's other directions you could go in. I would contend that I think the waste stuff is quite nice at Second Avenue. They are, but they're quick. Yeah, but they don't live up to that stereotype. fair. It's fair. fair. fair. So I think it depends. the reason I think this is a difficult question is it depends on what kind of deli experience you want to have. Do you want to go and have like this classic New York experience of brings you back to the history. Like, Katz's is Katz's for a reason. Katz's is... So good. Over a hundred years old, really the last deli of that era, it's now the oldest deli in the country. Hand slicing the pastrami. Hand slicing the pastrami. I tried taking my niece and nephews there just to kind of see Katz's and there was a line around the block. very touristy, but hey, there's no better New York experience than a late night... Hats's Hot Dog and a Knish. And the hot dog has a nice snap, I gotta say. ⁓ The pastrami is fantastic. You go there, can I say that? It'll be the best deli experience overall. It's a very particular kind of deli. And you go and you get these tickets but you walk in and it feels great. Don't lose the ticket. That said, it is super touristy and that cannot be what you want. And so for me, I love a local deli. ⁓ I love Lido Kosher Deli. One of my favorites when I get to go, ⁓ I usually when I go to the beach, I find myself deeper into Brooklyn is I love the Mill Basin Delicatessen in Mill Basin. It's not... Brooklyn. It's Brooklyn. It's deep Brooklyn. Brooklyn. It is not a fancy deli. It's not a deli you're gonna necessarily write home about. It's a deli that you're gonna enjoy. You're gonna feel like you're part of a neighborhood and you're gonna get like, you know what, honestly... They've got a nice lunch special, two hot dogs and a knish. It's a good affordable thing. But you can get a sandwich, get a bowl of Motz-Bell soup, get something there. But it just, feels ⁓ like it's a deli that is serving the community where it sits. And that's something that I feel like you can't really say that about, you know, the behemoth that is Katz's. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I think that is why Second Avenue kind of can strike a little bit of a balance. It's old school, but it, you know, you're not waiting online for 100 years for it. But... That hand slice pastrami, just, you know, it's tough. good. Yeah, and also I would say you brought up in Lido kosher deli, if he wants a kosher deli experience. will say, I find that there are not many great ⁓ glatt kosher delis. True. And I think that's also because it's not really, it's a newer tradition. Like this is not a glatt kosher history. The history... The kosher delis, most of them are open on Saturdays. They're kind of these more flexible kosher approaches. ⁓ But if you're looking for the mendis or some of those more glottosher ones, you're going to find the brisket, if they serve it, usually gets microwaved. You're going to find things that are not necessarily done in that more authentic way of that old slicing. Right. And you brought it up. The history of deli, which I hope we will continue to return to because we could talk a long time about it. was certainly not something that was born necessarily of completely observant Jews. This was an American institution born of immigration and the pan Ashkenazi world kind of coming together in one place to serve a Jewish community, the secular synagogue. yeah, it's, there we go. ⁓ Is there any new school deli? Is there any like newer institution that we would want to highlight for Steve? Coming in New York, mean, listen, there are, the term deli, it's a little bit antiquated in this, I'd say a lot of the deli foods are, a lot of the deli foods are living in new kinds of places. So like maybe like a Jewish bistro or even sometimes in a bagel shop or different kinds of things. mean, you know, right near me in Brooklyn, I'm not far from the Mile End Deli Contestant that opened back in 2011. That's a Montreal style deli. I haven't been in a while, ⁓ friendly with the owners and love what they do. But I'm also thinking of, right near me is a restaurant called Gertrude's, which is not a deli. They call themselves a bistro. it's just like a, what I find interesting is it takes sort of deli ideas and infuses them into a cocktail menu. And they have a, you you can randomly order a latkes, aside with anything. It's sort of an interesting way of infusing deli into a lot of these dishes. So I would say if we kind of think beyond the traditional deli and we think about deli foods, I mean, I'd say you want to go get a great knish, go to Elbow Bread. That's the best knish in New York, would say. Yeah, and a really good Bialy too. Well, a good Bialy is very hard to find. And again, not deli, but the luncheonette, S &P. It's a great spot. It's great spot. It's great. Steve, you're going to have an amazing trip. There is no shortage of incredible food to eat. Think about the experience you want to have, and I hope you have enough time to do all of it. Let's move on to the next question. Yeah. Because we could talk about deli forever. So this question comes from me. I love a Seder, but I'm always so hungry. Any tips for making it through? All right, Felicia. Number one, the fact that you know you're always so hungry makes me think, hey girl, have a snack before. You know what I mean? Just like take care of yourself because I think what I hear is that you like the experience of the Seder, but you are uncomfortable. And we need to just find a way to be comfortable if we want to continue to engage in activities that we do not completely control. So number one, hey, eat before. I know that this is the irony of the Passover Seder is that people people go crazy preparing food for Passover and yet, and so you're like, ⁓ my God, it's all about the meal, but it actually isn't just all about the meal if you are having an actual Seder experience that might be meaningful. So there's so much more going on than just, you know, than the meal, right? You're having this whole Seder. like. Do what you need to do so that you can enjoy the Seder on your own, number one. And ⁓ that's just like basics, right? But I have some more practical thoughts on this topic also, which is that ⁓ number one, ⁓ in one of the things that I learned when I married into the family that I did is that we start snacking at Karpas, which is very early in the Seder. back up for a second. For those who don't even know, why are people waiting to eat a stater? What the hell is Carpas? You're right, I know, I'm waiting for you for this. I got Felicia here, I'm talking to her with passion because I don't want her to be hungry. I don't want people to be hungry because you know what, that's gonna make you do, it's gonna just make you angry. Hangry. Don't be hangry. But we can back up. I'm just having my own personal moment. What is even a Seder? Liz, come on. You want to limit our audience here? We have a lot of Jewish holidays in the calendar. There's a lot of Jewish holidays. Passover, Pesach, this is a holiday that happens in the early spring. And this is actually, I believe, the most practiced Jewish holiday. Because it doesn't involve a synagogue. It really centers around this ritual of a Seder that happens in the home, right? This is something you can do in your home. Many people who are not Jewish get invited to Seders. I hope that everyone is inviting their friends beyond their immediate circles to the Seders. There is this essence of hospitality. So bringing people into this ritual. But what is the ritual? Well, there's a whole order, Seder means order, a whole order of things you got to do and that before you even and part of, you know, the... Ritual is like eating the meal, but you have to get through this gauntlet. So I mean, I would say I've been to a 10 minute Seder, literally dubbed a 10 minute Seder. Guess where I had it? Katz's. It was actually... You went to a Seder at Katz's? I did not know that. This is really cool. I I knew everything. A brief tangent here, but I'll say this was a New York auto show. It falls during Passover. And so a number of executives at Nissan and Toyota, they got together and they created the hottest ticket event at the auto show. It's harder to get into the Katz's Seder than any other event. I'm not even kidding. I don't know how you've never told me about this And so I got invited. I got to go. You got a ticket. You a golden ticket. You knew a guy? I actually do and you know the person too. But I went there to write about it. So I got a little press ticket and I got to go and they printed out an official 10 minute seder because half the two thirds of the room were not Jewish. They were just there because this was the best place to hobnob. This was the hottest ticket. then the seder went by really quickly and then you got to eat. So that might not be the most traditional or halachic official way. Jewish law, But Felicia, a 10 minute Seder, hey. And the joke was, they were promoting the new Nissan, I think, at that one. And it's like, it's a really fast car, let's do a fast Seder. It works, it writes itself. That is But you could do it. But it depends on how much you need to stick to tradition. I would say, for my family, you're not supposed to eat matzo, eat these flatbreads. You're not supposed to eat that till the Seder. Right, but you can eat. You're not supposed to eat a full meal, but traditionally, but you can snack also. like my family, always served some, we always put out some chopped liver when people got there. We had some tam-tams, those little Manna Sheffert's cracker things. ⁓ We would essentially just have like some crudite, things like that. Yeah, it's called appetizers. It's crazy. Who would It's totally crazy. Yeah. I think there's a convention because there's this order to the meal. It's a ritual meal that people do. Like we hear this. This isn't just Felicia. You're not alone in this. We've heard this from many people that they're hungry. People talk about this at the Seder. Because it's a ritual meal, people feel like you have to wait until you get to the point where you do the thing. But again, you can just wait to eat those foods. You can still have appetizers. And I would say like one of the things that I think is so important is that as a younger person, maybe you're being hosted by elders, it is your, it is your oppor- this is your opportunity to say, let's make this better, let's innovate, let's do something so that everyone's happier and more comfortable. So I just, I don't know what your position, I don't know whose Seder you're at. If you're at your own Seder, please feel empowered to eat some appetizers. If you're at somebody else's Seder, maybe this is the year you offer to bring said appetizers so that, you know, you don't give something else for someone else to do. So much, I think of- hospitality is actually helping the other, helping your host help you. Right? When you are a guest, you can be a proactive guest and not feel like you have no say here and that you are trapped at your seat with your name card and no food for two hours. Like you can, you get in there Felicia, get in there, eat deviled eggs, have some nosh on the table. We do cruditay and dips during carpas. Think about it, but maybe you're not having matzah or soup, I think it's completely acceptable to have snacks on the table. So this next question comes from David in Stockholm. And Jeffrey, I think you may need to read this question. OK, yeah, I will gladly read this. one came directly to me. So I think it's a good one to read. so he writes, you may vaguely remember me from your visit to Limmud in Stockholm some years ago. Limmud, by the way, is a learning conference. I was the pickle man's son from the Bronx who told you about the Bronx Pickle Wars of the late 1930s. Jeffrey, do you remember this guy? Yes or no Jeffrey. I will say this is 2014 I think so this is a while ago. I do not like I'm Everything about this. I love okay. I have a small favor to ask my son Mike now in his early 40s with wife and two kids Recently purchased a property not far from where we reside that gave him a sizable lawn last fall They gave us a homegrown Halloween pumpkin and this fall a jar of kosher dill pickles There were lovely pickles that almost tasted like those made by his grandfather The problem is that he cannot buy Kosher dill pickle spices. What do Swedes know about Kosher dill pickles? Do you know of any firm that sells packets of pickle spices that he could add to the saltwater to give them that Jewish taste? If you know anyone who packages them in those small packets I've seen in some supermarket spice counters during our previous visits to the US, I will gladly send them a check to cover the purchase and postage. I would love to buy your gefiltevish, but they're probably too difficult to ship overseas. Thank you in advance, your friend. David. David in Stockholm. My gosh. This is the kind of question we get though. We get a lot of This is like the kind of question we get. There's always a story and a question. Yeah. You know? There's so much to say here. ⁓ A few things. I love that his son is making pickles right now. What a great thing to be doing. Interesting that he says that Swedes don't know much about pickles because I will tell you, having spent some time in Stockholm... Yeah. One of the really confusing things about being in Stockholm was going to these markets where they have all sorts of smoked fish, all sorts of pickled things, and going there and you're like, where are the bagels? Right. You have the accoutrement. but not the vehicle. Yes, and we forget that a lot of the smoked salmon and all these things came from these Scandinavian traditions. absolutely. ⁓ And so this feeling there. But then I went there, I actually went there and as part of this conference, I did a pickling workshop. It was a lot of fun, but I learned all these tips for how to make pickles from Swedes. I always have told you about this. A lot of people, keep their cucumbers in the ice water bath for eight hours. Right. Before they pickle them there and it's a good way to keep them crunchy. So there is a lot of knowledge about lacto fermenting, souring cucumbers in a Swedish way. Now this Jewish taste is also really an interesting idea because most of it, yeah, maybe there's just like a particular flavor preference on the Lower East Side. I was just the pickle guys, you know, but. We're talking about ⁓ a tradition that's incredibly Slavic. Every Polish person Lithuanian, Hungarian, they're all eating a very similar pickle. Black peppercorn, dill, garlic, bay leaf, mustard seed. Maybe some warming spices, maybe some cloves, cardamom, some cinnamon. So I'm wondering if he's looking and searching for one particular kind of pickle from one brand or maybe a very ubiquitous pickling spice. the McCormick pickling spice. So I'm wondering about that. But the other really funny thing about this is that I always, and you know, we always do these workshops, we teach people how to make pickles. And I always say, anyone who's buying pickling spice, what are you doing? You've got all of the ingredients in your pantry. You've got all. Right, it's basic. These are basic ingredients. so it's so funny to me to think about the cost of sending David these pickling. I love the spirit of this, but it's like, David, we cannot send you. Pickling Spices, we're going to give you the recipe, we'll send it and follow up, to make sure that you just make a blend of your own because ⁓ the way we love to do it, I think our more full pickles recipe, we do a simple basic one that's just mustard and mustard seeds and peppercorns, black pepper and garlic dill and bay leaf, but we have one that's more complex that has coriander in it, has some cinnamon stick, has ⁓ clove and even I like to put cardamom in. So we'll give you... a more complex one, but do not, we're not going to ship to Stockholm. We could put the recipe even in the show notes. You know what I mean? But here's my question, Jeffrey, because you might recall the time that we went to Lithuania and they were making gefilte fish with peppercorns and it turned out that the peppercorns, the black peppercorns they were using were a lot more like allspice. And remember we brought those home. So I'm just wondering. if you think there might be some variety of what is sold as standard in the Swedish supermarkets for black peppercorn, for example, certainly salt, even the variety of dill. So I'm just wondering if this is a terroir situation. You know what I'm saying? Like that's what I'm thinking about because I think it's possible that we could give him the formula and he will still come up with something different. Just like people say even that the bagels don't taste the same in other places because of the water. That this is like, there's an essence to what is here. I will also say having, you know, encountered many people searching for recipes that they cannot recreate. We know that there is also a, you know, a heart-centric, you know, psychological effect here that happens that like, no one can ever, ever recreate the recipes of the past. It never quite works and that's okay. And we try and... encourage people to take the, you know, hold very close in your heart the memories of those flavors and like find a way to like move on because you will never recreate your family's recipes exactly, exactly, exactly because your family's not there to make them anymore and it is a loss. So what I'm hearing Liz is we got to get some diamond crystal kosher salt, some acormic pickling spice to Sweden stat in order to capture this. I think what I'm saying is like I hear you and like I think it's possible that it doesn't taste the same. Yeah, I think you know, let's not discount that at the end of the day we could do all of that and it may just be the cucumbers. It may just be the variety of the cucumber. It could always just be the cucumbers. Yeah, it could just be that they're it's completely different. can tell you listen, I got started, you know, pickling on a pickle farm, and we had like 20 or 30 different varieties of curvy cucumber, different names of each one, and we were always each time trying to find the right one, and each year they were a little bit different, a little bit off. I am also thinking, we don't know for sure that his grandfather didn't use vinegar. We haven't even talked about vinegar. Some, you know, we make lacto-fermented pickles. These are pickles that do not use vinegar, just saltwater brine pickles. This is what we hold as the standard of a Jewish pickle. What if his grandfather, because he was a pickle maker en masse, was actually using some vinegar to stabilize the entire thing? This opens up a whole... We didn't even talk about that. So I think that we don't know if pickling spice will be the solution. We raised a lot of good things. That said... Too many variables. If anyone is going to Stockholm... Let us know. Yeah, we've got a little package. David, let's keep in touch. So it's that time. Liz, we made it. We're sliding into the vinyl seats of the deli. So each of us gets the chance to quvel or quench about a food we've been thinking about or maybe share something that we're working on. Yeah, OK. Let's set a timer for five minutes. We can go way too long on this. So we're going to ask Felicia, our producer, to set the timer. Five minutes each. Great. ⁓ I don't even know if I need that much time, but you're right, we can go too long. Okay, we've got a timer set. I live in the section of Brooklyn where I have great access to Hasidic bakeries. So I brought you some cinnamon Rogelach, which I know cinnamon is your go-to, so these are these delicious pastries. ⁓ But maybe the plate is what I really want you to see. I'm thinking like, these look like a nice dry ruggle. dry. I'm certain they were baked several days ago. I'm sip a little water here. It's not the pastry, but I did also want to bring you, and I brought one for each of us in case, you know, we're hungry. Okay, well, I'm gonna pass, everyone take a ruggle. Oh, here. Here, let me pass her the plate, Felicia. ⁓ Do you see now? Do you see? So I'm gonna... This is a beautiful plate that says Galicia. Galicia. Which for those who are curious, I'll just describe it here. This is a... We can even show it. I showed it a second ago, but this is like a... ⁓ Seems like a ⁓ man and a woman around the hearth. Looks like a husband and wife. It's like a very homey... a homey plate with this very traditional, what looks like Eastern European dress here. Yeah, definitely not the Jewish kind, I would say. It's giving... Yeah, not bad. Not bad. I know. It worked out. It's okay. Whenever we do a talk about gefiltebis, right, all these people come up to us and say, is it sweet? Is it savory? And the savory gefiltebis is often associated with the Litbaks, with people from Lithuania, the joyless Lithuanian Jews in the old days. were really associated with study with incredible poverty. That was one of the poorest regions of the Jewish community in that region in the larger Eastern Central European area. And Galicia, the Galizianers, know, often folks refer to themselves often the region of Galicia was a area that was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but you also had people who weren't. Full Galicianers, they still liked a sweeter gefiltebis. That was considered to more joy in that history. Right. Contemporary parts of Poland and Ukraine. Yeah. But this is one of the things that we always hear about. And what's funny is like, I saw this plate and I was like, ⁓ my gosh. So what's crazy is like, who manufactured this Galicia plate? Who bought it? Who brought it back? This is a tourist tea cup plate. You've never seen an ad on the subway to go, visit Galicia. You know what I mean? Like, that's just not something that you would ever see. So I was kind of fascinated by even the existence of such a plate that I found in New York City in a free box on the street. That's where I found it. It has gone through the dishwasher, but like, where did that plate come from? Very resourceful. And I've been spending a lot of time. as you know, in Spain, and there's also a Golisier in Spain. Yes. But this clearly by the dress. This is definitely Eastern Europe. Very Eastern Europe, yeah. Yes, yes. So I got you a new plate. Well, I'm delighted. I also love the resourceful, shtetl nature of taking something off the streets in the boxes. I feel like people who don't live in New York, maybe don't appreciate what a gift the street is. You can just get so much good stuff on the street. Even in Manhattan, people don't put things on the street. It's like a pretty... Brooklyn? Brooklyn. Maybe Queens, I don't know. Queens people tell us. But in Brooklyn... Amazing free boxes. Really good stuff. Gorgeous stuff. I brought you something as well. Can't wait. So... ⁓ it's in a cooler bag. What is this? Let's show the cooler bag. So as you know, we have a mutual friend who is writing a cookbook and she asked me to include a recipe that I did at a dinner in the cookbook and I was just... really busy and overwhelmed that I wasn't going to get to it. Originally it was my grandmother's strudel recipe and so I finally did actually... to it? I got to it. You got it? recipe and this recipe is for this. It's ⁓ what I called incorrectly, gildas, but it's a gilda. It's a ⁓ Basque dish that I first experienced in Madrid. Okay. Where your uncles live. my uncles live and this is a... usually made of anchovy with guinea pepper and it's sometimes it's an olive or a pickle. It's made in different permutations. And I ate this dish, this hilda in a vermutaria, drinking vermouth. And I ate this briny, salty, crunchy thing. And I just said, this tastes like a kiddish. This tastes like you've gone to Shabbat services and now you're going to have some some fish and some whiskey. Yeah. So I told you about this. I think I even gave you a taste of different prototypes and versions. I'm trying to figure out. I had a dream that I was going to make a herring hilda, a herring version of this dish. And it's just basically, and you can hold it up for those who are not looking, but this is essentially a skewer of, I made a pickled onion of ⁓ schmaltz herring and homemade dill pickles. ⁓ wow. And things one is I decided that I love the tipsy onion in French vermouth, even though you wouldn't think of that to go with these like Stelos Nasi flavors. Schmalz herring, I think I gave you a few herring varieties, but I leaned into the Schmalz herring because it's a fattier, creamy herring and the one in oil, so it's got a nice creaminess. It best represents, like it was my favorite anchovy style. And then I was like, and I actually, I... Yesterday I actually went over to the Russin Daughters in Brooklyn and I picked up some of the schmaltz herring and they don't have it, right? They have all these herrings there but that's the one they had to go in like dressed down and they had to filet it and cut it up for me. Wow. And so because that's not as popular of a herring but that's the herring for this. We're very far away from cucumber harvest season and I'm like almost out of pickles so I was gonna get some sour pickles, I forgot, but guess what? Last week. I went down to Bellamy, New Jersey and did a pickle workshop and I brought a jar back and I had... Yes! And I had all my counter sour, perfectly sour pickles. I brought... Last week's pickle workshop is this week's... So I want you to smell this briny, salty thing. So this is... never... because I took this to serve at the dinner in Philadelphia and I did a Hanukkah dinner that was all about ⁓ a goose inspired Hanukkah dinner and this was served with the latke. And I wanted to bring this to you and I wanted to see you chomp down on one of these. I just feel like I have cinnamon rogolec crumbs. I have herring. It's like, this is a great meet me at the deli experience that I'm having here. I did not know that you were going to do this, so I am delighted. And also this is already just like so cute and frankly, a great thing to eat at the Passover Seder before to keep you satisfied. Bringing it back, Felicia, bringing it back. Okay, so should I eat it? Okay. Mmm! It's salty, it's sour, it's fatty, it's pungent. You're getting any sweetness too? From the onion. I would say, even if you were a herring hater, you would really like this. People don't think they like herring because they're not always eating it ⁓ in a way that will contain it properly. It's a pungent flavor. And it's like you don't need to eat a whole anchovy either. You don't eat a whole sardine either. Like you need to build it into something. I love this. I'm going to eat more. I'm going eat all these. I was to, I imagined, right? ⁓ perfect to eat serve alongside a latke. Have it on the side. And I was making the latkes and then our friend who we did the dinner with our chef, Miller, he said, no, you put it on top. So we had a skewer sitting on top of the latke on top of this. It wasn't quite sour cream, was actually a loosened cream cheese, very sour on top. and then... And then you take it off and you kind of eat it and then you have the latke and it was really a nice touch. Really nice. But I thought you would appreciate that. I'm so glad. Thank you, Jeffrey. Thank you for bringing that to me. Thank you for bringing me on the Lower East Side of New York some herring to eat because that's a good day. I feel grateful. So, we did it. We're right where we need to be. We're gonna land this plane. Folks, thank you for joining us for Meet Me at the Deli. Please send emails to the Gefilteria Instagram or email podcast at gefilteria.com. There'll also be a form in this episode description because we want to hear your questions. We know you've got them and trust me, we've got a backlog of so many questions to answer, but we wanna hear from you. So please reach out to us via Instagram or our email. podcasteccafilteria.com, fill out the form, get in your questions and you might hear your question. This show was produced by Felicia Reich, who, it's true, is from Florida. 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