Forbidden Pleasure

Pork in Israel is considered tref or forbidden. A cookbook about it is not only forbidden more or less but also controversial. Yet one has just been published and by an Israeli who grew up eating black market sausages. It's full of delicious recipes and makes good use of every part of the pig.

I read about the author Dr Eli Landau in yesterday;s Dining section of The New York Times. The interview was conducted by Jeffrey Yoskowitz and it;s an interesting one. The cookbook is called "The White Book" a reference to pork;s code name "white steak ".The phrase is used in restaurants throughout Israel because there are laws restricting the sales of it. Pigs can be raised in non secular communities thanks to legal loopholes citing that it's done in the name of science.

The recipes are wonderful . The Times published a great spaghetti sauce that features pork loin. As anyone knows sauce made with pork is much more fragrant and tastier than beef based ones.There are also ones that feature pork and polenta stuffed cabbage along with pork meatballs with fennel seeds.It mostly a Mediterranean based book save for one good weiner schnitzel recipe.

Pork recipes are rarely controversial. yet Dr, Landau created a stir by compiling this fascinating cookbook. It's a salute to a great meat , tref or not.