'I love to make dishes from ingredients in the open market'
High priestess of Jewish cookery
There are several cookbook authors in the ultra orthodox community. They usually begin their careers in daily press. Avigail Meislick is a total anomaly
Most of the fans of cookbook author Avigail Meislick, the star of the Ultra Orthodox cookery, don’t know what she looks like. It doesn’t stop them from calling her home at all hours of the day and night.
There are several cookbook authors in the ultra orthodox community. They usually begin their careers in the daily press and photos of them are never published. Meislick is a total anomaly. She became religious later in life, married a student of Torah and lives in an ultra orthodox neighborhood in Beit Shemesh. A chef by profession, she doesn’t even own a professional mixer. Her batters come together with the help of a hand mixer.
Meislick, 39, has no problem mobilizing her four children aged four to 10 to help in the kitchen. Her eldest daughter helps her on Thursdays to make challot for Shabbat.
Her love of cooking began in childhood. “I started cooking, like my daughter, because of my mother. I grew up in Kibbutz Gazit in a left wing secular home that was extremely anti religious. My mother was French and lived in a convent from the age of four until the end of WWII. Her parents were partisans who escaped to southern France and after the Holocaust went to live with family in Argentina. My father was born in Argentina which is where they met. They immigrated to Israel and married.
“There was a communal dining room on the kibbutz, so we rarely ate at home. My mother, a terrific cook, didn’t totally give it up. She would make a family meal every Saturday afternoon incurring the wrath of the kibbutz. I loved to help her. My book ‘Meals for the Sabbath’ is dedicated to her.”
Return to the faith
At the age of 18 Meislick began selling cakes for a living while serving in the army in Tel Aviv. After her military service, she studied at the Dan Hotel and went on to work at restaurants, continuing her training abroad. When working at the Wormsley restaurant near Bath in England she cooked for the King of Monaco and Princess Diana. When Mieslick returned to Israel she began an upscale catering business in Caesaria. She then worked as a chef at the Gargantua restaurant for a year and a half.
“That was where my return to the faith began. It wasn’t easy to work there, a lot of pressure. I found myself praying. I would ride my bike around Tel Aviv and talk to God. Then a friend of mine became religious and succeeded, after a year of nagging, to drag me with her to classes. I went just to get her off my back.
“I went to one lesson and then another. I hid the fact that I had begun observing the mitzvahs from my parents. For a year and a half I would be invited to Sabbath observant homes where I met my future husband in a kind of fix up. After three dates we decided to marry. He had also become religious, from Jerusalem, a former paratrooper in the army, a diving instructor who was working his family’s small business.”
Do you keep in touch with people from your former life?
“With the exception of my friend who became religious, I have cut all ties. I felt that they all wanted to pull me out of the religious world. They came to my wedding in order to support my parents, not to be happy for me. There was a photographer who I had worked with before. Whenever he saw me he would begin with “You religious…” I am not ‘You religious’. I am an individual.”
You have worked with the most sophisticated kitchen equipment in the world. How can you only use an old hand mixer?”
“I am the wife of a student of Torah. The hand mixer is a reflection of my reality. My returning to Judaism was also a return to sanity. I couldn’t maintain the other lifestyle. It didn’t suit me. The Holy One showed me the beauty in simplicity. By the way, even in the most upscale restaurants, the chefs preferred to eat simple dishes.”
Are there foods you won’t prepare?
“Gefilte fish. I have an aversion to it even though the stories are that my mother made great gefilte fish.”
What do you like making the most?
“Challot breads for Shabbat. I never made them before I married or became observant. I discovered how special it is. It elevates the Shabbat. I love to make dishes from ingredients in the open market. I love the market. There is a lot of sanctity there. I buy unique produce that ultra orthodox is unfamiliar with: okra, broad beans and a lot of pickled vegetables.”
Pita in an electric skillet
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Raising time: 70 minutes
Ingredients
4-5 Cups flour
2 Tbl dried yeast
1 Tbl salt
2 ½ C hot water
l C oil
Mix the flour and the yeast in a bowl. Add the salt and the hot water and knead into soft dough, gradually adding the oil. Knead for another 2-3 minutes. Cover with a towel and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.
Divide the dough into equal size ball. For thick pitas – 4-5 balls, for flatbread 7-8 balls, for a regular size pita—10 balls.
Heat electric skillet to 170°C (338°F). With a paper towel grease all sides of skillet. Carefully move flattened dough ball into the center of the skillet for 7 minutes on each side, until it is nicely browned. After each pita, re-grease skillet with a paper towel. Small pitas can be baked three at a time.
