The Kosher Way -- Downtown Hotels Prepare Their Kitchens, Down To The Special Utensils And Certain Types Of Foods, To Cater To Events That Follow Traditional Mandates

Hotel kitchens routinely are scenes of beautifully choreographed chaos. But the intensity level is even higher when a kosher event is only a few hours away.

Kosher, meaning "proper" or "fit" in Hebrew, relates to foods that may be eaten under Orthodox Jewish law as well as humane slaughtering of animals and specific methods of preparation. Included are prohibitions against pork and shellfish in the diet, and the cooking or eating of meat and dairy products at the same time.

Catering managers at major downtown Seattle hotels estimate that they hosted a total of 100 kosher functions - some large, some small - during the past year. And because none of these facilities has a kitchen devoted only to kosher food preparation at this time, each such event requires an area of the kitchen be cleaned and specially readied. The process, which can take four to five hours, must be approved by the mashgiakh (a supervisor of kosher events and not necessarily a rabbi) to comply with Jewish dietary laws, some of which date back to the time of Moses.

In preparation for the recent Sunday afternoon wedding reception for Rachel Kaplan and Alex Sassoon, which included a sit-down meal for 225 guests, the kitchen koshering began before 9 a.m. at the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel.

Convection ovens had been "burned out" (similar to the process of self-cleaning ovens at home, with high heat sanitizing the insides), then lined and covered with aluminum foil. Large circled Ks made with marking pens on the foil signal to the staff that they're for kosher use. Food storage trays, counters and carts also had been covered with foil.

Rabbi Moshe Londinski of Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath synagogue had been at the hotel Friday to finalize details, including a check of recipe ingredients, with executive chef Kerry Sear.

Rabbi Chaim Tatel oversees the kitchen and food preparation. He's in and out the day of a kosher event, available to answer questions from chefs. Usually he stays until the meal is well under way, dealing with last-minute problems, such as a guest requesting a change in a meal.

Tatel says the kitchen staffs at the Four Seasons, the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers and The Westin Hotel, where most of the larger kosher functions are held locally, all have become knowledgable about procedures. But he has learned to expect the unexpected. Shortly after he began serving as a mashgiakh in Seattle, he was startled to see four suckling pigs being carted along a kitchen hallway. Fortunately, they were bound for a non-kosher function in the next banquet room, he says.

Special sets of cooking knives are kept secured at the Four Seasons for use in preparing food at kosher events. Separate dishes, silverware, cooking implements and utensils must be used for meat and dairy foods.

Rabbi Robert Kaplan and Lesley Kaplan, parents of the bride, arranged the non-dairy menu with the catering staff. The foods included: a salad of peas, avocados, yellow tomatoes, mushrooms, red bell peppers and bibb lettuce, garnished with pansies; chicken breasts stuffed with bread, raisins, grapes and currants served with a sweet and sour sauce; stir-fry vegetables; wild and white rice; lemon sorbet with berry coulis; kosher wine; sparkling cider; lemonade; white genoise wedding cake.

Pastry chef Jean Claude Berger creates kosher cakes and other desserts, using vegetable shortening instead of butter.

The Four Seasons will designate a kitchen area, expected to be ready in January, to be used exclusively for kosher food. At this hotel, a kosher event adds about 20 percent to the food costs bill. All food is purchased from a kosher distributor. Services of the mashgiakh are about $150.