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Master of chefs: Kosher world’s unsung hero

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Do you recall what you were eating in kosher restaurants 10 years ago? Had you tried sous-vide dishes? Homemade sausage? Fresh, cured gravlax made with only salt, sugar, peppercorns and dill? Shaved black truffles on fresh pasta, tossed with roasted porcini mushrooms? Fried chicken so crisp and tender that you’d almost swear it was soaked in buttermilk?

Not likely. It was probably a burger, steak or slice of pizza, and don’t forget that side order of sushi.   

Yet during the last decade, one man’s unsung efforts have had perhaps the greatest influence on shaping and growing the skills of kosher-observant culinary students, mentoring them with his quirky sense of humor, imbuing them with kitchen “street smarts,” and ultimately placing them in top kosher restaurants for externships and employment.

If you have eaten at a high-end kosher restaurant during the last decade, chances are that someone working there was a student, or a student’s student, of Chef Avram Wiseman. 

In May, Wiseman will open the Kosher Culinary Center in Brooklyn, “the only kosher culinary school outside of Israel to offer professional training in the culinary and pastry arts.”

After two decades as a kosher caterer, restaurateur, banquet chef and menu consultant, Wiseman turned to teaching in 2000. At the Art Institute of New York, he trained close to 500 students in classic French culinary techniques, espousing the methods of Auguste Escoffier, the father of modern French cuisine. In 2008, he started teaching at the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood and worked there until the school closed in 2015.

Chef David Kolotkin—who runs Kaptivating Kosher, a catering company for upscale and celebrity events, and is the former executive chef at Manhattan’s renowned Prime Grill kosher steakhouse—calls Wiseman his “go-to guy for industry advice.”

“Avram Wiseman is like a walking iPhone 7—fully charged, on steroids, with every app already downloaded, full of knowledge and fun,” Kolotkin said.

Wiseman has mentored hundreds of students who will, even today, stand as he enters the room and run to do his bidding, while shouting the Gordon Ramsay catchphrase, “Yes, chef!”

“[Wiseman] is not only a great teacher in terms of teaching what he knows, but I did something totally different and he supported me in that as well,” said Bracha Serle, a personal chef and author of the She’s The Chef blog. “He’s always available for questions.”

Esther Anzaroot, who owns and operates a gluten-free bakery business that sells Middle Eastern delicacies, said Wiseman “has impacted me by giving me confidence in my abilities, teaching me new techniques and always, always demanding the best out of me.”

“This is part of my legacy,” Wiseman said. “To be able to take a student, who hasn’t yet found a career or parnassah, and watch him and help him as he develops marketable, valuable skills, and then to see him rent his own apartment, and watch him get married and have children, and support all of them by cooking. This is why I do this.” 

Wiseman will lead the new Kosher Culinary Center with one of his former students, Perline Dayan. Chefs David Ritter and Naomi Ross will join him as instructors, and Rabbi Zushe Yosef Blech of Monsey, will serve as the top kosher supervisor.

In a partnership with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Israeli university will be the optional five-month destination for Kosher Culinary Center students after they complete the 216-hour culinary program in Brooklyn.

“Once students arrive … they will have a five-day Birthright-style tour of Israel, with an emphasis on Bedouin and Mediterranean flavors, and then go to the university in Eilat, where they will live in dormitories with a three-meal-a-day cafeteria. At the end of their time in Israel, the students will have certificates from Ben-Gurion and also the Marriott, Hyatt or wherever their externship location has been,” Wiseman explained.

If the new center’s students turn out anything like Wiseman’s past pupils, the next decade should be another exciting era for kosher restaurant-goers.