An Enticing Podcast Celebrating Jewish Arts, Culture & History!
Our Latest Episode
The Everything Spice for Everyone
Guest: Chef Laura Frankel Need to spice up your meals? Here's an easy fix that can be used as your new basic 'everything spice' to change up, well everything: fish, chicken, french toast...it's limitless and so easy. And we have some recipes to share too. Let's close...
Beth Schenker, Host & Executive Producer
The Big Schmear conversations are with prominent chefs, musicians, authors, visual artists and more talking about their passion for Jewish life.
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Reach out anytime with comments, feedback and special requests to beth@thebigschmear.com.
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Our Episodes
Jewish Food Through an Ethiopian Lens (#40)
Guest: Zenash and her granddaughter Nebbe I'm at Ras Dashen, a wonderful cozy Ethiopian restaurant in my own neighborhood in Chicago. I'm talking with owner and chef Zenash and her granddaughter Nebbe. She tells an amazing story of how she comes to Chicago and starts...
What’s Up with The Big Schmear? (#39)
A brief word from Beth Hi Fellow Big Schmear listeners! I can't believe the summer is coming to a close so soon and it's already time to start thinking about the holidays. AND, I've been doing just that. I've got some interesting episodes planned that I think you are...
Kosher Food Coming Your Way from the Balkans (#38)
Guest: Rabbi Yisroel Finman While on a dream vacation in Greece I got a call about a Kosher food company focused on bringing kosher food from the Balkans to the US and Israel and around the world. What a crazy coincidence. Once back home I decided to follow up on that...
An Israeli Perspective on Food Diplomacy (#37)
Guest: Moran Birman, Consul for Public Diplomacy, Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest On this episode you'll meet Moran Birman, Consul for Public Diplomacy with the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest. I met Moran a little over a year ago when he...
Cheesecake Time with the Iconic Eli’s Cheesecake (#36)
Guest: Marc & Maureen Schulman I've heard about Eli's Cheesecake for years, and not because I live in Chicago. When I knew Shavout was coming up I thought it would be the perfect time to see if I could get an interview with Marc Schulman, President of Eli's...
Time for Matzo – Already? Happy Passover! (#35)
Guest: Marcy Goldman Passover is here and what better way to get into the season of matzo than time to talk with writer and cookbook author, chef and inventor of Matzo Crack, Marcy Goldman! Marcy is my first Big Schmear guest from Canada. We had a great time talking...
It’s Always Deli Time at Mamaleh’s in Cambridge, MA (#34)
Guest: Alon Munzer, Co-Owner of Mamaleh's Delicatessen & Restaurant Whenever I'm in the Boston area to visit with family one of my new favorite restaurant stops is Mamaleh's Deli in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I made a promise to myself after my visit in December...
More on Dough with Challah Hub (#33)
Guest: Sarah Klegman of Challah Hub I had a great time talking with Sarah Klegman, co-founder of Challah Hub. This is another virtual challah story taking place in Los Angeles. Sarah and I talked a lot about challah and about Sarah's life outside of baking. At the...
Our Latest Recipes
Chef Laura Frankel’s Mujadara
The Lebanese classic dish gets a make-over as a vegan side with crispy shallots, garlic chips and sauteed Swiss Chard. Mujadarah is one of the oldest recorded recipes, with versions being dated as early as 1200. Without meat, it was a medieval Arab dish commonly...