One weekend, Bubbe Lottie and her husband Lester went to visit their daughter, Marcia, who lived in Raleigh, North Carolina. Marcia definitely does not keep kosher and served them a dish called Veal Cordon Bleu, which Lottie loved. It included veal, ham, cheese and cream sauce. She took the recipe from Marcia and returned home, determined to try it. However, at the kosher butcher, the veal seemed expensive, so she bought turkey breast instead. Then, since her kitchen was kosher, she changed the ham to salami, left out the cheese and switched the cream sauce to tomato sauce.

When Marcia called to find out how the Cordon Bleu had turned out, Lottie said, "Well, it was all right, but not nearly as good as yours." "But why, Mom?" asked Marcia. When Lottie told her what she had done, Marcia became hysterical. There was not one ingredient in common with the original recipe.

Jewish cooking is nothing if not ingenious when finding substitutions for delicious but otherwise traif food. The various uses of fish to mimic the taste of forbidden dishes is well known. Here are a few that don't go quite as far as Bubbe Lottie did.

Mock Crab Cakes
Mock Deviled Crab
Mock Gefilte Fish
Mock Lobster

Imperial Fish
Salmon Croquettes
Gefilte Fish
Emma's Fried Flounder
Herring and Potato Salad
Baked Fish with Sour Cream
Salmon Florentine
Sardines on Toast

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