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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Jamie Geller tours Mahane Yehuda market with Chef Itzik Barak, then tastes his Israeli-inspired Shabbat and holiday dishes at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem. The video is a market tour and tasting that highlights simplicity, fresh ingredients, and a blend of Jewish tradition with worldly flavors.
Key Points
- Chef Itzik Barak prefers sea fish for its freshness; the market offers red mullet, sea bream, sea bass, and salmon.
- Shopping the Mahane Yehuda and Iraqi markets provides inspiration through fresh herbs, vegetables, cheeses like labneh, mozzarella, goat cheese, and blue cheese, and dried fruits.
- The Waldorf Astoria serves labneh at breakfast, in salads, and in its restaurants.
- Sea bream with artichoke, tomato, and fennel, plus slow-cooked duck, are featured Shabbat and holiday dishes.
- Chef Itzik's cooking goal is simplicity, using the best ingredients while honoring Jewish classics and comfort food.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Cook tomatoes with greens in olive oil to bring out their flavor, a tip the chef shares for the market's tomatoes. Dried dates are filled with meat or chicken as a dish. Cook duck at a slow temperature, the method used for Friday night. Serve meat sous vide so it stays pink and tender, and use slow-temperature techniques for dishes such as asado.
- The buffet can serve three fish types, including tuna, sea bream, and salmon sashimi, prepared in exceptional ways.
- The Waldorf's menus change for Shabbat, and the hotel now has a real restaurant serving holiday guests.
- Shouting sellers, fragrant coriander, and parsley, celery, and mint are highlights of the Iraqi market.
Bottom Line
Chef Itzik Barak's approach combines fresh local market ingredients with slow, precise cooking methods to deliver simple, Israeli-flavored holiday dining at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem.
