FISH
MECHAYEH!
Empire Kosher Foods
Celebrates 50 Years
GLORIA KAUFER GREENE
Special to The Jewish News
Nothing works wonders like Miracle Whip salad
dressing from Kraft. Its unique combination of
vinegar, oil and spices gives food a delicious
tang that mayonnaise just can't match. Try it in
this recipe for smoked herring salad and you'll
find that Kosher-parve Miracle Whip adds a
wonderful flavor to food.
T
. .
Miracle
SMOKED HERRING SALAD
With Kosher-parve Miracle Whip salad dressing
4 cups chopped cooked potato
',/2 lb. smoked herring, skinned, boned, chopped
1 cup celery slices
1 /2 cup MIRACLE WHIP salad dressing
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped pimento
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Dash of pepper
Lettuce
Combine all ingredients except lettuce:
mix lightly. Chill. Add additional salad
dressing before serving, if desired.
Serve in lettuce-lined bowl.
6 to 8 servings
Variation: Substitute Miracle Whip
Light reduced calorie salad dressing
for Miracle Whip salad dressing.
©1987 Kraft, Inc.
, BAGEL DELI & PRODUCE CO.
,
6088 W. MAPLE AT FARMINGTON RD. • W. Bloomfield • 851-9666
SUNDAY 8 TO 3
OPEN MON. THRU SAT. 9 TO 6
THE PLACE FOR SMOKED FISH
THE FINEST SMOKED FISH & DELI TRAYS
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AMERICAN
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SOCIETY6
Help us keep winning.
here are not many pro-
ducers of kosher prod-
ucts who can boast of a
family business still in ex-
istence after half a century.
And when you add to that the
phenomenal success of Em-
pire Kosher Foods, you know
that this company really has
something to celebrate. This
is especially true considering
that in January 1986, a fire
destroyed over 80 percent of
Empire's facilities and inven-
tory just when it was gearing
up for the busy Passover
season. Yet the company has
come back even stronger than
before.
Founded in 1938 by Joseph
N. Katz, Empire is still owned
by his descendants. Mr. Katz,
regarded by many as one of
the founders of the modern
kosher foods industry, observ-
ed in the thirties that
America's ever-increasing
population of kashrut-ob-
serving Jews might have dif-
ficulty getting high quality
poultry.
He formed his company in
Liberty, New York, and
named it for "The Empire
State." He began by selling
completely processed, kash-
ered chickens, packed in ice,
to caterers, restaurants, and
hotels. In the next few years,
processes for machine-as-
sisted defeathering, and
portion-controlled packaging
were developed. By 1941, Mr.
Katz was using these modern
techniques to produce the
first "New York Dressed"
kosher chickens for retail sale
directly to consumers.
Beginning in 1942, ad-
vances in freezing technology
enabled Empire to process
larger quantities of poultry
and to expand its market. The
development of vacuum wrap-
ping in 1947 made it possible
for irregularly-shaped whole
chickens and other poultry to
be better packaged, and
simplified storage, shipping
and handling of Empire's pro-
ducts, allowing distribution
throughout the country.
In the mid-50's, when many
American Jews began to
move away from big cities to
suburbia, the supermarket
became the food store of
choice. To accommodate this
type of outlet, Empire began
packaging frozen whole and
cut-up poultry in the familiar
easy-stacking boxes. At about
the same time, chicken
caricature, "Irving Q.
Pullet" — complete with
apron, boater hat, and
loafers — became the
"spokes-
chicken" for the company in
print ads and at trade shows.
(Little did it seem to matter
that a "pullet" is a female
chicken!)
Empire joined the "conve-
nience food" bandwagon in
the late 1960s with the in-
troduction of fully-cooked
poultry in barbecue sauce and
other similar products. It
wasn't until 1975, however,
that heat-and-eat fried chick-
en was added to the consumer
line. The reason for the delay
was that Empire's main pro-
cessing facility is kept
"Kosher for Passover" all
year long, and fried chicken
requires the use of leavened
breading (chametz). In order
to produce such items, Em-
pire added a satellite plant
near the main headquarters.
With the success of these
products, Empire was in-
spired to add more conve-
nience foods to its line. Boil-
in-bag soups came first in
1978, with the company vir-
tually offering an incredible
assortment of frozen items in-
cluding blintzes, appetizers,
baked goods, and even turkey
chili.
Meanwhile, back in the ear-
ly 1970s, ready-to-eat poulty
delicatessen products were
becoming popular, and Em-
pire quickly came up with its
own varieties, including the
franks which are now the
most frequently requested of
all Empire's items, In June,
1988, the company's franks
topped the poultry category
for taste and texture in a New
York Times comparison test,
beating both kosher and
nonkosher competition.
While once considered a
novelty, in the past decade
turkey has become the
fastest-growing delicatessen
Continued on Page 84