Mailman at work in his kitchen.

“My grandmother was a fantastic cook… but unfortunately, it skipped a generation,” said Mailman who specializes in Jewish, Mexican, Italian, French and Hungarian cooking.

He said his mother was a bad cook, so he and his brother, who spent a lot of their childhood with their grandmother, had to learn the ropes by helping their grandmother in the kitchen.

While Mailman never formally studied culinary arts, he did apprentice with Paul Dufour, a Beverly Hills chef and the inventor of the vertical poultry roaster, from 1980 to 1985, under whom he learned how to be a chef “the old fashion way.”

As Dufour’s sous chef and saucier, Mailman was taught classic French cuisines such as bistrot, Provençale and haute cuisine styles.

“I spent 12 to 13 hours a day, six or seven days a week for five years [with Dufour]. It wasn’t formal training, but it was as if I had a master class,” Mailman said.

“What he gave me was an important gift and that was to think about and to analyze what I was doing. With French training, you can take an ingredient you’ve never seen before and once it’s been described to you, you know what to do with it.”

For the past 10 years, Mailman has been the owner of the Jewish Food Mailing List, which was founded in 1996 and now boasts more than 2,100 members from 45 countries, including the United States, Canada, Israel, South Africa, Australia, Iceland and Japan.

“The former owner gave it up [in 1999], and I was in a place in my life when I said, ‘Well, I can make a go at it… I thought it was a great resource on many levels, so I took it over.”

The mailing list provides members with a forum to explore information on holiday menus, food preparation techniques, cookbook resources, restaurant reviews and kashrut guidelines.

“The members talk to each other, just like a very slow moving chat room,” he said.

Mailman said kosher foodies of all levels of observance and culinary skills are welcome to join, but even non-members can browse more than 5,000  recipes.

Mailman said the list is moderated by a team of volunteers, as he wouldn’t dream of managing it on his own.

“The moderators are mostly independent from me, and have varying levels of kashrut in their homes. This ensures a lively exchange among the members and not just presenting one viewpoint,” he said.

“We have members that range from the ultra-[Orthodox] to the totally secular. Some years ago, we developed the mantra CYLHA – consult your local halachic authority – in order to lessen friction about the ‘right’ way to do things. That is, ‘my way might not be your way, but it’s valid for my community.’”

Mailman reluctantly accepts the title of “kosher cooking expert.”

“If you mean cooking according to kashrut, then yes, I certainly do that. If you mean the old Ashkenazi, central European, what we generally think of as Jewish food, then yes,” he explained.

“But because in the Diaspora, before massive transportation lines, and rail and ship… we picked up local cooking using local ingredients, so… the Bombay Jews, their cooking is much different.”

He said that on one hand, kosher cooking can be limiting, but it doesn’t have to be.

“I’m a West Coast Jew, so for me, Jewish food can be burritos. I had this kaleidoscope of cultures coming at me, so I was exposed to it, so I don’t feel  kosher cooking is limiting,” Mailman said.

“I do feel that substitutions don’t always work… although I can clarify margarine and make an extremely credible bearnaise out of it. But I would rather save a lot of the dairy desserts for dairy meals. I’m not going to try to substitute.”

He said while there are certain flavours you can’t have in kosher cooking, “if you’re not used to eating bacon, you don’t miss it. Using a piece of smoked meat… is going to work.”

In addition to managing the Jewish Food Mailing List, Mailman also writes for the Orthodox Union’s electronic newsletter called “Slow Food in the Fast Lane,” which can be found at www.ou.org/index.php/shabbat_shalom/column_list/C1449.

“I try to teach basic techniques in a non-threatening way,” Mailman said.

“I take people through the steps. I de-mystify cooking.”

To join or browse the Jewish Food Mailing List for recipes, visit www.jewishfood-list.com.