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How did you start the Challah Connection? My husband and I sold our advertising business nine years ago, and I decided I wanted a different career–something to do with baking. There was this company call the Challah Connection here in Westport and I thought I could use my background in direct marketing and business to grow it. I thought if people wanted challah, they’d probably want other Jewish baked goods like babke and rugelach. I bought this business and plodded along for several months, and then I got this fabulous write-up in the New York Times, so we got all these calls.

How many of your customers are Jewish? A lot of my customers aren’t Jewish. They call and they want to get the right thing–they’re sending a gift to a Jewish friend or relative, like for shiva or sympathy. There are so many people who want to understand Jews. Because I’m on the phone with them, this is my mitzvot: I’m helping people understand us.

So does challah make up the majority of your business? No. Before I took it over the Challah Connection was only doing challah. The Challah part of it is a hook – we do have challah, but it’s less and less a part of our business.

Why is that? It’s a novelty bread, which is too limiting. You use challah for Shabbat maybe. But we will always have challah. If I was starting the business today, I wouldn’t make it the 'Challah Connection.' It’s funny, last May we stopped home delivery to our customers in Westport. They asked me, “Where should we go?” I told them, you know what you really should do? Bake your own! On my website there’s a recipe you can make in a bread machine, which makes it easy.

Challah dates back to Biblical times. How would you modernize it? I think it would be really fun to work with great bakers… who use all of these wonderful and fresh flavors. Wouldn’t it be fun to experiment with it and make it more of a gourmet thing? Who says it has to be in its regular shape? If you can find chefs who are doing that kind of thing, call me.

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Why do you think Jewish food’s popularity is waning these days?

Well, traditional Jewish food is made with cheap ingredients, like brisket and whitefish, that are difficult to prepare and not as delicious as more expensive, and often fresher, food.

How do you modernize old recipes and make them more appealing?

I try to take traditional Eastern European food that we grew up with back to its roots by using the freshest ingredients. When immigrants came to the U.S., they had to make do with canned products and poorer qualities of meat. I try to keep things as fresh and clean as possible.

Why has gefilte fish gotten such a bad rap?

Many people, when they think of gefilte fish, think of a ball of fish suspended in goo. Not delicious. The dish came from Germany and was a small dumpling cooked in liquid. When the fish sits for a while in its stock, the collagen and protein from the fish gelatinize, which keeps it fresh, but also has a gross texture.

Tell me about your recipe.

The first time I made the salmon gefilte fish recipe, I thought “Oh, I’m so special!” But when I got to the fishmonger’s at the crack of dawn in L.A., there were these chichi ladies from Beverly Hills and private chefs buying salmon for their gefilte fish.

How do you serve it?

My grand-aunt made her herb sauce, which I tweaked a little bit. Adding fresh herbs is the way it was traditionally done. I also do a horseradish and sour cream sauce with lemon.

Do you prepare it often?

You know, I’d make it as part of my last meal [before fasting] if I could. When I do it for Passover, I make mountains of it, and I eat it for days afterwards.

How does being Jewish affect your cooking?

I’m the Martha Stewart of Judaism. I’m not going to sit at home and study Torah, but I will cook a huge meal for all my friends and family. I love Passover. I prepare for days. For the first few years I did it, I made the whole meal completely kosher, but it’s gotten so big, with over 50 people, it just got too expensive.

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