Keeping Kosher and Eating TF

[Magelet]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for keeping kosher and eating TF. I in particular wondering about a couple things from NT. I wasn't raised in a kosher household, so I don't have any kosher foods handed down, and have been figuring it out as I go.

Issue 1: Whey. In NT, she suggests that you use whey in making veggie ferments, and says that you have to use it for fruit, but I love the taste of (parve) fruit chutneys with meat. Anyone come up with a good kosher way of fermenting fruits or must I consign fermented fruits to dairy meals? What about a fermented ketchup recipe? In our house, ketchup is pretty much a meat condiment, it goes on hamburgers, meat loaf, and similar things, mostly, but the recipe in NT calls for whey. Is there a good kosher meat or parve substitute?

Issue 2: Fats. I know generally shmaltz is good instead of lard, etc, but I still haven't found a source for it, and without the cavity fat, chickens have very little fat for rendering I've discovered. Any ideas for finding some? There aren't any kosher butchers around here, that I know of. (So I continue to make the same compromise I made eating kosher in a non-kosher household. I'll eat meat from a non-kosher butcher, if the part/animal is kosher. We do the best we can.) Has anyone tried the coconut oil/sesame oil/olive oil fat mixture she recommends in place of butter for kosher cooking? What do you use if a meat recipe needs fat or for side dishes on meat nights?

Any other advice from your experience of keeping kosher and eating TF?

[Ruthla]

Sometimes I need to compromise between kosher and fully TF- which in my case always means going for 100% kosher and compromising on TF principles (such as buy kosher meat rather than organic meat.)

Coconut oil is pareve and TF, and I often use a mixture of olive and coconut oil for frying (basically Mary's Oil Blend without the sesame oil as I couldn't find a good price on sesame oil and the other 2 oils taste fine without the sesame). Empire Kosher Poultry sells frozen unrendered chicken fat (or rendered chicken fat but that has synthetic preservatives added.) We also use Earth Balance spread for cooking/baking/spreading even though it contains soy oil- it's free of hydrogenated oils and tastes good and is a compromise I'm comfortable with. I generally use olive oil in veggie dishes that will be baked rather than fried.

I've never tried any of the ferments from NT except the beet kvass, and that I made with extra salt in place of whey. I recomend Wild Fermentation instead- IMO it's a much more comprehensive book about fermenting fruits and veggies. I have made my own unfermented ketchup from a recipe that calls for sugar (or stevia), apple cider vinegar, spices, and tomato paste. I haven't made it in a while since I found an unsweetened commerically available ketchup that I like.