What part of the animal is Kosher?

Answer 1

If it is prepared following the rules of kashrut. See Deuteronomy ch.14.

* Meat must be from those land animals which have split hooves and chew their cud

* Fish have to have scales and fins.

* Birds cannot be amongst those listed as forbidden in the Torah (Deuteronomy ch.14).

* Animals must be slaughtered in the manner specified by Jewish law.

Answer 2

#1). It has to be a kosher species. For example, there's nothing you can do to a rabbit, pig, lobster, camel, crawdad, or oyster that can make any of them kosher. None of these is even a contender.
For a list that will get you in the ballpark, see Deuteronomy 14 starting at verse 3.

#2). No sick, injured, or deformed animal is kosher, which means no trapping or hunting, even for a member of a kosher species. Also, no piece removed from a living animal is kosher. Once you have a kosher species of animal in good health and condition, it has to be slaughtered in a particular way. To do that properly takes a lot of education and training, and kosher slaughter is done by specialists who do it for a living. Without going too medical on you, kosher slaughter consists basically of severing the trachea, jugular, and spinal cord in one quick stroke, with a blade of surgical quality and sharpness. There's no "whoops" or do-overs. If the first quick stroke didn't do it, the meat isn't kosher, period.

#3). The next step of the butchering process is an inspection of the internal organs, to identify any internal malformation that couldn't be seen while the animal was alive. If a deformed internal organ is found, the animal is not kosher. Obviously this also takes extensive training and education, in both medical and the religious specific details.

#4). All blood is drained from the carcass at some point in the slaughterhouse, but an additional process of draining will be done before cooking. The meat is put through two cycles of salting, standing, and washing, to completely remove any remaining blood. Until relatively recently, this was done in each individual household after purchasing the meat. These days, in large Jewish communities that have Jewish-owned kosher markets, many of the markets will do the soaking and salting before the meat is sold.
#5). Certain portions of the animal are non-kosher. These are the sciatic nerve and the suet.

#6). Once the kosher meat is in the individual household, there are still a few things that can happen to render it un-kosher. These are mainly in the area of the prohibition against mixing meat with any dairy products.
No dairy, or any product containing dairy, can be added to any process in which the meat is being prepared to serve; and no frying pan, stock pot, knife, fork, spoon or dish that has been used to prepare or serve dairy items can be used to prepare or serve meat. (And vice versa.) That's why kosher kitchens have two complete sets of everything.

What happens if a meat preparation is accidentally assembled in a dairy pot ? Or sliced with a dairy knife? Or a piece of cheese accidentally falls into the stew? It happens. Do you discard everything? Or just the piece that came in contact with something it shouldn't have?

These are occasions when observant Jews consult their Rabbi for an informed decision based upon Torah-law. The rabbi has the education (and knows where to look in the texts of ancient and modern Jewish law) to be able to evaluate the exact circumstances and what, if anything, should be done.

Note that Rabbis do not "bless" food to make it kosher. According to Jewish law, either it is kosher or it isn't.

Answer 3

The short answer is, it depends. There are some animals that are eligible to be kosher and some animals that are not (such as horses and pigs). Of those animals that are eligible to be processed and accepted as kosher, the veins have to be removed from the meat. The ability to devein the back half (the 'butt') of the animal has been lost in a number of rabbinical traditions, but there are still a few rabbis who have maintained the tradition of deveining and consuming meat from the hind end of the animal.

Provided the animal is eligible to be kosher, the ritual cut is made correctly, the carcass checks are acceptable and the rabbinical authority has been trained to remove the veins from the meat, all parts of the animal are kosher.

Answer 4

In order to be kosher, food has to be prepared according to the kosher-laws (see Deuteronomy ch.14). These are explained in detail in the Talmud-volume of Chullin.
* Meat must be from those land animals which have split hooves and chew their cud (such as beef, venison and mutton).
* Fish have to have scales and fins. Shellfish are not kosher.
* Birds cannot be among those listed as forbidden in the Torah (Deuteronomy ch.14) and cannot be hunters/scavengers. In actual practice, today we eat only those species concerning which we have a tradition that they're permitted, such as domestic chicken, geese, pigeons and turkey.

* Animals must be slaughtered in the manner specified by Jewish law and must be free of all disease. In actual practice, those who keep kosher purchase meat which is certified as having been prepared in the kosher manner.
* As much blood as possible must be removed from meat before cooking, since consumption of blood is forbidden (Leviticus ch.17). This is done at home or by the kosher butcher, through salting, soaking and rinsing.

* Dairy and meat cannot be combined in the same meal and there's a waiting period between eating one and then the other. After dairy: 1/2 hour. After meat: 6 hours for most Jewish communities.

* Fruits and vegetables should be checked to be sure they're free of bugs. Some Jews avoid cauliflower, asparagus, and the like, because of the difficulty in checking them.

Additionally, food must be prepared and handled following kashrut-laws and with kosher ingredients only. Any food that does not meet these requirements cannot be eaten by those who are religiously observant. Foods which are purchased should be labeled as having had kosher supervision during their processing.

See also:

Could you give me a list of kosher and non-kosher types of fish?

Why do some Jews not keep kosher?