Kosher Fish and Kashrut

Grouper is kosher. It has fins and the removable scales the Torah requires, and OU-cited guidance confirms it. Here’s how to verify it at the market, plus its market names and certification notes.

Kosher for Shabbat means no cooking once Shabbat starts. Food must be fully cooked in advance, then kept warm on a blech, with kosher wine for Kiddush and two loaves of challah.

No, eel is not kosher. Its scales are too embedded in its skin to remove without tearing it, failing the Torah’s fins-and-scales test. Here’s what the OU and cRc say, and how to check any fish.

Yes, yellow croaker is kosher. It has fins and removable scales, the Torah’s test in Leviticus 11:9-12, but Star-K’s Anisakis worm policy restricts unsupervised sourcing.

Yes, plain beer is usually kosher, but the rules just changed. As of 2026 the OU, OK Kosher, and STAR-K require certification on all beer, while the cRc still allows plain beer without one.

Milkfish, sold as bangus or awa, is kosher. It has fins and small, removable cycloid scales, backed by an OU-authored list and Star-K policy. Canned or smoked bangus still needs a hechsher.

Chalav Yisrael is milk a Jewish mashgiach supervises from milking on. Here is the fraud it prevents, Rav Moshe Feinstein’s US milk ruling, and how the OU and Star-K label it.

Yes, drum fish is kosher. Red drum, black drum, and freshwater drum all belong to Sciaenidae and carry the fins and removable scales Jewish law requires.

Shechita is the halachic method of slaughtering kosher animals and birds: a single expert cut with a flawless blade, done only by a certified shochet. Fish never need it. Their kosher status comes from fins and scales alone.