Words Words Words » Food

Bagelfail

skzb — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:28:58 +0000

The other day, desiring a sort of snack to calm the rumblings of hunger, I bethought myself to consider the possibility of a bagel. As two of the three people living here eat bagels (the third preferring some sort of abomination that goes under a similar name but contains raisins), it seemed likely we had some. In fact, a quick examination of the table showed that we did, and one of them was quickly sliced in half and inserted into the toaster.

As our toaster is rather slow, I now had time on my hands during which to consider what to have on the bagel. Many things are good on bagels, but the first thing that always comes to mind is: cream cheese. I opened the refrigerator looking for that familiar silvery foil container, and I was delighted to find it at once. I removed it, and saw, to my dismay, that, while it did have the familiar silvery foil, it did not say “Philadelphia” on it. I considered that Reesa, whom I have always felt that I could trust in all matters, apparently did not deserve this trust when it came to picking out cream cheese. Though sad about this, I consoled myself with the thought that some other brand, though not the same, was liable to be palatable. I should add that I could not actually see the brand, as half of the contents had been used, but I could clearly see the absence of the familiar black oval and calligraphy that I had expected.

The bagels being now toasted, I wasted no time in spreading the spreadable unto the receiving object, and, this done, at once bit into it.

Let me digress for a moment.

I use a lot of different oils and fats when I cook; butter, vegetable oil, lard, bacon fat, and others. When in doubt, olive oil is my default for Western cooking; seasame oil for that which is more Eastern. I have a good supply of oils and fats used for cooking, so that, when in need, I can go at once to the one I wish. Each of these oils and fats comes in a container with which I am familiar.

I did not know that there is a sort of lard-like vegetable oil that comes in a container that is indistinguishable from that usually associated with cream cheese.

I relate this story as a warning to others.

Food discovery

skzb — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:51:23 +0000

I got to have dinner with The Amazing Mris and her Merry Band, and she cooked, and I discovered that one can make something with paprika and saffron and it is very, very good. I had never even thought of combining paprika and saffron.

Yum.

Turkey Dilemma, or, Is There More To Life Than Sandwiches?

skzb — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:13:54 +0000

Thanks to Reesa’s mother, Mad Gastronomer, and Alton Brown, I can now consistantly get a turkey roasted the way I like it. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Roast turkey for a day, then turkey sandwitches for a week, by which time the soup is ready.

My question: It seems like there should be something fun to do with all of that roast turkey meat that I’ve just been using for sandwitches. Suggestions?

Food!

kit — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 01:46:35 +0000

Here in the United States it is Thanksgiving today. If you celebrated, I hope you enjoyed it or are enjoying it as we speak.

What are you eating today, or what did you eat?

I’m away from Dreamcafé this week, visiting my mom, Siun, in Chicago. We’re having some friends of hers over, and and tonight we have:

Turkey

Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Tofu Pot Pie

Mac & Cheese

Salad

Siun’s cream cheese with chili honey appetizers

and pecan pie.

How about you?

-Kit

I just want to say…

skzb — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:42:06 +0000

Reesa’s mother makes kick-ASS lentil soup.

That is all.

–Steve

Potatoes Paprikash

skzb — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:22:10 +0000

Ingredients

One half cup (1 stick) of butter
Four medium baking potatoes finely sliced
1 medium chopped onion
2 cloves crushed or chopped garlic,
four tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
2 tablspoons tomato puree
1 tablespoon ground mouseweed
2 cups sour cream
kosher salt
freshly ground black papper
water

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, potatoes and onion. Salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the onions become pulpy. Add the paprika, mouseweed, and tomato puree, and enough water to cover. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has vanished. Dollop on the sour cream and serve hot.

Optional: In a seperate pan, fry up some sliced Hungarian sausage, and add to the mixture right before the sour cream.

On the baking of bread

skzb — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:58:20 +0000

So, we have this bread-making machine, used by Kit. In an LJ post by Txanne, we learn that many believe that using such a machine produces bread that isn’t as good as hand-made. I’m curious. Is there actually a reason for this? I mean, a reason that Alton Brown would find reasonable?

The Great Ice Cream Cone Conundrum

skzb — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:14:26 +0000

There are three sorts of ice cream cone: the cup cone, the sugar cone, and the waffle cone. Let us ignore the waffle cone, because they didn’t have them when I was a kid. The cup cone has two advantages: you can set it down, and it is better for holding soft-serve ice cream. The sugar cone has one advantage: it tastes good.

The conundrum: why can’t they make a sugar cone in the form of a waffle cone? Is it because something in the process of making the sugar cone requires flat sheets that can be rolled by not shaped? I have been wondering about this as long as I can remember.

Another Koan

skzb — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:49:30 +0000

One day a broilerman said to Alton Brown, “How can I find true love?” And Alton Brown said, “Do not fear the salt.” Thus the broilerman achieved enlightenment.

Vat me, baby!

Reesa — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:41:07 +0000

So I was reading the latest article I’ve found in the “vat-grown meat” debate, (found over at the excellent Futurismic blog) and I just can’t keep quiet on the subject any longer. The article discusses a proposed solution to future meat protein production and consumption that involves, instead of growing meat in vats in labs–which is apparently an icky concept to some–that we genetically create “more efficient organisms that generate muscle tissue with the properties we want” by “genetically paring away the less commercially viable bits, like the brain”.

Most of you are probably having an atavistic reaction to the visualization of this concept every bit as icky as some people find vat meat, but no worries, the words will still be here for you to read when you recover. For the few left now who are less easily squicked and interested in the argument, read on.

All due respect to the scientist writing the proposal, but they are obviously not familiar with animal science or the production end of meat theory. The very first counter-argument that leaps to mind–to rebut the idea that brainless grazing cattle are superior either physically or psychologically to meat grown in a lab tube–involves the ratio of pounds consumed per pound of gain. One would hope that the scientists would work on improving that ratio while they’re busy deprogramming the brain stem, but I don’t see anyone in these articles even giving a nod to the issue.

Put simply, a cow takes 6-8 pounds of feed, on average, to put on one “commercially viable” pound of muscle tissue. (Pigs 4-6:1, Turkey 2-4:1, Catfish 1.1:1 are other examples I recall, hopefully correctly, from my classes a decade ago.) The brain is an energy-draining organ, so sure, removing the brain is bound to improve the ratio to some extent. But on the levels that we need to be considering if we are to achieve long-term, sustainable, non-scarcity food production, it seems to me that the brainless cow model overeats quickly.

Scientists are much more likely to be able to engineer a catfish-level efficiency of pounds consumed vs. pounds gained with a variety of tissue type and texture if they can control the systems directly in the lab. A lab set-up could easily have one industrial-sized set of heart and lungs and other maintenance systems keeping large numbers of meat-vats (10?25?50? more?) churning out hundreds of pounds of consumable muscle tissue on a regular time schedule. Though vat meat is in the beginning stages of development now, and the most differentiated tissue available to date resembles the consistency of ground chuck, other research is being directed toward developing the ability to grow specific cuts of meat in quantity in the lab. The potential resources saved by removing the animal from the meat production process add up to large quantities quickly.

Vat-grown meat isn’t icky, squicky, or gross; it’s energy efficient, ethical, and ecologically friendly. Sure, the next couple of generations will have their “real meat” superiority complex, and there will exist for some time to come a specialty market for “organically grown meat” at specialty prices. But for everyday tastiness, convenience, and responsible social footprint issues, well vat me, baby! I’ll take my burger as a vurger no problem.