how many of you guys cook??? - Page 123

I went meat-free the first six months of the year because of a health issue, and have since re-introduced meat to my diet but much more selectively. I'm integrating my knowledge as an ex-spa chef with Old Testament dietary standards (cloven hooves, fin & scale fish, no swine or webbed feet, etc.). Mostly wild salmon, bison/buffalo, and venison if I can find it. I like to eat moose but the local ones like to dine on the rail corridor where the worst herbicides are used. Too bad they're so toxic around here because otherwise moose is the most nutritious red meat on the planet, and it's very tasty.



That looks awesome, I would definitely eat that! I used to make a pretty decent gravlax...



Looks like a habanero to me.



X2, I love cardamom-scented sweet treats! I used to make a cashew-cardamom coffee cake...

Edited by grokit - 11/17/12 at 10:39am

 

No bacon!?  

I've eaten my share of bacon. There's a lot of toxins in animal fat, more than any other thing we eat.

Not a rant or anything, but I have done a couple of long-term cleansing diets (no animal/dairy products, processed food, refined carbs, etc.). When coming off these diets, the two hardest flavors to get used to again are refined sugar and bacon for some reason. Before bacon gets delicious again it tastes like putting gasoline on your tongue after this kind of cleanse.

I used to forage for wild mushrooms, and that was always the test: Touch it to your tongue and see if it tastes like poison. If it does, it is, just eat the ones that taste like food. So part of it is survival instinct as well.
Edited by grokit - 11/17/12 at 11:08am

 

I guess they overstate the danger of mushrooms. I always thought that so much as tasting the more deadly ones was enough to make you very ill, if not kill you. Maybe you can get away with it in areas where you know the worst thing you'll find is something that will just make you sick if you eat the whole thing.

Well there's certain ones that will warn you visually:



But when I say touch it to your tongue, I mean barely touch it, especially if you're not sure. The deadly ones will definitely let you know.

Yeah, if it looks like it came out of Super Mario Bros., it's definitely a good idea to stay clear.

 

I'll admit that my entire knowledge of mushrooms comes from the various survival shows I've casually watched over the years. Mostly they tell you just don't bother, since mushrooms are tricky. If I was actually planning on going somewhere out in the wild I'd definitely put in the time reading about the area, as well as legitimate survival techniques. Obviously you know your stuff.

The only other tool that I know of is picture books, they are quite helpful for identification purposes and even better if they're regional. But be prepared to make spore prints because there are many poisonous ones that look quite similar to the edible varieties, which is why the "tongue touch" is so important. For me it's the only fool-proof method.

ugh... the undefined yet oh-so-evil "toxins," which only seem to be located in food that new-agers and hippies don't like.  only thing dumber than the "toxins" are the "cleansing diets" to get rid of them, which make even less scientific (or even common) sense. 

 

if your bacon tastes like gasoline, I'd recommend simply avoiding the big-brand factory bacon loaded with REAL toxins, such as nitrites

 

Fatty toxins are what clog your arteries, for one thing. Animal fat, particularly swine is called out in the old testament as poison for another. And they're quite defined by actual scientific research, which you need to seek out because there are monied interests to protect.

Toxins in general cause cancer by oxidizing our body's cells, which is how we age, by rusting to death. That's why anti-oxidant supplements are so popular, and why our current cancer rates are a relatively modern (post-industrial) phenomenon.

It's more expensive to avoid toxins in our diets, but it's still much cheaper than the medical care required by the diseases that result from ingesting them. It's best to avoid all processed food, but some is much worse than others and it has nothing to do with hippies.

For my condition (peripheral artery disease), the only fixes offered by the medical establishment is stents and statin drugs. Stents are $70K apiece and there's no guarantee that they will be installed in the right place. And statins cause more harm than they cure, their side effects are well-documented. So I prefer to cleanse, when you are trying to remove heavy-metal toxins it's called chelation.

edit: And commercial hog sewage "lagoons" are devastating environmentally, particularly for our atmosphere and our underground aquifers; they pose a "serious public health threat".
Edited by grokit - 11/18/12 at 1:44am

 

Regarding your cleansing diets: Your taste buds are probably more refined because of it.

 

I've eaten my share of bacon as well, and still do but not as much. It does have this cloying effect on my tongue--even the "clean" bacon from specialty shops and family farms can get a bit too much. I know a few people at work who have done cleansing diets and feel really great after it. I have yet to do that--I don't have that kind of discipline. I used to always drink my vegetable soup with lots of cayenne pepper because I heard cayenne was good for you. Now I put it in my chicken soup as well. If anything, that concoction is spicy comfort in a bowl. :)

 

By they way, this is an excellent book. My pickled salmon came from here. Jewish Cooking in America.

Edited by Clayton SF - 11/17/12 at 2:03pm

Pft. You make it sound like being awoken, freezing cold and soaking by the side of an unfamiliar highway isn't a great wasted weekend.

And that sounds like an experience brought on by ingesting semi-poisonous mushrooms
Edited by grokit - 11/18/12 at 1:33pm

I had to find a use for the giant leek stalk I had leftover from making leek mac and cheese.  Here is ham, potato, and leek soup:

 

Very nice, love the fresh dill! Or is it fennel?

 

Dill!  My old boss makes a delicious cucumber potato salad with dill.  I can share the recipe after I get home from work tonight, if I remember.