Animal Style Cooking

I'm not a huge fan of In n Out Burger.  Having gone to one in San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf location), I felt that it made burgers that were somewhat better than McDonald's, much worse than Five Guys, with an atmosphere somewhere in between.  But I forgot to order anything from the "secret menu".  Well, I made an Animal Style burger tonight at home, thanks to this guy who reverse engineered one.

I made a few substitutions to save time.
1. Used sharp cheddar cheese
2. Used irradiated beef, 80/20 (safer)
3. My buns had been frozen.

Result?  A pretty fucking tasty burger, if I do so say myself.  And I'll have some leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Nu-Salt must be happy

Salt is quite the condiment.  There has even been a great book written on its history.  Now the FDA wants to limit it.

So what exactly are they trying to ban?  Sodium chloride, or NaCl which has been used as a food preservative and flavor enhancer for thousands of years.  Empires have been built on salt and it is even the basis for the word "salary".  Sodium, a necessary electrolyte, contributes to hypertension and other disorders in high quantities.  Most Americans eat too much of it.

If sodium levels are reduced, I would assume that most vendors would switch to potassium chloride, KCl, which tastes almost identical to the sodium varietal.  Nu-Salt has been around for a long time with this formulation.

The only downside I can see is from a marketing standpoint.  KCl is one of the ingredients used in the lethal injection cocktail... but that's only when it is injected.  Still, this may worry some people.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Confirmed to be more unhealthy than sugar

High fructose corn syrup has finally been confirmed by evidence to cause more weight gain that sugar.

The US government, by propping up sugar costs, encourages food companies (like Coke or Pepsi) to use HFCS instead of sugar.  With this new research emerging there are a few story lines I'll be following:

1. How will policy makers resolve the conflict between the health of their constituents with the corn lobby?
2. How will the corn lobby respond?  I've seen ads on TV touting that HFCS has never been proven to behave differently from sugar.  Now it has.  If those ads are displayed anymore, I can see lawsuits.
3. How long until a major company switches back to sugar?  Pepsi has already experimented with "throwback" versions of its products and Mexican coke is very popular.  So is Dublin Dr Pepper.  

Why nutrition labels are a damned good idea

Stepping away from the current healthcare debate, there is one area of the healthcare bill that will make a very visible presence in all of our lives: mandated nutrition information on menus. 

There are some libertarians who aren't happy about this, but count me as one who goes against the grain.  Most restaurants will already provide diners with nutrition information upon request.  Not all will.  

This bill does not force people to make certain menu choices, and the inconveniences to restaurants are minimal.  We are talking about maybe a few days of analyzing the ingredients in your meals, and then printing some new menus.  Consumers are not inconvenienced at all; they will simply be given information up front that usually takes some digging (think about Google vs going to a library).

This is actually a bit of libertarian paternalism, which you can read more about in Nudge.

The bottom line is this: if consumers are shown that their favorite pasta dish at Macaroni Grille contains 2,500 calories (this is just a guess, not picking on Macaroni Grille) and the customer sees this when ordering, there is probably a good chance that most consumers will opt for a lower calorie dish, or at least split this with another person.  The truth is, that restaurant dishes contain a HUGE amount of calories, sometimes orders of magnitude higher than a home cooked meal.  Look at the "Plain Jane Potato" at supposed "healthy" eatery Jason's Deli.

It contains a whopping 2300 calories, 147 grams of fat, and 2500 mg of sodium.  In other words, it contains all of the calories and sodium you require in a DAY, and enough fat to last you for 2.5 days.  I think if people saw this on the menu when ordering, they would probably opt for something healthier.  Or maybe not.  In any case, having this information easily available to the consumer will likely lead to healthier choices, fewer deaths, and possibly lower calorie options on the menu.

In summary, nutrition labels have done a lot to help you buy food at the grocery store, and now will serve a similar purpose when you dine out.

No matter the era, people look to the past for food

Interesting article on the "persistence of primitive food".  I just recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma.  Obviously, overly processed food is not good for you.  But what food is good for you?  That's a question that's tough to answer, and simply look at the past is not always going to help you.

More on Grass Fed Bison

Even though Wegmans provided a great response to my questions, I decided to ask the supplier, Great Range Bison, about what goes into their bison.  Here is their response.  It is interesting to note that they are audited by Whole Foods.  Bottom line: it is still probably the best red meat you can buy.

Our buffalo are fed grain as well as grass the last 120 days prior to butchering.  The buffalo are not fed the levels of grain that cattle are during typical cattle feed lot programs.  We do this to produce a premier, high quality, fresh product year round.  It would impossible to produce consistent product given variations in weather patterns, geographic areas, grass species, and seasonal changes that affect grass quality. 

 

By supplemental feeding we are referring to the natural grains and forages that we feed in order to supplement what the animal can't get from pasture feeding. We do not use any antibiotics, hormones or animal by-products on any of the bison. They are raised as naturally as possible. In order to produce a consistent product year round it is necessary that we feed additional forage and grain prior to slaughter - i.e. supplemental feeding.

 

The Bison Meat is still much leaner than beef!

 

All buffalo calves are born in pasture and spend most of their lives in a free range situation.  They are humanely raised on wide open ranches of the Western United States.  We DO NOT have animals in traditional feedlots!  We purchase our buffalo from several different areas; Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Mexico and Oklahoma are just a few of the places. 

 

All ranches and plants are audited by Whole Foods to ensure animal safety.

 

Thank you for your interest in our company and let us know if you have any other questions.

No Grass Fed Bison?

I'm a fan of bison meat.  If i'm going to eat something bovine in nature, its going to be a bison (not technically a buffalo, those are only found in Asia).  The meat itself tastes better and is much leaner.

However, when I was at Wegman's I looked up the supplier of their bison and read on their website that it is "grain fed".  I prefer grass fed meat when I eat it.  I asked Wegman's about their choice of suppliers.  Here is their response, supposedly from one of their buyers:

"There is really no such thing as grass fed meat in America. This is because there is no source for fresh grass in the winter. U.S. grass fed claims are false in that dried hay or dried grass is fed or worse they are left to forage through the snow for what little brush they can find. Bison are not put on feedlots they are given a ration that consists of 60% grain (corn, oats, milo, barley and wheat are all used depending on what is available to the particular ranch) and 40% grass only in the final 110 days or so of their 800-900 day lives. They do this to improve the eating quality of the meat and to give the consumer a consistent, high quality product year round. They do not get the levels of grain fed to beef and so do not get as fat. The animals spend far more of their lives"out" than "in". There is a huge difference between the nutrients in fresh grass and dried grass. Imagine if you went to a restaurant for a salad and they gave you dried lettuce. For truly grass fed beef that is leaner than bison and processed in state of the art facilities, we offer Organic grass fed Angus / Herford beef from Uruguay. We went 7,000 miles south to find a place that had fresh grass all year to substantiate our grass fed claim. The USDA allows hay fed animals to be called grass fed but this was in my opinion not correct to do." 

Food, Inc.

I watched Food, Inc several weeks ago, and it has made a big difference in the types of food I have consumed since. I always have tried to eat natural foods when possible, and organic when it is a good deal but after watching this movie I realized it is very difficult to avoid certain things, like corn, especially high fructose corn syrup.

I'm happy to say that in the past two weeks, I have not consume any meat other than fish. I'm not against eating meat, I just don't want to eat corn fed industrial farmed meat. Which does leave me a lot of choices, most notably bison (sometimes called buffalo) a grass fed animal that is mostly carbon neutral.

It is especially disheartening to learn about the big push to silence critics of the food supply, as if this is some type of god we ought to deify, leaving aside the impacts to all of us.

One criticism I have of the "healthy food" movement is the reluctance (or outright opposition to) food irradiation. Food irradiation has the potential to make our food supply much safer and more efficient, whether it be killing salmonella or helping fruit stay fresh for much longer without preservatives, and thereby lowering costs for consumers.

I recommend that everyone watch this film, the trailer is below.

Hot Sauces

It is no secret I am a big fan of hot sauces. I pile on Tabasco, Sriracha, and others. Even the Tabasco habenero sauce is not too much for me to pile on food.

I just had a sauce that even I think is a bit extreme. I went to Firehouse subs today, and they have a range of hot sauces. I grabbed the one in the highest possible category. It is called 357 Mad Dog and you better believe it is the hottest stuff I've had. For about 20 minutes after I ate it, it kept coming back in waves, burning my throat and making me feel like I was going to vomit.

My stomach still hurts 4 hours later.

I'll probably try it again.

Loudoun County Wine Tasting

Friends from out of town were visiting this weekend so we decided to go wine tasting to 3 wineries we had not been to before. All were in Loudoun County, VA near Leesburg and within a 5 minute drive of each other.

First up was Tarara Winery. Despite being rated the best in Loudoun County for the past few years, we all agreed that the wines were not that great. Additionally, it is the McDonalds of small wineries, with live music, fruit picking, 3-4 tasting counters, etc. It was just way too overblown. The line to checkout looked like it would take at least 30 minutes. We had a quick tasting and did not buy anything. On the upside, the staff seemed to be very knowledgeable and were very nice. The only wines we liked were the Rose and the Cab Franc, everything else was horrid. The cave where they age the wine was also a neat touch.

Our next stop was Lost Creek, about a 5 minute drive from Tarara. The staff seemed to know what they were talking about, but were a little rushed. However, the wine itself was very good; we bought a bottle of their Springtime, which is a blend of viognier, chardonnay, and others. Good blend of atmosphere and wine.

Our last stop was about a quarter mile from Lost Creek, Hidden Brook Winery. Basically a small log cabin with a porch, the atmosphere was the worst (though still not bad). However, the wine was pretty good. We ended up with a bottle of cab sauv, always a good choice.

Sriracha is getting hot

My favorite hot sauce hits the national media.  I've even bought it at Wal-Mart.

Posession of beer still illegal? Who would have known?

Some Libertarian activists were arrested in the most backward of United States, Mississippi. Among other things, they were charged with posession of beer in a dry county.

Yes, that's right, in certain counties of Mississippi, having a 6 pack of Bud is a crime.

Mustard?

Has the right wing seriously been reduced to this?

They are now criticizing President Obama for his choice of hamburger condiment, one that I prefer as well.  This is not elitist, it is fucking mustard.  

The GOP and their ilk are getting very desperate.  We have a recovering economy, an extremely popular president, and everything is clicking.  Which does not bode well for anyone with an (R) next to their name.  

Pepsi without HFCS

You all know how I feel about high fructose corn syrup - I think it is very unhealthy, a kind of franken-food that is worse than sugar, the natural substance it emulates. It also adds to the American diet that is almost completely corn based. It may cause diabetes.

Interestingly enough, the same beverage makers who unleashed HFCS on us many years ago are starting to switch back or at least give us the choice. Pepsi, a big one, has just introduced Throwback Pepsi, which is advertised as being made from "natural sugar."

Pepsi denies these are any healthier than their other products. Will they be any popular? Only time will tell. I personally prefer Pepsi Max, but if I had to choose between Pepsi and Pepsi Throwback, I'd take this one.

How long before Coke brings out "Coca-cola classic: this time its for real" ?

HFCS will kill you

Yet another reason to not eat the shit.

If this proves true, I'd recommend shorting ADM*

*if you trade on my advice, you get what's coming to you.

Eat what I say, not what I sell

The founder of Papa John's encourages people to limit the consumption of pizza.  Smart business move.  What's next, is he going to tell you to buy Dominos instead?

Bush tries to ban Roquefort

One of George W. Bush's final orders included slapping a 300% tax on Roquefort cheese.  This is a very good cheese that I sometimes enjoy and I think this tariff needs to be rescinded.  It is a blue cheese made from unpasteurized sheep's milk and a special type of mold.

For some reason, a lot of ignorant Americans (like Mr. Bush) do not like France.  I don't understand why, because I have visited the country many times and found the people to be extremely pleasant.  With Mr. Bush, it is most likely that he is angry because the French were right about not going into Iraq.  So he decides to make it harder to buy one of the products that they happen to sell.  

Now, the United States does claim that the reason they are putting this tax on the cheese is because the EU will not accept our hormone laden beef.  However, I myself try to not consume beef from cows injected with hormones so I can't blame them for it.  They are not rejecting all American products, just the ones that happen to be of questionable quality.  It would be like us banning lead toys from China, and the Chinese getting upset.

A Tale of Two Restaurants

Today, Starbucks reported that it missed earnings and will be cutting jobs, closing stores.

Two days ago, McDonald's said it will be opening 1,000 new stores.

In the past couple of years, Starbucks has lost billions of dollars in value, with McDonald's gaining. Is one's loss the other's gain? While it would appear so, I suspect not.

I have to confess, I like both restaurants. McDonald's is not as good as Burger King, Arby's or others, but it feeds you on the cheap. However, if I want a cup of coffee, I'll go to Starbucks and get some Pike. Other places make their coffee much to weak for me. I'm also a big fan of the Doubleshot, iced or in a can, or even +energy.

The problem is that Starbucks exploded. They went from being a small chain of Seattle shops to opening thousands of stores per year. There are so many Starbucks near me that two of them are within a 5 minute walk.

Starbucks thought it could emulate its cool, hip, yuppie, liberal formula (which fits me perfect) in the middle of America. I'm telling you, Starbucks in Oklahoma cannot be very popular.

Here's what I see as the endgame. Right now Starbucks is introducing breakfast foods. McDonald's is introducing coffee. While they will each be relatively popular, imagine if a Starbucks could sell an Egg McMuffin, or a McDonalds sold cups of Pike and Doubleshots.

Within 3 years, Starbucks will be a subsidiary of McDonalds. They will still have some standalone stores (that sell McDonald's breakfast products), but by and large, they cannot stay independent.

There's always Caribou.

Another reason not to eat HFCS

Its loaded with mercury.

The Best Cheap Booze

Esquire's February issue lists the best booze for these tough times.  

I won't break down the whole list, but I have to say I agree with their winner: Evan Williams Black Label Bourbon.  A spirit I've enjoyed on and off for several years.  Probably as good as you can get for under $20 a bottle.  

If I'm going to buy a Whisky its either Evan Williams, or to splurge Maker's Mark.

Cheers!