Month: December 2004

All this talk of gravy must be contagious. Squander Two (Joseph) over at the daily bread has a bizarre (to me, anyway) story involving a gravy strainer his wife got him for Christmas.

Macomb Daily : Selecting the right cut of beef: A savory proposition 12/20/04

Balsamic Reduction with Wild Mushroom Duxelles

• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 package (4 ounces) assorted wild mushrooms (Baby Portobello, shitake, oyster), minced
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup dry red wine
• 1 can 14 to 14½ ounces ready-to-serve beef broth
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bring vinegar to a boil in medium saucepan. Reduce heat; simmer 8-9 minutes or until reduced to about 2 tablespoons (consistency will be syrupy). Remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add mushrooms, and cook and stir 5 to 8 minutes or until mushrooms are lightly browned. Add garlic, and cook and stir for an additional 2 minutes. Add wine, and cook for 3-5 minutes or until liquid has completely evaporated.

Meanwhile, combine broth and cornstarch in small bowl, stirring until cornstarch is dissolved. Add balsamic reduction, broth mixture, salt and pepper as desired, to skillet; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until mixture is reduced by one half. Remove skillet from heat; add butter and stir until melted. Makes about 1¼ cups. Total preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes.

USATODAY.com – Single-serving coffee can heats itself: “Beginning Jan. 2, consumers can buy a 10-ounce container of Wolfgang Puck gourmet latte at the store and heat it by pressing a button. No electricity. No batteries. No appliances…

“How does the can do it? A single step mixes calcium oxide (quicklime) and water. It heats the coffee to 145°F in six minutes — and stays hot for 30 minutes…

“The coffee in its recyclable, single-serve container will retail for about $2.25. While that’s less than a Starbucks latte, will American coffee drinkers trade in their Starbucks grandés for Puck’s cup o’ joe? One marketing consultant says, don’t bet your coffee money on it.”

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/23/2004 | Where gravy comes from: It’s not a vat: “The truth is that roasting a turkey is a pretty straightforward exercise. Lots of people without advanced culinary skills pull it off every year. Making gravy, however, which everyone craves and which some consider the most delectable element of these great familial meals, can be intimidating.

“Lumpy. Pasty. Too thin. Too thick. Too salty. Too bland. Who wants any of those verdicts proclaimed at the table? (For that matter, who wants to eat that kind of gravy?)

“One thing that ratchets up the angst is the fact that gravy is one of the last tasks to be done before dinner is served, just as the kitchen is getting more hectic and too many people are chiming in with inane questions, wacko demands, and multiple choruses of ‘Well, my mother always… ’ (If you’ve missed this stage of the chaos, rent Diary of a Mad Housewife.) No wonder some people get the willies over making gravy.

“So here’s a how-to, derived from the quite intense need at this time of year to sustain certain sensory elements of my rearing and based on determined experience to get it right. And, when it is right, it is inutterably right.

“Are you salivating? Let me show you how to succeed.

“There are two essential matters for cream gravy to be a success: The turkey must give up ample cooking juices, and the gravy must not be prepared in the roasting pan. Browning the flour in the roasting pan will produce a tasty gravy, but cream gravy, I’ve come to realize, is more like a richly flavored bechamel, which of course starts with butter and flour in a saucepan.”

The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial: The Unshapely Tomato: “When it comes to tomatoes, being round and red isn’t good enough. Hundreds of traditional varieties exist in colors ranging from near-black to near-white. They come in an astonishing variety of shapes: long and cylindrical, pointed, lobed, and ridged. Some are striped, and some have fuzzy skins, like peaches’. Some are meant for canning, some for slicing, and some to be eaten while you’re standing in the garden looking for tomato worms.

“Yet Americans still believe that a veritable tomato is round and red. We have committees — honest, official committees backed by the rule of law — to enforce that belief. It is time for some heterodoxy in the official tomato world. The Florida Tomato Committee should reconsider its stand on UglyRipes. And American shoppers should begin planning their summer tomato patches now.’

100 Nutrition Facts About 25 Well-Known Foods:

Asparagus

• Asparagus is high in glutathione, an important anticarcinogen
• It also contains rutin, which protects small blood vessels from rupturing and may protect against radiation
• Asparagus is a good source of vitamins A, cups and E, B-complex vitamins, potassium and zinc

Broccoli

• Broccoli contains twice the vitamin cups of an orange
• It has almost as much calcium as whole milk — and the calcium is better absorbed
• It contains selenium, a mineral that has been found to have anti-cancer and anti-viral properties
• Broccoli is a modest source of vitamin A and alpha-tocopherol vitamin E
• It also has antioxidant properties

Celery

• Celery is the best vegetable source of naturally occurring sodium.
• It is high in potassium.
• The high water content in celery makes it ideal for vegetable juicing.
• As an easy way to reduce grains in your diet, spread peanut butter on celery rather than bread.

Onions

• Onions are an excellent antioxidant, and they contain anti-allergy, antiviral and antihistamine properties.
• Sulfur compounds in onions help to detoxify the body.
• Onions aid in cellular repair.
• Onions are a rich source of quercetin, a potent antioxidant.
• To obtain the maximum nutritional benefits, onions should be eaten raw or lightly steamed.

Tomatoes

• Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, flavonoids and other phytochemicals with anticarcinogenic properties
• Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin cups (the vitamin cups is most concentrated in the jelly-like substance that surrounds the seeds)
• They also contain vitamin A and B-complex vitamins, potassium and phosphorus
• A tomato grown in a hothouse has half the vitamin cups content as a vine-ripened tomato

Zucchini (Summer Squash)

• Zucchini and other summer squash varieties contain vitamins A and C
• They also contain potassium and calcium
• The flavor of zucchini is best when it is less than six inches long
• Zucchinis can grow as large as baseball bats but have little flavor when they reach this size

IEEE Spectrum Careers: Albie’s Foods Inc., a small grocery and catering company in Gaylord, Mich., received an unusual letter in 2001 from the law firm representing jelly giant J.M. Smucker Co. The letter accused Albie’s — which sells pastries and sandwiches in northern Michigan — of violating Smucker’s intellectual property by selling crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

In particular, Smucker’s claimed that Albie’s had infringed Smucker’s recently granted U.S. Patent No. 6004596, which gives the Orrville, Ohio, company broad protection on its “sealed crustless sandwich.” In a move that undoubtedly surprised the jam magnates, Albie’s decided to defend itself in federal court. Albie’s law firm noted in its filings that the “pasty” — a meat pie with crimped edges — has been popular fare in northern Michigan since the immigration of copper and iron miners from Cornwall, England, in the 19th century.

A battle in federal court over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches may seem merely funny and a little pathetic. But it is symptomatic of the larger and more profound problems with the U.S. patent system. We have reached the point where serious lawyers are being paid serious fees by a big company to shut down the PB&J operation of a grocery store.

High-Tech Tools for Fighting Fat: For whatever reason, the drive to diet is reaching a fever pitch. An average American gains seven pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and nearly 40% of us make losing weight our New Year’s resolution, according to various polls. Not that we don’t need help during the other seasons: The average American is 25 pounds heavier than was the case 40 years ago, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The good news for the $43 billion weight-loss industry is that Americans seem to want to shed those extra pounds more badly than ever. On any given day, 45% of American women and 25% of men are on a diet, studies show.

But most dieters end up disappointed with their results. Two-thirds of the weight they lose is regained within a year, according to studies by the National Institutes of Health.

Home & Real Estate: In addition to a healthy diet, Dr. Nicholas Perricone [, the author of “The Perricone Promise: Look Younger, Live Longer in Three Easy Steps,”] offers this grocery list of 10 anti-aging foods:

1. Acai Fruit: Find it in juice form in health food and gourmet stores.
2. Allium Family of Foods:
   Garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, chives, and shallots help the liver eliminate toxins and carcinogens.
3. Barley:
   High in fiber, barley helps metabolize fats, cholesterol, and carbohydrates. Eat it as a breakfast cereal, add it to soups and stews, or use it as a rice substitute.
4. Green Foods:
   These include wheat and barley grasses that you can purchase in powder, tablet, or juice form. They offer more nutrients than green leafy vegetables and help lower your cholesterol and blood pressure and boost your immune response.
5. Buckwheat Seed and Grain:
   It’s loaded with protein, high in amino acid, stabilizes blood sugar, and reduces hypertension.
6. Beans and Lentils:
   In addition to lentils, the best beans are kidney, black, navy, pinto, chickpeas, soybeans, and peas. They’re loaded with antioxidants, folic acid, and potassium.
7. Hot Peppers:
   Bell peppers and chili peppers have twice the vitamin C as citrus fruit and burn fat.
8. Nuts and Seeds:
   Eat a handful of nuts every day–be it walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia, or pistachio. They’re packed with omega 3 fats, which are great for your heart. Be sure to choose raw and unsalted.
9. Sprouts:
   High in protein and vitamin C, sprouts are a tasty addition to many dishes.
10. Yogurt and Kefir:
    Both of these cultured foods contain healthful bacteria that aid immune function. In addition, the calcium helps burn fat. Here’s a recipe idea: Use them as a base for a smoothie.

Other tips:

• Coffee can elevate your levels of cortisol and insulin, which can lead to weight gain. Substitute green tea for coffee. If you do nothing else differently, you’ll lose 10 pounds in six weeks, says Perricone.
• Hydrate! Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day for good health and beautiful skin.
• Spice up your food: Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, oregano, basil, thyme, cayenne, and every spice and herb you can think of are stellar anti-aging foods.