Just some insights about food I wanted to share
Here is my philosophy on food.
Buy Local
Cook lightly
Share with friends or family
I started talking with a certain high school acquaintance about the good that comes from food, and I figure I would share some of those with everyone else.
Salt is a preservative, same with real sugar. They should be the only two in your food. Now there are certain things that you cannot escape unless you have someone at home doing all the cooking for you. If you, like me, are not lucky enough to have a full time chef, then chances are you will need to find your local fish monger, full service baker (not just for cakes people), and butcher. Health food shops are also important such as Wild Oats.
Grow your own produce. If you don't have enough room for a garden then buy from the farmers market. Here in Texas I am lucky enough to have more than 300 growing days per year. For the other 60+ I have a green house in my back yard. I have fresh tomatoes year round. I have fresh basil year round. I am having trouble with my onions year round, I don't quite have a full schedule yet for the San Antonio weather almanac, so I can't plan those growths.
I have three meat markets within 5 miles. I am able to get a travel history on any of the cattle, lambs, or pork that I buy. People will tell you to buy free range because it is less cruel to the animals, but that isn't the only thing. After all, free range just means the livestock is let out of the barn at least once per day... no limits on how long they are let out for, no ideals on if they are to eat their own food either.
That brings me to corn. Buying corn fed livestock is a terrible thing to do. Corn fed livestock are more diseased than regular livestock, plus the cattle excrete more methane. Methane = greenhouse gas = bad for the environment. Not only does the corn feed make cattle more susceptible to disease, but also to parasites. This means that your food will be full of medical injections to kill this stuff off.
Farmed fish vs. wild.... if your fish eats veggies and plankton it doesn't matter. If your fish eats anything you need to go wild. The Japanese have been farming their Koi for centuries and they are healthy still. We have just started testing our white fish such as Talapia and Cod, and have noticed the mercury levels are the same as wild caught. Salmon, Trout, etc do not fare as well.
Seasoning is a great thing, think about your salts. Black salt comes from volcanic areas, clay salt, kosher salt, iodized salt, and sea salt are some of the more common, and not in that order. Kosher salt has special properties of pulling parasites and moisture from meats, that means it's gonna be a little bit more healthy. Then you have your pepper. Black pepper corns are a wonderful thing. Same with red and white. If I am not mistaken the white isn't really a true peppercorn. Green peppercorns in a brine are what we know as capers. Buying pre-ground pepper is a sad thing. All the oil has evaporated. Buy the whole pepper corns and a peppercorn grinder, my favorite type is the "pepper ball" grinder. that you can get at Target, Walmart, or if you want to spend a lot more money, and Pottery Barn.
Fruits and veggies... buy in season. and again, buy local if you can't or don't grow your own.
Pasta... mmmmm... wonderful stuff, but be careful to not over indulge. Certain people do not have the necessary enzymes to fully digest it.
Beer, wine, liquor... here is where I would say do your research. Every bit of alcohol reacts with every person differently. If you are looking at just from a calorie perspective... well, read this. You may find it as interesting as I did.
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Alcoholcaloriesandweight.html
for all beer info on calories though:
http://recipecircus.com/recipes/awsum34/TIDBITS---You-Need-To-Know/Beer.html
I would honestly say though go with martinis.
That is round one.
Here's part two in my three, possibly four or more part series. When I refer to salt, I am refrencing Kosher Salt. Sea Salt is more or less interchangeable, but Iodized Table Salt is not.
Lets start with our veggies. When done properly your veggies can, and sometimes will be the high point of the meal. The following will cover steaming, roasting, and grilling.
Steaming your veggies... seems simple, right? Well, yes it is. But lets talk about infusing additional flavors. With all types of squashes, your carrots, mushrooms, and other common veggies, you can add just a little flavor, or a lot. I know you're thinking "Sergio, I like my yellow squash and zucchini just fine". Well, props to you. I like to "add a little sumin sumin to min. I have a steamer basket. Pretty important for anyone who does veggies. I always fill the water level to the bottom of the basket, the remove the basket. I know, but don't worry, it's going back in. Now comes the trip out to my garden. A sprig of rosemary, a clove or two of green garlic, maybe some oregano, thyme, or cilantro, and *poof* in the pot it goes. Now re-insert the steamer basket, resting on top of these lovely aromatics. now insert veggie of choice, a little salt, and again fresh ground black pepper. Steam til soft and serve (I add a bit of real butter to mine first, but it isn't necessary).
Oven roasting. Now I had to clarify because you can roast on a grill also, and that's next. Make sure you have a deep, oven safe dish for this. I have a Pyrex casserole dish that I use. This method I use primarily for potatoes. Slice up the potatoes into bite sized pieces, coat the pan with a non-stick olive oil spray (or just use some of that light olive oil I mentioned in my previous entry), add a few dollops of butter, then your herbs and spices. Salt and pepper to taste (it takes a while to get to know this by sight, but be patient, you'll learn soon enough). I prefer a sprig of rosemary about three inches long for 4 gold or red potatoes each about half the size of your fist (I know, not quite an accurate measurement for everyone). For russets I would go with a four inch sprig for two medium sized potatoes. Take the leaves off. You do not want the woody stem. Sprinkle the leaves generously, then place in oven, uncovered, for about 40 minutes on 400. Every 15 minutes you want to stir them so the whole potato can get nice and brown. Brown food is good food. This same method works great on onions as well. Once you are comfortable with this method get a bit adventurous. Add some garlic, substitute the rosemary for sage, etc. If you do this with sliced portabello mushrooms, don't use butter, and add some fresh pulled mozzarella, not the suff that comes in a block.
Grill roasting is fairly simple. Cut the veggies into the desired size (I cut them on the bias), sprinkle some olive oil on your hands and rub the veggies, then skewer, add salt and pepper, maybe some granulated garlic or chili powder, not paprika, but some "new mexico", be careful, it's very simple to add too much and cover the natural taste of the veggies.After the veggies are skewered wrap them up in tin foil with just a couple of small holes, and forget about it for about 20 minutes (ten per side) on direct high heat. The skewer is completely optional. When I grill roast my onions I cut them in half, remove the paper, add about 3 minced cloves of garlic per whole onion, add 1 tbs of butter per whole onio, stick it back together, wrap in tin foil, then I place them down in the coals and rotate every to minutes for forty minutes. If I am using a propane grill, flip it once, 15 minutes per side.
If grilling your veggies, well that seem simple, but it's even more simple to burn them, you will want to use indirect high heat. Get your whole grill as hot as possible, then move your coals or kill a burner, where you plan on grilling said veggies. Five minutes per side is more than enough. You can use butter, olive oil, sunflower seed oil, canola oil, etc. I prefer just a little pepper and a whole lot of salt.
That covers veggies. Look for seafood sometime Wednesday afternoon.
Buy Local
Cook lightly
Share with friends or family
I started talking with a certain high school acquaintance about the good that comes from food, and I figure I would share some of those with everyone else.
Salt is a preservative, same with real sugar. They should be the only two in your food. Now there are certain things that you cannot escape unless you have someone at home doing all the cooking for you. If you, like me, are not lucky enough to have a full time chef, then chances are you will need to find your local fish monger, full service baker (not just for cakes people), and butcher. Health food shops are also important such as Wild Oats.
Grow your own produce. If you don't have enough room for a garden then buy from the farmers market. Here in Texas I am lucky enough to have more than 300 growing days per year. For the other 60+ I have a green house in my back yard. I have fresh tomatoes year round. I have fresh basil year round. I am having trouble with my onions year round, I don't quite have a full schedule yet for the San Antonio weather almanac, so I can't plan those growths.
I have three meat markets within 5 miles. I am able to get a travel history on any of the cattle, lambs, or pork that I buy. People will tell you to buy free range because it is less cruel to the animals, but that isn't the only thing. After all, free range just means the livestock is let out of the barn at least once per day... no limits on how long they are let out for, no ideals on if they are to eat their own food either.
That brings me to corn. Buying corn fed livestock is a terrible thing to do. Corn fed livestock are more diseased than regular livestock, plus the cattle excrete more methane. Methane = greenhouse gas = bad for the environment. Not only does the corn feed make cattle more susceptible to disease, but also to parasites. This means that your food will be full of medical injections to kill this stuff off.
Farmed fish vs. wild.... if your fish eats veggies and plankton it doesn't matter. If your fish eats anything you need to go wild. The Japanese have been farming their Koi for centuries and they are healthy still. We have just started testing our white fish such as Talapia and Cod, and have noticed the mercury levels are the same as wild caught. Salmon, Trout, etc do not fare as well.
Seasoning is a great thing, think about your salts. Black salt comes from volcanic areas, clay salt, kosher salt, iodized salt, and sea salt are some of the more common, and not in that order. Kosher salt has special properties of pulling parasites and moisture from meats, that means it's gonna be a little bit more healthy. Then you have your pepper. Black pepper corns are a wonderful thing. Same with red and white. If I am not mistaken the white isn't really a true peppercorn. Green peppercorns in a brine are what we know as capers. Buying pre-ground pepper is a sad thing. All the oil has evaporated. Buy the whole pepper corns and a peppercorn grinder, my favorite type is the "pepper ball" grinder. that you can get at Target, Walmart, or if you want to spend a lot more money, and Pottery Barn.
Fruits and veggies... buy in season. and again, buy local if you can't or don't grow your own.
Pasta... mmmmm... wonderful stuff, but be careful to not over indulge. Certain people do not have the necessary enzymes to fully digest it.
Beer, wine, liquor... here is where I would say do your research. Every bit of alcohol reacts with every person differently. If you are looking at just from a calorie perspective... well, read this. You may find it as interesting as I did.
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Alcoholcaloriesandweight.html
for all beer info on calories though:
http://recipecircus.com/recipes/awsum34/TIDBITS---You-Need-To-Know/Beer.html
I would honestly say though go with martinis.
That is round one.
Here's part two in my three, possibly four or more part series. When I refer to salt, I am refrencing Kosher Salt. Sea Salt is more or less interchangeable, but Iodized Table Salt is not.
Lets start with our veggies. When done properly your veggies can, and sometimes will be the high point of the meal. The following will cover steaming, roasting, and grilling.
Steaming your veggies... seems simple, right? Well, yes it is. But lets talk about infusing additional flavors. With all types of squashes, your carrots, mushrooms, and other common veggies, you can add just a little flavor, or a lot. I know you're thinking "Sergio, I like my yellow squash and zucchini just fine". Well, props to you. I like to "add a little sumin sumin to min. I have a steamer basket. Pretty important for anyone who does veggies. I always fill the water level to the bottom of the basket, the remove the basket. I know, but don't worry, it's going back in. Now comes the trip out to my garden. A sprig of rosemary, a clove or two of green garlic, maybe some oregano, thyme, or cilantro, and *poof* in the pot it goes. Now re-insert the steamer basket, resting on top of these lovely aromatics. now insert veggie of choice, a little salt, and again fresh ground black pepper. Steam til soft and serve (I add a bit of real butter to mine first, but it isn't necessary).
Oven roasting. Now I had to clarify because you can roast on a grill also, and that's next. Make sure you have a deep, oven safe dish for this. I have a Pyrex casserole dish that I use. This method I use primarily for potatoes. Slice up the potatoes into bite sized pieces, coat the pan with a non-stick olive oil spray (or just use some of that light olive oil I mentioned in my previous entry), add a few dollops of butter, then your herbs and spices. Salt and pepper to taste (it takes a while to get to know this by sight, but be patient, you'll learn soon enough). I prefer a sprig of rosemary about three inches long for 4 gold or red potatoes each about half the size of your fist (I know, not quite an accurate measurement for everyone). For russets I would go with a four inch sprig for two medium sized potatoes. Take the leaves off. You do not want the woody stem. Sprinkle the leaves generously, then place in oven, uncovered, for about 40 minutes on 400. Every 15 minutes you want to stir them so the whole potato can get nice and brown. Brown food is good food. This same method works great on onions as well. Once you are comfortable with this method get a bit adventurous. Add some garlic, substitute the rosemary for sage, etc. If you do this with sliced portabello mushrooms, don't use butter, and add some fresh pulled mozzarella, not the suff that comes in a block.
Grill roasting is fairly simple. Cut the veggies into the desired size (I cut them on the bias), sprinkle some olive oil on your hands and rub the veggies, then skewer, add salt and pepper, maybe some granulated garlic or chili powder, not paprika, but some "new mexico", be careful, it's very simple to add too much and cover the natural taste of the veggies.After the veggies are skewered wrap them up in tin foil with just a couple of small holes, and forget about it for about 20 minutes (ten per side) on direct high heat. The skewer is completely optional. When I grill roast my onions I cut them in half, remove the paper, add about 3 minced cloves of garlic per whole onion, add 1 tbs of butter per whole onio, stick it back together, wrap in tin foil, then I place them down in the coals and rotate every to minutes for forty minutes. If I am using a propane grill, flip it once, 15 minutes per side.
If grilling your veggies, well that seem simple, but it's even more simple to burn them, you will want to use indirect high heat. Get your whole grill as hot as possible, then move your coals or kill a burner, where you plan on grilling said veggies. Five minutes per side is more than enough. You can use butter, olive oil, sunflower seed oil, canola oil, etc. I prefer just a little pepper and a whole lot of salt.
That covers veggies. Look for seafood sometime Wednesday afternoon.