Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I love this, you're a man after my own heart. For the past 6 months I've been contemplating baconnaise, but assumed it wouldn't work due to the saturated nature of bacon drippings. I figured it would need diluting with PUFA, but never got around to trying.

Incidentally, according to the USDA Food & Nutrient database, bacon drippings are approx 60% MUFA, 30% SFA, and 10% PUFA. So, given that, (and the low melt point) bacon drippings shouldn't need to be cut with too much PUFA. Bring on the bacony goodness.

PS -- my husband went to MIT. I love the way you people think.

@ Pavlov: Squirrel? Exhaust manifold? Ouch! We are sooooo not redneck! (even in the upper part of the state!) For our state sandwich, I nominate a crepe with apples and maple syrup -- taking influence from New England and our neighbors to the north, and of course from the Silver Moon Creperie in Dover (who deserves more credit than they receive).

Ugh so hard to choose! I think I miss a nice pie crust more than anything. Or maybe brioche. Ooooh or popovers. Oh what I wouldn't give for a fresh, piping hot popover with cultured butter. *sigh* Please pick me! I desperately need this book!

Oh cool. My uncle worked for IBM in the early 70s and worked on the barcode. My older sister remembers him showing her a barcode before they were made public and telling her it would change the world. Neat.

Stories like this make me sad. I live in NH, and recently our local paper (the Foster's Daily Democrat which is on the verge of going under I fear) did a story on struggling New England dairy farmers.

It's very sad. A family can't be a small dairy farm with 30 head of cows and survive. And if they're organic and not pumping them full of hormones, they yield is 20% less -- another big hit. Ultimately, the farmer must get big or get out. This is why factory farming exists -- and why I feel it's so important to support these farmers regardless of cost. Choosing to buy organic milk from small family farms is better for the family, and better for the cows.

Incidentally, in the article in my local paper they interviewed a local organic dairy farm who is only able to stay going because of their strong on-farm sales of raw milk at $8/gal. If our state didn't allow them to sell raw milk they would have gone under.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090312/GJNEWS_01/703129826

OMG this is brilliant -- I love it! The Weimaraner dogs weren't on SS when I was a kid back in the 70s. Makes me want to get a Weimaraner! Who knew they could bake bread (and apparently make candles as in another YouTube clip)?

Olives all'ascolana! A delicious snack from Ascoli Piceno consisting of the regions olives stuffed with seasoned ground meat (usually veal or chicken), breaded and deep fried. Must be tasted to appreciate.

Alas, I'm still waiting on my eureka moment. I love wine, but really can't taste all these magical things others detect. I'm a super taster (about 25% of the population are), and so have twice as many taste buds as regular people. Consequently, I taste things really intensely. The problem is, alcohol completely overwhelms my taste buds, so all those delicate flavors are washed out. Hard spirits are even worse -- a fine single malt Scotch tastes like vodka with a drop of liquid smoke. I'm jealous of people who can taste all these wonderful things I cannot.

But, I'm still willing to try. :)

@Mares - could you clarify this statement: "... you wouldn't get fat eating apples, because the natural sugars in the fruit are pretty much used up breaking down the fiber."

That's not making sense to me -- "fiber" is basically non-digestible carbihydrates including cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin (there are other forms, but these are predominant in apples). These fibers form the structure of the plant cells and basically keep the intracellular contents from leaking out. The sugars are stored in the vacuoles of the plant cells. If the sugars can break down the fiber, the apple would literally digest its self - the sugars would break down the cell walls, and eventually you would be left with a pile of mush even before it left the grocery store shelf.

Apples are about 14% carbohydrates of which is fiber (2.4%), fructose (5.9%), sucrose (2.1%), and glucose (2.4%) (Source: USDA National Nutrient Database).

The digestion of sugars and fiber from the wee apple are completely different processes:

The sucrose is cleaved by sucrase (secreted by the small intestinal cells) to form glucose and fructose. The glucose enters the blood stream to be used immediately for energy, refill glycogen stores, and the rest of stored as fat (the amount in an apple will likely all be used for energy).

The fructose goes to the liver where it is metabolized to glyceraldehyde (GA), dihydroxyacetone (DHAP) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P). The GA and DHAP create glycerol-3-phosphate which makes the backbone of a triglyceride (fat). The G3P is converted to pyruvate, then acetyl-CoA, and then enters the Krebs Cycle where it eventually is turned into palmitate (free fatty acids). Three palmitates attach to the glycerol molecule to form a tri-glyceride -- the body's storage form of fat.

Thus, the metabolic fate of fructose is fat, whereas glucose is (typically) energy.

Humans can't digest fiber (if they could it would be called carbohydrate). Some of the fiber is partially broken down by the bacteria in your gut to form short chain fatty acids which are absorbed and used for energy. The rest passes to the feces giving it bulk and absorbing bile on its way (this is good - it helps protect against colon cancer and can help reduce your body's net cholesterol burden).

As for constipation... that's due to the fiber adding bulk to the feces. But apples are special because they contain more pectin than many other fruits/veggies -- pectin is a soluble fiber, so it absorbs water giving stool greater bulk and making it easier to pass.

An apple only has about 100 calories, nearly all of which are from carbohydrates. Most of the carbs in apples are fructose which is even worse for satiety - fructose is actually metabolized and stored as fat, where as sucrose (the other major sugar in apples) gets dumped into the blood stream. This does almost nothing for satiety as they are rapidly broken down and dumped into the blood stream. The result: your blood sugar goes up a bit, insulin is released, and then quickly comes back down.

Protein, on the other hand, is very satiating to the appetite. For example, one egg also has about 100 calories but will make you feel satiated far longer than an apple.

Apples also contain a lot of fiber and pectin, as well as a phytonutrient called quercetin. Quercetin is a wonderful flavonoid which inhibits histamine release (I live on the stuff for my allergies), and may have some anti-tumor propoerties. However, I don't know about apples containing special "enzymes" that help speed up digestion as another commenter stated.

Apples are still a wonderful snack - don't give up on them! Just pair them with a protein and they'll have much greater staying power. One commenter suggested cheese; here in New England I think cheddar would be customary and delicious. Or, try peanut butter -- 3T of peanut butter has about 12g of protein (nearly the same as 2 eggs). I often eat an apple with 3T of peanut butter for breakfast and it keeps me going all day. I think cashew or almond butter would be especially yummy.

I disagree.

Keep your turkey intact. The best way to achieve both of these states simultaneously is to brine the bird first. By brining, the meat will hold onto moisture better - even when over cooked by 10-15 degrees, the meat is as juicy (and more flavorful) than non-overcooked non-brined meat.

Works well for pork chops too.

As a nutritional science undergraduate, I did my senior research paper on the effect of chocolate on cardiovascular disease-related blood lipids (ie, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, etc). Chocolate is an area that I am particularly passionate about and know a bit about.

Chocolate provides "wellness" benefits in two ways: it has high amounts of antioxidants (in the form of flavanols), and the fat in chocolate prevents LDL from becoming oxidized.

The antioxidants in chocolate exist in the cocoa solids, not the fat (cocoa butter). Roasting, alkalizing ("Dutch-processing"), and adding milk all decrease the amount of antioxidants in chocolate. As the author pointed out, raw cocoa nibs and cocoa powder will have the most benefit.

However, that doesn't mean that these are the only worth-while forms. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate and Dutched cocoa powder still pack a powerful antioxidant punch! They just have less punch than the other forms mentioned.

Per gram, natural (not alkalized) cocoa powder has:

• twice the antioxidant activity of Dutch cocoa powder.
• four times the antioxidant activity of dark chocolate
• ten times the antioxidant activity of milk chocolate

Now, those values are PER GRAM. Per serving is another matter - you generally wouldn't eat that much cocoa powder at a time. A serving of cocoa powder is considered 5g, and a serving of chocolate (dark or milk) is considered 40g. Given that...

Per serving, natural (not alkalized) cocoa powder has:

• twice the antioxidant activity of Dutch cocoa powder.
• HALF the antioxidant activity of dark chocolate
• 25% more antioxidant activity of milk chocolate

So, based on serving size, your best bet is to have dark chocolate or natural cocoa powder. But, all types of chocolate are beneficial.

The type of fat in chocolate is important too. Cocoa butter is 60% saturated fat, and 33% monounsaturated fat (the kind that's in olive oil). These types of fat don't oxidize very readily. This is important because when fat is carried around the body by LDL ("bad" cholesterol), if it oxidizes it can be depositied into arterial plaque (hardening of the arteries). If it doesn't oxidize, it's fine.

So the type of fat protects LDL from being oxidized, and the antioxidants add further protecting. This adds up to a very beneficial food product!

The best time to eat chocolate is at the end of a meal (dessert) because it will help protect the post-meal rise in LDL. I like the author's ideas of cocoa in pancake batter and hot chocolate - they are great! Finishing the meal with a couple of pieces of fine quality chocolate works for me, too. Combine that with a glass of port and you double your antioxidants. :)