Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 26: The Feed-A-Meathead Challenge

Kenji - that is one of the refutations I had read. I meant both: the studies themselves, but the especially the interpretations of such published by Dr. Campbell. As you yourself acknowledge, the studies used for his "analysis" were for the most part epidemiological studies, using self reported data, performed with no controls. The "conclusions" Campbell comes to are not conclusions at all: his goal was to build a case for veganism from the outset, and he then cherry picks from the questionable-to-begin-with data to build his argument, ignoring some evidence that would dispute his claims and flat out lying (mostly by omission) about other facts. His entire approach is biased, yet is presented as incontrovertible scientific evidence.

"Campbell’s sin is not bad science through incompetence, but sensationalism through omission and generalization."

This to me is worse than bad science through incompetence. It is bad science through deliberate misrepresentation. I'd rather not continue to paraphrase so I will post a couple links:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Spotting-Bad-Science-103-The-China-Study.pdf

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/cancer/the-china-study-vs-the-china-study/

The raw data presented in the book are pretty much useless for drawing any the conclusions Campbell is proclaiming, they are only worthwhile for building hypotheses which then must be proven or disproven through randomized controlled trials. And there are plenty of those that disprove his conclusions that animal proteins and fats are unhealthy. In fact, quite the opposite. The evidence shows that saturated fats from animal sources do not cause heart disease. They actually reduce inflammation that leads to metabolic syndrome which is the underlying cause for among other things, diabetes and heart disease.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203091236.htm

The notion that dietary cholesterol has an impact on cholesterol levels in the body is also a myth, at least as far as the negative impact of such is concerned. In fact, consumption of cholesterol has beneficial effect, raising the amount of "good" cholesterol. High "bad" cholesterol is secreted by the liver, not the rsult of eating too much of it in your diet, and this over secretion is actually linked to too much carbohydrate intake. Hello bread and pasta eating vegans, and all other low fat, high carb dieters!

http://www.livestrong.com/article/83353-cholesterol-myths-busted/

Deliberate omission of facts, cherry picking data from observational studies, presenting correlation as causation, all are capital crimes against science and disqualify all claims made by those who engage in such.

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 26: The Feed-A-Meathead Challenge

The China Study is a bad science. Not just a couple holes, the whole thing is claptrap.

From Talk

Pour over cone vs French Press coffee

Sorry, I was referring to the kone by coava. To me it's the best of both worlds. You get more body than with a paper filter, but less grit than the French press. And there's no paper filters to throw away, or more importantly, to run out of at the worst time.

See more comments by simon »

Recent Posts

From Talk

Retinning copper pans?

From Talk

Can't see the comments in the most recent Food Lab post

From Talk

Late night dinner options near the Art Students League?

From Talk

This time, coffee near Times Sq.

See more posts by simon »

Recent Favorites

From Sweets

How to Make Homemade Chocolate Pudding Snack Packs

From Serious Eats

Video: Two Dogs Dining

From Recipes

Pistachio-Honey Butter

From Talk

breakthrough pizza crust for home ovens

See more favorites by simon »

Recent Polls

From Slice

simon answered "Crisp and curl" to Should pepperoni crisp and curl or lie flat?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Crumbs" to What's Your Favorite Cupcake Shop In New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Hill Country" to What's Your Favorite Barbecue In New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Sal and Carmine's" to What's Your Favorite Old-School Pizza In New York?

Recent Quizzes

From Serious Eats

simon got 80% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Tropical Fruits?

From Serious Eats

simon got 50% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Ramen?

From Serious Eats

simon got 87% correct on How Much Do You Know About Beer?

From Serious Eats

simon got 90% correct on How Much Do You Know About Hot Dogs?

See more polls and quizzes by simon »

Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 26: The Feed-A-Meathead Challenge

Kenji - that is one of the refutations I had read. I meant both: the studies themselves, but the especially the interpretations of such published by Dr. Campbell. As you yourself acknowledge, the studies used for his "analysis" were for the most part epidemiological studies, using self reported data, performed with no controls. The "conclusions" Campbell comes to are not conclusions at all: his goal was to build a case for veganism from the outset, and he then cherry picks from the questionable-to-begin-with data to build his argument, ignoring some evidence that would dispute his claims and flat out lying (mostly by omission) about other facts. His entire approach is biased, yet is presented as incontrovertible scientific evidence.

"Campbell’s sin is not bad science through incompetence, but sensationalism through omission and generalization."

This to me is worse than bad science through incompetence. It is bad science through deliberate misrepresentation. I'd rather not continue to paraphrase so I will post a couple links:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Spotting-Bad-Science-103-The-China-Study.pdf

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/cancer/the-china-study-vs-the-china-study/

The raw data presented in the book are pretty much useless for drawing any the conclusions Campbell is proclaiming, they are only worthwhile for building hypotheses which then must be proven or disproven through randomized controlled trials. And there are plenty of those that disprove his conclusions that animal proteins and fats are unhealthy. In fact, quite the opposite. The evidence shows that saturated fats from animal sources do not cause heart disease. They actually reduce inflammation that leads to metabolic syndrome which is the underlying cause for among other things, diabetes and heart disease.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203091236.htm

The notion that dietary cholesterol has an impact on cholesterol levels in the body is also a myth, at least as far as the negative impact of such is concerned. In fact, consumption of cholesterol has beneficial effect, raising the amount of "good" cholesterol. High "bad" cholesterol is secreted by the liver, not the rsult of eating too much of it in your diet, and this over secretion is actually linked to too much carbohydrate intake. Hello bread and pasta eating vegans, and all other low fat, high carb dieters!

http://www.livestrong.com/article/83353-cholesterol-myths-busted/

Deliberate omission of facts, cherry picking data from observational studies, presenting correlation as causation, all are capital crimes against science and disqualify all claims made by those who engage in such.

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 26: The Feed-A-Meathead Challenge

The China Study is a bad science. Not just a couple holes, the whole thing is claptrap.

From Talk

Pour over cone vs French Press coffee

Sorry, I was referring to the kone by coava. To me it's the best of both worlds. You get more body than with a paper filter, but less grit than the French press. And there's no paper filters to throw away, or more importantly, to run out of at the worst time.

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 25: Can Vegans Still Enjoy Pizza?

Kenji - I imagine your mayo could be made with all kinds of pizza friendly flavors. Roast garlic. Zucchini. Pine nuts and basil. Red peppers.....

I made a "discovery" last weekend: celery juice blended with a liberal amount of soy lecithin and some xanthan. It turned into a spreadable soft gel with the same consistency as a good home made mayo. It was delicious, and had nothing else in it. No oil, no seasonings either. It can be done with any juice. Something to add to the vegan arsenal (xanthan is vegan right?)

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 25: Can Vegans Still Enjoy Pizza?

"At the end of the meal, guess which pies had the least leftover slices? That would be the two cheeseless, vegan pies."

Well, if you're not eating any of the non vegan ones, they are at a distinct disadvantage. That's just math :)

From Talk

Pour over cone vs French Press coffee

Pretty much ANYTHING (besides maybe Flavia packets or Folger's) will be better than a Keurig. How do you define better or worse? I love the kone. It's "better" than French press in that the coffee doesn't sit on the grounds, and the brew is less gritty.

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 25: Can Vegans Still Enjoy Pizza?

(probably would top it after the pie cooked, baking the "mayo" would probably cause the emulsion to break.)

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Day 25: Can Vegans Still Enjoy Pizza?

Instead of cheese, for creaminess, I'd try topping it with your eggplant "mayo" from a few days ago. And the flavors wouldn't even be incongruous.

From A Hamburger Today

Reality Check: The Big America Burgers at McDonald's Japan Are Back (and Bad As Ever)

@texas blues - actually, as much as I am loathe to give McDonald's credit for anything, the food they serve in France is much better than what they serve us here. It's still crap of course, but it does taste better.

From Talk

What to serve with bone marrow?

Marrow is essentially just fat. It's not extremely flavorful, but it is rich. So, crusty bread for sure. And something acidic to cut the richness, therefore a parsley salad with a good vinaigrette is a good complement.

Or you could go the Marea route, and toss the warmed marrow nuggets into a tomato based pasta. Search this site for the Marea braised octopus pasta for a detailed play by play of how to make that amazing dish.

From Serious Eats: New York

Torrisi Italian Specialties, NYC: 20-Course $125 Tasting Menu That Manages To Be Flat-Out Fun

This looks and sounds pretty nuts. The creativity and technique are both astounding, and I'll take your trusted word for it that it's all as successful in the mouth as it is in words and photography. I've never been tempted to go to Do or Dine because when I go out to eat I'm not interested in silly gimmicks and weirdness for it's own sake, but this does indeed sound like it's worth a shot.

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Days 22 and 23: Charting My Cravings

Kenji - you could do the veggie grilling columns, I'm pretty sure Joshua Bousel can cover for you, he's doing an excellent job already :)

From Serious Eats

The Vegan Experience Days 22 and 23: Charting My Cravings

Since it's been such a success, you should up the ante and go for a full six months.

From Serious Eats

Snapshots from Japan: Street Fair Food in Kyoto

Thanks for these pics. Makes me want to go back to Kyoto so bad. I had those exact octopus balls, bought from a vendor who was setup on the long canal that has all the cherry blossoms, on the Philosopher's Walk. Hell, I'm ready to move there permanently and never come back. The eel and yuba were also memorably delicious, not to mention the kaiseki dinner we had that was probably the best meal I've had in my entire life.

From Drinks

3 American Rye Whiskeys You Should Try

I like Tuhilltown's stuff better than the cheaper and more conventional stuff made by the bigger name distillers. I keep coming back to the Baby Bourbon, it's the best one they do imho. I do like their corn whiskey too. I also saw they are making an aged rum now too, which is very tempting. If it was easier to find, I'd drink a lot more Pappy Van Winkle than I do. A friend of mine scored a bottle and very generously offers me a glass whenever we're hanging out at his place.

From Talk

Is anyone sous-viding at home?

You know I was thinking about this further last night, about the whole searing thing after you unbag the food. And your comment about the fat factor made me think about how what's really going on isn't "searing" but more like shallow frying. This is what makes for the well formed crust with so much great texture and browning flavor. I believe it's the same realisation Kenji came to when cooking burgers in their own rendered fat. And when he did his sous vide porchetta which he later fried to get it crispy and browned, the same principle was at work. No amount of blowtorching can produce those results.

From Talk

leftover carnitas "stock"

Use for cooking rice, or lentils, the ramen idea is great, you could also serve tortellini in it, you could use it for a minestrone soup. Or simmer some root veggies in it (celery root/parsnip/potato/sunchoke/...) and blast the lot of it in a food processor or with a stick blender once they are tender, and you'll have a fantastic rich savory purée.

From Talk

Is anyone sous-viding at home?

Ignore them and just go for it. It's just cooking, it's not calculus. If you're already cooking sous vide on your own, that clearly means you're a competent, enthusiastic and curious cook. Keller's recipes aren't difficult, but they can be a lot of work. You can easily see where shortcuts can be taken too, or how things can be adapted for simpler dishes. Often, you can take only two or three of his components and add them to your repertoire. People who complain about Keller's recipes who claim to be into cooking are like people who complain about exercising yet claim to be into maintaining their fitness. It just doesn't compute.

And yeah, I think the cool factor of the blowtorch is definitely a big part of the equation. My favorite use for it is toasting marshmallows.

From Talk

Is anyone sous-viding at home?

Under Pressure is totally doable. I have also heard people whining and moaning about the French Laundry cookbook which I use all the time.

If Kenji says that pre-sear is unnecessary then Kenji would be wrong. Try it for yourself. Also, read Dave Arnold's blog: http://www.cookingissues.com/

His work on sous vide technique is fantastic. I hope he continues to flesh out his SV primer.

As far as why the torch doesn't produce the same depth of flavor as searing, I think you pretty much nailed it. That and the fact that you actually have less control over it, it has a tendency to burn rather than produce the desired reaction, and the heat is applied in a focused, localized spot as opposed to the entire surface that is in contact with the pan. I think the reason why the blowtorch is favored by professional chefs is for logistical reasons, and in some cases for the theatrics of a waiter torching a dish tableside.

From Talk

Is anyone sous-viding at home?

There's tons of sous vide recipes on this site, use the search function:

http://www.seriouseats.com/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?__mode=gsearch&blog_id=31&site=All&search=sous+vide

Reading your technique, I think there are things you can improve on. First off, you should be searing, not torching. Torching creates close to nothing in terms of flavor or texture. When cooking larger and more substantial pieces of meat like short ribs for example, it is also better to pre-sear so that those Maillard flavors can permeate the whole cut. Then you'll want to sear again after unbagging.

Sous vide isn't only for cooking proteins. I've used sous vide to cook egg custards to perfect consistency, for making ice cream bases for example. Get yourself a copy of Thomas Keller's Under Pressure if you're yearning for some recipes beyond steak.

From Serious Eats

How to Make Sriracha from Scratch

Oh, and I want to make this with fresh espelette peppers. The next time I'm in France in late September, it's on.

From Serious Eats

How to Make Sriracha from Scratch

I am really loving this column. Thanks Joshua.

See more comments by simon »

Recent Posts

From Talk

Retinning copper pans?

From Talk

Can't see the comments in the most recent Food Lab post

From Talk

Late night dinner options near the Art Students League?

From Talk

This time, coffee near Times Sq.

From Talk

good coffee near 17th and 5th?

From Talk

Comments still weird

From Talk

Comments formatting weirdly

From Talk

FRESH Stevia leaves?

From Talk

Slow cooker roundup?

From Talk

Thanksgiving recipe roundup pages?

From Talk

Congratulations Max F.!

From Talk

Sichuan hot pot season!

From Talk

Shake Shack changing its method?

From Talk

Hide Chan Ramen - a bit of a letdown

From Talk

Eataly - First Impression

From Talk

Paris recommendations?

From Talk

No Ed Levine review today?

From Talk

Buying wood chunks in NYC?

From Talk

Goodies lives!!!

From Talk

Oldest dry aged steaks in NYC?

From Talk

Long Beach Pizza Joints

From Talk

Cooking sous vide from frozen?

From Talk

What's in your CSA box this week?

From Talk

My apology to Ed, and clarification on my comment.

From Talk

Food dehydrators?

See more posts by simon »

Polls

From Slice

simon answered "Crisp and curl" to Should pepperoni crisp and curl or lie flat?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Crumbs" to What's Your Favorite Cupcake Shop In New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Hill Country" to What's Your Favorite Barbecue In New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Sal and Carmine's" to What's Your Favorite Old-School Pizza In New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Bon Chon" to What's Your Favorite Fried Chicken In New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Yes! I love ice cream no matter the season. " to Do You Eat Ice Cream In The Cold?

From Slice

simon answered "Once in a blue moon" to How often do you eat frozen pizza?

From Serious Eats

simon answered "Fresh Nutmeg " to What Kind of Nutmeg Do You Use?

From Serious Eats

simon answered "Combination of above" to Where'd You Do Most of Your Thanksgiving Grocery Shopping?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "No. There are always dangers inherent in alcohol, and Four Loko is no different." to Should Four Loko Be Banned?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Location is no objection. I'll go anywhere." to How Far Would You Travel For Good Food?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "At someone else's house" to Where Are You Eating Thanksgiving?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "They're a good road map to fine dining, but don't get everything right. " to What Do You Think of the Michelin Stars?

From Slice

simon answered "No. I'm pie-curious!" to Are you a pizza purist?

From Slice

simon answered "A corner slice" to When it comes to square-cut pizza, I prefer ...

From Serious Eats

simon answered "I buy from different sources now, like local farmers' markets" to Are You Eating Fewer Eggs

From Slice

simon answered "Oh, boy, you are really reaching the bottom of the bucket for poll topics, aren't you? (That's OK, I'll suggest a better topic for next week in the comments below)" to Do you salt your slices?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Wouldn't matter to me—a low grade doesn't necessarily mean a dangerous kitchen. " to Would You Eat at a 'C' Restaurant?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "Tell the server, then try to forget about it. " to How Would You Deal With Restaurant Error?

From Slice

simon answered "Yes. Bring it on" to Do Garlic and Mozzarella Belong Together on a Pizza?

From A Hamburger Today

simon answered "80/20" to What Lean-To-Fat Ratio Do You Prefer When Making Burgers?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "I never want to see or hear about a goddamn cupcake again." to Do You Care About Cupcakes?

From Serious Eats: New York

simon answered "15 or under; no lunch is worth that much time." to How Long Is Too Long for a Great Lunch?

From Slice

simon answered "No. Grease, for lack of a better word, is good" to Do you blot the grease from your pizza?

From Serious Eats

simon answered "I buy seedless watermelon to avoid this." to How Do You Eat Your Watermelon?

See more polls by simon »

Quizzes

From Serious Eats

simon got 80% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Tropical Fruits?

From Serious Eats

simon got 50% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Ramen?

From Serious Eats

simon got 87% correct on How Much Do You Know About Beer?

From Serious Eats

simon got 90% correct on How Much Do You Know About Hot Dogs?

From Serious Eats

simon got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Breakfast Foods?

From Serious Eats

simon got 50% correct on How Much Do You Know About Irish Food?

From Serious Eats

simon got 100% correct on How Much Do You Know About Cheese?

From Serious Eats

simon got 75% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food Preservation?

From Serious Eats

simon got 28% correct on How Much Do You Know About Chocolate Chip Cookies?

From Serious Eats

simon got 55% correct on How Much Do You Know About Condiments?

From Serious Eats

simon got 66% correct on How Much Do You Know About New Orleans Food Culture?

See more quizzes by simon »

About simon

Website:

Location: NYC: seyo [at] yahoo [dot] com

About:

Favorite foods:

Last bite on earth: