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The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
I grew up on a dairy farm, and I agree 100%. If you don't eat veal, then the poor young cow faces a pointless death.
If you want to stop the slaughter of young, male dairy cattle, then you need to stop drinking milk, eating cheese, and enjoying ice cream.
Watch It with Us: 'Top Chef Las Vegas,' Ep. 4
This is quite possibly the best season of Top Chef yet. There is plenty of competition among the leaders, and there is competition among the losers. In past seasons you could always figure out who was going home half way through the challenge.
I will not be surprised if one brother may get eliminated before the final four. Their fierce competition amongst each other has already resulted in culinary failure. I give it a small chance.
I am pissed that the high-stakes quick-fire means one less episode this season!!
Market Scene: Wicker Park & Bucktown Farmers' Market, Chicago
You'd have to charge $1 an ear for organic sweet corn. Without pesticides and herbicides 80% of your harvest would be eaten alive!
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
It does tend to remove some flesh, but it is well worth it! For just one pie, this thing can make a juicy messy. However, the mess is well worth it when canning!
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
I grew up on a dairy farm, and I agree 100%. If you don't eat veal, then the poor young cow faces a pointless death.
If you want to stop the slaughter of young, male dairy cattle, then you need to stop drinking milk, eating cheese, and enjoying ice cream.
Watch It with Us: 'Top Chef Las Vegas,' Ep. 4
This is quite possibly the best season of Top Chef yet. There is plenty of competition among the leaders, and there is competition among the losers. In past seasons you could always figure out who was going home half way through the challenge.
I will not be surprised if one brother may get eliminated before the final four. Their fierce competition amongst each other has already resulted in culinary failure. I give it a small chance.
I am pissed that the high-stakes quick-fire means one less episode this season!!
Market Scene: Wicker Park & Bucktown Farmers' Market, Chicago
You'd have to charge $1 an ear for organic sweet corn. Without pesticides and herbicides 80% of your harvest would be eaten alive!
Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 79: What's Your Favorite Seasonal Snack?
Peaches and/or ice cream! All pitted fruits are a summertime staple.
Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 72: I Couldn't Finish 2 Hot Dogs; Does That Make Me a Wuss?
That is a dieting landmark! Hopefully a few more pounds will slip off before your next dieting plateau.
'Top Chef' Season 5, Episode 3: Food Fighters
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner outside in Rochester?? Did they really think that they could pass that off?
Making Your Own Cocktail Ingredients
It's great to see you linking to MxMo!
I always make my own syrups. Homemade grenadine is easy: 1 part pomegranate juice to one part sugar, heat, and reduce to desired thickness. I also do passion fruit syrup (essential for NOLA hurricanes) in a similar manner. I did one batch of orgeat (and still have it).
I have also tried falernum a once.
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
Unlike other commenters, I have one of these and after trying it a few time, decided I hate using it. I'm going to have to give it away.
If your apples are slightly bumpy or misshaped, it doesn't work well. Adjusting the wingnut to change how much peel is coming off is harder to do than you would think. The suction cup on mine has never satisfactorily attached to any surface I've used. The metal parts started rusting after the first use.
The last time I used it, I decided a paring knife would have taken me about half the time. Good riddance!
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
Chichi, and a cow has two tenderloins! Should be half the price of oxtail, if there were any justice. :)
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
This gadget (available in many places other than the overpriced WS) is a lifesaver at holidays. You can stick the kids working the apple slicer while you prepare the pie crust. Apple pie is not the same without this thing!
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
Why add more clutter to your kitchen if you can just use a paring knife? The time saved is really not that much.
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
This is not a really NEW invention. My grandmother had one exactly like it iver 50 years ago. Works well and it's fun to crank it when you're having to stand on a stool to reach the cutting board..
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
@SSGsnuffy: I have one of these not from Williams-sonoma, which looks like it in every other way. Got it from the hardware store. Has a screw clamp on the bottom, so it has to attach to the edge of the table. That's sometimes inconvenient in terms of the juice that gets created, but on the other hand, I don't have to worry about the suction cup going (I've had other gadgets where the suction cup failed eventually).
@eric214. On my model and it appears on this model there's a wingnut screw that lets you adjust the amount of peel that's removed. This is way more peel than needs to be removed - unless it's an old, punky apple, which won't give a thin peel.
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
I saw one of these at the Christmas Tree Shop this weekend...probably not as good of quality as WS but less expensive
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
SSG, the suction bottom actually works pretty well! It's one of those things that you might have to do two or three times to get it right, but once you get it right, it's not going anywhere.
Erich, the peeler is adjustable--it has a little screw that you loosen and you can change the positioning on it to control how much you want to take off. The largest setting will be wide enough to theoretically cut shoestring potatoes (it's a little hit or miss in my experience) but the thinnest setting will just skim the surface. What Tom says about the juicy mess is entirely true, though!
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
What you'll find is that sometimes gadgets are just about making cooking fun, and that's exactly what this does.
No way. I'm with Alton Brown: The only unitasker I want in my kitchen is a fire extinguisher. And maybe an olive pitter. I'll figure out another use for it, and justify it to myself that way.
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
My mom had a Pampered Chef one growing up, but it clamped to the counter top.
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
Oh, and SSG Snuffy - i was hesitant about that as well, but the suction cup has never failed me.
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
i only have two single-use tools in my kitchen - an olive/cherry pitter and this. Family holiday dinner preparations (for usually upwards of 20 people) are much more tolerable since this marvellous tool came into my life! Three apple pies and usually a few potato dishes are done in half the time.
plus, like pianolady3 said, at least 3+ family members (my mom, my grandmother, and my brother are some of the usual suspects) LOVE using it, so i can pass off menial tasks such as apple peeling/coring/slicing to them while i make ravioli for the masses!!
Gadgets: The Apple Peeler/Corer
use this with valencia juice oranges for mexican-style oranges sold 3 or 4 to a bag.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
Meh. I don't mind paying higher prices for oxtail. A cow only has one, you know!
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
Oh I love oxtail. Shame it has gotten so pricey. I make a great Thai/Chinese style braise...mmmmmmmmmm
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
I'm still bitter that my once-secret trick -- oxtail stew, with oxtails bought for 79 cents a pound back in the early 1990s -- is now in the open, and the friggin' oxtails are pushing $6 a pound now. I blame you, celebrity chefs!!!
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
Mildlyinterested, I was waiting for someone to bring up your point -
I think the debate can continue as to whether there's anything wrong with eliminating an animal life that was lived in humane conditions, or whether we should refrain from taking animal life in general.
That being said:
IF we accept an omnivorous lifestyle, THEN I think we can all agree that within the confines of the current dairy industry, it's better to figure out a way to humanely deal with all those redundant calves.
Also, again, for those who are thinking of severing those oxtails themselves - even at the joints, it's difficult and potentially dangerous to do so without a very large butcher's knife. Please, ask your butcher!
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
@BananaMonkey, you're separating it at joints, so you should be able to do it without heavy equipment.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
YESSSS! I feel so vindicated. Oxtails, shank - fantastic looooong simmered. We have an international farmer's market here that has whole cases of ears, tails, you name it. If we are going to slaughter an animal, we should use the whole thing. These cuts aren't for everybody - but that's their loss.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
This was a really excellent summary of the beef/dairy/veal connection, thanks.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
"Both methods result in more humane living conditions. Pink veal calves have access to movement, cereal feed, and, depending on the method, outdoor grazing."
But lets not act like we're really doing these calf's a favor by sparing them death. It's not something you can rationalize if the foundation of the idea is something you typically disagree with (eating baby animals). Just do it. It's a meaningless existence anyway. I know I'd rather be shot at birth than to be raised halfway to maturity with the express purpose of fattening up somebody's stew. Even with that wonderful amenity, access of movement. But then again, I'd rather be slaughtered sooner than later in the conditions that most of their older, meatier counterparts live in. So... Either way, the recipe looks delicious.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
Yeah, just slaughter the whole family. No point in not doing it, honestly. If you have a problem with veal, or paté, grow some balls and become a vegan. It's not hard to do. Otherwise, enjoy this recipe.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
BananaMonkey - hmmmm, you could do it yourself if you had a very large butcher's knife, or an electric saw. I'm guessing you're asking b/c you have neither :) I'm surprised that the Chinese butchers did not cut them for you - probably, they were just being apathetic to your plight. You could try saying "yi kuai yi kuai" for "pieces," and see if that does the trick.
The Nasty Bits: The Tale of Veal
Yay! A ChiChi post! Thorough, thoughtful and beautifully written, as always.
I wonder ChiChi, if you know whether separating a tail is easy to do at home. My local Chinese market sells whole oxtails. I've tried to ask them to sever at each joint for me, but either they were unwilling or my frantic mime did not break the language barrier. In the end I gave up because I was unsure if I would be able to break it down at home.
Watch It with Us: 'Top Chef Las Vegas,' Ep. 4
I don't know if it's because this season is following Top Chef Masters or what but the show has definitely upped the ante! Impressive episode. I'm sad to see Hector go but I'm glad Ashley is still in! Close call for her in both rounds this episode, sheesh. I think she is talented and will make it to the top, near Jen, the Voltaggio Brothers and Kevin.
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It does tend to remove some flesh, but it is well worth it! For just one pie, this thing can make a juicy messy. However, the mess is well worth it when canning!