Mark Bittman, AKA The Minimalist, has an interesting op-ed in the New York Times this week, about the future of fish. A few key points:
- If current fishing practices continue, many major commercial fish stocks will likely collapse in the next fifty years. Many fish populations have already been seriously depleted.
- Smaller fish species like herring, anchovies and sardines are also in trouble, as they're being caught and made into fish meal for livestock and farmed fish. Using fish meal to feed farmed fish is extremely inefficient - at least three kilos of small fish go to produce one kilo of farmed fish.
- Industrial aquaculture negatively impacts the environment in a number of ways - it destroys shoreline, such as mangrove forests, pollutes water with fish feces, and kills off wild fish species.
- Solutions? Develop a taste for the small fish, so they'll no longer be used as fish feed. So quit eating low-quality farmed salmon and go for some nice mackerel instead. And give fishermen shares in fisheries, but fix the total number of catch per year.
Yesterday I posted about the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau--and why I think you should try a Cru Beaujolais instead. Some commenters told me that they'll stick with the Nouveau version, and that's totally cool. Especially if you live in Japan, where you can get Beaujolais Nouveau with a Hello Kitty logo. As if that's not a sweet enough deal, the bottle is also plastic, a much more environmentally friendly shipping container, especially for an inexpensive wine meant to be drunk immediately like Beaujolais Nouveau.
It may surprise some to hear that plastic is greener than glass--after all, glass is 100 percent recyclable. But, according to research by Tyler Colman, aka Dr. Vino, plastic is much less carbon-intensive overall because it's lighter to ship.
In a moment of "eat my words," I'll admit today what I wouldn't have yesterday: if I came across the Hello Kitty plastic bottle, I'd be tempted to buy it. It's pretty cute, no?
You discuss it after a particularly satisfying holiday feast. Melanie Dunea wrote a book about the topic last year. And now, the National Museum of Crime and Punishment has queried more than 500 of their visitors on the subject, asking: "What if you could have absolutely anything you desired -- and what if you knew it would be the last meal you ever ate?"
There were absolutely no limitations or conditions set on the answers. The questioners found that people tended to gravitate towards foods that were either comforting and familiar or extravagantly luxurious for their final repast. The most popular responses were Ice cream, steak, pizza, lobster, hamburgers, spaghetti, sushi, crab and potatoes. Some of the more unusual requests included kielbasa, pop tarts and Stouffer's macaroni and cheese. There were also many votes for John Wayne Gacy's last meal, which was 12 deep-fried shrimp, a bucket of Original Recipe chicken from KFC, french fries and a pound of strawberries.
Personally, I think I'd go for really excellent Vietnamese deep fried spring rolls, several slices perfectly charred, brick oven pizza and a hand-packed pint of Bassett's Ice Cream. How about you?
Over the weekend we finished installing new steam pipes and condensate returns for the brewery boiler. Late Saturday afternoon we fired the boiler up and it seemed to work fine. When we got in Monday to check on things, the sight glass on the brew kettle was broken. We think it probably had the wrong gaskets or some other small problem and cracked during the cool-down. We ordered a replacement, and some valves, and then we're set to start brewing.
Later Monday we got our first shipment of brewing ingredients: crushed malt, hops, yeast, and assorted adjuncts and fermentation nutrients. So as soon as we clear up the last little things we will be brewing beer!
Much of the rest of the week was spent in the winery, bottling wine, re-arranging storage, and all kinds of things to get ready for our busiest time of year, the Holiday Season. Later in the week we found out that we still had some major problems with the boiler. Actually, not the boiler, but the configuration of the piping, where and how parts are located, steam condensate traps, pumps, etc. An expert came in and very soon was able to figure out the problems and we ordered some more parts and started what we hope will be our final re-design. Just another week or so and we'll be able to brew.
Have you ever been torn between the flavors and textures of a potato salad, and those of your usual tossed salad? If so, I strongly recommend the following recipe -- a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The Provencal Salad from Epicurious is a mix that gives you the creamy chew of potatoes and eggs, matches them with the crisp, fresh flavors of tomato and green beans, and then tops it off with capers and tuna. It's quite easy to make, and can be made in stages. Boil the eggs ahead of time, prep the green beans, then just bring it all together as you boil the potatoes.
On it's own, it's a great light meal balanced with a vinagrette dressing (kicked up by the use of champagne vinegar and dijon). But for a real treat -- top it with fried feta. The warmth and saltiness are a perfect addition and really make the salad a meal.
More and more people are discovered that they have gluten intolerances these days (and manyofthem have documented their dietary changes on these here interwebs). A gluten-free lifestyle can be a huge adjustment but there are some good cookbooks out there that can help with the transition. One such cookbook is 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes, which has become the modern-day Joy of Cooking for gluten-free set.
This book clocks in at nearly 700 pages and has recipes for just about every dish, baked good, sauce and salad that you could possibly want to prepare. It's not a glossy book with pictures of every recipe, instead it strives to provide delicious foods that appeal to everyone (both the gluten-free and the gluten-full).
However, you don't have to be on a gluten-free diet to enjoy this book and so we're giving away two copies of it to two lucky Slashfood readers. To enter, just leave a comment on this post, making sure to include your email (so that we're able to get in touch with you). The deadline for entry is Monday, November 24th at 12 noon.
For months I have been itching to try Archana's Spiced Carrot Cake, a sweet treat that is pumped up with the addition of ground cardamom. I'd been leaning on my banana bread recipes for those moments when a sweet, but not sugar-saturated treat was in order, but it was time for a change.
When you have all the ingredients prepared, this is a great, simple recipe that yields solid, tasty results. The cardamom gives this nice, subtle push of flavor that sets this mix apart. But be warned -- it's a pain in the arse to grind it. I bought some over the summer, but this was the first time I used some. The shells are very stubborn, and a lot of effort will give you just a bit of appropriately ground spice. I heated it with my cast iron skillet and then used a mortar and pestle and my coffee grinder to get the powder. It took a while since the cardamom is so light that it flies above the blades. If you want speed, I suggest some pre-ground cardamom.
But the result is a treat. It was the middle of the night, and I was too impatient, so I just ripped chunks off and ate them warm, without a glaze or confectioners sugar -- both of which would really make this cake. But without, it's still nice and light, moist, and great for a quick nibble.
I have been contributing to Thanksgiving dinners since I was a child, doing everything from polishing the silver to serving the cocktails to making all the side dishes to inventing new deserts. However, this year will be the first that I'll be hosting and, admittedly, the thought fills me with dread.
I've thrown many a party and cooked many a feast in my time but the idea of making a whole turkey in a temperamental oven is, simply, frightening. Thus far, I've dealt with my problem in my usual way--avoiding it by becoming absorbed in everything that surrounds it. In this case, the side dishes. By dint of my location (Las Vegas) and the thrift shop acquisition of a pertinent Sunset cookbook, we are having a southwestern Thanksgiving this year.
Oh Brussels sprouts! Your bright green color and tender insides. I love them sauteed, roasted, steamed and shredded and I think they're also one of the more photogenic veggies out there. It appears that Mike from Another Pint Please... is also fond of the sprouts and took some very nice pictures of them. Thanks Mike!
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
With airlines cutting costs, some of us are actually wistful about the days when we got to complain about the prison-level quality of airplane meals. But Biggie over at Lunch in a Box has an idea - DIY bento flight meals. This disposable metal tray contains a ham and cheese sandwich, vegetable curry (in a disposible condiment container), red bell pepper strips with poppy seed dressing, Swiss and Cheddar cheese slices, beans with sofrito (Latin American tomato-based sauce), fruit, cheese triangle and corn chips. The whole thing gets wrapped up in a tea towel, to be used as a placemat or a napkin. Beats a Post-It sized bag of complimentary pretzels, eh?
Thanksgiving Eve is an oft overlooked holiday. In recent years, its stock has been rising as one of the top drinking days of the year. When else do so many friends and family members converge with nothing to do the next day but lie around waiting to gorge on hangover friendly foods? (Assuming you're not the one doing all of the cooking!)
For college students especially, Thanksgiving Eve is typically your first time home since starting school, meaning it's your first time to catch up with old friends. As is often the case, maybe you've picked up a new found fascination with beer and are looking for ways to impress your former high school soccer teammate whose fancy private university anecdotes are really just self-congratulatory.
After the jump, find 8 phrases you can slip into conversation that are guaranteed to make you feel like a beer stud (with handy links if your friends are incessantly inquisitive and you want to do your homework).
Do you like cocktails without putting in the effort of making them? Proving that there's something for everyone, you can pick up a Lazydrinker to bartend your holiday party, and all other libation-required celebrations in its wake.
And then there's the stuffing v. dressing debate. Do you stuff the bird? Do you dress it? What is the right way to handle that popular Thanksgiving side?
Looking back across the years, there are a lot of things that I remember fondly about Boy Scout camp. Food, however, is not one of them. While servings were plentiful, they were also clearly designed to save money and, even at the age of ten, I could tell that the powdered eggs, watery Kool-Aid (aka "bug juice"), and gristly burgers were only a small step up from prison chow. Over the course of the week, I used to load up on the occasionally palatable entree, but usually relied on bread, butter, and fruit to get me through.
While many of the dishes at Camp Rock Enon represented the culinary arts version of crimes against humanity, the worst, by far, was the fake bacon. Designed to resemble weather stripping, it was clearly artificial, with stripes that looked like they were painted on by Willy Wonka's employees and a scent that tried to approximate pork, but was actually redolent of a chemistry set. The "fakie bakie" was so bad that it actually turned my campmates and I off the real thing. I don't know what everybody else did with their pseudo-bacon, but my buddies and I used it in a collection of initiation games that bordered on cruel and unusual punishment.
It's been a few decades, and I'd almost completely forgotten about the utter horror of camp bacon. However, I happened across Eat Me Daily's review of Morningstar Farms' Bacon Strips and, in an instant, I was hurtled back to my childhood bacon hell. Basically, it seems like they've found the same hellish junk that still haunts my nightmares. On the bright side, the writer managed to perfectly capture the revulsion that this stuff evoked in me; this is nice because, although I have been forced to relive a terrifying period in my life, I am comforted by the knowledge that I am not alone.
After a week spent wandering the halls of Tales of the Cocktail in July 2008, sipping many finely stirred and shaken libations; I said to myself, "These special cocktails need to be shared with the world." So I bring you Cocktail Hour, a finer way to celebrate the end of the day; with these recipes. They have either been created specifically for Tales of the Cocktail, or re-designed for a new approach on the traditional version by some of the top Mixologists in the world. Many are being presented to the public here for the first time. Enjoy! Blind Dates in Manhattan cocktail recipe after the jump
I'm going to preface this by admitting a few painful truths. First of all, I have to admit that I have been known to occasionally become completely addicted to various fast food treats. For example, in the 1990's, I had an almost rabid attraction to Wendy's' Big Dave's Deluxe burger. Basically a sloppy agglomeration of everything that is good to eat and bad for you, the Big Dave's Deluxe occupied an outsize portion of my free mental space for a fairly long period of time. In fact, even now, I occasionally find myself ruminating about its fried onions and crispy bacon...
My second difficult admission has to do with my age. I have to admit that I am, indeed, old enough to remember when McDonald's McNuggets first hit the market. As a young fast-food junkie, I was immediately enamored of the crunchy little slabs of pre-formed chicken gristle, and loved experimenting with the various sauces. In fact, for a couple of years they were my go-to food whenever I found myself at the golden arches (aka "Kiddie Nirvana").
Flowers are pretty and candles are chic, but foodies know that the most fun centerpieces are made of more food! Check out these ideas for making beautiful food centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table.
Over the weekend we finished installing new steam pipes and condensate returns for the brewery boiler. Late Saturday afternoon we fired the boiler up and it seemed to work fine. When we got in Monday to check on things, the sight glass on the brew kettle was broken. We think it probably had the wrong gaskets or some other small problem and cracked during the cool-down. We ordered a replacement, and some valves, and then we're set to start brewing. 
Thanksgiving Eve is an oft overlooked holiday. In recent years, its stock has been rising as one of the top drinking days of the year. When else do so many friends and family members converge with nothing to do the next day but lie around waiting to gorge on hangover friendly foods? (Assuming you're not the one doing all of the cooking!)
Do you like cocktails without putting in the effort of making them? Proving that there's something for everyone, you can pick up a .jpg)
After a week spent wandering the halls of .jpg)
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It's all in the planning - First time Thanksgiving
Chicken soup without a roasted chicken
Thanksgiving - Traditional with a twist
