FeedMe

The case for meatless meat

I visited Burger King a few days ago to try their new Impossible Whopper, which is made with the all-plant "Impossible Burger."

 

This was my second Impossible Burger. The first was at a higher-end restaurant last year. At the time, my thought was, "Not bad. This is not a fancy restaurant burger but if no one told me, I am not sure I'd know this not made from beef." Given my experience of old-school vegi-burgers, I had to admire what Impossible Foods has achieved.

 

The Impossible Whopper was even more successful because it only needs to match the average quality, well-done (by which I mean, overcooked) beef we usually see at Burger King. It is sandwiched with the Whopper ingredients, which mask any subtle differences. I tasted it as a Whopper and alone. It was extremely close. I am not sure I could tell in a blind test. The Impossible Whopper shows that replicating beef is no longer Impossible.

 

And that's a good thing. I am a committed omnivore and I love meat, but am not happy with the way animals are raised and with the dent they make on the environment. 

 

More important is that this is on a grand scale. Burger King has rolled this out to the whole chain, exposing this product to a vastly wider audience than Impossible Foods could have achieved on their own. 

 

When I posted about the experience, quite a few replies talked about whether the Impossible Burger (and its competitor, the Beyond Meat burger) is healthier than beef. One person claimed (incorrectly) that it has less protein; some whined about all the salt; someone said "it's full of "chemicals." 

 

Wait, what? This isn't about nutrition. It's replacing hamburgers, for pete's sake. Meat substitutes are not appreciably healthier or unhealthier than meat and eating a Whopper every day is not going to be nutritious no matter what you do to it. Nutrition comes from a varied diet that embodies Michael Pollan's advice, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." 

 

Are they good for you? Silly question. It's good for us. It's not about nutrition, it's about critters and humans, and the planet we share. 

 

But criticizing salt content was where their focus was and they could not see past the nutrition label to understand why these products are breakthroughs. The meat substitutes are radically more efficient and kinder to the earth. By a stunning margin. With meat, we eat plants but only after they have been through an animal. Talk about "processed." The land, feed, labor, transportation, water, energy used in meat production are staggering costs. Not to mention that we kill animals to eat them.

 

I'm an omnivore but am all for these products. I would love it if some sweet critter did not have to die to make bacon for me.

 

I made a joke that I am waiting for Impossible Foie Gras. But it's not a joke; I would love that.

Ra Pa Pa Pum Day

Every year, I declare Ra Pa Pa Pum day as the first day I hear — well, that song.

This year: December 14! Thanks to an annoying posting on Facebook. I think it was a cat video. 

This year: December 14! Thanks to an annoying posting on Facebook. I think it was a cat video. 

Sugar strategy

It’s hard to resist the pull of sugar, especially for children. Here’s a strategy that has worked well to help kids consider their sugar consumption. 

 

When a child asks for a soft drink, I tell them that they can have one but I ask that they first tell me how much sugar it contains. Then we have a little lesson in Nutrition Labels.

 

 

We use my smartphone and find that 4 grams of sugar is a teaspoon. A 12-ounce soft drink generally has 40 or so grams of sugars. That’s 10 teaspoons of sugar! If their attention is still strong, we continue the research and learn that juice is no better and that 10 teaspoons of sugar is 160 calories. Most fruit juices are about the same.

 

From then on, they know they may have a soft drink or juice but they have to recall the sugar facts for me. It’s surprised me that most of the time, a child who knows the facts makes a different choice (at least when they're with me!).

Star Chefs Turns 6

This is one of my very favorite food events! In this work of love by 12 top Bay Area chefs, you'll experience the dishes that they love to cook, paired with the cocktails and spirits they love.

Now in its sixth year, the Star Chefs event brings top chefs together in one whirlwind, exciting evening. You will have plates and cocktails from top restaurants. The chefs scramble to do their very best, because there's a competition (managed by yours truly). Because chefs are highly competitive creature, they go all out to win! There are three awards: The Judges' Choice, the Peoples' Choice, and Chef's Choice, which is determined by their peers. 

 

 

If a fun food evening with great people isn't enough, and brilliant plates by 12 brilliant chefs doesn't get you there, how about that it's for Silicon Valley Children's Fund? The Star Chefs event supports a different children's cause each year. It's sponsored by the non-profit Table for Three, headed by the big-hearted and lovely Brenda Hammond and Kathryn Williams, two loving, generous, remarkable friends (and hundreds of their loving, generous friends!).

I hope to see you there!

In Sunnyvale at Clover Networks (thank you, Clover!), September 25, 2016. Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/star-chefs-tickets-25521848536

Hollandaise: 10 minutes, no fuss

Photo: Tom Fandre

There’s a reason so many hollandaise sauce recipes are touted as “simple,” “fast,” or “fool-proof.” Of all the sauces, I think hollandaise is the trickiest. It’s the perfect accent for so many dishes but I am reluctant to go there because it’s fussy and if it breaks, it always does it when everything else is ready to go and repairing or redoing it is a pain.

A friend, Tom Fandre, posted this recipe, developed by his Dad, who he calls "Microwave Master Donovan Fandre.” (He says his Dad has developed tons of recipes like this, often combining microwave and conventional. I jokingly said I'd love to see his cookbook: Turns out he has one: Jump Start Cooking!)

What astonished me about this recipe is that there’s no motorized device involved. Somehow, simple stirring and microwave heating combines to generate an emulsion (the thickened suspension of microscopic droplets of water and oil that is characteristic of sauces like this). 

I made a small recipe good for one or two servings. Triple it to feed the family. You will need to alter the times to avoid overheating the mixture. Too long in the microwave and the egg yolk will start to cook. 

Ten Minute, Foolproof (Really!) Hollandaise Sauce

1/4 pound (8 tablespoons) butter, cut into about 16 pieces

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients in a microwave-safe cup. Microwave for 20 seconds and stir (preferably with a whisk) immediately. Microwave and stir, ten seconds at a time, until the sauce is thickened and smooth.

Note: To make 1-2 servings, use 2 T butter (cut into 6 pieces), 1 yolk, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Microwave 10 seconds the first time and 5 seconds at a time thereafter. 

Xanthan gum: Get past the weird and it's magical

Sometimes, I have a soup, sauce, or dressing and I wish it had more body. What I need is a fast, convenient thickener that, unlike flour and starch, doesn't need to be heated to work.

Found it: A very cool thickener with a weird name that turns out to be a kitchen superstar. It's magical! Super-convenient: 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon and a hand blender are all you need to go from watery to wonderful.

I was dismayed that I could not find a simple guide to using it, so I did some experiments.

Summary

Want just the basics? OK:

• Easy to find online or in stores. One bag will last a lifetime since you use 1/4 teaspoon at a time and it is shelf-stable.
• No heat required: Just blend it into the liquid. Works for hot and cold! Salad dressing, sauces, etc.
• Use a hand blender or blender and sift the powder into the whirring mixture, because it clumps easily.
• Use 1/8-1 teaspoon per cup of liquid. A light dose adds body; medium to thicken; more to gel. Easy to overdose: Go lightly.

What is it?

First, let's get past the funny name and fears of test tubes. Xanthan gum is an approved food product made by fermenting sugars. It's very commonly used in food products such as salad dressing (which is one of its killer apps!). It's common in gluten-free baking because it produces the thickening and elastic properties needed for baked goods like bread and pizza dough. 

Some key advantages and characteristics:

• All it does is thicken. It adds no flavor. 
• It's very simple to use: add to water- or oil-based mixtures and hit it with the blender or immersion blender. 
• The amount controls the thickening. Use a small amount (1/8 teaspoon per cup) to add body to a liquid; or 5-10 times that much to make a gel. 
• The thickened mixture is cloudy but still transparent (like jelly or cornstarch or tapioca-thickened foods).
• Unlike starch-based thickeners, it doesn't require cooking to activate its thickening power.
• In fact, it's immune from heat. Some thickeners lose their power with boiling — not so, with xanthan gum, which retains its superpowers. Freezing also does not affect it. 
• Xanthan gum is easy to find and economical. Most groceries in my area carry the Bob's Red Mill brand and it is easy to find online. If it seems expensive, you should know that one bag is a lifetime supply, since you generally use 1/4 teaspoon at a time. Shelf life is indefinite.
• Seems to be safe but some people report intestinal distress, even in the small quantities suggested here. 

Using xanthan gum

I found a lot of contradictory information online and decided to try my own experiments to come up with some guidelines. 

First: How much should you use? Applications usually call for 0.1% to 1% by weight and this range was pretty good. At 0.1%, the thickening is just noticeable — think of the difference between juice and water. Ramp it up to 1% and it's a thick gel.

 

I made a video that shows different amounts. In the video, you will see what 0.25% looks like (1/4 teaspoon in 100 ml of water, blended using an immersion blender), then what 1% looks like, then a real-life application of salad dressing. 

For the video, I made a quick vinaigrette using a standard formula of one part vinegar to three parts of olive oil, with a little mustard as an emulsifier and some herbs. Whirring it with the immersion blender yielded a nice salad dressing. I added 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum and blended again. I started with 1/2 cup (125 ml) of dressing, so this maths out to 0.5%. Which is more than I would want in a dressing.

(In the video, the caption at about 0:52 says 125 ml is 1/4 cup. Ignore that caption, as commenter Ole let us know, that's wrong!) 

Rule of thumb

As you can see in the video, xanthan gum is powerful. It takes only small amounts.

• For a cup of liquid, as little as 1/8 teaspoon makes a difference and in most uses, you will use 1/4-1/2 teaspoon per cup of liquid.
• In the salad dressing example, that's more than I would ever use — use just 1/8-1/4 teaspoon per 8 oz (the video shows 1/4 tsp in just 4 oz.) 
• To use, add the powder and mix with a blender or an immersion blender. If you mix without a blender, it's not as thick and prone to clumping. 

Recipes and conversions

Some recipes will list the amount in grams, typically 1-2 grams. Few cooks have scales that can measure weights that small. I found little consistency in web resources so I took to the kitchen and did a few tests, measuring out 6 teaspoons of xanthan gum and weighing.

Here's a handy table.

Xanthan gum measures

I measured 1 teaspoon as 2.5 grams but note that the product can be packed to get 3-4 grams, so you may see some variation from other sources. I used Bob's Red Mill brand. Other brands may measure differently. But don't worry about variations — if you use 3.5 g when you were intending to use 2, the difference will not ruin the dish. 

By weight	Teaspoons	% when added to 8 oz. (250 ml)
1/4 gram	~1/8 tsp	0.1%
1/2 gram	~1/4 tsp	0.25%
1 gram	~1/2 tsp	0.5%
2.5 grams	1 tsp	1%

More:

• Wikipedia on xanthan gum
• How to clean up spilled xanthan gum
• Comparing xanthan gum and guar gum

 

Want to be a kitchen science ninja?

New sous vide gadget? Want to learn more sous vide? Or just want to crank up some kitchen skills? Coffee? Baking? Grilling? 

ChefSteps is a great site for modern cooking techniques ("modernist cuisine" such as sous vide and foams). They have several excellent instruction programs, well-tested recipes, and gorgeous photography. Join as a premium member for a one-time $19 fee and you get access to all their lessons, now and in the future. Great deal, highly recommended.

Even if you don't go premium, do explore this site as there is a ton of great free content. 

https://www.chefsteps.com/premium

 

Grill of My Dreams

Buying a grill. How hard can that be? 

Well, there are hundreds of choices (and options beyond that) and it's something you'll live with for a decade or more. So I dug in and researched.

I was replacing an 18-year-old Weber gas grill that still worked pretty well but needed some work. So I donated that and went looking.

 

Fuelish choices

Your first decision: Gas or charcoal power? That turns out to be a religious issue so I will direct you to these guys, who are brave enough to go there: 

Charcoal Grill vs. Gas Grill Throwdown: Let's Settle This Once And For All

Charcoal

If you're a charcoaler, it's pretty easy: The Big Green Egg or a Weber.

The Egg, favored by Foodgal's hubby, MeatBoy, and my grill-obsessed friend Mark, is a kamodo-style cooker, made of pottery and massively heavy. It will be almost $1000 after you add the accessories you want but I suggest it for two reasons. One is that it's one of very few ways to get a grill and a smoker in one unit without compromising either the grilling or smoking performance. The second reason is that everyone who owns one l-o-v-e-s it. I mean, everyone. The BGE is not available via Amazon anymore but when it was, every review was five stars.

A Weber charcoal grill will run you a few hundred dollars and any model will work well and last forever. The reviews seem to favor the Weber Original Kettle Premium 22" Charcoal Grill).

Whatever you choose, get the Weber brand chimney starter. Trust me on that — it's under $20 and is the best way to light charcoal (other than a manly choice like a roofing torch or a Looftlighter.) If you use stinky charcoal lighter fluid, you are not allowed to read further. Go away now.

There's also a Weber charcoal grill with a built-in propane-powered starter. The reviews say it works well and is handy and clean. I won't refuse pork chops made on that. 

Gas

This is where the choices become overwhelming. I'll start with a few basic criteria: For me, a grill is a frequently used tool and I am not looking at $250 gas grills. Had one once, dumb idea. On the other hand, you can spend $2500 (or even $5000) on one and I'm not that insane. At least, not yet. 

Choices

Next question: Size. That one's pretty straightforward. Partiers need bigger grills. I went mid-sized.

Next thing to do is choose your features. My list:

• Well-rated gas grill with great performance (which means even, controllable heat)
• Stainless steel grates
• But I don't care if it's stainless outside
• Searing burner
• A rotisserie
• Three burners are plenty

Brand

I went into this biased toward Weber. They're somewhat expensive but the quality is beyond reproach. 

Consumer Reports and other reviews used to heavily favor the Weber but many less expensive brands have joined the Weber models in their recommendations. Amazing Ribs boasts that it's the only place that employs someone to test grilling gear full time and I trust Meathead (he runs the place). So you want to go there. But I stayed true to my bias and only briefly considered others. 

Stainless

A word about stainless steel. It's pretty but on an outdoor appliance, it's hard to keep it pretty. But because it's in fashion, many grills come with a stainless skin. Stainless varies in thickness and composition. It's not necessarily better. 

But inside is where stainless steel shines. I am so tired of replacing cast iron or porcelain coated grates and moving food around the rusting spots. Stainless innards are on my must-have list. 

Models

I homed in on the mid-sized Weber, the 300 series. The searing station requirement moved me immediately to 330. I was looking at the E-330 and the S-330. The E model is color exterior, with iron grates and flavorizer bars (under the grate), while the S model is all stainless. 

My thought was to buy the E-330 and upgrade the grates and the bars. But then I learned from somone on the Amazing Ribs discussion board that Weber has a little-known model called the EP-330 which comes in colors with stainless innards. Ah! Exactly what I wanted. Originally developed as a special model for Weber's authorized dealers, it's also offered in custom colors. 

A better deal

I could not find this locally. I went to Amazon and found several for the right price and with free shipping, from pretty good vendors. The vendor with the highest rating, Acme Tools, curiously, did not have the color I wanted so I checked their own site. Interesting. They carry the full line and could sell it to me direct, for the same price, free shipping, and no sales tax — a significant difference, at this price. 

Did it.

Big box. BIG box.

Ten days later:

One thing you need to know when you buy a grill via the Internet is that it comes in a box. About a 4x4 foot box on a shipping palette. 210 pounds. 

And it comes in pieces. A lot of pieces. Plan on several hours of nuttin' and boltin'. Happily, I love nuttin' and boltin'. 

Weber's instructions are terrific, like IKEA on steroids:

That's one side of a two-sided roadmap. As I said, lots of parts. 

And then, there's the big box

You should also know that when you are done, you still have a big box, and a surprising mountain of cardboard. It took me four weeks of recycle toter-filling to get it all dispatched. 

Cooking

Finally. I love the "Fuh!" of a gas flame coming to life. 

 

 

 

Another Rose by Any Other Name

People send me bacony goodness. This one is from John:

I love you, man!

International What!!?

How could I not have known about this?? Thanks to buddy Brad who alerted me:

International Bacon Day

In more bacon news (oh, I love saying that), here are some Christmas gifts from good friends Norma and Stuart (who obviously know me well):

 

 

The Mo's Bacon Bar has been discussed here before. 

All this is a perfect prelude for my January project. More to come... 

Annual Matzoh

I have a confession to make: I love matzoh.

What? No one loves matzoh. It's weird to love matzoh! Matzoh is flour and water. That's it. Maybe some salt. There are egg and onion versions, even chocolate-covered matzoh, all attempts to give it some cred. 

Matzoh with truffle butter?
 
Well, I do. I even have my favorites. Sorry, but the American brands won't do. They're bland (and for matzoh, that's saying a lot!). I like the Israel-made Yehudah, which has a more pronounced wheat taste and seems fresher. It also has more char, which gives it dimension. 

Yesterday, Itzik at work gave me the oddest matzoh I have ever seen. It comes as three round crackers in a very solid cardboard box, printed in full color. Three matzohs! The box is probably half their cost! But these matzohs are pretty special. They're hand made in the Ukraine and fired in a wood-burning oven, with a lot of serious charring. It's very good — not as fresh as the Yehudah but lots of character. You can even see the lines from the edges of the tiles of the oven floor.

My shikseh looked at them and suggested some pepperoni, sauce, and cheese. Traif but intriguing. 

While matzoh has not so much flavor, perhaps, what it does have is history. The original on-the-run cuisine, matzoh came about when the Jews fled Egypt and there was no time to let the bread rise. For Passover, leavened bread is forbidden to honor their sacrifice. The spelling varies — matzo, matzah, matzot — and all the variations are correct, since they are all transliterations from Hebrew. The box Itzik's matzoh's came in used three different spellings!

So yes, I like matzoh. Even plain. It's not as weird as it sounds.  Water crackers are basically matzoh. In , Words to Eat By, Debbie Koenig, self-confessed matzoh hater, begrudgingly calls it "the original flatbread." 

Gourmets talk about simple ingredients, simply prepared. Matzoh tests the slogan. Eaten plain, it's the flour, and enough char to give it some character.

But where matzoh shines is as a blank slate for other flavors. Especially butter. A simple buttered matzoh with just the tiniest amount of salt really brings out the subtlest tastes in butter. Today, I upped the ante with some truffled butter I bought last weekend. That worked!

Then I remembered that I had just made some cream cheese (future article, I promise). Nice!

My favorite — a story for another day — is matzoh brei. Loosely, it's scrambled eggs and matzoh cooked in butter, but it's much lovelier than that. Tender on the inside, barley crisped at the edges. That will be a story for another day but you can read Debbie's matzoh brei story in the meantime. 

New Gi from an Old Place

When I drove to Japantown, I was looking for a new gi. I would also get a long drink of history, flavored with sweet human spirit.

Nichi Bei Bussan is a small shop in downtown San Jose. They sell Japanese clothes, art, books, crafts, and fabrics. I was there for their annual sale. I needed a new gi, the traditional white uniform worn in martial arts. I spoke to a tiny Japanese woman behind the counter and learned it was her store. Her name is Arlene.

Arlene was talking to another customer, pointing proudly to the cash register. She tells anyone who notices it that it's the original one they have been using in the store since 1948. 

1948!? 

Arlene is the store's third generation. Opened by her grandfather, Shojiro Tatsuno, in San Francisco in 1902, it was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and opened in a new location a year later. She notes, with irony, that the store originally sold Western clothes to new immigrants but now sells Japanese clothes to westerners.

The family closed the store in an "evacuation sale" when the family was interned to Topaz during World War II. After the war, the family reopened the San Francisco store at a new location and opened the San Jose store at its current location, in 1948. Arlene's father, Dave, ran the San Jose store and her uncle ran the San Francisco location.

The store doubles as a museum, with artifacts from Topaz and many documents, pictures, and objects the family acquired over the years. In the photo behind Arlene are three generations: Her son, her brother, and in the photo behind them, is her father.

 The internment of Japanese-Americans is one of the most painful episodes in American history. Generations later, it is still compelling. Arlene was born in internment, 5 months before the family was released. She will tell you stories of how her Dad organized talent shows and how he took illicit 8-mm films of life at Topaz. Arlene explained, "Dad's Topaz film is the second amateur's movie ever added to the Library of Congress's Film Registry (the first was the Zapruder film of John F. Kennedy's assassination). Bay Area-based Gravitas Docufilms filmed a documentary, These Amazing Shadows, about the registry and the importance of film preservation. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this January and included parts of Dad's film with interviews with George Takei (Star Trek's Mr. Sulu), San Francisco District Attorney Jeff Adachi, and me."

In 1973, the store remodeled and switched to their current specialization in Japanese products, some imported and some art items on consignment.

 

Here's why Carl Sagan never got to write a cookbook

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."  - Carl Sagan

Ikea's New Baking Book

Ikea's new cookbook,“Hembakat är Bäst” (Homemade is Best) deserves a mention is only for the novel photos that show the ingredients.

 

Classy, clever. 

More...
 

One Camera, Two Remarkable Stories

The story begins with a photographer, Jamie Livingston, who began a project in 1979, to take a photo every day. He continued until the day he died, in 1997. The photos tell a very human story.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15131 

 
Photo: Jamie Livingston's Photo of the Day 

There's a side story, equally compelling, about the camera he used: The Polaroid SX-70. An instant camera that delivered color photos with quality that rivalled traditional film, it became an art tool that inspired many projects, including Livingston's.

 
 Photo from Wikipedia

This camera's technology story has always interested me because it is not just about a camera. The SX-70 was a system that embodied dozens of remarkable technologies. Inspired by the genius Edwin Land, the Polaroid team reinvented every aspect of the SX-70 -- the way it works, the film, the mechanics and the electronics, the lenses for both viewing and picture-taking, the flash, the form factor and remarkable folding mechanism, the manufacturing and design processes, the amazing chemistry, the motors, the battery. Few inventions have such a broad range of innovations. 

It is a human story, too, as Land and his team spared no effort and no expense to develop what any sane person would have called impossible at the time.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15231

View the film that is included in the article. "Charles and Ray Eames produced an eleven-minute advertisement/explainer film for it in 1972. The film starts with a discussion of Polaroid’s history and goes into a surprisingly technical description of the camera’s operation and even its manufacturing process." It talks about how the SX-70 broke down creative barriers to bring photographers closer to the images and to the stories they wanted to tell.

Bacon Roll of Doom

It was over a year ago that I ran across the most jaw-dropping bacon creation ever. Sitting here now, I am wondering why I never made one. I wanted to. I certainly wanted to see one, to taste one. I don't know, maybe I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the expectations. Maybe my cardiac angel was stopping me.

This is why men hang in packs. As fast as you can say, "Hey Bubba, hold my beer and watch this," surely one of our comrades will step in. So I will start by thanking John Bodeau, the man of the hour.

The Bacon Roll of Doom, as John calls it, was born as The Bacon Explosion at bbqaddicts.com. A meat-on-meat peak protein experience, it stands out even on a meat lover's enclave.

You start with bacon. Add bacon. But bacon alone does not a roll make. We need something for structure. How about sausage?!

Sausage and bacon. Bacon and sausage.

But we are not done. This is where brilliance become genius: They wrap it in a bed of bacon made by (this is so beautiful) weaving bacon strips to make a manly placemat. Layer sausage on the bacon mat, roll, brush with barbecue sauce, roast and watch men gather as if someone just fired up a gasoline-powered wheelbarrow.

And yes, it was everything any of us could ever have hoped. Meaty and porky, with a crisped bacon jacket and just enough sweet tang from the barbecue sauce. 

John contemplates his bacony masterpiece

And when all that was left was the oink, John's comment was, "It was more fun putting it together than I can say."

Spell Czech

If you see a typo here on FeedMe — or if I am just wrong about something (could happen!), please do e-mail me. I appreciate being corrected. When I was young, I remember my Mom telling me that people for whom English is not their first language always appreciate a correction. I do, too. Otherwise, how can we learn?

I am reminded of a favorite poem:

I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your please too no,
Its letter perfect, in it's weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.

-- Pennye Harper

Ove'Glove

Easily the tackiest, ugliest thing that I love in my kitchen is the Ove'Glove. It's actually uglier than its name. I have to wonder what made me buy this "As Seen on TV" item but guess what — I use it. All. The. Time.

Oven  mitts, in flower patterns, are a standard item but they make them out of old-school fabrics. Then there are the silicone mitts that are space-age and work great, except that holding anything is like working in a space suit. Yes, nothing better than having a hot roast chicken sliding across the floor. But hey, my hands aren't burned!

The Ove'Glove is a glove made of heat-resistant Nomex and Kevlar, space age fabrics used in firefighting gear. The outside is printed with slip-resistant silicone lines. It fits either hand and is reasonably comfortable. It does what you would hope: lets you handle hot pots with better dexterity and grip appeal than the oven mitts Grandma gave you.

I found mine at the local pharmacy (remember when drug stores only sold drugs?) and they're all over the web, including at Amazon.

There are some other brands now but sadly, they are not as homely.

The Secret Easter Bunny

My mother reminded me today about how we used to deliver Easter baskets. I had all but forgotten.

A few weeks before Easter, my mother would call the school nurse, Mrs. Robinson, and ask for names of local families who were especially needy ("You couldn't do that today," she sighed). Over the next few weeks, she would corral my brothers and me and we would make Easter baskets from milk cartons she had saved. We'd decorate eggs. We'd make Jell-O eggs from hollowed-out egg shells, by filling them halfway with one color of Jell-O, chilling, then topping them off with a second color. We made cupcakes, each decorated with the children's names. A little paper hat, ruffled collar, and glued on nose made a "clown egg." She made sure each basket was identical so children in the family would all get the same thing.

Very early on Easter morning, we would drive to their homes and drop off the Easter baskets.

Over the years, we would hear stories about these mysterious baskets. People would ask neighbors and relatives but no one knew who the secret bunny was. One time, my brother Arthur was confronted by a class mate who said she knew he was the Easter Bunny. She was up very early, saw a car drive up, and saw Arthur drop off the basket. Arthur reported back to Mom that he had to "lie" to keep our secret.

We also heard about a family who woke up to find colored eggs and parts of cupcakes all over their yard. It seems their dog had a wonderful Easter that year.

As I've grown up, I have discovered a lot examples of how unusual my parents were. She did this kind of thing naturally. She was teaching her sons to be giving and to honor other people's holidays and traditions, and giving us a way to participate in Easter.

At the time, it all seemed unremarkable. As kids, we have nothing to compare to. But now I know, I was raised by Marion Rubenzahl, the Secret Jewish Easter Bunny.

Almost NY Pizza

I love the food here in Northern California. It's superior in almost every way to the food I had growing up in upstate New York. 

Almost.

Regulars know that I have been on a long quest for proper New York pizza. The kind that's available in a New York minute on just about every block in Manhattan. (I'm also seeking great fried chicken and New York deli, so comment if you have a lead.) 

Then my friend Food Gal blogged about Howie's Artisan Pizza in Palo Alto: 

It’s high and puffy on the edges, with airy, rolling caverns that provide great chew and crunch. It’s thinner, yet still crisp, in the center. And when the wheel of a pizza cutter slices through it, there’s a distinctive “crack, crack, crackle” sound.

“The pizza talks to me now,” says Chef Howard Bulka of the just-opened Howie’s Artisan Pizza in Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village. 

Indeed, it does.

I was on my way.

Food Gal covered the place well. It was busy, on a weeknight, and we had to wait — not too long — for a table. We ordered three pizzas: An everything, a sausage and broccoli rabe, and a pepperoni.

   
 
Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, by the way — all I had. 

Before long, we met Howie. He's easy to spot: the only one without a Howie's shirt. 

 

And covered with flour because Howie has been where he loves to be: behind the counter, throwing dough. 

So how was it? Here's what you need to know: I was happy. But Howie? Not satisfied. Compliment his pies and he'll start talking about how he's still tweaking, how it's so busy but he really wants to — well, this is Silicon Valley, and the guy wants to do some more R&D. "I’ve been cooking 30 years, and I’ve never been perplexed as I have been by pizza dough," he told Food Gal.

Me? I give it 4-1/2 stars, which is more than I have given any pizza place outside New York, New Jersey, or Chicago. I rated it as I would if I had this pizza in Manhattan. What worked: Hot oven, crackling, thin crust. Fresh ingredients and really nice flavors. The broccoli rabe was terrific. I didn't see the wild mushroom pie Food Gal had but will go for the more intricate combinations next time.

I'd have liked a bit more chew at the outside edges and I like to see more big bubbles and fire-kissed, blackened spots. Howie's pizzas are more refined than I like. They don't show the scars of the furnace. (Though I note some gloriously charred spots on the pictures Food Gal took — maybe the ovens were fatigued the night I went.) I also might have liked some seriously stretchy cheese, a cushion over the cracker-like crust.

But that's all nit-picking. I'll be going back again. I want to see where Howie's tweaking takes this fine pie.

Spicy Holiday

I've posted before about the vastly superior spices and herbs available on-line. Here's a great gift idea for friends who are foodies (or need your help to turn into a foodie!).

Penzey's has a great gift set. A deal at its normal $12 price, more of a deal ($7.95) until December 31,  2009. It contains four of my favorites: Their must-have cinnamon; Mural of Flavor, a wonderful salt-free blend; their fresh ground pepper; and their granulated garlic. All four are way better than you'll ever find at the grocery store.

Squeeze Your Bacon

Now! Squeez Bacon!Bacon in a tube!

Really.

And it's good for you, ya?

"Each serving is as healthy as real bacon, and equivalent to 4 premium slices of bacon! "

Thanks for the hot lead, Mike!

From ThinkGeek, via Mike Weston.

Cheap Way to Try a Ceramic Knife

I have always been curious about ceramic knives but not curious enough to pay a steep price for what reviews say is a deft, but fragile, instrument. Ceramic is very hard, so they never need sharpening. Indeed, they can't be sharpened so the edge had better last forever. Unlike metal, ceramic is easily chipped. And once damaged, they're trash because unlike a metal knife, chips and nicks can't be ground away. So I am reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars to augment the knives I already love.

Then I stumbled on a ceramic paring knife — for about $9. Dealextreme is an Internet seller of very inexpensive gear. They sell computer and camera accessories, toys, gadgets, and household items that are manufactured on the cheap by Asian manufacturers. Most of what they sell is pretty good quality and the prices are amazing. Shipping is free but it usually takes a couple of weeks. I ordered one and I have to say, I was impressed. The quality is pretty good and it is quite sharp. It will presumably remain sharp for years, and so far hasn't been damaged.

I also bought a ceramic vegetable peeler and was less impressed. A peeler has to be very sharp and this wasn't quite sharp enough. Still, it was mere $3.

All that said, I still am not a ceramic knife fan. They don't need to be sharpened but I don't find sharpening my knives much bother. I use a steel on them every time and only need to sharpen them a couple of times a year. Except for the eversharp edge, a ceramic knife is no better than a well-sharpened metal knife. So I'll probably buy another cheap ceramic knife but they won't be displacing my favorites.

More:

• If you're in the market for a knife, be sure to check out my article on knives, with recommendations.
• Learn more about sharpening knives.

Starbucks VIA, a Coffee Surprise

Coffee lovers love to scorn Starbucks, and I am no exception. But we should give Starbucks their due. Since Howard Schultz's return, the company has returned to their roots as a mass purveyor of consistent, pretty-good coffee products, with efficient, courteous service. They still over-roast their beans, losing the nuances of flavor, but in the end, they're better than what most Americans drink. And we have to credit them with elevating coffee — could my favorite places (like Barefoot in Santa Clara) charge $3-something a latte without Starbucks' marketing?

I was curious about Starbucks' latest venture. The proposition is intriguing: Instant coffee that tastes as good as brewed? Is this possible? In a word: Yes!

On October 2-4, stop by Starbucks and you can taste their new VIA against their standard Pike Place blend. You'll get a coupon good for $1 off a purchase and another for free coffee plus a sample of VIA. (I had to ask for these. Don't be shy.)

I tasted the VIA and was impressed. It's a good cup of coffee and miles away from any instant I have ever tried. There is none of the stale taste or funky odors instants usually carry. The coffee flavor was deep and rounded, and it tasted fresh. I didn't taste a lot of complexity or nuances (no "nutmeg overtones with a cocoa and mulberry finish here") but it's a credible cup of coffee you can make with nothing more than a cup of hot water!

At about  $1 a cup, VIA is considerably pricier than other instants.

Would I make this my "house" coffee? Probably not. Would I stock it for a coffee quicky at the office? You bet. 

For my morning brew, I am staying with my beloved Aeropress, brewed from fresh Barefoot beans run through a burr grinder. But as a convenient, credible (but costly) shortcut, VIA is a winner.

Portable Pizza

 

I'm a bit of a snob about pizza. To me, unless it's from New York, Chicago, or Naples, it's not really pizza. And one of the most important pizza characteristics is a hot, hot, hot oven, preferably wood-fired. A proper pizza oven runs at 750 degrees F or more (many top 900) and turns out a pizza in a couple of minutes.

At an outdoor event sponsored by the East Bay Nation of Men, dinner was "gourmet" pizza. Now, I think the Bay Area is one of the finest food locations in the world and the pizza here is often very good — but never excellent and I didn't expect much at an outdoor venue. But my preconceived notions about pizza in the park were about to change.

Around  2 PM, a truck showed up with a trailer carrying what looked like an igloo. It drew a lot of attention and guesses. No one guessed that it was a wood-fired pizza oven, made by our friend Tom Gerstel. Yes, "made by." It turns out Tom's new business is wood-fired pizza catering, using the "portable" oven he built.

A crowd gathered as Tom lowered the trailer (whrrrrrrrrr, men love machinery) and wheeled the oven into place. Whrrrrrr again as a hydraulic lift raised the oven to working height and he attached the legs to its custom-welded frame (men love welding: Fire and molten metal, what's not to like?).

He started a fire with just a few pieces of hardwood (men love fire, too). The thickly insulated box takes a surprisingly small amount of wood to get to working temperature. But it does take a couple of hours.

It gets mighty hot in there but the temperature is not the whole story. The pizza sits on the brick floor and heats by conduction, the way your feet do on hot sand at the beach. It also gets a blast of hot air, like a convection oven, since the flue is a third of the way down from the top of the dome, creating a constant swirl of hot air from the fire, around the top, and out the chimney. A third heating mechanism comes from radiant heat, the way a toaster works. The dome delivers radiant heat from all directions.

Tom built this himself. The oven interior is from purchased parts, most of the rest is from scratch.
The oven is extremely well insulated. It was cool to the touch even while an inferno ran inside.

But we're not here to talk about fire brick and welded stainless steel. This is about the food.

Tom believes in good ingredients. He uses organic flour and an array of prepared toppings. He makes a thin pizza which crisps up like a cracker in the high heat. We had an array of pizzas with pesto, marinara, a four-cheese blend, pepperoni, basil, mushrooms, roast garlic, anchovies, feta, and more. Most of the pies were simple and sophisticated with two or three ingredients. But the beauty of this is that he'll make what people want. He even had some tofu — not a hit, I have to say.

He can turn out a pizza in 90 seconds and run at least three at a time, meaning he can feed many hundreds of people.

Sound good? You can reach Tom via his website, Copper Top Ovens.com (it's a pretty primitive site right now — I think he's been busy welding). But right now, I will close with some glamor shots. Click to see them full-size.

 

 

 

Maker Faire, May 30-31, San Mateo

I have attended this for the past couple of years and it is awesome. Huge -- they had over 50,000 people last year. Hundreds of exhibits, mostly by people or small clubs, show off cool things they have made. A little art, a little science, a little magic. Fire, electricity, and some serious welding skills.

The site gives details. I think they make it seem like it's for kids (and it is a great event for them) but really, it's for anyone. Plenty there to interest adults. The video (scroll down the page) does a good job.

http://makerfaire.com/

I wouldn't miss it!

Amazing bicycle stunts in this well-made video. Worth the time:

Bacon iPhone Case

OK, even I think this is over the top.

Bacon iPhone case, via Gizmodo.

Car Skin Revisited

What is the skin of a car were more like skin? Instead of sheet metal, a stretchy fabric? Do you really need the skin to be rigid? What does the skin really do?

BMW's answer is a design idea they call GINA, documented in an article on Autoblog. When you get there, click on the photo to see more and scroll down to see the video.

For Faster Service, Choose the Right Time

Recently, I went to the DMV. The parking lot was full and the line went to the door. The wait would be over an hour! I left.

A day later, the place was nearly empty! They called my number before I could complete the forms and there were no lines at any station. I was driving away 16 minutes after I had arrived. 

Most people look for service at the same times. By avoiding the busy hours at clinics, government offices, warehouse stores like Costco, and other crowded places, you can generally get faster service. Hints:

• Avoid the weekends, Mondays, and Fridays. Tuesday through Thursday are the least busy.
• Mornings are generally better. I usually go an hour or so after they open (avoiding the rush of people who stop by on their way to work).
• Mid-afternoon, after lunch hour and before 3 PM, is sometimes a good time. However, many service staff take their lunch at 1 or 2 PM, so you may wind up arriving when they are short-handed.
• Ask! The staff is happy to advise you when the least busy times are.
• Immediately after the office opens can be a very good or a very bad time. At Costco, for instance, the hour before closing is often an excellent choice. But at some places, people often arrive at the last minute, so it's a good idea to ask the service staff.

TCHO Spells Chocolate

I have been meaning to write for some time about TCHO, a chocolate from a company founded by high-tech types. They consider their product in "beta" right now. It comes in a brown wrapper and they invite you to comment via their website.

The FoodGal (whom I happen to know is a chocaholic and whose tastes in chocolate match mine) posted a really good article on TCHO.

The only one I have tried is their “Chocolatey” bar. As I read, I was thinking, “I’ll bet FoodGal gives this a 9!” And she did. My comments are that the balance is perfect. The aftertastes keep coming — for many minutes.

At $10 for two 50 g bars, plus $5 shipping, they're a little pricey but this is super-premium quality. FoodGal says there is a third variety, "Nutty," but their website only shows Chocolatey and Fruity. Purchase at the TCHO website.

Bacon Loves Me

I love bacon.

I know, everyone does (many vegetarians will cheat for bacon). But I mean, I really love bacon. And, sniff, I think it loves me, too. It seems to follow me around. Or maybe it's stalking me.

You read about the bacon chocolate my friend John gave me. There was an earlier bacon thing and the bacon comic. Then, along came this:

Now, I find: "For the Love of Bacon," a bacon blog. Some serious baconage for bacon fans, including this great bit of graffiti work by another bacon fan:

How can anyone be miserable in a world that has bacon.

Bacon. Chocolate. What?

My buddy John, saw this and knew I had to have it:

Thank you, thank you, John!

I tried it today. It's weird but good.

The bacon is good -- you can tell it's real and has a full, bacon flavor. But the chocolate is weaker. I think there is some potential here but if I were formulating this, I would have used dark chocolate, which I think would better stand up to the bacon.

Still, a gourmet experience is not so much the point. Bacon. Chocolate. Good, and pretty good together!

The Best Music Trivia Question

Who played the bass guitar on "I Will" from the Beatles White Album?

Knol

New from Google is the "Knol." Interesting idea. They've made it extremely easy for anyone to write an article on anything. For instance, I posted an article on how to make lemon sorbet (the same article appears here, in the FeedMe blog).

Google's company mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." They have noted that the entire Internet contains a fraction of a percent of the world's knowledge. The vast majority is in people's heads. (Yahoo has talked about the same idea.) This is a way to soak up some of what's in our brains.

A lot of press on Knol is calling it a Wikipedia competitor but frankly, I think they are missing the point. Unlike Wikipedia, Knol is not collaborative: only the author controls the content. They have very few rules or editorial controls. There are no rules requiring a neutral point of view or restricting conflict of interest. Multiple articles on the same topic can be posted. They are trusting that their search product will properly prioritize all this, along with the rest of the web.

This seems like a significant marketing opportunity. Is there a "first-in" advantage? Should we rush in to write about technical topics that benefit our companies, with links to our company websites?

Not sure, but for now, I am sharing my sorbet recipe.

(You can see all my articles -- just three so far -- by starting at my own knol page.)

(P.S. The knol system is a bit buggy. It sometimes won't load and with Firefox, it is currently not letting me sign in, though it works with Safari. Earlier today, it worked with Firefox. Its search is presently not finding any of my articles, even though they are in the system. I expect it will settle down over the next few days. Google has a motto: "Release early and often." Good think Boeing doesn't follow that philosophy.)

Walk, Drive, Bus...

Google Maps has added walking directions. They already had public transit in some areas. They include a lot of helpful information, in addition to the router.

 For instance, I can drive the 3.5 miles from work to home in 8 minutes. On foot, the route is quite different but the distance is that same. Google thinks it would take 1 hour, 11 minutes (obviously, they don't take into account any ice cream stores en route).

By bus, they tell me it will take 58 minutes — and cost $1.75. They also tell me it would be $2.05 to drive. Again, no ice cream is factored in.

Nicely done. Though it's in beta, the walking route matches what I would choose.

I love the fact that Google keeps improving their systems. By the way, if you didn't know — one of the coolest features of Google maps is that you can click and drag to change a route. If their directions send you up 101 but you prefer to take 280, drag the route line over to 280 and a new route will be drawn, using the points you request.

This is too cool. The "Tilted Twister" is a robot, built from Legos, that solves Rubik's cube, with no external PC. It was built with standard Lego Mindstorms NXT kit.

You need to see it in action to appreciate it. First, it scans all the sizes and determines the colors the cube has. Then it begins twisting sides:

More info on the Tilted Twister page to the video.

From: Tilted Twister, via Hackzine.

Where the Hell is Matt?

I almost abandoned it when I heard the shmaltzy first notes of the music, but glad I stayed. This will put a smile on anyone's face.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008), spotted on the "Cincinnati Nerd Blog."

Car Buying Aids

A friend, Dave Lloyd, bought a car recently and summarized several ways to get a good deal:

AutoCheck and CarFax let you check a vehicle's VIN number and report on title/ownership history, reported accidents, and odometer readings. AutoCheck is the better deal, as it's 20% less (go with unlimited rather than single vehicle), easier to read, and a bit more comprehensive. 

Edmunds True Market Value Pricing is invaluable for getting accurate pricing on both new/used - more accurate than Kelley Blue Book.
<http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/index.html>http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/index.html

Consumer Reports is also useful for evaluating cars and lots more - $26 annually is a steal.

These were the best sites I found for pricing cars regionally:
www.motors.ebay.com/
www.automart.com
www.autotrader.com
www.carsdirect.com
www.carmax.com is good too but I found the volume limited and it's
based purely on dealer partnerships.

Ultimately, though, after driving a few through private sellers and knowing price ranges, I called 3 local dealers, told them I was pre-qualified and what I wanted, and bargained from there.

Google Health Joins Microsoft HealthVault

With the release of Google Health will come, I expect, another round of privacy paranoia. I wrote about this before, when Microsoft's HealthVault appeared. Both services are voluntary but it doesn't take much insight to recognize that before long, you won't have a choice. Your medical records will be consolidated and networked and if you want health care, you will be in the databases — just as you are if you drive a car, use a credit card, or have a job.

It is perhaps unnerving that the institutions that are rushing forward to fill the need are companies committed to cataloging and sharing information. But I think that's a good thing: These companies have a lot to lose if any of the information escapes.

Regardless of who does it, there is an urgent need. Health care makes poor use of information technology now, way behind other industries. There are great benefits in economy, efficiency, quality of medical service — and privacy. Consolidated records are safer. Most of us now have dozens of records, all different, under poor control, in each doctor's office, hospital, diagnostic lab, or pharmacy. Few of us even know where all our records are. I think this is a boon and it's been a long time coming. 

Good Clock, Good Service

I have had a LaCrosse Technology Atomic Clock for years. Dead accurate, it sets itself by radio to the National Bureau of Standards' radio time reference, WWVB. And costs less than $20. Sweet.

But when the government changed the dates for switching to Daylight Savings, my clock didn't know, so for a couple of weeks in the spring and again in the fall, it's off by an hour unless I mess with it.

To make the story short, even though the clock is years out of warranty, LaCrosse Technology replaced the movement with one that's smarter, for free. They did it quickly and were courteous.

I would buy from these folks again.

Art Book Art

You've heard of art books. And books that are art. Here are books made into art.

Maker Faire, May 3-4

For those in the Bay Area, I would encourage you to attend Maker Faire. May 3-4 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds -- and not to be missed!

I went last year and vowed next time to go both days. It's huge and full of really, really fascinatng exhibits and brilliant ideas. Lots of free stuff.

What is it? It's the heart and soul of do-it-yourself. Hundreds of people who make stuff and love what they do so much that they stand for 12-hour days waiting for people to come by and gawk at their magic. Organizations and museums that have created hands-on demos you can play with.

If you like metal and fire, gears and gadgets, Legos and things that move, honk, squirt, squeak, spark, and belch, you have to go.

See: http://makerfaire.com/

Netflix Gets Customer Service (or Not?)

E-mail came from Netflix to tell me they are sending me a DVD — but it's a DVD I already have!

Now, one thing I don't like about Netflix is they have no way to send them e-mail. But their Help site steers you to a toll-free 24-hour phone number and an interesting touch: the website tells me the present hold time is 1 minute. Nice idea. (And clever since it encourages calls when they aren't busy.) So I call and enter a six-digit number which identified my account — that number is also conveniently displayed right there, next to the phone number.

I call. She sees the problem. They promise to ship a new DVD tomorrow.

Done. Happy customer.

Sometimes customer satisfaction is the result of how you handle a screwup.

---

Postscript: Irony. They didn't actually send the replacement. Sigh.

Comic Compressed

This is very cool. Alt comic artist Meredith Gran posted a timelapse video of the creation of her comic, Octopus Pie. Hypnotic and revealing of the artist's process, this shows four hours of drawing in a few minutes. Way cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeKWsf1UzEg

Free Credit Report -- Really? Really.

The first thing to know is to never use any of the "freecreditreport dot com." They're scum. The one thing they don't do is provide free credit reports.

The place to go annualcreditreport.com. This site is run by the three credit reporting agencies, as required by law. There, you can get a free report from each of them once a year. If you set yourself a reminder, you could get one every four months (one from each agency at a time, spaced out such that each one is used once a year).

Do be careful: There are impostors out there. Here's a good article that talks about the traps and gives lots of good tips.
 

Opt Out the Easy Way

I've started to opt-out of all the mail I receive, both electronic and paper. It's important — not only do these offers waste resources and your time, many open up opportunities for identity theft.

It's a pain to do opt-out one-by-one but happily, there are ways to do it en masse. You can register with organizations (almost always for free) whose members have committed to remove anyone who requests it. They include mail order companies who will stop sending catalogs; credit companies who will stop sending offers; anti-spam lists; and telemarketers.

Even better, all of these services have been gathered in one place. Visit the World Privacy Forum's Top Ten Opt-Outs. Just march down the list and follow the directions. 

One of the most important mailings to dodge are the ones that offer you pre-approved credit. If a bad guy were to intercept one of these from your mailbox, he could sign up for a credit card and if he watched for the response, he could run off with the new card and use it for at least a month. Before you even knew the card existed, your credit history would be a mess. The Pre-Screened Offers Opt-Out (number two on the top-ten opt-out site) is an important one to visit.

Once you have signed up, wait a couple of months and begin manually removing yourself from whatever remains.

And when you sign up for new things in the future, be careful to check (or uncheck) the privacy boxes. But be careful: Some of them are tricky.

Meat in a Chicken

Updated: October 8, 2008

Oh, what I did to a chicken yesterday! It was an unnatural act. And the next week, I did it again.

It started with a cookbook, The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. (Read the reviews: this book is a definitive authority. 750 pages of Italian classics.)

When I picked it up, it opened to a page halfway through the book where I saw a wondrous thing, an outrageous idea, described as if it's as normal as pie:

A boneless chicken stuffed with ground beef.

I was seduced by drawings:

Is it a chicken filled with meat loaf? Or a meat loaf wrapped with a chicken?

I had to try this.

Here's the low-down. You start with a chicken. You split it open at the back and take out all the bones except for the wings. You now have a comically floppy sheet of chicken. You make a meat loaf and put it inside and Frankenstein the chicken so it resembles a chickeny balloon full of meat.

Roast and serve: Meatloaf. In a chicken.

That is so fun to say.

I've done this three times now. Here's how. The original recipe differed in several material respects from what I made. Hers was stuffed with beef and parmesan; mine was pretty much meat loaf. Hers was pan roasted on the stove, mine is roasted. If you want a really good description, buy the book. If you are willing to experiment, you can follow me as I stumble around the kitchen with sharp knives and a hot oven...

Shopping

I bought a 5-6 pound chicken and my standard meatloaf mix: 50% ground chuck, 25% ground veal, 25% ground pork. This is a great combination with a firm texture and rich, meaty flavor. About 1.5 pounds of the mix is about right for a 4-1/2 to 5-pound bird but the last time I did this I used nearly three pounds of meat loaf in a 5.8-pound chicken. And it was awesome.

I use no fillers except fresh herbs — basil, thyme, marjoram, parsley all worked well. 

Which Comes First?

Start with the chicken. I did this the day before I planned to cook the bird. It took about an hour — the second time, it took 35 minutes.

If frozen, thaw it completely. I wore rubber gloves, mostly because the chicken is cold.

You need a sharp knife with a narrow blade. I used a boning knife. A paring knife would work. Serrated knife, not so good. The book cautions that you do not want to tear or poke a hole in the skin because any hole will run. So always be mindful of the knife and steer it against the bone. I ended up with one hole, near the seam, and was able to sew it back up, no problem.

Cut the meat down the back, all the way to the backbone:

Starting at the neck, tear the meat off the rib cage, taking as much meat as possible. To do this, work your finger under the meat and peel it away with your hands. Assist with the knife, cutting as you need to separate meat from bone. Feather-cuts along the bones work well but most of the separating is done with the fingers and the knife just assists. Work slowly at first. It's not difficult. 

Work your way toward the tail. Don't worry about proceeding around the rib cage to the breast yet. You will do that part last. Instead, proceed along the back, freeing the back of the rib cage as you go.

At the pelvis, you will encounter the oyster — a lovely knot of meat near the back, in a hollow in the pelvic bone. Dig that out and just behind it you will find the top of the thigh bone where it joins the pelvis. This tissue is well joined so you will need the knife to expose the joint. Use the scissors to separate the thigh bone from the pelvis, snipping around the joint to free the bone end.

Once the end of the thigh bone is free, hold it with one hand and use the knife to free meat from the bone. This is the hardest part, so work slowly and be patient.

Once you get the thigh bone partly exposed, hold the end of the bone up and let the rest of the chicken hang down. Let the chicken's weight pull the meat away as you slide the knife along and around the bone, as if you are shaving the bone. Cut as close to the bone as you can with many light cuts.

There are tendons anchoring the meat to the joint. You want those tendons to come away with the meat. The less you leave on the bone, the better. As you shave around the bone, the meat will fall away and turn inside out. When the bone is just about free, you can twist it free or cut it away with the shears.

Remove the drumstick bone in the same fashion. When you get to the very end, cut all the way around the bone until it is free. The leg will be inside-out. Turn it right-side-out again and proceed to the second side.

With all the leg bones removed, turn your attention to the rib cage. Tear and cut the flesh away, using the knife as necessary and remembering to always keep the knife edge turned toward bone, to avoid cutting the skin. Stop short of the keel bone — the bone that joins the two rib halves at the chicken's breast.

When you reach the wings, cut the joints the way you did with the thigh bone. Don't try to remove the wing bones. 

When everything is free except the keel bone, pause. The flesh is thin there and you will want to be careful to avoid tearing the skin. Hold the rib cage up in the air and let the meat dangle, so gravity can pull the meat away as you work. Use feather cuts and your fingers to ease the meat off the bones. When only a tiny strip holds the meat to the bone, you can cut it away and the job is done.

Behold! A comically flat bird awaits you!

Wrap and refrigerate while you turn your attention to the stuffing. You can refrigerate overnight and stuff the next day if you want.

Meat Loaf

Before you begin, prepare a needle and thread. Use a heavy cotton thread and a large needle. You will need a good 4 feet of thread.

Mix the meatloaf ingredients. Handle gently to keep the meat loaf as loose as you can. I use just the meat (1/2 chuck, 1/4 veal, 1/4 pork) but you can add breadcrumbs or anything else you like in meat loaf. Add salt (about a tablespoon) and pepper.

I added a handful of fresh herbs — probably 1/4 cup of parsley, a couple of tablespoons of thyme, and quite a lot of marjoram — probably 1/2 cup. You can use anything that strikes your fancy but don't use raw onions — they don't cook enough in a meatloaf to meld with the other ingredients.

Herb the chicken. Sprinkle with salt on both sides and any herbs you like. Because the chicken is flat, the flavors will penetrate nicely. I used granulated garlic and dried, toasted onion this time.

Stuff the meat mixture into the legs. Spend a little time here, tucking meat as deeply as you can into the hollowed legs. The legs took a lot more meat than I expected, so keep stuffing more.

Once the legs are stuffed, form the rest of the meat into a mass, packing it fairly firmly. Pull the sides of the bird and begin stitching, beginning at the neck end.

You don't need a fancy stitch (fortunately, since I don't know any).

You will do three seams: One at the neck, one at the tail, and one down the back. The back seam is perpendicular to the other two, so the finished result will be like a big upper-case letter-I.

Stitch across the neck opening (wing to wing) first. Then do a second stitch starting from the middle of the seam you just sewed and proceed along the back.

Continue to the tail and finish the stitch. Then do a third seam across the tail end, from thigh to thigh. Double up the last stitch and cut off any excess.

Pat the bird into shape. Brush with melted butter or olive oil and refrigerate until it's time to cook, overnight if you like.

Cooking

In the book, she cooks the bird in a closed pot on the stove top. I browned the bird in a pan and finished it in the oven but the most recent time, decided to just roast it. That worked very well.

As it turns out, this recipe is pretty immune from overcooking, since the meat loaf essentially bastes the chicken.

With a stuffed bird, the trick is getting the inside cooked without overcooking the breast meat. Because poultry harbors salmonella and campylobacter, you will need to be extra careful to make sure the center of the meat loaf reaches at least 140 degrees. The heat will continue to rise after you remove it from the oven, to 150-155. (Most recomendations tell you to cook to 160 or higher, to allow a little margin. Up to you and how accurate your thermometer is).

The leg meat needs to reach about 165-170 and the breast needs to be as close to 155 as you can manage.

Roast, uncovered at 325 degrees, breast down, for 40 minutes, then turn the bird breast up and roast until the breast is at 155 or 160 and the center is at 140, about 2 to 2-1/2 hours.

Be sure to use a thermometer and make sure you reach a solid 140 degrees in the center. If you're not sure your thermometer is accurate, you'll need to give it some extra.

Ready to Serve

So how did we do?

Meat loaf wrapped in chicken. What's not to like?

Garbage Disposal Tips

The best way to deodorize a garbage disposal is to never let it get stinky in the first place. I used to avoid running it longer than necessary, thinking I was saving water. But it turns out that the best idea us to run it several seconds after all grinding has stopped. Doing that, it stays fresh.

Other tips:

• To clean a disposal, grind lemon slices and ice.
• For a deeper clean, disposer manufacturer Insinkerator suggests you put a stopper in the sink opening and half fill the sink with warm water. Mix in 1/4 cup baking soda. Turn on the disposer at the same time you remove the plug, to flush the mechanism. With the disposer off, remove the rubber baffle at the opening and wash by hand.
• My experience is that the underside of the baffle and the neck of the disposal are a source of stinkiness. but much less so since I began running it a little longer.
  
• Small bones, fruit pits, and ice are good for your disposal.
• Use cold water. I read arguments on both sides on this one but most of the manufacturers recommend cold water.

One more tip: Compost. By feeding your vegetable remains to the garden, you don't have to use the disposal as often.

Cinnamon and Cassia

A friend asks: "What am I buying at the store that calls itself cinammon, and
why don't they sell real cinammon? Where can I buy real cinammon and
would I notice the diffference?"

Answer:

What you really want is a better grade of the same thing you get in the grocery store -- and yeah, you will notice the difference!

What we call cinnamon is actually cassia. There was a worldwide shortage of cinnamon early in the 20th century and suppliers switched to cassia. We have become accustomed to it and most of us prefer the stronger taste of cassia now.

High-grade China Cassia is my favorite -- it has a bright, strong spicy-sweet flavor that makes supermarket products dull by comparison. I buy it mail-order by the half-pound. I also sometimes buy the Vietnamese but for most people, just get the China Cassia and you will be happy. You can get some true cinnamon, too and compare.

Buy from Penzey's -- here is their article on cinnamon and cassia. Ordering links are at the bottom.

More info on spices and Penzey's is in an earlier article here including a list of other items you should order while you are getting your cinnamon.