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Ann Marie's Blog
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| | Tags: | alla, food, giblet stock, kate, kombucha, leaf lard, nutrtition, potions, rendering lard, seth, thanksgiving | | Subject: | Leaf lard, turkey giblet stock, and a German meal made by a Russian | | Time: | 10:21 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/working.gif) accomplished |
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| Tonight, for the first time in my life, I rendered lard.
It was pretty easy!
Actually I'm not quite done yet. It's still on the stove, melting in the cast iron skillet (this is the best way to do it so I've read -- because it has the added advantage of seasoning the skillet). When it's as melted as it's gonna get, I need to strain it and cool it. Not sure how long it will take to fully melt -- we shall see. If it's not done before I go to bed, I'll stick it in the oven on low heat overnight.
It needs to be very cold by tomorrow night however, so I can get my pie crusts made in time. I may just strain it tonight.
I followed this recipe:
http://www.obsessionwithfood.com/2006_01_01_blog-archive.html#113709378997673043
I also made turkey giblet stock -- from the lungs and heart and liver and gizzards (secondary stomachs). It is also still simmering on the stove. The stock will be going into the stuffing and the gravy.
Here's the recipe I used for the stock:
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=a508d067aa265110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f48b5d59970e4110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=recipecontent_food&lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD
YIKES that is a long URL! Ha!
Anyway, turkey giblets are incredibly good for you. Simmering them in water (with vegetables and herbs) turns all those nutrients into a very concentrated broth. Extremely nutritious!
Alla (our nanny) stayed late to help me with the stock and the lard, not to mention the laundry. I didn't wnat her driving home yet anyway because the traffic was HIDEOUS. I guess people were out driving around to get things for Thanksgiving -- or maybe they were leaving to go out of town. I don't know what they were doing but they were ALL out there, clogging up every street and highway. UGH!
After she helped me with the stock and the lard, Alla helped me with the dishes and whipped up some dinner. "You're nursing!" she implored. "You need to eat!"
So she boiled some cauliflower (from my CSA box) and then rolled it in raw egg and then cooked it in butter. I ate that with Bratwurst (also prepared by Alla) and my homemade sauerkraut, and a bottle of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. So delicious! And very healthy. All organic, with lots of good fat and probiotics.
I must go to bed now. I have my 6 am wake-up call from This Lady. And tomorrow I have to get everything ready for Thanksgiving: bake pies, make homemade ice cream, set the table, assemble everything mis en place in the kitchen (there are a thousand details that go into this stuffing -- it's a recipe from Martha after all), and brine the turkey. Plus fifteen other things (phone calls, etc.) that I need to do for Seth.
Good night! Oh, wait, I have to go strain the lard and the stock. OK, good night in a little while!
PS: I also ordered my kombucha baby today. I can't wait to get it and start making kombucha! I also ordered some fil mjolk (Swedish culture that makes something similar to buttermilk), kefir grains, sourdough starter, and various other things like cheesecloth and lids for my mason jars.
PS2: The sauerkraut, as mentioned, has come out very well.
The pickles taste fine (well two of the jars did -- one tasted off so I dumped it). They are not QUITE as crunchy as I'd like them (I couldn't get my hands on any grape leaves) however they are still good. But I'm going to give them a few more days.
The papaya chutney tastes pretty good -- I think I'll refrigerate it in the next day or two (refrigeration stops the fermenting).
The orange marmalade was a miserable failure.
OK really I must go now and strain and cool my potions (that is what Seth calls them) so I can go to bed! | comments: Leave a comment   |
| I just got my leaf lard. It was sitting on the front porch in a styrofoam box, along with the bacon and sausage and bratwurst I ordered. Woo hoo! All pesticide- and antibiotic- and hormone-free.
I also got a book in the mail from Amazon: "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz. It has recipes for kombucha and sourdough bread and hard cider and ginger beer -- etc.
You can't call me a hippie because, although I do not vaccinate my child and I make kombucha and I happen to brush my teeth with soap, I do order LEAF LARD and SAUSAGE on the internet and have it shipped in STYROFOAM (evil styrofoam) to my house. Hippies don't eat leaf lard and they do not buy things packed in styrofoam! So there!
Oops. I forgot to mention the Tooth Soap.
Tooth Soap is another crazy hippie thing I found online. It's essentially an amber glass jar full of what looks like grated cheese -- only it's grated saponified coconut, palm, and olive oil -- perfumed with a dash of essential oil.
The thing is this -- they say that the glycerin in toothpaste (ALL toothpaste -- even the fancy natural stuff like Tom's) is counterproductive when it comes to helping your teeth remineralize.
Have I mentioned the remineralization of teeth? No? OK I promise to post about that later. Right now I gotta go to bed. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| Tonight Sarah and I went to our first local chapter meeting for the Weston A. Price Foundation (http://www.westonaprice.org/). It was a "fermented foods potluck" in an upstairs room at the Wild Oats in Santa Monica.
We ate homemade pickles and kimchi and drank kombucha and told stories and exchanged recipes and laughed more than I have laughed all month.
These were possibly some of the most joyous people I have ever encountered. They were bubbling with life and laughter.
I think it's all the raw butter and cheese they are eating.
I've been thinking about it and (no offense to you vegetarians out there) but on the whole, vegans are such a serious and self-righteous lot. I think it's because they have to deprive themselves of so many delicious foods. And I think they are cranky because they are hungry.
Not this group. Well-fed, well-researched, and more than anything -- I keep coming back to this word -- joyous. They reminded me of Julia Child -- laughing and telling people to eat more butter. ("If you are worried that there is too much butter in this recipe, don't worry, you can just leave out some of the butter and add more cream." -- JC)
I ask you, how can you be unhappy eating butter?
One of the women at the meeting tonight was probably in her fifties or sixties -- she said she has been eating this way for the past ten years. Said she hasn't seen a doctor in a decade.
What if you found out that butter and bacon and whole milk and cheese and foie gras didn't give you heart disease and make you fat? Wouldn't you be happy?
Well it's true. And I am happy to finally know this. Happy I can now eat what I always knew was good for me. It just needs to be processed correctly (unpasteurized, organic, not genetically modified or corn- or soy-fed).
I have started reading Weston Price's book, "Nutrition and Physical Degradation". He was a dentist, and he traveled around the world in the 1920s and 30s, studying the healthiest people on the planet. People with almost no tooth decay or degenerative disease. The Eskimos, American Indians, Scottish fishermen, Alpine Swiss villagers, African tribes, etc. etc.
What did they all have in common (other than their perfect health)? They were all eating lots of animal fat (60-80% of their diet), lots of organic, mineral-rich, nutrient dense foods, lots of fermented foods, only whole grains and no processed foods (no refined sugar or flours and no modern junk food).
I just read the chapter about the villages in the Swiss Alps. None of the children needed braces -- and only a few out of hundreds of children ever had a cavity. They never got sick. There weren't even any doctors in any of the villages. They had no need for them.
What did they eat? Whole rye bread and raw dairy products -- milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt -- as well as a smattering of vegetables, and once a week, meat.
That's it. That is what they ate. And they were vibrantly healthy. What does that tell you about the nutritive quality of wholesome raw milk and raw dairy products?
Speaking of raw milk, Sarah and I also went this weekend to the Organic Pastures dairy "store" -- a parking lot behind a chain link fence in South Central -- to buy our raw milk at rock bottom prices. We felt like we were going to buy drugs. It's not exactly the black market -- the sale of raw milk products is legal in California. But you definitely get the feeling that you are doing something criminal.
We got the milk half price (it's normally $8/half gallon at Whole Foods -- we got it for $4). We also got raw cheese and butter and kefir. I'm such a believer in the healing and nutritive qualities of raw milk, I would do whatever it takes to get it. Even if it means moving to the country and buying a cow. Would that be so bad? I don't think so.
I will need some chickens, too. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Feeling really happy these days. I was happy before but lately -- in the past week or so -- I'm feeling beyond happy. Like a kid again.
I'm thinking it might be either the raw milk or the kombucha I've been drinking. Or both.
I tried kombucha for the first time last week. It's delicious! Doesn't taste like a health food at all. Tastes like ginger ale spiked with vinegar. An acquired taste for some -- although I loved it right away.
The world has a long history of fermented foods and beverages... people around the world have been fermenting their food and drink since the dark ages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fermented_beverages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fermented_foods
Throughout history and around the world, foods like pickles and sauerkraut and cheese were not pasteurized. Nor was wine or beer. And because they didn't cook them, they didn't kill off all the healthful enzymes and probiotics.
By the way, did you know the royal family drinks their milk raw? So do all the dairy farmers with pastured cows. And what I've read is those dairy farmers' kids all have perfect straight teeth with no cavities and never need braces.
However, many of the dairy farmers who have confinement cows (including organic dairy farms like Horizon Organics) do not drink their milk raw. That is how bad the milk is. Apparently pasteurization is a way to kill off all the bad stuff -- because the cows are sick and the milk is contaminated. Raw milk is healthy and clean and does not require pasteurization.
I've been reading "The Untold Story of Milk" by Ron Schmid, ND. I challenge anyone to read this book and NOT switch to raw milk. For health reasons, the welfare of the animals, the future of our food and political freedom, and the continuation of our species. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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