The food and drink thread

[Madrigal]

Not long before or after that I was using kosher salt (no iodine) because a nutritionist I used to listen to said to use it. Then I decided iodized salt was probably best.

I'm just not using it at all. A lot of ingredients, like cheese or tomato sauce, already have it. I also stopped using stock cubes.

Crazy how much salt can vary with cheese. The lowest I found so far is that fior di latte mozzarella. Also changed my source of tomato sauce. I made pizza last time to avoid ordering a high sodium one, but the pizza needs some tinkering with.

[Senseye]

I went through a few different stages with salt. I used to not add it to anything. That was in the mid 80s when I was using paper packets of mixed grains called Kashi. They may still make it. It tasted pretty bad with no salt. Not long before or after that I was using kosher salt (no iodine) because a nutritionist I used to listen to said to use it. Then I decided iodized salt was probably best.

I'm sort of in the same boat, I can't decide if salt is a problem or not. Near as I can tell, it can lead to higher blood pressure, but I am not sure what else is bad about it. So I ignored the issue when I had normal blood pressure. Now I have higher blood pressure, so I try to reduce my salt. However, I am a lazy cook so I eat a fair amount of packaged food which is always loaded with sodium. Sodium is not salt per se (table salt is sodium chloride) so sodium does not taste all that salty. But I think that sodium is the main culprit in the high blood pressure connection. I think it is mainly used in food as a preservative, although it probably affects taste to some extent.

As such, cutting back on salt (or at least sodium) is is huge problem for me. This old dog is not inclined to start making all his meals from scratch. I have never really salted my food much (except for meat - one of the few things I do cook). Salt reduction is a real pain in the ass is all I can say.

[Madrigal]

As such, cutting back on salt (or at least sodium) is is huge problem for me. This old dog is not inclined to start making all his meals from scratch. I have never really salted my food much (except for meat - one of the few things I do cook). Salt reduction is a real pain in the ass is all I can say.

You can try weekend meal-prepping so as to make all the meals on one day and just eat them throughout the week, but I think even that involves some of trial and error, since you have to tinker with spice combinations that could substitute for the flavor of salt.

I guess there are also a few conditions that could contribute to blood pressure, beyond salt consumption, and maybe tackling those things at the same time could allow you to use at least a bit of salt. Some things just aren't going to work without it, IMO. I'm no longer going zero-salt with pizza because it's just not working, for example.

[Senseye]

I guess there are also a few conditions that could contribute to blood pressure, beyond salt consumption, and maybe tackling those things at the same time could allow you to use at least a bit of salt. Some things just aren't going to work without it, IMO. I'm no longer going zero-salt with pizza because it's just not working, for example.

I've already conceded I can maybe manage the recommended daily allowance for salt and not much less. As for blood pressure, it's probably just advancing age and maybe genetics (it never used to be an issue for me). Anyways, I understand bp meds are very effective these days. Just need to get my ass to see a doctor.

[Madrigal]

I've already conceded I can maybe manage the recommended daily allowance for salt and not much less. As for blood pressure, it's probably just advancing age and maybe genetics (it never used to be an issue for me). Anyways, I understand bp meds are very effective these days. Just need to get my ass to see a doctor.

Don't they interact with alcohol, though? That alone would convince me to just eat less salt.

[Catoptric]

Ever since I've been searching for Cheech and Chong films, I've been getting a lot of promotional ads for THC (derived from regular hemp) food products. . . Currently I have a 10mg THC infused seltzer can being sent from a Cycling Frog brand and very nearly got 50mg THC 10 pack of brownies and some 1mg mints (for microdosing) before realizing I need to probably not get into it (I see a lot of legit examples of why not to, but also anything more than 10mg is probably best to avoid.)

I saw much of the same thing with a brand called Cloud Cola, which reminded me of a dealkalized coca leaf extract used to flavor Red Bull cola (that has since been removed from the market.)

I do have CBD oil infused with anti-inflamation ingredients (astaxanthin, mixed with MCT) and was a bit surprised they've allowed enough THC to get people high (the cbd oil prized itself in having microscopic THC levels, which I assumed was necessary for legalization.)

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I created a 6 lb beef Wellington using some 'Mushroom ketchup' I had sitting in a jar. I basically took a sherry vinegar oyster mushroom slurry blend I made about 2 years ago in anticipation of eventually making beef Wellington, added some Coleman's mustard powder, and chopped up 2-3 oz of dry shitake mushroom, and added some porcini mushroom powder, and after searing the slab of beef using a truffle flavored butter with champignon mushroom (a small 1-2 oz jar that goes well with pasta, that I bought at a Big Lots for about $1.50 that was closing down; which might still be in limbo with reopening) wrapped in a Boars Head honey ham slices (4 slices that stills seems overpriced at $3 clearance I had frozen right around the time they were in trouble for some sausages being contaminated with e coli or something. . .) and wrapped in some phyllo dough (without using butter layered throughout, though I did attempt to use the remaining truffle butter jar to coat the layers and have it adhere to the beef, which worked out pretty well mostly.)

Kept at 400 Fahrenheit for about an hour and when checking the temp with a thermometer, I would periodically shift between reheating the oven and returning it to it to kind of simmer long enough to reach an internal temp of about 150. If reheating with it inside it burns the phyllo dough.

Decent though I also underestimated the size of it when cooking it. I also kind of like the phyllo compared to if I created a pastry (and since I also happened across a 50lb bag of semolina being clearanced off at a restaurant wholesaler, because it had a small tear, I didn't want to chance whether it was suitable for this kind of purpose since it might be better for pasta (I bought it for Neopolitan-style pizza as they had flour that specializes in that purpose there but I skipped over it because it ranged from $40-70 depending on if it was imported, and Amazon was selling the semolina for $70, and I figured it was $10 cheaper than the lowest similar kind of flour (and I considered it an option to grind it finer if I needed to try and experiment, even if it's suggested to use course grind for basic bread or pizza; though the only real mention of it being used by pizza enthusiasts are for when forming the dough ball into a pizza shape from 00-type of flour, and some swear that corn meal is way better though they might just be using it on a pizza peel.

All I know is it's a nightmare forming pizza dough with bread flour. . . I mixed some up with rye flour when it still held too much moisture and would start to stick as soon as you added more flour and thought it was sufficient.

I planned to mostly focus on using Canadian bacon, and a different brand of cheese than the kind of crap sold at Kroger, along with some calamata olives, and perhaps sundried tomatoes (if I don't decide to just use them for paninis, though I would have gotten genoa salami at the time.) What I kind of intuitively assumed to be about $100 was $200. . . I was about to get prosciutto though I knew it would add about $40 more than the Canadian bacon/ham, and I was getting tired of the more heavily processed meats.

And the only reason I even bought the stuff is because someone didn't want to drive out of their way to pick up 20 volumes of art deco poetry books I salvaged from a dumpster (that were still in great shape, and I just needed to get rid of.) Since it was about a 20 minute drive and I hadn't stopped by the wholesaler in over a year, I figured it was about time to get a few things (and I generally don't trust the crap they sell at the grocery store, knowing what usually happens with their inventory.)

The proscuitto would have still be a nice option. . . though if not cut thinly enough can really be an issue (though when considering the cost of what is about 3-4 oz for $8 in most places, it really is a bargain. . .) Incidentally the thought of the beef Wellington only occurred to me upon coming back, though if I did use it, it would have been about .5-1 lb to slice sufficiently to wrap around the beef, and I would have had to take a lot more time, and I mostly just used the moisture of the ingredients to adhere it together (so if I did fresh mushrooms, moisture would have been running out of it from the beginning, instead of only starting to show up after about 1 1/2 hrs of baking.)

Other things to consider are again enchiladas since I bought a large can of chipotle peppers (so I'll be making about 3-4 jars, probably after boiling a rotisserie chicken carcass for broth.) It really does make a big difference to make tortillas from scratch, and an enchilada dish is a better way to utilize them since they can really be a mess to use for tacos if not as experienced making them (mostly just getting the proper density of masa flour with water and pressing the ball down in plastic wrap using a rolling pin.)



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50 lbs of semolina might be more difficult to use considering that most all 'Semolina bread' recipes limit it to 1/4 of the bread mixture (though it does have a very similar protein percentage to Neopolitan pizza dough four) and I have yet to use it, and have found recipes I will probably get around to doing at some point:


Semolina bread rolled with onion anchovy, and tomato paste
https://en.julskitchen.com/bread/findin ... nion-bread

Semolina Italian loaf using sesame seed topping
https://recipesitaly.com/italian-semolina-bread-recipe/

And I might try using ground flaxseed (or possibly sesame) soaked in water to make a substitute for egg wash.


And there are a few legitimate semolina bread recipes, and using sourdough starter (and a similar baking method, though I will use a cast iron pot)
https://foodbodsourdough.com/semolina-sourdough/

[Senseye]

Don't they interact with alcohol, though? That alone would convince me to just eat less salt.

I don't think so. I know a couple of guys on bp meds and they still drink without issues. Also, I think going low sodium will only reduce one's blood pressure by 8-10 points or so, which is not enough in most people's case. I need a 20-30 point drop I think (I still haven't worked out the extent of the issue - I don't feel any different than I ever have, but that doesn't mean much).

[Catoptric]

I got nori sheets without realizing they were half cut (they were stacked like a regular sheet, and the only indication was if I paid attention to the 100 sheets (half-cut) at the bottom.

These are generally intended for specific sushi roll options

Hosomaki
half-sized and one basic ingredient (aside from rice) such as tuna or avocado

Uramaki
rice on outside, (often using plastic wrap covered bamboo roll-up mat with seeweed sheet placed before the ingredients)

Futomaki is something even stranger
Basically instead of wrapping the nori lengthwise in the process, add it vertically and finish off the sheet with a daikon radish wrap, thus comprising the shorter nori sheet, since it's hard to find a radish as long as a full sheet?


And basically I didn't do any o that and decided instead to plop some sushi rice in the middle and add some egg, deer jerky, and some pickle slices, as a bad imitation of kimbap wrapped like a burrito. . . The prions from the deer jerky are having a noticeable effect. . . and I have become transformed into an all-knowing buddha.

Nothingness. . .

[Madrigal]

Made some apple crumble by the food blogger from RecipeTin Eats. Such an easy and delicious dessert.

I have her cookbook, Dinner, and everything she makes is great.