The half-sours were delicious, but not very dilly. Research revealed the volunteer “dill” in my garden was in fact fennel. Oops! The 2m. (6 ft) hollow stems were the clincher. Great for salmon gravlax, not so great for dill pickles.

What’s a coddler?

Coddlers were invented in England, sometime around the end of the 1800s, it seems, probably in Worcester, home of Royal Worcester and other porcelain manufacturers. Modern coddlers consist of a footed porcelain cup, topped with a metal threaded rim, onto which a metal cap screws. Cute birds, or fruit or flowers are often printed on the outside of the bowl. The cap has a ring on top, for lifting the coddler in and out of the hot water.

Like an egg shell, a coddler holds the slippery and fragile contents of an egg until cooked and spooned out, but unlike the original shell, there’s no risk that bits of shell will slip in and hide. Coddlers keep the egg warm for a nice long time, very handy if you live in a drafty old castle or Craftsman-era Vancouver house. One more thing - you can peek at the egg to see if it’s done to your liking – not so easy to do with an egg in its intact shell. If that’s not enough, the box also advises that coddlers are handy for warming baby food.

Enhancing the experience

Coddled eggs also lend themselves to enhancements. First, there’s a little fat, traditionally butter, rubbed with a finger around the interior of the bowl. Some recipes call for buttering the lid too, but I find that’s not necessary. I like to collect drippings from roast chicken or roast pork, or rendered duck fat, on the theory that the fat I eat should be as delicious as possible. The chicken fat is a dark caramel colour, thick and pourable right out of the fridge. I collect it after roasting a brined chicken which was rubbed with garlic and canola oil, so there’s dripping and garlic and some canola in the mix.

Simple and fancy

Into one coddler, I break a whole large egg, which nicely fills the coddler. I like my whites solid, and the yolk runny. A dab of butter and salt and pepper are all that’s needed. The other one gets egg whites from a carton, plus a little chunk of brie, maybe a few bits of shallot or leftover asparagus. Sometimes, I scoop out the coddlers and put the eggs in a bowl, with a few greens. That could be a starter; a 2002 New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/dining/08EGGS.html describes chef Kurt Gutenbrunner’s presentation: “soft-cooked eggs in a cocktail glass on a pillow of puréed baby spinach or crème fraîche, with a cap of shaved truffle or caviar.”

Basic coddled eggs recipe

In addition to coddlers, you’ll need a small pot, and a wooden cutting board or other surface for the coddler to land on after cooking, also a kitchen towel to dry and hold the coddlers to remove the lids. When lifting the coddlers from the simmering water, the backend of a chopstick works well, the disposable bamboo kind from Japanese restaurants that pull apart, and leave a little knob of wood at the joined end - a good reason to bring home the chopsticks that would otherwise go into the landfill. Those disposables are also handy for other kitchen duty such as turning tofu or bacon in the frying pan, or rescuing items from the drain. Reusable plain bamboo ones are no longer provided at restaurants due to hygiene, I guess, but my parents managed not to kill us using those disposables, simply washing them in hot soapy water. I’ve put them through the dishwasher, which sometimes warps them. But I digress.

To measure how much water you will need, put a little less than an inch (2.5cm) of water into a small pot with a lid, and stand your coddlers in it. The water should come up about halfway on the coddlers. Remove the coddlers, put the lid on the pot, and place the pot on a medium high burner.

Butter two small coddlers (the one-egg size) with a clean finger. Break a whole egg into each. One “large” egg fits nicely into each of mine, leaving a quarter inch (half cm) of headroom. Add salt, pepper and a dab of butter, if you like, or add when cooked, or not at all.

Gently screw on the coddler lids, then back off two-thirds of a turn, so they are loosely capped. Lower the coddlers into the now simmering water, cover the pot. Start the timer. After about 5 minutes, you can check to see if the eggs are done to your liking by lifting the coddler from the water using a chopstick or spoon handle. Five minutes is soft-boiled in my setup, with a runny white. Steady and hold the coddler bowl with a doubled thickness of tea towel and stand on a wood surface, or something that will not heat-shock the coddler. Grasp the edges of the lid (not the ring) to unscrew the lid. If you’d like the egg cooked, replace the lid and return the coddler to the pot for a little longer. If the egg is ready, set the coddler on a plate, and serve. I cook mine about 6-7 minutes.

Variations: Coddled egg whites

I started eating egg whites when my cholesterol was high, and have continued because I like them. Without the yolk, there’s room for lots of tasty additions - smoked salmon, bacon, ham, chives, shallots, or scallions, maybe some parmesan or thin gruyere ribbons. Today, I used chicken dripping on the bowl, and added a chunk of feta and a few bits of shallot.

Grease the interior with butter or your fat of choice, drop in some shallot bits (truly bits - a square centimetre in size, or half inch square, finely chopped), and some shavings of cheese. Pour in some egg white – either from a separated egg, or from plain carton egg-whites. Proceed as above, perhaps with a little less cooking time than for a whole egg.

Coddler care

Coddlers are fairly sturdy items, but have a few vulnerabilities. The metal rim and lid can rust, so wash, dry and leave off the coddler when not in use. The porcelain bowl can crack if dropped, or possibly if exposed to sudden temperature changes – like taking it out of the boiling water and putting it on a cold stone countertop. The ring atop the lid is only for lifting the coddler – don’t be tempted to use it as a handle to screw the lid on or off – it could snap off. As noted above, don’t screw on the lid tightly – leave it loose, so the contents can expand. Be careful with the lid – it’s easy to cross-thread and the lid jams. Carefully tighten again and try again, keeping everything square. Finally, soak immediately after use, and handwash soon after, using nothing too aggressive.

Resources

more tips on care: http://www.egg-coddlers.com/recipes/
coddler manufacturers: http://www.egg-coddlers.com/manufacturers.shtml

Three kinds of fermentation – rising in an oiled bowl, a sourdough made with atta flour, in preparation for flatbreads tomorrow (regular carb friends will be here). Creme fraiche is fermenting in a homemade constant-heat box, lit with a 100 Watt bulb and regulated with a modified furnace thermostat. Half-sour dills made with dill from the garden and a grape leaf from a neighbour’s vine are in the basement, covered with doubled paper towelling.

An egg a day = Earlier death

An April 2010 analysis of a +20-year research project (1982-2007) involving more than 21,000 male doctors found that those who reported eating seven or more eggs a week increased their risk of dying by 23%. For those with diabetes, eating any eggs was associated with increased risk of dying from all causes. Exactly why eggs are associated with earlier death is not known.

What about the cholesterol?

Eggs are notable for having a lot of cholesterol, and cholesterol has been implicated in heart disease. One egg contains about 220 milligrams of cholesterol, a concentrated source, when the daily recommended maximum is 300 mg. Eating cholesterol doesn’t automatically translate to high serum cholesterol levels – the levels circulating in our blood. Even if we eat no cholesterol, our body makes all of the cholesterol it needs - 1,000 to 3,000 mg per day. When cholesterol from food is delivered to the liver, the liver produces that much less cholesterol – if the system is functioning correctly. We need cholesterol mostly for bile, necessary for digesting fats. Some of that cholesterol is recycled by the body, and the amount that is reclaimed is part of regulating cholesterol levels. Cholesterol also goes to producing hormones and Vitamin D. Getting into the sunshine, so your body can make Vitamin D, seems to be one way to reduce the cholesterol in our bloodstream.

Dietary vs. Serum cholesterol

Some research has been done to see if eating eggs actually raise blood cholesterol. About 70% of Americans can eat eggs without affecting their blood cholesterol. For the other 30%, their blood cholesterol will rise. One theory is that humans were originally vegetarian and some have not adapted the mechanism to reduce internal production when cholesterol-rich foods are consumed. Others claim that eating foods containing cholesterol has little impact on serum cholesterol. There is even an organization calling itself Cholesterol Sceptics, whose members believe that consuming animal fat and cholesterol are not factors in cardiovascular disease.

Eggs did not cause heart attacks

However, the study did not show that eating eggs caused more heart attacks overall. Only for those with diabetes, was there “suggestive evidence” for a greater risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and stroke. Which means that the non-diabetic egg-eating doctors were dying earlier of causes other than heart attacks. It’s a puzzle. For those with diabetes or at risk for developing diabetes, eggs might be more of an issue.

Eggs, Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease

An earlier research paper, [JAMA Vol. 281 No. 15, April 21, 1999, JAMA Vol. 281 No. 15, April 21, 1999, "A Prospective Study of Egg Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Men and Women"] analyzed the same Doctors’ Study, plus more than 80,000 women in the “Nurses’ Health Study” (1980-1994). Among those with Type 2 diabetes, eating more than one egg per day (compared to less than 1 per week) doubled the risk or coronary heart disease for men, and increased the risk for women by 50%. The researchers concluded, “The apparent increased risk of CHD associated with higher egg consumption among diabetic participants warrants further research.”

Eggs linked to developing diabetes

Another study, “Egg Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Men and Women”] using the same data in the doctors and nurses studies, found that eating eggs can be a risk for developing diabetes. Published in February 2009, in Diabetes Care (a journal of the American Diabetes Association) found that those eating an egg a day were 58 to 77 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, compared to those who ate no eggs. For the women in the study, information was available on the other foods they ate, and increased cholesterol intake was related to an increased risk of diabetes, whereas increased saturated fat was not.

This sounds very dramatic, but a critic pointed out this means, “each year the development of diabetes will be encountered in only one extra woman out of every 137 women who elect to eat at least seven eggs per week versus those abstaining from eggs completely.” [Egg Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Men and Women, Response to Djoussé et al.]

Aberrant egg eaters

A caution: The doctors and nurses in these studies did not eat many eggs. The study period covered a time when eggs were viewed as unhealthy, and the health professionals in the study were by and large compliant with the current notion to avoid eggs. The median egg consumption was reported as one egg a week – including eggs contained in other foods, such as pancakes, over the course of a year. Only 7.8% of the men and 1% of the women ate one egg a day or more. The few that ate an egg a day would be flagrantly ignoring the current health advice about eggs, egg-rebels, as it were. I wonder if that was the only way in which those egg-eaters were risk-takers.

Problems in study design

The “doctors study” as it’s known, has some design issues that might limit its applicability. One report of the study noted, “Men who ate the most eggs were also older, fatter, were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke and less likely to exercise - all factors that can affect the risk of heart attack and death.” Although the study did not find heart attacks were the cause of the earlier deaths of the daily egg eaters, these factors are related to other health risks.

As the study authors noted, other information is missing, including knowing what else the doctors ate, and how the eggs were cooked. There was more information about the women’s eating and other health risks, but neither study asked whether the participants consumed egg yolk – where the cholesterol is concentrated. Furthermore, more than 90% of the study subjects were caucasian, so the results may or may not be applicable to other groups.

Evidence supporting egg consumption

There is evidence that three countries where people consume the most eggs – Japan, Spain and France – also have very low rates of death from cardiovascular disease: “The Good News About Eggs Just Got Better”, the Egg Nutrition Center (an egg-industry website). Why is not clear – it may not be related to egg-eating at all, but to some other factors entirely. For more good news about eggs, the industry website has lots of links.

Bottom Line

I have been working on this post for many months, partly because I have not been satisfied with my research. There seems to be evidence for and against eggs, and no clear path.

The doctor’s study would suggest that eating more than 6 eggs a week will shorten your life – particularly if you’re a caucasian male physician. How or why isn’t known, but it’s not likely because of an increased risk of stroke or heart attack. Eating more eggs might cause more egg-eaters to develop Type 2 diabetes, and for those with T2D, eating an egg a day might increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

My own diet

I usually eat eggs for breakfast, one whole egg, and one white-only. Eggs are very low in carbohydrates, and I’m enjoying making coddled eggs in my new coddlers. While I can test my blood glucose after eating, it’s harder to know how eggs are affecting other aspects of my health. My blood glucose levels seem to affect my serum cholesterol levels, and I’ll see if there is any significant change over my previous tests when I ate mostly egg whites, with very few yolks. As they say, your mileage may vary.

Possible benefits for reducing blood glucose

In the markets, I’d see women slicing off the thorns with a knife, and selling them in a bag (thorns off, they’re called nopalitos) either whole or cut into rectangular dice. They are reputed to have benefits for diabetics - being both low in carbs and emitting a gooey slime when cooked. One theory is that the slime traps carbs and fats, making it harder for the body to access them, resulting in lower blood glucose levels and fats entering the bloodstream. A small study showed lower blood sugar after a mixed breakfast including nopalitos than without. The test breakfasts involved a lot more carbs than I would normally eat, such as tortillas, flour tortillas, and pinto beans, with the reductions varying with different meal compositions. The authors concluded that nopales have a low glycemic index, and for the diabetic subjects (47–72 years of age, mean ± Standard Deviation fasting blood glucose of 8.0 ± 2 mmol/l), adding nopales to traditional breakfasts would reduce the blood sugar of diabetics, a growing problem in Mexico.

That said, I couldn’t find any large research studies testing its effectiveness in controlling diabetes, perhaps because it’s hard to get research money for something that can’t be patented or controlled. After all, nopale cacti grow for free in the desert. Break off a pad and plant it, and it takes root, creating a new plant. However, there are many supplement promotions for various health concerns, including hangover treatments.

Goo or not

I don’t know whether they have benefits for diabetics, or not, but they are one of my staples when in Mexico. I’ve always cooked them, but have read that they can be eaten raw with the normal precautions for raw vegetables. I don’t mind the goo, but others do - rather vehemently. Slimy foods seem to evoke that kind of reaction in goo-phobes. Personally, I’m good with goo, such as natto, the fermented Japanese soybean. And okra, slime and all. Soaking nopalitos in water with disinfectant drops seems to encourage the slime to ooze out of the little cuts where the spines were removed. If water and cutting encourage slime, then broiling whole, brushed with a little fat should work well. It was delicious that way in my starter at Las Mercedes. Diana Kennedy recommends slicing the pads in strips, but leaving them attached at the base. Dip in beer and grill on a lightly greased comal or griddle (The Art of Mexican Cooking, p.174).

Other goo-reducing advice includes choosing younger, smaller pads, and boiling in successive pots of water and discarding the water and the goo with it. I found that microwaving in a tight-lidded casserole with a minimum of water works fairly well. I usually fry them, and at the equivalent stage of a stir-fried vegetable, they are gooey. Eventually, though, the slime disappears. Longer fried, they were more citrus-flavoured than when lightly cooked.

Warm Nopales Salad Recipe

Here’s a simple recipe for nopales. I usually start with a tablespoon (25ml) of chopped red onion. If carbs are not an issue, use more. Saute the onion in some melted lard or your fat of choice, with a sprinkle of hing (asafoetida powder). Add the nopales, washed and cut into longish dice. Let them sit, then turn a little. Don’t keep stirring, unless you want a pan full of slime. After a few minutes, the nopales will be cooked, but if they are too slimy for your taste, keep cooking and turning periodically. Turn out into a bowl and add some chopped fresh serrano pepper, chopped fresh cilantro, chopped avocado, and salt or fish sauce. Tomato is good too, if carbs are not an issue. Taste and add a little red wine vinegar or lime juice to taste.

Usually, losing weight causes blood pressure to drop:

It is well documented that weight loss due to diet alone is associated with a reduction in blood pressure. The Cochrane Collaboration recently completed a review indicating that a weight loss of 4-8% was associated with a decrease in blood pressure of about 3 mm Hg.

In other studies, orlistat produced greater weight loss and a bigger drop in blood pressure than a control group. However, one of the researchers in this study said other studies usually involve people who were overweight, but not “unhealthy”, whereas the recent study involved “real” people with problems typical of overweight people such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

There are some studies involving hypertensive patients - people with high blood pressure - and orlistat. The Cochrane Collaboration
reviewed eight studies of at least 24 weeks duration, and found blood pressure did drop in those on orlistat (and went up for those on another weight loss drug, sibutramine, even though that group lost the same amount of weight). The Cochrane authors also said long term studies of these drugs are needed on mortality and morbidity.

Bottom line:

Studies on healthy subjects are not necessarily able to predict what happens when a person with diabetes takes that medication. Low-carb diet not only promotes weight loss, but lowers blood pressure.

Sources:
http://www.theheart.org/article/1042243.do
http://www.nationalpost.com/life/health/story.html?id=5c9bdf08-b9b5-4a1a-8aed-a7835c8e90cd
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/01/lowcarb-diets-may-trump-lowfat-in-lowering-blood-pressure.html

]]> http://foodarazzi.com/?feed=rss2&p=2369 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2306 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2306#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:10:07 +0000 cassandra http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2306 In Guanajuato, we had an excellent meal at Las Mercedes restaurant, which describes itself as “Cocina Mexicana Artesanal”. We had spent the morning walking in the historic centre, seeing museums, and wandering through the tunnels that carry a good amount of vehicular traffic underground. The oldest tunnels were once riverbeds. Antonio Ojeda from Cacomixtle Group told us that the first tunnels were built with many arched bridges over the rivers that once ran through the city. I’ll be posting about our trip with Antonio soon.

After walking around getting lost in the crooked little streets, we took a cab to Las Mercedes, which I had read about on Chowhound, and also on Rachel Laudan’s website. Rachel’s knowledge of the area and Mexican culture, her generous and unromantic view of people, food and economics make great reading.







But back to our meal at Las Mercedes. We ate at 3:30 PM, which Cristina on Chowhound has said is during the traditional time for Mexicans to have their main meal, and the best time to experience a restaurant’s “A-team” of chefs. Cristina is currently based in Morelia, and knows a lot about Mexican food. Her blog includes food, daily life in Mexico and recipes.

We discovered that others hadn’t read Cristina’s blog - we were the only guests at Las Mercedes for the next two hours.

In our travels in Mexico and the USA, we have cooked many meals on our own, and ate at the mercado or at carnitas stalls. I like to shop in the local stores, to feel like I’m participating in the community. Down the block from our apartment in Guanajuato, I bought eggs and milk at the corner store. When I’d see the shopkeeper at other times, she would recognize me and call out a greeting. After months on the road, being recognized was special. Guess I’m not so keen being a stranger everywhere I go. Cooking our own meals also gives me more control over my carbs. The dinner at Las Mercedes contained more than my usual, but I didn’t have the handmade tortillas. I explained my needs, and Jesus, the owner, helped me choose from the menu. I didn’t ask for any other special accommodation.

I’ve written about our meal on tripadvisor.com. I’ve been using TripAdvisor reviews to plan our trip, and decided it was time to contribute, both for fellow travellers, and also for the restaurant’s benefit. Here’s what I said:

We dined at Las Mercedes at the beginning of January 2010. As others have said, the dining room is in the front room of the owner’s house, in a lovely part of Guanajuato, overlooking the city. A taxi from downtown was 30p (less than $3).

The complimentary amuse-bouches came with a delicious pasilla sauce that I wanted to put on subsequent dishes. My favourite course was my starter with layers of very young nopale (cactus pad), smoked salmon and goat cheese. My husband enjoyed his baked panela cheese, with a delicious oil infused with garlic and pasilla. I tried the soup with black cuitlacoche (corn smut, a kind of fungus), just because it’s a Mexican specialty.

There were other mushrooms and vegetables in it, which resulted in a mushroom soup effect with texture. The pork shank main was a lot of meat - should have split an order with my husband, although he had room for dessert, ice cream, dressed with a little sauce and pecan, and a pretty fried garnish that was there for dramatic height, not flavour. With an award-winning but modestly priced bottle of 2004 L.A. Cetto, Nebbiolo, from Baja California (poured through an aerator), and two specialty cocktails, our bill was around 1200 pesos before tip (less than $100, at 12.8 pesos to the USD).

In sum, we concur with the many reviewers who found Las Mercedes’ food and service very agreeable.





Las Mercedes
Calle de Arriba 6
Fracc. San Javier
Guanajuato, Guanajuato
tel: 473-732-7375/ 733-9059

]]> http://foodarazzi.com/?feed=rss2&p=2306 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2255 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2255#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:44:52 +0000 cassandra http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2255 I haven’t had hijiki in about 5 years. In fact, I might have cooked up some of the last hijiki in Canada. Okay, that’s probably an overstatement - others probably had a better inventory than I did. I don’t think my parents were the only ones who squirreled stuff away, bought a lot on sale, and generally liked to keep a cushion of stuff in the house, a trait I share. Think I once read that holocaust survivors had that tendency, and I wonder if the uprooting and internment of Japanese Canadians - albeit a less devastating event - had a similar effect. But back to the present - last week, I again had hijiki, in a lovely little restaurant in Guanajuato, in the highlands of colonial Mexico. What a delightful surprise - both the restaurant and the hijiki.

Hijiki is a dark seaweed that resembles small twigs. It swells impressively when reconstituted in warm water, and is typically braised in liquids such as dashi (dried fish based stock), mirin (sweetened rice wine) and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce). I used to add a freelance splash of toasted sesame oil. It is often mixed with some combination of carrot shreds or gobo (burdock root) or aburage (deep-fried tofu) and toasted sesame seeds. That sweet and salty combination is a foundational Japanese combo with rice, and now that I think of it, might underlie my love of that tasty flavour hit (especially with a shot of spicy hot with it). If I ate granola bars, sweet-salty would be The Ones, and coarse salt on caramel…alas.


Hijiki is the perfect bento box item, a little mound of texture, colour and deliciousness enriching the main players. Bento is a lunch box, typically containing rice, meat or fish, and some pickles and vegetables. In restaurants it is often served in laquered boxes, take-out can be in styrofoam (that will last forever in the landfill), and homemade in divided plastic containers.

I cooked up my last batch shortly after I met Doug. It’s not a complicated dish, but the soaking and braising take enough time that it’s worth making extra for leftovers. Doug is very game for new things, and apparently liked the hijiki. When I got up for some forgotten reason, he finished the bowl. I likened it to eating all the horseradish at the roast beef buffet. That’s not exactly the right analogy, maybe because western meals don’t have the myriad tiny flavour hits. Anyway, No problem, I said, we’ll buy some more.

At Fujiya, at Clark and Venables, the clerk told me that there was no hijiki in Canada. Maybe I didn’t understand correctly. I went online to check this out. Indeed, hijiki had been banned in Canada because of the inorganic arsenic content. I thought about smuggling in hijiki from Seattle. The Japanese government defended hijiki as a traditional food, that did not have any known relationship with cancer. Did they really show there was no relationship between stomach and pancreatic cancer and hijiki? That would be quite the study, controlling for all the variables.

It seems that hijiki is like many traditional foods, once served in small quantities and now much more available because of our relative affluence and ability to choose diets that exclude whole food groups (with concentration in other food groups), and cheap transportation. According to Eden Foods, a distributor of hijiki, there are no studies of arsenic poisoning of animals or humans fed hijiki in whole form, and that testing methods using acid, including hydrochloric acid, may increase the inorganic arsenic content. Wait - acid increases the inorganic arsenic? Don’t we have hydrochloric acid in our stomachs?

Eden Foods claims, “Rather than being a source of heavy metals in the diet, sea vegetables have been shown to cleanse the body of heavy metals and other toxins.” They also point out that the traditional Japanese preparation was to soak the dry hijiki and discard the water, and “It is a well known fact that hijiki is not consumed daily in Japan (usually once every 7 to 10 days) and never in large amounts, usually 2 to 3 tablespoons including other vegetables cooked with it.” Doug had eaten a bowl, maybe a cup and a half, that is 24 tablespoons, or enough for 8 to 17 weeks (a third of a year’s) worth.

Maybe the Canadian government is right - if Canadians eat hijiki like that, we can’t have it in Canada.

But we aren’t in Canada. At Delica Mitsu, in a narrow alley off Plaza San Fernando, in the labyrinth of cobblestone, roads, alleys and plazas that is Guanajuato, there’s a deli case facing the door, with bowls of bright, fresh salads. (The hijiki is on the top row, second from the left.) The bento menu is salad based. That is my kind of menu building - vegetables rather than carbs at the base of the pyramid, salads.

Diners choose the number and types of salads they want. Some salads included chow mein noodles, or clear bean thread noodles, or potatoes, probably delicious for those who can handle the carbs. There were also mixed green salads. I chose the hijiki salad, and a red-cabbage coleslaw, with a teriyaki chicken leg, resting on a scoop of rice. It was not a big base of rice, just a tidy mound, but more carbs than I want, especially with the sticky-sweet sauce on the chicken. Next time, I’ll ask for no extra sauce on the chicken.

I like this salad-based bento idea. If you’re in Guanajuato, check out Delica Mitsu, with or without a little hijiki.

]]> http://foodarazzi.com/?feed=rss2&p=2255 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2210 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2210#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:24:55 +0000 cassandra http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2210 One of the reasons I love cooking while we’re travelling is so I can participate in the market, not just observe it. I looked forward to two weeks in San Miguel de Allende to shop and cook, as well as to change pace - too many days on the move and we started to ask each other, What city are we in? For the first few days, I went to El Nigromante, the market in the centro historico, the old colonial city. There’s another market, El Mercado de los Dios, not any farther from our apartment, but away from the city centre. Down that steep hill there is another world of shops and living, market stalls full of knock-off barbie-pink packages, shoe stores (so many shoe stores everywhere), and a bus terminal. As I walked around, snapping some pix, I heard many say “Chino” (Chinese) to each other; they were looking at me and I was looking at them. Kind of evens things out. Giving back in the amusing things to look at department.

My attempt to buy eggs didn’t work out too well. I determined they were priced by the kilo, and asked for a dozen. But when my 18 pesos ($1.80 CAD or $1.50 USD) worth were weighed out, they wouldn’t fit into my egg carrier, the kind that campers use. It holds the eggs securely, whether laid flat or on its side. Although some fancy supermarkets sell eggs in plastic or cardboard containers like at home, in the mercado, eggs are usually displayed on egg-crate cardboard flats, and sold in a plastic bag, which has had messy results for me when I jostled them homeward. Maybe there’s a lifeskill that Mexican shoppers know to safely transport eggs home. So my egg-seller sold me six, nested in alternate holes.

The butcher counter encounter was more successful. I bought a kilo of pork leg (I’m guessing, because of the shape and leanness). Then, I pointed to the glass-cased chicharron - deep fried pork skins that are crisp and airy and lightly salted. The young butcher was delighted when I confirmed, Si, chicharrones! I have the feeling that foreigners are perceived as not being keen on fat.

Our communication bogged down when I tried to buy lard, without having researched the translation. A young girl came over from the next stall, offering to help. We determined that the only fat they had was discarded chunks in a bucket, nothing rendered. So I got a quarter kilo of pork fat, white and fresh. Finally, I pointed at the sausage looped over a pole. Chorizo? I asked. No, longaniza. Oh good, a new food experience.

One reason I’m rendering lard is because the butter here in Mexico tastes odd and is a ghastly yellow colour. I don’t understand why the butter isn’t excellent, given the range of wonderful dairy products, so full of dairy fat - thick rich crema with 25-30% fat, luscious ice creams (which I wish were still on my diet), and thick whipping cream. I was frying our eggs in butter, but now am using lard. This could be seen as a step toward healthier eating: lard has less saturated fat, more unsaturated fat, and less cholesterol than butter.

Yes, lard is better than butter.

I rendered the pork fat in a small pot. First, I rinsed it and dried it, then chopped it into small bits, smaller than half-inch cubes, about 1 cm cubes. The fat went into a cold pot, to less than the half-way mark to leave room for bubbling. Over low heat, stirring occasionally, the fat melted into a clear pool. With the lid ajar, the spatters were contained, and whenever I removed the lid to stir, I wiped the underside on a cloth so the condensation didn’t fall back in and explode - the biggest risk in this process. In 20 minutes or so, the pieces of fat were floating in the clear fat. I turned off the flame, and let the residual heat continue to render the fat from the pieces. Surprise, the next time I peeked, the floating pieces had shrivelled and were brown. After 10 minutes or so, I turned the flame back on for a couple of minutes, till the bubbling resumed, and repeated a couple more times.


I let the pot stand and cool for 20-30 minutes, but it remained quite hot. The now shrunken fat chunks sunk to the bottom, but were not totally crisp. Finally, strained through a small wire sieve into a clean container (glass is ideal), and admired the pale clear liquid. My 250g of pork fat yielded a little more than 200g (0.45lb) of lard. It smelled faintly of pork, which was fine with me - I am not intending to use it for sweet pastry.

What struck me is how remarkably easy it was to prepare this fat, and how little smell there was. I was prepared for that greasy smell that I associate with deep frying. Perhaps keeping the lid on, just a little ajar helped contain aerosolized fat. Perhaps keeping the temperature low meant less fat was driven skyward. I’ve heard of using the electric skillet outdoors for just this reason.

A couple of days I was back at the butcher’s, who greeted me enthusiastically. Shopping at the same stall meant I was now a regular. Between my asking for one thin rib steak, 2 beef shank steaks, and more lard, more longaniza and more chicharrones, the butcher told me that the young assistant spoke English, teasing the assistant, who was mortified to be put on the spot. I said, in Spanish, that my Spanish is so bad, as a way of encouraging the young man, but this backfired - they said, oh no, your Spanish is so good!

Perhaps you’re wondering why I’d bother rendering my own lard. Even if the butcher doesn’t have it, the supermarket would. Unfortunately, the hard blocks on supermarket shelves are partially hydrogenated, which means they contain “trans-fats”, the latest demonized fat, known to increase the risk of heart disease. My lard is much softer, without the stabilizing effect of hydrogenation, and should be kept cool.

I’ve used it for eggs in the morning, for frying some onions for black beans, and for pork carnitas. Tonight, I made a frying-pan ratatouille, using a few tablespoons of lard to sautee a little onion, garlic, cubes of eggplant, some finely chopped roma tomato, a splash of beer, and bay leaves, oregano, parsley and thyme, which were the herbs I had available. When it was on its way, I added a chopped small zuccini. It didn’t take long till the eggplant was melty soft, thanks in part to the lard (because eggplant will soak up all the fat you give it) and the zuccini not overcooked. Chopped “string cheese” went on top. With the lid on, and the heat off, it melted nicely.

By the way, the longaniza was delicious - coarsely ground, nice herbal notes. More on that another time.

]]> http://foodarazzi.com/?feed=rss2&p=2210 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2155 http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2155#comments Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:41:25 +0000 cassandra http://foodarazzi.com/?p=2155 This morning, December 25, we had our tea, and opened presents with Christmas tunes playing and sunshine streaming in the windows here in San Miguel de Allende, a colonial town in the highlands of central Mexico. Having Christmas away had its ups and downs. There’s the warmth and sunshine, the excitement of new experiences, and then, there’s the missing our routine of decorating, seeing friends, our more-or-less annual party. We talked about having been on the road for almost seven weeks and how that’s working. The first thing we decided was that we liked our breakfast!

We had zuccini flavoured with a little chorizo, and topped with melted string cheese, alongside fried eggs with their orange yolks, dressed with a little roasted chile salsa. It is our Mexican “breakfast special”, full of flavour and a welcome addition to our routine. For me, cooking some of our meals means I can control my carbs and not have to negotiate en Espagnol. I seem to be losing some weight (or inches, at least), although my blood glucose is up about 0.5 mmol/L, which I attribute to lack of vigorous exercise. Although I walk, sometimes for hours, it’s not the same as a step class.









As do many others at this time of year - maybe not exactly today, because of having to roast a turkey and mash the turnips and all that, but around this time - we talked about what we’re doing, the patterns, pleasures, what we miss. This is our first year of long travel over Christmas. My sweetie misses decorating the house, setting up the tree, being surrounded by our stuff. Perhaps I’m not as attached to the routine, or maybe I’m more flexible with routine, or I don’t mind skipping some of the holiday traditions.

As Janna-Marie wrote a few days ago, she always says she’s ready for Christmas, even if she has to delete action items to stay organized - so far, holiday baking and writing cards. The work of carrying the traditions tends to fall to women. I once knew a marriage counsellor who said that in the month before Christmas, every woman said she dreaded the holidays and the men were perplexed. Staying in touch with what I really want to do and not what I feel I ought to do is a challenge, and I admit, being away makes it easier.

Portable routines are helpful touchstones, like giving each other one Christmas eve present. And giving each other a tree ornament. I usually find something at a thrift store, while honey supports retail. This year, it was tin ornaments, ubiquitous in Mexico. Other routines, specially made for the road have potential. We talked to friends this morning, who spend six winter months in Florida. Dianne said her mother gave her a tiny collapsible Christmas tree which they decorated and set up wherever they were. My new earrings would make good decorations, I said!

There are also the local celebrations. Last night we went down to el Catedral, the Cathedral, at the central plaza for the ninth and last posada, procession. Mary and Joseph rode on the back of a flatbed, led by extra-tall cartoonish characters, and followed by a brass band and everyone singing. In the centre of the plaza, the creche scene was set up in the gazebo, and in front, a pen with a live burro, sheep, goats and three kids.

Home through the decorated streets, to a version of pork carnitas with a two-chile sauce (picture: lower right). This is something new to me, a 2-step process to tenderize the meat, and flavour it. The bite-sized pork pieces are simmered in water, then the water is boiled off, and fat added to fry the pieces. Simmering tenderizes the meat, and the frying caramelizes it, a process that maximizes the flavour. Only one pan is required and the flavourful simmering water is not lost - it forms a tasty brown crust on the bottom of the pot. I put two bay leaves in with the meat, although I think it is more traditionally put in the sauce, which I made of soaked guajillo and ancho chiles, pureed with garlic, black pepper, Mexican oregano, cinnamon, cumin seed and thyme. I added zuccini at the end, also not traditional.

Just one thing - need to pay attention to the moment when the water is gone and the fat or oil added, or the whole thing could become a charred mess.

This afternoon, we had a traditional dinner at the Cafe Monet here in San Miguel de Allende. Glazed ham, turkey, and green beans for me. Others feasted on chestnut and squash, dressing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, followed by pumpkin pie with whipped cream (sweetie had two desserts). After, a walk in the Parque Juarez, where many families were enjoying the afternoon sunshine, kids with their new toys, playing basketball.

A big part of our satisfying day was talking to family and friends on the VOIP phone in our apartment - it uses the internet and is essentially free long-distance! As well, email cards, sent and received, and thoughtful friends sending warm wishes over the past few days have reinforced the connections to those who we care about.

It wasn’t how we’d have done it at home, but as we watched (again) and cried (again) “It’s a Wonderful Life” and thought about what matters, we were thankful for our good fortune.

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