Trans Fats

More against trans fats.

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/131/118026.htm

"Obtaining just 2% of total calories from trans fats instead of healthier monounsaturated fats was associated with a doubled risk for this type of infertility.
In addition, each 2% increase in trans fat consumption as a replacement for carbohydrates brought a 73% greater risk of ovulation-related infertility, after adjusting for other known and suspected infertility risk factors, according to the study".

Less than 0.5 grams of trans fats are not required by the FDA to be listed on nutrition labels. Anything with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils contains trans fats and is unfit for consumption.

Avoiding Teflon

The June 12, 2006 issue of Time had this little one page article.

Basically, if Teflon is heated to over 600° F it releases perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which causes cancer, immune system damage, and death in animals. 95% of all Americans have traces of PFOA in their blood. PFOA is also released from DuPont manufacturing plants.

With natural gas having a flame temperature of about 3000° F, it's virtually impossible to keep an entire pan surface below 600° F. Oven bakeware can be kept below the limit easily, but the manufacturing process has created PFOA, and where will it go when you throw the pan away? Teflon care calls for all cookware to immediately be thrown away once it is scratched, which would be everything that is not new.

What to do? You can use stainless steel pots and pans, enamel covered cast iron is great for low temp cooking (check out Le Creuset), and nothing beats cast iron for high temp cooking.

The key to cast iron is proper seasoning and care. Once well seasoned, the stuff practically as non-stick as Teflon.

1) Wash the new iron cookware in hot water with a strong soap solution. It is usually shipped with a wax covering.

2) Place in a 400° F oven for 1 to 2 hours. It will stink. Let cool and wash again.

3) Pour a small amount of oil into the cookware and rub it all around, inside and outside. For best results use lard. If using vegetable oil, use olive oil. For gods sake DO NOT use shortening or anything else with trans fats.

4) Place in a 300° F oven for 2 hours. Remove and let cool. Clean with hot water and a gentle scrub pad only. NO soap.

5) Repeat 2 more times.

6) Lightly cover with oil. Your pot/pan is ready for use.

Stuff will still stick, but don't get alarmed when your pan looks like this.

The cast iron will not have a good patina yet. That will develop over time. The key is not damaging the patina you do have. Only wash with hot water. Scrub stuck bits off, but do not be too aggressive. If they refuse to come off, let them be. Eventually they will wear off. Be sure to oil after each use.

One hint: Clean cast iron after cooking while it is still hot. Everything comes off much easier.

I cannot emphasize more how much better lard works. You only need enough to lubricate the pan, so don't worry about your heart. Hydrogenated fat and high fructose corn syrup will kill you first anyway.

Ian Loïc Holm

He's Here!

Ian Loïc Holm was born 23 January 2007 at 1702 CET. He weighed 3.63 kilos/8 pounds and was 52 cm/20.5 inches long. Mother and son are happy and healthy.

Maialata 2

The man who slaughters and butchers the hog is called a norcino. He's very respected. This is a hobby and a source of (little) extra income, not a full time job.

So, how do you slaughter and butcher a hog, then make sausage?

First you shoot it through the forehead. At this point the hog is dead, he's not feeling anything, but there are plenty of death throes left, so you quickly slit the throat, then get out of the way as it flops about.

After the hog stops moving, spray it off as best as you can with a hose. It may still twitch, especially when you flip it over and the blood that has pooled flows into muscles.

Next, load it up on a table and start taking the bristles off. You do this by pouring boiling water over the hog and scrapping the skin with a knife.

The boiling water and scraping cleans the hog very well, but you must ensure everything is clean, including scrubbing between the toes. food poisoning sucks.

Once the hog is cleaned, it's time to take off the head.

One of the norcinos will take the head away and continue cleaning it. It's a lot of work.

Now it's time to hang the hog. Ropes tied to the leg can easily slip off, so you suspend him using the Achilles tendons.

No need for a winch, just a little ingenuity.

The last bristles are burned off using a propane torch. Also helps in preventing contamination.

Next, gut the hog.

Then place it on a table and start butchering. The feet are cut off.

The tenderloins are removed. Then the spine, ribs and pelvis are cut away, leaving the ham, shoulder butt, picnic ham, belly and loin till attached to the skin.

The meat is trimmed, saving all the scraps for sausage. The ham is saved for either prosciutto, or in this case deboned and the outside reserved for speck. The belly becomes panchetta, the top of the shoulder coppa. These reserved pieces are salted, seasoned, and set aside to begin curing.
The rest of the meat is ground, along with fat, for sausage. There are 3 grinds. The hock and the liver become figadel, the shoulder, picnic ham, and back fat; along with any white meat scraps, become lugauegoand soppressa. The skin and gristle become mussette. The ground meat is seasoned and kneaded by hand until the correct consistency is achieved.

Pack the stuffer and begin stuffing sausage.

The norcino ties off the sausage and pricks the casing to release air and water.

After the sausage is made, the norcino rolls and ties the pancetta and coppa. The speck will be smoked later.

Here's the result, minus 12 fresh sausages that were cooked that day. The hog was 190 kilos.

Maialata

This weekend I helped slaughter and butcher 2 pigs, and make all the sausage, coppa, speck, panchetta, and so on. Further details and pics in the next post.

Energy Drink

I've been trying to get away from food additives. We eat mainly organic around the house, and prepared foods are limited to cereals, usually. But how do I replace Gatorade, now that I've gotten off my fat ass and started training again?

I searched the internet, modified a few things, and came up with this:

Energy Tea
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 green tea bags
1 liter of boiling water

Put it all together, throw it in the fridge, and its ready the next morning.

Befana

Friday night was the Befana, festival of the Epiphany. Every little village has a huge bonfire and vin brûle, mulled wine. Some set up beer and food booths also. You have to bring your Christmas tree to the be burnt, or you'll never be able to get rid of it in Italy. You can't put it in with the garbage, the recycling won't take it as the trunk is too thick for the chipper, and obviously it can't be burned in a fireplace. Here's the pile in Malnisio waiting to be burnt.

Grizzo has the best Befana near us. Unlike most villages, their bonfire is in the central park/piazza, rather than out in the fields. Also, this is when they sell their calender, full of historic pictures and stories of the commune (municipality). Additionally, they give out this little calender at the same time.

It's full of useful information, such as train and bus times, when the local doctor office is open, which gas station is open on each holidays, hours of the recycling center, etc...

Real life

We were driving home from some shopping today and I saw this guy pulling hay home from the fields.

I stopped and spoke with him. His name is Marcello. He had cut the hay for his rabbits, which he said were the best around. A friendly guy, he wanted to know more about me than I wanted to know about him! Very polite, and formal. It is always strange for me to be addressed in formal Italian by older people, but it is just a sign of respect. Unfortunately, as I learned Italian in bars and among friends, I really lack the formal language. All in all, I was probably rude.

Marcello wrote down his address and asked me to send him some prints. Unfortunately, I had the camera on the wrong setting and the pic is blurry. But, we went to Maniago afterwards and made some prints anyway. I'll put them in the post tomorrow.

Bunis Fiestis

Happy New Year. Here's a picture of the lights on the side of the mountain above the village. It means Happy Holidays in Friûlan, the native language of this region. If you want to know more, there's a web dictionary here.