Our friend Chef Jo found this blog post rebutting several of the accusations in that Australian news story about “meat glue” that I posted a couple of weeks ago. I’m not entirely sold on his counter-argument that nobody is using it to rip off diners just because he couldn’t find proof on the Internet, but I am willing to entertain the idea that the news show behind the story may have been exaggerating for effect, since that’s par for the course with TV journalism. And even this guy, who is a Big Deal molecular gastronomy dude, has to admit there are some issues with using the product in terms of bacteria. Given the viral video effect, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for local TV reporters in the U.S. to pick up on this and start doing their own stories, and what, if any, actual incidents turn up.
I have always preferred serving pork at medium doneness — a little on the pink side — so that the meat is still tender and juicy, not the dry, white, fibrous nasty shit you get when it is cooked all the way done. But Americans have been indoctrinated to think that pork MUST be overcooked due to concerns over disease (namely, trichinosis), and it can be damn near impossible to change people’s minds about that. Never mind the fact that there have basically been NO documented cases of trichinosis due to undercooked pork in this country for DECADES, due largely to the industrialization of pig farming. It’s sort of the culinary equivalent of being afraid that you will fall off the edge of the earth if you sail too far away from shore. Now, at long last, the USDA has abandoned this outdated notion and has changed their recommendations for cooking pork, saying an internal temp of 145° (with a 3-minute hold time) is safe for consumption. Here’s the official announcement and guidelines, if you’re interested.
I am excited that my town is finally getting a farmers’ market this summer. Not that it’s hard to find farmers’ markets around the area, it’s just nice to know that there will be one within walking distance of my house. Like a lot of farmers’ markets these days, the lineup of vendors has branched out to include meat and seafood, baked goods, coffee beans, and other products that aren’t strictly “farm” items, but sic transit gloria mundi as they say. This Atlantic Monthly post talks about a recent study, sponsored by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, that dispels the notion that it’s more expensive to buy food from farmers’ markets than supermarkets. The researcher found that organic produce in particular was significantly less expensive at farmers’ markets (but, then, note who paid for the research…). I’ll try to remember to post a follow-up to this item once the market gets going and I’ve had a chance to suss it out.
This Slate article by British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop (only in England are children actually named “Fuchsia”) looks at the aversion to cheese in China. Chinese cuisine is largely devoid of dairy products, so the consumption of cheese is a recent affectation borrowed from the West and among the general population cheese is actually reviled. But, as Dunlop writes, it’s not because the Chinese don’t appreciate pungent-smelling food, as she details the extremely popular dish chou doufou (fermented tofu).
