What's everyone eating this week?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Can we get a few things straight?

First all foods are made of chemicals, salt, sugar, alcohol, fat, protein, starch; all chemicals.

Adding extra chemicals is not always harmful, it is often essential. Not all additives are wrong - take chorizo and salame, they usually contain a lot of salt (sodium chloride, a pure chemical) as a preservative and usually sodium nitrite / nitrate to improve the colour and to prevent the meat from rotting during the curing and aging processes. There are dozens of harmless and useful additives - citric acid, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), glycerol, lecithin used as an emulsifier (found naturally in egg yolk for example)

You also won't see sorbitol on the label of ordinary grocery products, because as Pampy says it is only used in special products for diabetics. I doubt it is banned anywhere in the EU but it is not used much. Harmless (in moderation) but it is really, as Pampy says pretty pointless as not in fact good for diabetics.

Yesterday it was actually cool enough to have the oven on, so I slow roasted a half shoulder of lamb with garlic and herbs. It was delicious

[Alexandria Profile]

Monday ..

Feels amazing to be back home in Barcelona (home) ..

It was a truly extraordinary lunch that my husband had surprised me with (of course there is a three month reservation wait ) ..

We had an extraordinarily exceptional and cinematic lunch at: Tickets (owner by: The Adrià Brothers) ..

The norm here is Tapas or " tiny appetisers " .. Lunch is pre fixed at 65 Euros per person .. (Extra for wines by the glass or a bottle ) ..


The engimatic edibles we enthusiastically enjoyed were:

1) Quail Eggs served with a sprinke of " assorted crumbs " .. The art of plating appeared as a garden of " soil " and nesting twigs, and the quail eggs to perfection ..

2) The Fresh Oysters on the half shell served with edible pearls .. Served with a marine algae salad ..

3) Pata Negra: Iberian Ham where the slices were thinner than a leaf of fine paper .. The slices were wrapped around each other served in paper ! For holding the Iberian Jewels ..

4) The Steak Tartar was the next delicacy ..

5) Last but not least, was the Wild Red Tuna Nigiri served with Wasabe, Ecological Japanese Soy and a with a fresh lemon light light curd cream ..

We had a bottle of Cava to accompany our gem of a lunch ..

What was the best part of this lunch, was that it was an awesome surprise !!

Have a lovely day and summer ..

Must do some laundry and pack a bag for several tour groups, up the Costa Brava ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Obviously, wild fish, naturally fed livestock "meats" or hunted meats etcetra, are " Proteins " ..

However, " I " do not call these categories of food groups, " chemicals " ..

These foods are " pure protein " if not hampered with a Gmo / Transgenetic Diet or hormones !

I am not a scientist, and have never been involved in this sector .. But I do know the food groups: Proteins, Dairy, Grains, Fruits, Vegetables & Fats ( The positives and the negatives ) and the vitamins that foods provide our bodies with .. and minerals ..

Henceforth, getting back on track, is that when I bought the preserves at the former (closed in 2009 ) Mark & Spencer´s in the Madrid Capital, the products were 100 % natural, and the labels stated, that people with high blood sugar or diabetics, could eat these preseves or marmalades .. There were NO chemicals except what holds the fruit together .. They were also ecological .. This is basically what I recall after a decade ..





Have a nice summer !!

[Renee Profile]

Member 461, what a wonderful homecoming you had with that amazing meal! You have a very special husband! I would have loved the Wild Red Tuna Nigiri served with Wasabe, Japanese Soy and the fresh lemon light curd cream. I love Japanese food! You certainly deserved it because you work so hard and it is a big responsibility to make sure that everything is perfect for the tourists.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Member 461
You do not get to choose what is and what is not called a chemical, the scientific community (and the dictionary) has already done that

Fish is not "pure protein", fish has a skeleton and also contains oils, sugars and different minerals Wild, bio, GMO, it makes no difference, that's what is in fish, There is no GMO fish as far as Iknow and feeding fish on GMO crops would not make any difference to that. Treating fish with agrochemical such as pesticides might of course contaminate the flesh but would not generally affect the nutritional value

I know you are not a scientist so why do you need to "explain" things you don't understand to people who already do?

I think the whole food groups thing has got very confused (by the authorities not by us!) There are two ways of defining food groups (put simply)

The one that kind of matches up to the sections in a market and which many of us will have seen in our school days

Meat / fish; dairy; fruit and veg; oils and fats; starchy foods like bread and rice & sugar

And the more science, chemistry, based one:
Carbohydrates; Proteins; Fat; Fibre; Vitamins; Minerals; Water.

These seem to have got muddled into
Protein; dairy; fruit and veg; oils and fats; carbohydrate
Presumably because everyone knows what carbs are mow, and this allow for a wider range of protein sources. But I thi k a bit confusing.

I think I rember the "jams" - not specially the M&S ones but several that were around, not actually called jams (for legal reasons, made differently) but fruit spreads perhaps.

You can still get some, for example
https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/meridian-blackcurrant-fruit-spread-60042309?skuid=042309

There was a bit of a reaction when people found out that most brands contained so much apple juice concentrate that the final concentration of sugar was actually quite high. The one I've linked to is 26 g of sugars per 100 g, which is about half that in ordinary jam. Be interested to see if spreads made with the pectin concentrate mentioned above ends up less sugary.

British orange marmalade is usually made from Seville oranges imported from Spain, of course. But I often buy one made in Seville by La Vieja Fabrica, makes sense! It's very nice but I sometimes like a darker, more bitter, marmalade, such as Oxford which I have at the moment.

[jeral Profile]

Stokey Sue, out of interest, is there a scientific definition of natural as distinct from a legal (presumably EU rule) for marketing of "natural".?

I've often thought that since everything comes from this planet, then arguably everything (even lab chemical concoctions) is natural, however contrived.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Member 461. I make all my own jams and preserves and i can absolutelu assure you they are 100% natural. They do contain more or less sugar depending on the fruit I am using.

Do you, for example consider salt cod as and artificial ingredient? If so how on earth do you think the folks who lived here in the daays before refridgeration ever got the chance to eat fish? I'm thinking aioli garni, brandade etc etc. What about anchovies? How are olives preserved?

[mark111757 Profile]

Here in the States, sorbitol is used as a sugar substitute especially in chocolate. However the label on the packets will say something to the effect of over using the product may lead to a laxative effect.

Sorbitol is also given to help fight constipation. I've never had the pleasure but from what I hear it works good. I've been told it has a sweet taste.

Just don't put it in my frosting.....

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

Mediterranean brines vary from country to country ..

In Greece, we ate olives in: salt water brine, with white wine, herbs and they were placed into jars with Olive Oil on top ..

In Spain, we still buy our olives, in oak barrels with a brine prepared with: Salt water, white wine or white vinegar ..

Salting is an ancient method of preserving .. Older than ancient ( The Vikings taught the Basque Fishermen to salt their cod for the long overseas journies ).. Though it is not something I eat too too often, it has an enormous significance for Iberians and Italians during The Lent ..


There are uncountable types of salt .. The renowned Basque Salt, from The autonomous región of Álava, in northeastern Pais Vasco is created from the Bay of Biscay salt water. I was given an amazing book on the history of Basque Salt when visiting and this is the salt that most top notch Michelin Chefs use ..


I am sure your preserves or jams or mermalades are lovely ..

I had bought the book you recommended quite some time ago .. I just travel alot from April - end of October, and so I am not home.

Have a lovely summer ..

Must go .. Lots to do as I am only home until Wednesday and on the road again through September ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Thank you for the link.

My daughter in law has a creperie and makes all types of marmalades, preserves and jams for her Bistro on the northern Brava.

I also bought a book at Fnac that Joan had recommended many months ago ..

So, when autumn arrives, we shall have our wild black berry season, and I shall embark on the Project ..

Just really busy and have alot to do before I leave for Costa Brava on Wednesday ..


Have a nice summer ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Renée,

Yes, it was truly an awesome surprise !

And the small yet, exemplarily exquisitely sublime products that Adrià employs in his dishes were truly astonishingly amazing ..

All my best for a lovely evening ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Definitely is wonderful to be back home ..

Today, we went to a lovely little Italian Restaurant called Per Bacco, not far from the The Sagrada Family Cathedral ..

Our appetisers which we shared were:

A Rocket, Aged Parmesano & Prosciutto Salad with Modena & Italian Evoo ..

Carpacchio all Piemontse

The main was a shared: Risotto frutti di mare, with calamar, Squid, mussels, clams, and prawns ..

Dessert: We shared a canolli made with fresh goat cheese Ricotta ..

And of couse we had a lovely bottle of Cava ..

Then we walked all the way home ( not too far ) .. and picked up a few things along the way.

Back to work tomorrow .. Off to Costa Brava ..

Shall be busy all week but I shall be at my parents on Sunday and Monday and back to work on Tuesday the 10th ..

All our best wishes .. ( 40 Degree Centig heat wave through out Iberia ) !! However, not too bad here as we are on the sea ..

[Amyw Profile]

Thank you for a very informative post Sue . Always good to hear from someone with a pure scientific background. Sometimes I think there’s a little bit too much elitism surrounding food .
Yes it’s nice to make as much of our own meals as possible and we’re all here as we have a keen interest in food , but where does it end? Are we all expected to make our own bread and churn our own butter too? Sometimes the odd dish which isn’t foraged, organic or seasonal can still be delicious . I had a Mr Whippy today , totally inauthentic compared to an Italian gelato but delicious sat watching the sea

[jeral Profile]

Being a townie, I think it's entirely authentic to have any sort of ice cream at the seaside, provided multiple scoops or double swirl in a cornet, with sprinkles and strawberry drizzle on and a 99 Flake stuck in it, to be eaten on a promenade bench or beach deck chair even with wind-blown sand. One of those "enjoy" things that's consumed long before any navel gazing can kick in

I baked whole mackerel on sliced fennel bed tonight with lemon, seasoning and EVOO. Very good it was, although it needed a tie-it-together sauce I reckon since veg as well. Might try a mango, coconut milk plus green chilli hint next time, as an easy tom sauce doesn't seem "right" to me. Might be better if I cooked it as fillets if sauce though...

[Pampy Profile]

Shall be busy all week but I shall be at my parents on Sunday and Monday and back to work on Tuesday the 10th ..

the 10th is Friday...

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Could anyone enlighten me please how any preserves are made without sugar (a new one on me)? Is it gelatin set with some sort of "natural" longevity additive too? Just curious is all.

Jeral: I ran a successful preserve company ( "Masala Sabe Bien") from 2006 - 2014 in Venezuela. We made jams, conserves, confitures, marmalade, chutney, pickles, relishes, jellies, etc. - you name it, we made it.
And there is no way you can make jam without sugar. No way. Absolutely, no way.
Jam, for us Brits, is 50% fruit and (approx) 50% sugar. You don´t like sugar? Use fructose. You need about half the amount, and it works. The jam does not have the exact same texture as sugar, but it´ll do.
Use stevia? Use aspartamin? Use Splenda? No, it doesn.t work.
Tate & Lyle contacted me in 2012, to try to make some " jams" using Splenda. I gave it a go, but the (1) Guava jam (2)Peach jam and (3) strawberry jam - total disaster, The only product that (barely) worked, for me, was the Mango Chutney - and for me, it was ghastly.
Now you mention gelatin. That is fine for patés or terrines, maybe, but not for conserves. The typical "setting" agents are (a) pectin (b)pectin and (c) pectin. Some people use agar-agar
So, to answer your question from my point of view, there is no way you can make preserves without sugar.

[Alexandria Profile]

Pampy,

Ha Ha .. Was looking at the July calendar ..

I will be working today the 1st and be visiting my parents on the 4th and 5th and back to work August 7th, a Tuesday !

Have a nice summer ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Gosh that’s quite a discussion

I don’t think there’s much for me to add, except to pick up on jeral’s question about if there might be a scientific definition of natural, and I’m not aware of one.

I was actually thinking about it before I wrote my previous post because jam is such a good example. Joan makes her jam with fresh fruit and sugar. I think most advertising and trading regulators would happily accept her labelling that as natural jam. I expect this kind of labelling has been defined in regulations and possibly even challenged in the courts but that is not my area of expertise

However I could argue it is not natural, as the jam has been heated to 105C and that might be a valid argument in some contexts. And of course the sugar has been refined (not natural?) but has not been chemically modified (natural?)

So I think natural depends on context and common sense

[Joanbunting Profile]

I sometimes make my jams etc with rather less sugar than even posh brands can do so commercially. Jams in France are often less set than in UK or America but I rely on natural pectin - which I usually make myself. If you know the pectin content of the fruit you want to make experience tells you how much to use, or even to use it or not.

Talking of preserved Clive, the recipe for fig chutney you gave me last year is brilliant and the chutney gets even better after a few months.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

The one that kind of matches up to the sections in a market and which many of us will have seen in our school days
Meat / fish; dairy; fruit and veg; oils and fats; starchy foods like bread and rice & sugar
And the more science, chemistry, based one:
Carbohydrates; Proteins; Fat; Fibre; Vitamins; Minerals; Water.

Thanks for clearing that up Sue.
Although I always thought Bacon was another food group.