Did that headline freak you out? A few months ago, I’d have been scared sh*tless to cook with lard/duck fat/tallow/ghee/name your animal fat. No longer. What gives?
Through plenty of reading and research, I’ve come to believe that most cheap, industrially produced vegetable oils are extremely bad for us — canola, corn, safflower, sunflower and soybean oil being the most popular and widely used. I’m not going to go into the many reasons why, but if you’re interested and still reading my mini rant, check out this book and this book. Then decide for yourself. If you were raised in a low-fat household like me, these reads will be eye-opening.
After buying into a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle for many years, I’ve entirely switched my diet to include plenty of pasture-raised meats and fats, and as a result, my health and energy has improved substantially. I rarely get sick or fall victim to heartburn, and my skin and scalp are so much healthier.
I realize I may have quite a few vegetarian readers, so I’ll leave it up to you if you want to continue to follow. I respect anyone’s diet decisions.
OK, enough rambling. Here’s a fun, simple way to utilize any type of animal fat (or coconut oil, which is a great oil to use in place of animal fat) to fry up some potato chips. All it takes is a thinly sliced sweet potato and a two to three tablespoons of whatever animal fat you have on hand. Get the fat hot in a deep-walled dutch oven or similar large pot. Just make sure to slice the potatoes as thin as you can, or else they won’t turn out very crispy. Good luck!
Sooo, I forgot my camera at work but I didn’t want to let this dinner go to waste. iPhone…you’re getting called up to the show.
I’m lucky enough to work for a company that has a killer on-site restaurant that serves local and organic food, and if that’s not enough, they started selling grass-fed beef from Marin Sun Farms. Having been absolutely overloaded with beef this week (I made a brisket on Monday and had leftovers three nights in a row), I snagged a single short rib rack…just couldn’t say no.
I braised these small ribs for about 2 1/2 hours in red wine, a dash of rum and a host of veggies and spices. These guys were literally falling off the bone. Served over coconut rice with some white-wine sauteed veggies (kale and green beans), and this was my favorite feast in quite some time.
On the music side: My wife just informed me that one of my favorite bands - Dr. Dog - is releasing a new album in a matter of weeks. If you pre-order the album, you get three new songs delivered instantly. What an awesome way to inspire CD sales. More bands need to pick up on this idea.
Pre-order Dr. Dog - Be The Void
To make the ribs:
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Hey strangers, it sure has been a while. And while I hate to make excuses and I think New Year’s resolutions are a bit lame, I’m promising myself to keep up with kitchen experimentation in twenty twelve.
2011 was an insane year. Most of my time was dedicated to planning our wedding, being in other wedding parties, bachelor parties, investing copious amounts of time with my band and music and finally, getting married in October and honeymooning in Kauai. So yeah, I hate excuses, but I’ve been busy. Cooking and blogging have taken a back seat.
in 2012, no more. I’ll be back and I’ll be looking to you for ideas and inspiration with food and music.
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You know what’s crazy? I made this ice cream about a month ago, and now the first bit of free time I’ve had to post it is on my honeymoon! But being completely overwhelmed with wedding mayhem is totally normal, right?
We’re relaxing to the utmost degree in the south shore of Kauai as I type, and last night we had some delicious mint gelato. And that kicked my memory into gear, realizing I had this on the backburner on my laptop.
There’s something so different and yet so much better about using fresh mint leaves in homemade ice cream. It’s refreshing and real, and it’s well worth the tiny bit of extra effort.
For Music: This record came just in time for Honeymoon listening. Called Metals, it’s less poppy than The Reminder, but it’s incredibly experimental and diverse.
LISTEN: Feist - Metals
Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream (slightly modified from David Lebovitz’s famous Ice Cream book)
- 1 cup organic whole milk
- 1/2 sugar (I cut this down 1/4 cup from the original recipe. You could even go lower)
- 2 cups organic heavy cream
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 cups packed fresh mint leaves
- 5 large egg yolks
- 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
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