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Food Thread: Admit it...Fried Food Is Glorious, And The Food Nags Can Just Shut The Hell Up!

Fried food in and of itself is a fine thing when consumed in moderation (no more than two meals/day). But when it is a tasty seafood mix, combined with a beautiful early fall day looking out over New London harbor, and it becomes quite a delightful thing.

And even better...I had company! Nevergiveup (that's Captain Nevergiveup to you) was right next to me, eating a nice-looking lobster roll and a cup of chowda'. I didn't make fun of his choice because it did look good, but really...a seafood shack in Connecticut? Fried clams! And some other stuff, including those buoy-looking things that were clam fritters...but mostly fritter without much clam.

That's okay. The fried clams, shrimp and cod made up for it! Oh...the tartar sauce was solid. Yes; these are the important things in life!

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I haven't done a statistical analysis, but my gut feeling (SWIDT?) is that the more highly processed food is, the more risk of gastrointestinal illness. I am talking about the ready-to-eat stuff compared to simple ingredients like meat and vegetables. Sure...chicken and commercial ground beef is pretty suspect and requires good cooking hygiene, but how does one minimize the risk with processed foods and take-out foods from steam tables and supermarket buffets?

I don't know, which is why I avoid those foods whenever possible, which means 99% of the time!

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Yup! That's a blowfish. And their tails are delicious!

I saw them in my local (and spectacular) fish market and grabbed a couple for a snack before dinner. They are ridiculously easy to make, and the whole process took me just a few minutes. 350 degree oil, clean them a bit, double battered with butter milk and seasoned flour/cornstarch, five minutes in the oil and voila!

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I'm a little suspicious of this one. I mean...cheese and pretty much anything will go well together, but a beef pie might not need the additional richness.

Or maybe I have lived in the effete Northeast for too long and I need an intervention.

Anyway, Cheesy beef bourguignon pie sounds interesting, although you will have to wade through the Brit nonsense of grams and centimeters and hobs and kilos.

And they think they are civilized? Hah!

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I am however going to make this tonight, because I like corn pudding, and I like butter and eggs and cheese and more cheese. Sagaponack Corn Pudding sounds silly...it's just corn pudding, but I like the idea of using ricotta as a twist. And yes, the name is an affectation, courtesy of Ina Garten. Sagaponack is a tiny little town in The Hamptons, and has a median home price that is probably north of $5,000,000.

She is amazingly tone deaf. Luckily she is a pretty good cook.

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Speaking of conceit...The idiocy of political veganism (as opposed to the tiny number of people who do it for religious purposes) that it is in some way better for Gaiaiaia seems to be a convenient way to justify nagging me about many things besides the environmental challenges of industrial agriculture. It is so overtly political that whatever rational argument they may have is lost.

Let's face it, vegans get their kale and carrots and tofu and vegetable protein from the same place we all do. That they pretend that organic farms are some nirvana for all things is a testament to either their stupidity or their mendacity. Or both!

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The oyster imperative remains in effect, especially now that we are in the summer months. Yup, I'm not afraid of oysters in the summer! (Except that my usual source was sold out, so I am an oysterless Dildo, and you know how bad that is!) And send pork rib roasts from the front end of the pig where all the good and fatty meat lives, carrots that don't taste like stalky chalk, garlic...lots of garlic! (but no basil! My basil is not doing well this year!), well-marbled NY strip steaks and elk backstrap to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

And don't think that the rest of you are off the hook with maple syrup and French Toast: I'm still watching you! And I am watching you perverts who shake Manhattans and keeping a list for the Burning Times.

And yes, I used to demand fancy bourbon, but let's face it, $1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.