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Food Thread: Render Unto Yorkshire (Pudding) The Things That Go With Yorkshire (Pudding)

I recently bought a large chunk of converted vegetarian food to break down into steaks. There was a fair amount of lovely-looking fat which I couldn't bear to waste, so I rendered it into about a pint of gorgeous, pure-white beef tallow.

And what to do with it? Well, aside from using it as a cooking fat for all sorts of delicious stuff like fried eggs, and mixed into hamburger if it doesn't look fatty enough, and sautévegetables in to get them nice and brown and crispy?

Yorkshire pudding! Which goes wonderfully with the aforementioned steaks!

Although...these were a decidedly unimpressive batch. They didn't rise and get puffy and airy as much as I wanted, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I used too much beef tallow. I know...it's strange just writing those words, but that may have been the problem.

However, they were delicious and fatty and absolutely fun to eat, so, I can't complain, just observe.

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The mainstream media are woefully, pathetically ignorant of even the most basic scientific principles, and when food and diet is the topic, it gets even worse. They can't even follow a simple rational argument, or even an expansion of a basic point.

Here is a great example. The headline is ridiculously, hilariously wrong. Ben Carson said no such thing. He simply explained that protein comes in many forms and isn't necessarily from animal protein via meat.

Food pyramid faces scrutiny as Ben Carson reveals why Americans don't have to eat meat

For those concerned the new guidance might lead Americans to eat too much red meat, Carson said, "Instead of thinking about it as too much red meat, let's look at the overall recommendation — and that is that you eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Now, how you get that protein doesn't matter. If it's drinking milk, if it's eating cheese — as long as you maintain high-performance fuel for your engine."

Of course he eats meat, and he isn't recommending anything even close to a vegetarian diet. He is simply pointing out that protein comes in many forms.

And this quotation is even better:

While the updated dietary guidelines emphasize whole, nutrient-dense foods, Carson cautioned against relying solely on GLP-1s like Ozempic for weight loss.

"All these artificial methods don't last a very long time. You have to keep taking them, and they're expensive," he said.

About one in eight American adults, roughly 12%, have used GLP-1 drugs for obesity and diabetes, with around 6% currently taking them as they rise in popularity, as Fox News Digital previously reported.

Notice how the media conflate GLP-1 drugs used to control diabetes with the use of them for weight loss? There is a big difference, and Carson is referring only to its non-diabetes use.

Maybe I am being picky, but I grow tired of this hysterical and illogical analysis of complex biomedical issues.

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So...I was sitting in the hotel lounge recently, thinking that a seltzer would be grand, but no, there were none to be had. So I channeled my youthful enjoyment of Diet Coke, thinking that they are probably identical, and since I hadn't had one in about 15 years, I wouldn't know the difference anyway.

Well, now I do know the difference, and that Pepsi was f*cking awful. I am a cheap bastard, even with other people's money, but I didn't finish it. Or come close. A few sips was all it took to convince me of the fundamental rightness of the argument that Coke Is It!

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I like Alton Brown. He knows how to write recipes, and he is sufficiently compulsive for my taste. But...Best Burger Ever? Don't be ridiculous! It has lamb in it! And he puts mayo on the bottom of the bun, which is a perversion and unfitting of a true red-blooded American.

On the other hand (where is the first hand?), his pie crust recipe is clever.

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Screw you Whole Foods. That is the pathetic result of popping their "organic popping corn." And the popped kernels weren't just small; they were tough as well. How they managed that? I have no idea. Maybe, like many other "organic" foods, popping corn that is raised organically simply isn't as good as conventional stuff.

The next batch, after a visit to my local supermarket, was JiffyPop, and it was far better, with bigger popped kernels and fewer old maids.

Speaking of which....what do you call unpopped kernels?

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And why is my current obsession popcorn?

This is why!

Yeah, I guess people make traditional box Mac & Cheese with it, but a dusting on hot popcorn is delicious!

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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I tasted one clove and planted the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right? I hope so, because it's in the ground (actually, a large pot), and it had better work this time!

Send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! 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.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!