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The Fat Fallacy Applying the French Diet to the American Lifestyle |
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FOOD FACTS & FINDS To join our mailing list and receive Food Facts and & Finds free via e-mail, click here, or go to the Contact section of our website. Click here to see back issues of FOOD FACTS & FINDS! May, Lemons, Chilies and a Tribute to Dr. Robert Atkins:The
Real Revolution of the Atkins Revolution!
GO TO Recipes: "Still Kicking" Barbeque Sauce
GO TO May Puzzler: Napoleon, Cinco de Mayo, and Memorial Day?
GO TO Special Article:
It's May, and we have two food celebrations. One at the beginning, and the other at the end. Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is a misunderstood day of celebration, noted by margaritas and spicy Mexican foods. Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, has become a sort of national barbeque fest. Because of this, I'm giving a wonderful recipe for my barbeque sauce, the latest health info on hot peppers, and the intriguing historical link between these holidays. And just because it's spring (and because I love this recipe) I'm including the most delicious lemon tart on the planet.
RecipesThe Disappearing Lemon TartI made this tart yesterday, and before it could even
cool enough to bring out the lemony tang, they were already at it. With a
spoon! Between my giggling mom, the two kids, Dottie, and me, the tart is almost
gone already -- still under 24 hours after it emerged into this hungry
world. I think the key to this recipe is to make it before anyone
knows you're making it. That way you can do your own "quality
control" tasting, unhampered by the hovering hungry.
3 whole eggs 4 egg yolks 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup lemon juice 3/4 stick butter, cut into modest pats Zest from 3 - 4 lemons Blend all eggs and sugar until thick, and then blend
in lemon juice and the zest. Warm mixture over a medium flame along with
butter
"Still-Kicking" Barbeque Sauce
You’ll Need: 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 cup onion, finely minced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 hot pepper, seeded, de-veined, and minced ¼ cup red wine 2 (28 oz) cans tomato sauce ½ cup Worcestershire sauce ¼ cup cider vinegar 2 Tbsp molasses 2 Tbsp Tabasco 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard ¼ cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp chili powder 1 Tbsp cumin About 5-7 turns of a pepper grinder and salt to taste 1. In a 2 quart saucepan, sauté the onions and garlic over medium heat until the onions soften and aren’t so harsh any more. Throw in the hot pepper and move it around the pan for another couple of minutes. 2. Add the wine, and simmer for 5 minutes before tossing everything else in the pot. Taste twice to correct seasonings. 3. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and then cover and let it gently stew for an hour or so. It only gets better as it goes. You can leave this basically as long as you like, but an hour is about a minimum. Then turn off the heat, cool, and store in a leftover ketchup bottle in your refrigerator. Be patient here. Let this bubble away for a good long time with the lid on. And after it is finished, if it is too spicy don't worry, it mellows very nicely with age. Also, although it's important to adjust the flavors as you go, it takes a bit of time for a new addition to fully infuse into the broth. This means that its taste just after the addition won’t be exactly the same after another 20 minutes. Once you feel like you have it basically right, let it work for a while longer and only taste & correct in increments of about 30 minutes.
Puzzler May
Riddle:
Memorial Day & Cinco de Mayo?
These two days of remembrance have nothing to do with each other. Or do they? Memorial day is the day Americans remember those who gave their lives for our freedom. Most people recognize May 5 as the Mexican Day of Independence. But, actually, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's July 4th, but a celebration of the day 3,000 Mexican soldiers defeated about 7,000 of the French! The date was May 5th, 1862. Enter Emperor Napoleon III into the mix, along with the Confederate States
of America. Napoleon had plans to establish a Central American empire
at the time, and was secretly aiding the Confederate States. This, he
knew, would support the division of America and make his conquest easier.
That Mexican victory caused Napoleon III to focus on Mexico and pull back support for the Confederate rebels, because he soon sent 30,000 more troops to finally depose the Mexican army and establish his own government. This lasted until 1867 -- only 3 years after the Civil War was over. This time, it was the Federal US Government that repaid the the Mexicans by providing the political and military assistance to expel the French. One year later, oddly enough on May 5, General John Logan issued General Order 11, the first proclamation of Memorial Day. "...gather around their sacred remains and
garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of
springtime....let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and
assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the
Nation's gratitude,--the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan."
It took until May 30 before it was officially observed. Flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. Answer: In an odd weave of domestic and international politics, the victory of the vastly outmatched Mexican Army over the French influenced the outcome of the Civil War. Often the results of grand events can be traced to a hundred obscure happenings, even in distant areas of the world. Cinco de Mayo Links: Memorial Day Links:
Assessing Dr. Robert Atkins:The True Revolution of the Atkins Revolution(NOTE: this work was previously published as an Op-Ed in theHartfort Courant and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)Dr. Robert Atkins, whose name has become synonymous with the high protein/low carbohydrate diet he invented, died on Thursday. Nine days before, Dr. Atkins lost his footing on an icy sidewalk outside his New York office and suffered a head injury that finally claimed his life. Since its publication 31 years ago, Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution has been a constant target of criticism and curiosity among mainstream scientists and laypersons interested in weight loss. His critics insisted that his low-carb diet – a rejection of the standard low-fat model – was bad for weight management and worse for the heart. Despite the response from his peers, he became one of the best selling authors of all time, prompting even more derision from the mainstream. Even though the jury is still decidedly mixed regarding the heart-healthy nature of his approach, more doctors are beginning to change their opinions. This represents a dramatic shift from the early dismissal of Atkins as a simple quack, bucking the system with a novelty weight loss scheme. The slide from uniform dissent into a more even mix of revulsion, admiration, and confusion reflects the true contribution of the “Atkins revolution.” It is not about who’s right and who’s wrong regarding the molecular micromanagement of the meal, but the dramatic paradigm shift Atkins initiated within nutrition science. Philosophers of science such as Thomas Kuhn have pointed out the power of an existing paradigm (such as the low fat dogma) to eclipse results and ideas that happen to disagree with the reigning premise. Throughout scientific history, proposals that ran counter to mainstream paradigms were rejected out of hand as obviously wrong (like the Atkins diet in 1972), because they contradicted too many norms that were already accepted as true. Although this makes the old-school keepers-of-the-faith seem like the enemies of progress, that is because the Galileos and Einsteins and Darwins are the exceptions to the rule. The vast majority of the time, wild proposals for novel spinning worlds, gravitational theories, and new biological orders flaunt so many accepted ideas that they are easily dismissed, never to return. The modern equivalent is the incredible array of dietary theories propounded by every manner of expert, including Atkins. With so many strange ways of thinking on the plate, it was and is natural to simply dismiss them and stick with what you know. The difference here, however, is that when scientists like Atkins consistently produce positive results by contradicting nutrition dogma. The idea lingers, grows popular, and finally encourages other defectors from the faith. At first the dietary mainstream couldn’t explain why people lost weight on the Atkins diet, and more recently why it wasn’t a nightmare for blood cholesterol values. His work has been so successful for so long that even the majority began to question their assumptions. And the very act of questioning is the first step on the path to meaningful revisions to the old way of thinking. The revolution in the Atkins Revolution, then, is more about the current crisis in nutrition science than a simple flip-flop from counting fats to counting carbs. Wholesale paradigm shifts like this are typically identified only after the fact, when the old idea has already been completely replaced by a new one. But here we are, a witness to the messy crisis condition between paradigms, as the old fat free dogma is being replaced in front of us. The Atkins diet spearheaded, and then survived, the current crisis because the plan worked as well or better than the alternatives. But it remains unclear whether his end of the dietary debate will eventually “win” and displace the old paradigm, whether the low fat notion will hang on to fend off the growing circus of rival hypotheses, or whether the winner will be something else altogether. This is the excitement present at the center of the ideological storm. You never know, at the time, which way the science with turn. The revolution begun by Atkins is the revolution of science itself, sorting its way through the human endeavor of scientific creation and discovery. Whether he turns out to be right or wrong is not the issue, and neither would diminish his penetrating contribution to our ongoing search for answers. He should not be remembered as “that low-carb guy,” but as the brilliant doctor and businessman who almost single handedly rattled nutrition science out of its comfortable confines, and opened the door to a more productive way of thinking. |
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July's Recipes: Gelato & Ice Cream You Decide Which Is Best!
July's "Just A Thought" Essay: Nancy Reagan's step-father, Parkinson's disease, and the right kind of knowledge
July's Interview Author Judi Hollis Talks About Her Upcoming Book!
July's News Find Out How To Lower Your Cholesterol -- WITHOUT DRUGS |
You’ll Need:
This
is great to make on a long weekend -- hey, like Memorial Day! We make this
in a big vat and then pour it into left over catsup bottles. It is a far
far better use for these squirt bottles.
