Game meats

Eating an anti-aging diet of at least 60% alkaline producing food to 40% acid producing can sometimes be a daunting task.  It helps if you know how to cook.  For those of you who don’t, I recommend you buy my first book, volume one of the Cooking Skills for Life series,  As Good As It Gets.  If you can’t cook from scratch you will be dependent on prepared and processed foods, most of which are acid forming due to high fructose corn syrup, table salt, sugar and refined grains that are in most manufactured packaged foods. 

Since all animal protein and grains are acid producing, it makes it difficult for those of us who are used to eating meals based on them as the center of the plate ingredients, to satisfy our need to eat what we were served when growing up.  Well, we don’t have to give them up and become vegetarians.  We just need to eat fewer and smarter.  Most of us eat far too much protein anyway.  So, it just means instead of an 8 or 12 ounce potion of steak, cut it down to 4 or 5 ounces and load up on a variety of vegetables and alkaline sauces you can make to accompany it like salsa verde, tomato salsa fresca, sauces made from chilis, herbs and fruits like blueberries, figs, lemons and cherries.  There is another way as well, and that is to choose animal protein wisely.  Not all meat is equal.  One of the less acidic varieties is game meats. 

These animals are considered hunting animals, and forage or graze for their food.  Having lived in Maine for 25 years, I am familiar with the meat of the deer and moose, and have on occasion tried bison.  They are all leaner than the traditional meat cuts of beef, lamb and pork.  All three make an excellent chili when cooked in an acid like tomatoes and wine, paired with chili peppers and cooked using a long, slow stewing method.  Rabbit was one of my favorite dishes when growing up, and ever since culinary school I have had a love affair with duck, but I am unfamiliar with the likes of ostrich, elk, alligator, kangaroo and yak.  Although less acidic producing than beef or pork, game meats are still nonetheless on the acid producing side and therefore, like all of the other animal proteins, should be eaten in a portion size equal to the size of your fist, or smaller if you have a fist like mine, and should never equal more than 40% of the plate, even less if grains are included.  And as always, cook and pair the animal protein with as many alkaline forming ingredients as possible.  Here I use chilis, sour cherries, herbs and shitake mushrooms to boost the alkalinity and pair the venison with a plateful of garlic sautéed broccoli rabe and a side of great northern white beans and caramelized onion.

Eat smart, America!

 Chocolate, chili, cherry venison

Yield  :   4 servings          

Preparation Time :  45 minutes 

Cooking Time:  20 minutes

Ingredients

1 1 to 1- 1/2-pound venison loin, cut in two to four equal pieces for more even cooking and more exposed surface for marinating   

2 cups red wine

3 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme (remove some leaves for garnish)

1 ancho chili, seeds removed and crumbled

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

4 cups beef stock

1/4 cup dark chocolate (minimum cocoa of 70%)

Sea salt

Crushed black pepper

Garlic granules

Canola oil

16 ounces of shitakes, sliced

Sour cherries, crushed with seed removed

Lemon wedges for garnish

Directions

In a large stainless mixing bowl, combine the wine, bay leaves, thyme, garlic and ancho chili.  Add the meat , cover and marinate in refrigerator overnight.  Turn the pieces part way through.  Remove and pat dry.  Let the venison come to room temperature before cooking.  Do not discard the marinade.

In a sauce pan combine the marinade and beef stock.  Bring it to a boil and let it reduce by half then half again to the desired consistency of a sauce.  Remove the bay leaves, garlic and thyme.  Add the chocolate then puree to blend in the chili.  Stir in the cherries and set the sauce aside, keeping it warm. 

Pat each piece of loin with salt, pepper and garlic granules.  Coat the bottom of a sauté pan with canola oil.  When the oil ripples, add the venison pieces and brown on all sides.  The pan must be hot enough for the meat to sizzle when placed in the oil.  When all sides are caramelized, move the pan into the oven at 425 degrees and roast for 5 to 10 minutes uncovered.  The meat should be served rare on the inside.  Remove it when the temperature reaches 115 degrees and let it rest while the temperature reaches 120.  Cut it into thin slices, against the grain on a diagonal.    

For the mushrooms, add a small amount of canola oil to the same pan.  Cook quickly over high heat and serve.  The mushrooms will pick up all the little bit of caramelized venison from the bottom of the pan. 

Recommended Service:   Make a bed of garlic sautéed broccoli rabe.  Place the venison slices on top, cover with mushrooms and drizzle with chocolate, chili, cherry sauce.  Garnish with thyme leaves and lemon wedges.   Serve with a side of white beans and caramelized onions.  A glass of Zinfandel wine is an excellent accompaniment to the chocolate, chili, cherry venison. 

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

P.S.Both my first book AS GOOD AS IT GETS, COOKING SKILLS FOR LIFE, VOLUME 1 $ 4.99  and my current book EAT SMART, AMERICA, AN ANTI-AGING DIET PRIMER  $ 2.99 are 

available  now for Kindle on Amazon  and  NOW FOR NOOK  at Barnes & Noble

Corn Fed America!

SODA BELLY

Duck is one of my favorite proteins.  It has the meaty texture of lean beef with a unique, sweet flavor that pairs well with my anti-inflammatory, original fresh salsas and dipping sauces, especially blueberry ginger and peppery raisin.  But my admiration of all things duck does not include foie gras for which a customer asked recently.  Here is a longer version of my response, which I am reprinting from an earlier posting.  For all of you who are trying unsuccessfully to rid yourselves of the fatty middle just above the waistline, this is especially for you.

What do ducks raised for foie gras and Americans have in common?  They are both corn fed.  How are they different?  Ducks are forced to eat it, we do it willingly, happily even, all on our own---corn cereal, corn bread, corn dogs, corn tortillas, corn starch, corn chips and the most consumed of all, high fructose corn syrup.  And, then there’s the corn we can’t see, in soft drinks, fruit and energy drinks, condiments, packaged foods and even in the meat from corn fed animals. 

As a chef, I have known for some time that geese, and more recently ducks, are force fed through a tube resulting intentionally in a diseased, fatty liver ten times the normal size for the production of foie gras.  But, until recently, what I didn’t know was that the food of choice for ensuring the grotesquely fatty liver is---corn.  It doesn’t take a scientific study to draw what is an obvious conclusion.  Hmmm, fatty liver around America’s middle, foie gras, fatty liver, foie gras, fatty liver, foie gras…

Eat smart, America!

Beyond the Bull does not serve any added sugar from corn or any other food sources.  The reference to corn in the above article, is processed corn (not fresh) used to sweeten prepared foods, juices, soda and just about everything boxed, bagged and canned.  Beyond the Bull prepares all menu items from scratch, avoiding all added sugar whether from corn or sugar cane.  

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

P.S.  My current book Eat Smart, America, an anti-aging diet primer is available now for Kindle on Amazon.  Download it today.

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-America-anti-aging-primer-ebook/dp/B008H76MAK/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341433257&sr=1-5&keywords=eat+smart%2C+america

The Whiter the Bread

Have you ever heard the old saying the whiter the bread the sooner you’re dead?  Well, just as all old wives tales have some truth to them, so do old sayings.  When I was a child growing up in Connecticut, we lived on what one could describe as a mini farm.  There was a pond with a damn, a pond large enough so that I couldn’t swim to the other side, (at least not before encountering a snapping turtle or two),  a vegetable garden, a chicken coop, and at one time or another, goats and sheep.  As you can see, my parents provided us with fresh, unprocessed food, sometimes canned or frozen which they prepared, and only occasionally did they serve any factory prepared foods from a can, bottle or box, that is until shortly after I was born, the last of four children.

            By that time, foods like tv dinners, Chef Boyardee spaghetti in a can and Wonderbread were staples of the American diet.  As mothers (mine included) went to work outside the home to bring in the second income that would send their kids off to college some day, it was my generation that took to eating spaghetti with red sauce out of a can or a dinner of meatloaf and gravy, with peas and corn and mashed potatoes off of a compartmentalized metal tray set on top of another metal tray in front of the television.  The favorite school lunch was the fluffernutter made with peanut butter, marshmallow fluff and Wonderbread. 

I had no idea at that time, nor did my parents, of course, that feeding my body the fluffernutter resulted in the same effect as feeding my body a six pack of beer, but without the buzz.  There was added sugar in every component of my favorite sandwich of which I continued to eat long into adulthood.

The peanut butter, although it was rich in protein, was made with added sugar and salt.  The marshmallow fluff was corn syrup and the soft white Wonderbread was made from refined flour, flour that had been chemically bleached, stripped of all nutrients including fiber, then enriched in the manufacturing process by adding salt, sugar, vitamins and finally gluten enhanced to obtain the doughy consistency.  When we feed our bodies foods made primarily with refined flour, such as pasta, pancakes, pie crust, flour tortillas, biscuits, pizza, pretzels, cakes, cookies, and foods that are battered or dredged for that crispy outer skin, we may as well replace them all with Wonderbread.  No wonder laxatives and stool softeners are such a big business in the U.S.  

The world wide web is a wonderful source of information, even more so than going to a reference library in any major city.  However, there is no such thing as modern day internet information police, no one to say, whoa, if you break the law by publishing untruths under the guise of fact, you go to jail.  No, in this amazing America, we have the freedom to do just that, publish untruths, that is.  For that reason, it is reader beware.  

I was recently disappointed by a site that generally gives good advice regarding nutrition, when I read an article that argued the merits of dining on foods made with enriched all purpose white flour.  The article argued that using the enriched flour would give you the important b vitamins (added back in) that you might otherwise be missing from your diet. 

What it did not mention was that eating foods made from refined flour (enriched or not) which has no fiber to slow the digestive process, has an immediate effect on blood sugar level.  Because there is no fiber to slow down the release of sugar, the body responds to the spike in sugar by releasing insulin.  The insulin secreted by the pancreas does its job, reducing the blood sugar level which then causes a tired feeling and makes the person crave more sugar.  Eventually the cycle results in overload to the pancreas, weight gain, obesity and diabetes.  The more refined the carbohydrate, the faster the release of sugar and insulin, the higher and lower the peaks and valleys of energy and mood. 

This is the same cycle for all refined grains, all grains that have been stripped of their fiber, not just refined wheat for white flour, but for refined corn, oats, rice, barley, and rye as well.  As of the writing of this book, I am replacing the old slogan the whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead, with a new one, the more refined, the bigger the behind.  

More information on anti-aging gastronomy can be found in my latest ebook for Kindle now available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Smart-America-anti-aging-primer-ebook/dp/B008H76MAK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341931244&sr=8-2&keywords=eat+smart%2C+america

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef Angela B