The Price of Red Meat (From NY Times)

By JANE E. BRODY

There was a time when red meat was a luxury for ordinary Americans, or was at least something special: cooking a roast for Sunday dinner, ordering a steak at a restaurant. Not anymore. Meat consumption has more than doubled in the United States in the last 50 years.

Now a new study of more than 500,000 Americans has provided the best evidence yet that our affinity for red meat has exacted a hefty price on our health and limited our longevity.

The study found that, other things being equal, the men and women who consumed the most red and processed meat were likely to die sooner, especially from one of our two leading killers, heart disease and cancer, than people who consumed much smaller amounts of these foods.

Results of the decade-long study were published in the March 23 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine. The study, directed by Rashmi Sinha, a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, involved 322,263 men and 223,390 women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Each participant completed detailed questionnaires about diet and other habits and characteristics, including smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, education, use of supplements, weight and family history of cancer.

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Texas Shooters

Andrew shows the world how to properly eat Texas oysters!

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Personal Prohibition

Spirits have been an integral part of society for centuries. The ancient Romans drank wine to toast their victories. The legendary Egyptians brewed ale to satiate their innovative minds. Alcoholic beverages, whether for their nutritive properties or their ability to lift a patron from the doldrums of his surroundings, have been a cornerstone of society since the moment it was created.

And for Lent, I gave it all up.

Such blasphemy! The noble notion of making a sacrifice to honor that of the penultimate Christian savior requires a deep cut beyond the normal pound of flesh. So in considering what to give up, I went through sweets, swearing and even meat. Admirable candidates, but none more omnipresent in my life than booze.

I have specific drinks for socializing with specific friends…

I have wine preferences for certain meals…

I have cocktails I only imbibe during certain seasons…

The list goes on and on and on. So to take one on the chin for God, I made the ultimate sacrifice. No more wine with dinner. No more beer after a long football game. Not one drop of gin in my ginger ale.

40 days later…



My fast has finally ended, and though it was an incredible struggle, I will say I learned some incredibly valuable life lessons. I have earned the ability to say no through sheer conviction. Not just to drinking, but to foods and experiences I don’t want at the time. I have learned self discipline, and I have learned the satisfaction of remaining steadfast through life’s most egregious temptations. I would say that the most difficult part of this journey would be the over-hydration from drinking tonic water instead of booze during my all night outings :-)

I’ve been more energetic, incrementally lucid, my digestive system is stronger, I make more healthy food choices and I remember everyone I meet. So why bother going back?

Have you ever had a glass of silky Bordeaux with a braised lamb shank? Or a refined quadruple with a brat?

Q.E.D.

-The UE

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Homemade Meals

New Years is a time for reflection and goal setting. This year, the occasion found me in Los Angeles, the surf-town meets glam megapolis of the west coast. Aside from confusion over who to fear more, Crips or the LAPD, I found myself a tad perplexed on the direction I wanted to take over the next year. So many opportunities were open to me professionally and personally, and I believe I possess within myself the ability to take my life successfully in any direction I decided upon. So I was left at a roadblock.

But then, I played Clay.

Clay, for those of you unexposed, is not a board game. It’s not even a game. No, it is an organizer filled with 36 different colors of clay and several tools at your disposal for crafting whatever your mind can conceive. And so I faced the same roadblock I faced with my New Year’s Resolutions. With no limit or framework on what I could do, what should I do?

So I sat for a minute.

And I thought.

And thought..

And thought…

Finally, I considered the frequent criticism I have to offer the TV when watching competitors on Top Chef. Too often they try to live up to a challenge in a way that they have never been comfortable or they haven’t previously tested out, and in trying to reach some unproven concept the chef consistently falls short on the goal. The people who achieve their goals and wow the judges, however, have one main thing in common. They take the challenge, and twist it to their talents so what results is what the judges asked for, only enhanced by the years of experience held by the creator.

So what did I do? I made a clay Italian dinner. Something I know and love. The marinara sauce came garnished with basil and parmesan. The fish had scales and the broccoli had some of the most realistic clay stalks anyone had ever seen. Judges challenge bested.

But that brought me to a startling thought. Am I limited by my experience? Other people around me were making expressions of love and graphics and designer beads – all functions of what they knew. I am enamored with Italian food, so that was my first thought. Was I victim to tunnel vision? And if so, how do you defeat this tunnel vision?

I concluded that life, much like a chef’s palette and repertoire, is made up of a series of experiences. This ultimately brought me to the Resolution I think I am most proud to have made so far. When a chef becomes dissatisfied with the recipes he has and the foods he has been making, what does he do? He travels. He seeks new ingredients or unique ways to interpret old ingredients. He experiments. He experiences. Since people suffer and benefit from the tunnel that is their experience, I have decided will begin construction to widen my personal tunnel. This may sound revolutionary, but I think we all do it in bits and pieces. This blog was my first step. Now I will be taking another, joining book forums to discuss new and classic literature, finding debate forums to sharpen my pith, and continuing full speed with my self-directed cooking courses. Where will it take me? Who knows? If you make life all about the kiln, then you’ll forget how much fun you had playing with the clay.

-The UE

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The Mad Scientist

Dr. Frankenstein’s got nothing on me.

Let me explain. A good friend of mine hosts an annual beer tasting in Hells Kitchen, and since the first one, his offering has grown in both size and sophistication. As such, I felt it was only appropriate that the dishes brought by someone who has made the 1 year mark in writing about life through food should follow suit.

So I sat and brainstormed, evaluating exactly what foods would both pair well and appeal to the masses. Of course I started with the timeless rule of “if it grows together, it goes together”, and looked at the selections of beer. Most were Belgian, as any beer aficionado would expect of a high brow tasting. My thoughts naturally ran to the grassy hop filled lands north of France and west of Germany. Images of waffles, pirogi, and all types of savory wursts danced in my head as I contemplated how to compliment these exquisite beers with a stellar dish. But none of them really moved me. I mean, who really wants to make their own sausages? Whatever this dish was going to be, it had to be filling, delicious, and heavy enough to soak up all the booze that we were sure to imbibe.

I brainstormed….I researched…I drank some beer for inspiration…and eventually, I passed out watching Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Somewhere between Aqua Teen Hunger Force and my innovative subconscious, the idea came to me – Macaroni and Beer Cheese. Eureka! But how would I make this concept into a mouth watering reality? How could I possibly infuse cheese with the tangy and complex overtones of beer without losing the wondrous creamy gooey experience we all know and love? What beer would I use? What recipe for macaroni and cheese? Hell, what cheese?! The internal debate went on like this for about 2 days. Finally, I decided if I was going to learn anything about making this recipe, I had to experiment. And so, much like the good doctor of folklore, I too set out to wield the ultimate power and give life to an inanimate creation.

The Beers
Three Philosophers – a blend of malty ale and cherry lambic with overtones of chocolate and nuttiness
Chimay White – probably the most recognizable Trappist beer, with a velvety body and hints of floral and sweet fruit
Arrogant Bastard – a strong IPA that goes great with BBQ because of the hop’s ability to cut through spice and grease to deliver flavor to your palette (always in stock in the UE’s fridge, just for the name alone)

The Cheese
Hoch Ybrig – a nuttier hard cheese, with a more bitter finish
Prima Donna – a gouda-like hard cheese that has a great creamy taste with a slight tangy finish
Fontina – everyone’s favorite creamy soft cheese

With the help of my own personal Igor, we set upon coordinating flavors of beer with flavors of cheese, testing out which combinations made the most sense. And just to add another layer of complexity, we debated using a roux base (which is mostly milk and a small bit of flour), or a béchamel cream base (mostly butter and cream). We began by tasting the beers and the cheeses, getting a sense for their individual flavor characteristics. Then we tasted them as a pair, and came up with the below grid:


Now the fun part!

We grated cheese. We boiled Macaroni. For the roux, we warmed milk in a pan. Added some butter. Mixed in the flour. BEER! A little cheese. Poured the macaroni into the pan, stirred, and placed the mixture over the rest of the cheese in the test container. And did it again, and again, and again, and again. Even threw some pancetta in one of the mixes to even out some of the bitterness from the cheese and beer. (As a side note, it is now my belief that pork is the duct tape of the culinary world – if it tastes weird or bland, add some bacon of some sort and voila! Instant delicious)

As I stepped back to watch the process, I noticed big grins on both of us. We were playing God to the macaroni world, bringing life to what was a mere concept, living out our thesis out in the microcosm of the test kitchen. I felt drunk with the power of creation, knowing that at any time I could take away the life given to these recipes with a fell swoop to the trash. The power of life giving was almost maddening, and after a short time of baking, our many Frankensteins were alive! Live you delicious aberrations of life, LIVE!!!!

Wouldn’t you love to taste the results?





-The Mad Epicurean

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