Our Eating Kills, but Would You Kill to Eat?

After all is said and done, be clear that I, personally, have not resolved this issue. I once thought I had. I used to think I wanted to know that I knew, but now I am not so sure.

            I, like all humans, was born an omnivore, and I have not wavered from that in the last 24+ years. It goes without saying, if you have read anything else I published on this blog, that I am a cook, and beyond that, I revere food. I have no tolerance for waste or for disrespecting food. That is, if you are going to buy it, treat it properly.

            While science continues to discover more and more about plants, and their complexity, so far, there does not appear to be substantial evidence that plants experience things, or feels things, the way animals do. Even a Jain will yank a carrot out of the ground and likely not feel too bad. Animals are different, though.

I already discussed my utter contempt for factory farms, so today I want to discuss the slaughter of animals “humanely.” As a cook, over the past few years, I have contemplated the notion of slaughtering an animal I would then cook and eat, as an experience for self-validation. I, like many other cooks, feel a connection with food, particularly animals, and we see it as a form of respect to go all the way with an animal, from barnyard to plate. If I lived my whole life without killing at least one animal, which I then ate, I would feel a guilty void inside me. It seems like a dignified and dignifying act, both for myself, and to animals.

            In “It Must have been Something I Ate,” a book written by Jeffrey Steingarten, he vividly described the process he once took part in, of making sausage with a family in France. I believe he sought to fulfill what I described above. It was uncomfortable reading it. There are aspects that make it especially unpleasant, namely that at one point, it appears that the animal, still unrestrained, is completely ignorant of what is about to happen, then, after being restraining, it does not know what is happening to it, why it is being restrained, and finally, moments before the first cut is made, and perhaps the moment it happens, the animal suddenly realizes. He knows…

            Anthony Bourdain has talked about the same thing, both in books and on some of his travel shows (A segment of this interview, beginning at 20:00, by another one of my favorite people, really hits home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTxNuesZuEE...”Something  died for that pork chop...”). When you read him, when you listen to him, when you watch him, the same experience Steingarten had, is digested the same way. There is guilt and perhaps slight remorse in exercising this type of dominion over another animal. It is grotesque, something there is no joy in, but so inextricably connected to that, and necessarily so, is a source of great joy and pleasure.

            It happened again, just today. I read Michael Pollan’s recount of killing chickens on a farm. As he described what he felt leading up to, during, and after the process, I increasingly stumbled over the words; it became painstaking to progress down the page, and I felt physical discomfort and unease as he laid out what he did. The part most difficult for me to get past was the idea that with time, one becomes desensitized to the experience. An obvious defense mechanism, nevertheless, whether the first or the thousandth animal slaughtered, the animal goes through the same things: uncertainty, fear, shock, pain, more pain, and then death.

            My reading today made me wonder…is it necessary for me to do this? Just yesterday, I was so sure…It was the right thing to do. I could handle it. Now I am not so sure. It also made me consider, perhaps attempting to rationalize omission, that we have some people who fight in wars, commit and experience unimaginable acts of cruelty. Certainly, every citizen has the right to sign up for the possibility of carrying such an act, but in reality, it might not be for everyone. Some people might not be able to handle it. But can this notion translate to the slaughter of an animal?

            Last year, I was out on my family’s farm, and I saw a rabbit on the gravel driveway. I retrieved my grandpa’s .22 pistol. It had been a long time since I shot it. I used to be pretty accurate with it, so I was curious to see if any such skill remained. From about 100 feet away, I shot and killed the rabbit in one shot. That is, it eventually died. Preceding that, upon impact, the rabbit let out a single yelp. It seemed more like one of surprise than pain, but in any event, that sound remains crystal clear, in my head, over a year later. Following that, the rabbit convulsed for a few minutes, as a bit of blood ran from the mortal wound. An internal debate commenced.
            It’s just a rabbit. There are millions of them. It was a living thing, living out its life, just like me. It was imposing upon nothing and no one. To determine if I still had decent aim, I murdered a rabbit. Why not a coffee can? While I am still not completely content with this forthcoming rationalization, the best thing I could think of was that after I placed the carcass on the edge of a line of trees, it was gone by the next morning. Some animal came across a lucky find, had a nice dinner, and nothing went to waste.

            On that note, I would have a much easier time killing a pig or a chicken with a gun. Would that be good enough? Would that satisfy myself, and anyone else who might one day challenge my justification for eating meat without having experienced the worst part? Arguably yes, but such a method, it seems, is rarely used for domestic animals. I do not know why, but there almost always seems to be a knife involved. Must I slit the throat of the animal I kill and eat? It would appear that is the case. If I could shoot it, I would probably be able to do it, but is that just as removed as not doing it at all? Maybe, maybe not.

It seems perverted that I must suffer, if only a little, in order to justify making another animal suffer, but it also seems that is the underlying need Steingarten, Bourdain, Pollan, and perhaps I all have.

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Food Maintains Life and Contributes to Living...

Today is all about food. That is, today I will do my best to pay homage to food, to try and articulate what it does for all of us, without even mentioning that we could not live without it. I will avoid going into the direct pleasures food brings, for it is obvious. What is less obvious is, underappreciated, or even taken for granted, is the experiences that grow out of food.

            To borrow from Seinfeld, food is the “Miana!” It is, “the straw that stirs the drink.” Without it, there is a void, one there is no substitute for. Think about it…

            Many of my greatest memories and experiences emerged as a result of my doing some cooking. The cooking, for this discussion, is somewhat unnecessary I suppose, for there are sources outside the home kitchen to obtain good eats that have the potential to lead to great times. Restaurants, with the right environment, with amazing food, can be the ignition to what I am talking about. As a cook, though, whenever I reflect on my experiences with food, they almost always involved me cooking at least a portion of the meal.

            Over my Christmas break, good food provided my dad with something to look forward to everyday, after he left work. Yeah, I was there too, visiting for a limited time, but this is a food blog. All those nights, I cooked a meal influenced by several different cultural cuisines, and they all spawned conversations that, for sure, were influenced by, in particular, what we were eating. The food also led to social time, even before the cooking began. The shopping was characterized by discussion of what to have, what to have with it, and what to have with that. Once home, those who know how to cook begin cooking. Those who do not will linger around the kitchen, wondering what the cooks are doing, asking what they can do, or just hanging around, maybe getting in the way, but definitely contributing to conversation.

            Once complete, there is the climax of anticipation for those who took no part in the cooking, as their appetites peak, and people begin getting antsy about when they can help themselves.

            Plates filled, all head to the place to eat; in all my memories, couches and chairs were always involved, that is, if it is undesirable to eat outside. If outdoor eating is doable, that is, by far, the best place. Backyard patios, decks, and oh!...blankets on grass, yes! Leave the fancy and uncomfortable dinner tables for business meetings and uptight (and unwanted) guests. The couch dynamic, plates-on-laps, drinks almost out of reach, either on a coffee table or the floor, is one of the most intimate venues for meals. It emits a vibe of casualness, and that means people are relaxed, and that means people are happiest. For shared meals, the only location that tops the couch is the bed, but that typically makes for a more limiting and exclusive guest list. Speaking of which, between couples, can you think of a better connection than one who likes to cook and both who like to eat? I cannot, (Well, I have shared some rivaling experiences when music was the miana) and I have a small data set which supports this. Consider this: In the beginning, food brings people together. As one who likes cooking for others, I can tell you a bond instantly forms when one says what he/she likes, and the other makes it. It’s a method of sharing for which there is no alternative. Someone’s favorite foods are completely one-of-a-kind; a meal can be customized and tailored to the nuanced product that cannot be enjoyed by anyone more than the one it is made for.

            Many of my closest relationships, friends and more, began with the sharing of a meal. It covertly sets aside a time for people to enjoy each other’s company and get to know each other without that purpose ever being apparent. Here I am, in New Orleans, and after a time of acquaintances coming and going, I trapped a couple of good people by cooking for them. It is my sneaky strategy, after determining I might really get along with people, to cook for them, but food can also generate that opportunity too. That gets expensive though…

            Food has gotten me drunk on several occasions, and in varying ways. Sometimes it’s the perfect wine pairings, with not enough eaters, that leads to the popping of many bottles. Sometimes cooks cook for mixologists. I am cooking, he is mixing, and I am being passed cans, bottles, shots, and high-ball glasses. In those situations, it is best to get most of your knife work done early on. Perhaps a slight digression, but I noticed this recently: having a drink nearby, while you cook, is a multifunctional tool, but in particular, whenever I am preparing a multicourse, multistep meal, if I am momentarily stumped about what to do next, a sip from a beer provides a perfect pause. I had something in the oven, three things on the stove, something in the fridge, and several different piles on my cutting board. Hmmm, what to do…what to do…sip of beer…awww…Right!     

What has food done to enrich your life?

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I'll Have My Lab-Grown Hamburger, using the Slow-Growth Method, for Extra Tenderness

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/science/engineering-the-325000-in-vitro-burger.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=global-home

So it has been a while since I posted something. I am currently working on something juicy, but for now, I came across this article and thought I would share. It's about growing meat, specifically, scientists have engineered a hamburger. While it is expensive now, so is every technology when it first comes about. Where I begin to question the value of this is when it enters the domain of cooks. As a cook, I am also interested in the environmental implication of raising food, but to compare the environmental impact of growing meat to that of the factory farm is a skewed comparison, for the latter is not the proper method of production in the first place. It is cheap and convenient for producers, assuming they get to continue engaging the same illegal activities they do and paying off the proper authorities when they need to, but the amount of wasted energy is phenomenal. How about comparing meat grown in a lab to livestock cultivated on pastures? I am sure the lab method still has a smaller ecological footprint, so next time you want to visit Paris, try riding your bike across the Atlantic.
The article mainly focused on science of this burger's creation, but it nevertheless mentioned the factor cooks and consumers hold in highest regard: taste. "Reasonably good," was the descriptive phrase. Aww, it reminds me of all the store-bought dips, and salsas, and guacamoles, and other processed foods people could make at home, but buy at the store and rationalize out of convenience. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard such things as people gulp down another bottle of cheap, crappy wine. From this I return to the cook's philosophy. What we consume, we consume for reasons other than sustenance, and marginal flavor, and therefore marginal satisfaction, does not seem like a path I will be traveling down the next time I want a hamburger. The article mentioned the burger is completely without fat, and that when it is unveiled for the taste-test, it will only be doctored with salt and pepper. Okay, so a salted wad of lab-grown protein; I think that's called an egg white omelette.
For the masses, this plan might work, as long as the price gets down. If you look at the average burger consumed these days, it actually takes a second to locate the grilled meat patty for which the food gets its name. This is because, to compensate for poor quality meat, improperly seasoned and cooked by someone who never read this blog, ketchup, mustard, pickles/relish, tomatoes, onions, a buttery-flavored-frying-oil-soaked bun, and an equally voluminous lump of cheese-food take the consumer's mind off the burger. As long as it's cheap, Mc Donald's will throw it between their corn/soy buns, Taco Bell will chop it up and lay it under a pool of "cheese" sauce, and KFC will add a fourth layer of breading to it and toss it in one of its mixer bowls, which already contains the contents of an entire frozen-food isle...with powdered gravy and cheese melted on top.
Yeah, if it is not obvious, I have a problem with this. Our problem-solving has become methodology which avoids doing things in moderation, and is justified by comparing it to the wrong ways we have done things for so long. Weight loss became a problem, so let's staple up part of your stomach, or better yet, just tie of the whole damn thing. Hmm, during our hyper-processing of this neon rainbow-colored cereal, we removed all the micronutrients; let's just sprinkle some on top, from our powdered multivitamin shaker. Our dependence on oil is becoming an issue for the public, because we feel insecure by buying goods from untrustworthy people. Let's invade the whole region. Glacier National Park now contains 20% of the glaciers it used to. The majority of America's crops burned up last summer. Last fall, a hurricane spanning half the length of the East Coast did a bit of damage. Global warming? Hah! It's freezing out. There are no jobs in this country. Unemployment is too high. We could rebuild the infrastructure...Nahhh, let's build come more tanks; 3,000 is not enough.
And finally, the greenhouse emissions, energy consumption, and environment impact of factory farms and large scale agribusiness might be problematic in the future. We could adjust the food system, removing the subsidies for corn and soy, more tightly regulating the waste and pollution caused by factory farms, create minimum standards for the welfare of livestock, and labor policies that actually treated human beings equally, or we could grow our meat in a lab.

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Spring is in the Air...What to Cook?

Mmmm, pappardelle.

It’s recipe time. If you are eating like an American, I am sure you are in no need of corn or soy products, so let’s see…It is spring time. Actually, I live in New Orleans, so it is difficult to tell when fall ended, and when spring began. In any event, take this recipe and save it for whenever spring hits your neighborhood.

            I know it’s almost spring time when I, by coincidence, pass by a TV and see a MLB game in progress. For a cook, pasta primavera is a fantastic way to welcome in the good weather. As I see it, the idea behind primavera is the gardens have already been planted, and by this time, they have started bearing small fruits and vegetables. The “baby” version of produce makes for perfect primavera pickings. Pick your favorites. They are all my favorites, so feel free to use yellow squash, zucchini, bell chiles, onions, garlic, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, English peas, grape/cherry/roma tomatoes, portabella mushrooms, spinach or some kind of greens like turnip, mustard, or beet, and green beans are all options. Yeah, many of these items are ripe at different times of the year, some are not traditionally found in primavera, and I am usually a purist. However, the signature of this dish is the inclusion of the freshest vegetables, which are prepared and brought together in the final dish in a certain way. Therefore, we will deviate from the parts list, to some extent, but we will remain true to what makes primavera, primavera. One final thought: I would choose from that list, not the whole list. We’re not making stir-fry. (Hmm, when you think about the preparation techniques of stir-fry, maybe we are…)

Alright, your cart is now filled with lots of little plastic bags containing all your produce, so now it’s time to pick the pasta. Are you a poker or a twirler? That is, do you like pulling or slurping? What I’m trying to say, is do you like small pasta shapes, or long pasta shapes? This is an important question to answer, because upon choosing, it will then be up to you to make your produce resemble the shape of your pasta as best you can. Since this dish is dressed with the fruitiest olive oil you can find, and grated parmigiano reggiano cheese, for small shapes, I would go with farfalle, and for long shapes, pappardelle is hands-down my favorite long pasta shape. The pockets in the bowties, and the high surface-to-mass ratio on the pappardelle, will trap lots of oil and cheese.

            At home, there are many different ways to prepare your vegetables before you bring the whole dish together. Tradition can weigh in as much as you want it to, but since I just read that there is dispute over whether the dish was invented in NY or Nova Scotia (neither is in Italy), I say maximize the flavor and please the palates. That said, if you’re like my late grandmother, where the blander the better, you might want to steam everything you can. That will soften the harder vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus, but not too much, and it will preserve most of the nutrients and the bright colors. Trust me, for this application, there is nothing wrong with steaming. As for me, I am in a position where I only get one chance to impress with each kind of meal I make. Therefore, having received nothing less than jaw-drops, gasps, and overall puzzlement at my success by merely roasting, that is what I would do for a hungry group of non-purists. In this case, with the exception of maybe the peas, green beans, and greens, you can roast everything, but I would put the softer, juicier produce on one sheet-pan, and the drier, firmer ones on another. That way, everything will be done at roughly the same time. Now, the presentation of roasted vegetables will never be as pretty as steamed, or raw, produce, but we are cooks, and cooks have one goal—make it taste as good as it possibly can.

            The roasting temperature is 400-425 degrees, depending on how many juicy ingredients you choose and also your overall quantity. Rub everything with a light coating of olive oil, sea salt, and black or white pepper. The oil is important, because it aids in even heating, and quicker heating, which will result in the harder vegetables tenderizing before they dry out. I could estimate the time it will take, but just make sure everything is in a single layer, on the pans, and that there is space between the pieces for steam to escape. Mushrooms take 45 minutes to an hour. The Golden Rule with roasting is when it is brown and shriveled, it’s done.

            While the vegetables roast, you can boil the pasta and mince the garlic and onion. Yeah, you could submerge the garlic cloves in oil and roast them (that’s actually not a bad idea), or you can just mince a couple cloves, along with some onion, and sweat them, over low heat, in some olive oil and salt, in you largest  skillet or sauté pan. Since we will not need the pasta water to bring this dish together, make it taste like the sea, to season the pasta, and then chuck it when the pasta is done. How done? Mmm, since there will be no liquid added in the marrying of all the ingredients, I would go with a straight al-dente.

            When your veggies and tomatoes are done, add them to the pan with the garlic and onion, and stir to combine. Then add the pasta. Toss everything together, adding a half a cup of grated parmigiano, and a nice amount of olive oil, say, a third of a cup. The idea is to coat everything but not so it clumps. Plate the requisite portions, top with a liberal sprinkling of more cheese, perhaps a heavy pinch of freshly chopped parsley, and serve at a table that has a bottle of olive oil standing by, as well as a bottle of chilled white wine. In this case, a brut prosecco, a halbtrocken Riesling, from Germany, or Alsace if you can find one, and if you can find a sauvignon blanc that has seen oak but hopefully not New Zealand, that would be good too. Unless it’s a white burgundy, I would steer clear of the robustness of California chardonnay. Viogier is risky, because it is rather perfumy; serve that with dessert. Reds? Yeah, there is probably a pairing; Beaujolais would be my top pick, but spring time marks the first time you get to sit outside while you eat. Such an experience calls for the refreshing feeling, flavor, and texture of chilled (but not over-chilled) wine. Compromise? Alright, how about a dry rose? I had one from this maker, Tablas Creek, it was amazing. 

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Processed Food Follow-Up

View: http://www.ift.org/newsroom/news-releases/2013/march/21/march-media-update.aspx

Hmmm, doesn't this sound like something I said a month ago? http://www.thedailyserge.com/2013/03/processed-food-delineated.html HERE!

I suppose there are some differences worth mentioning. The other article highlights the views of PhDs, while I am nothing more than an Esq. in the making. Strangely though, I argued some of the same points in the same ways, only my agenda seems different than theirs. Note the circular logic used to justify the consumption of processed foods: the majority of the nutrients Americans consume comes from processed foods, so therefore, people should eat processed foods. The only problem is that Americans neglect unprocessed foods, so their diets are simply not composed of the unprocessed foods, which possess much higher levels of nutrients than processed foods. Finally, do the speakers not sound scripted, like there are pretty obvious talking points and rationales? Choosing fruit pie over fresh fruit is okay, because a farmer who picks an apple has "processed" the food, according to one speaker. What used to take hours--to prepare the daily meals--now takes minutes, according to another speaker. Uhhh, smoking cigarettes leads to weight loss and takes a lot less time than exercise, so perhaps we should all smoke instead. And another argument for processed food, made by the "principal," was actually a case of mistaken identity. Her claiming that Americans now have easy access to a variety of foods, from all over the world, at all times of the year, is not due to food processing, it is due to globalization. The last one goes out to all the women, because also according to the principal, processed foods allow women to focus on their careers, while giving their kids "hot meals," and "what everyone likes." That means breakfast hot pockets for dad, and Pilsbury toaster strudel for the kids.

I don't think I am being cynical or hyperbolic when I say that these people, these professionals, at best, are completely misrepresenting what processed food is, and what it has the true potential to do, (both bad things and good things), and at worst, they were hired by big business to be talking heads, posing as the good guys, seeking to spread propaganda to keep us sick and them rich.

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France Forgot the Chile

*I have been reporting on some heavy, controversial, and serious topics. It’s time to fold in some meringue to lighten things up a bit.

            Why are there no spicy, French foods? Cuisine, as we know it, is largely the offspring of East Asia or France. How, then, did every single cuisine incorporate capsaicin into its recipes, but France grunted and turned its nose up? Let’s get it out of the way, because I am sure the opponents to such a claim are waiting for a pause long enough for them to say, “Well, what about Bouillabaisse?” You know, it just isn’t bouillabaisse unless you get that crouton with a schmear of mayonnaise laced with some sort of chile; when I was the chef, I used a habañero.

“Yeah, what about that?” I thought you would bring that up. To that, I reason that Bouillabaisse is a dish of Provence, the South of France, and that region endured much influence from Italy, sitting mere miles away. Therefore, I attribute much of that dish’s existence to collaboration. I liken it to the fact that Alsace makes some fantastic Riesling, which happens to be a German name.

            Seriously, though, I don’t get it. With so much influence in so many of the world’s cuisines, why no heat? Yeah, they love their mustards. Speaking of mustard, the Germans love their mustard to, and come to think of it, Germans do not use chiles either. But when was the last time you heard someone argue Germany was the origin of cuisine? Moving on…

            Perhaps because chiles rarely make up the base flavor of a dish, the French bypassed it when they were setting out the rules. You know, the heat of the dish is not usually the defining characteristic, if done right. Maybe the French set out to create the culinary Constitution, allowing for subsequent cuisines to adopt it but add their own amendments to it. That is possible…but unlikely.

            China has entire regions, Szechuan for example, which are defined largely by the heat within their dishes, so I am not sure my earlier theory holds up. Of course, as is the case with all cuisines (except American), East Asia stresses, perhaps more than any other part of the world, the balance of all flavors. Thai, for example, successfully marries spicy, sweet, salty, and bitter in many of its dishes. Japan is so into balance that they decided four flavors could never be completely balanced, so they invented a fifth. Ehh, I’m half-kidding there.

Hmmm, maybe I need to look at France in relation to the trade routes of the Spice Route. Maybe the chiles never made it in. Maybe there were no indigenous species of capsicums. More research is needed, but for now, I wanted to point it out, because not only is a lack of chiles unusual, in and of itself, it’s even stranger that perhaps the largest contributor to cooking philosophy neglected to discuss the chile. 

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Zac's Plea: Take it Easy with the Sugar, Fat, and Salt

If you haven’t kept up with currents events in the food world, the idea of salt, fat, and sugar being integral to the success of processed foods has been in the news lately. I hope you will recall that I covered this before it was “hip,” in my post about my cooking style as compared to the mainstream (http://www.thedailyserge.com/2012/09/zacs-exasperated-attempt-at-justifying.html). The idea behind this holy trinity is that the inclusion of these ingredients, in the proper proportions, will lead to the highest level of enjoyment, when eating, and thus people will eat more and increase the sales of whatever fatty, salty, and sugary food, or beverage, they might be eating. There is science to back this idea up, but my theory, based on this concept, is yet to be proven, that is, it is speculation based on my observations of myself and others, followed by reflection, analysis, and synthesis.

            A couple of nights ago, I went to a potluck among my friends. I made and brought fish tacos. For a detailed description on fish tacos and how to make an even more elaborate rendition than the one I made for the potluck, see (http://www.thedailyserge.com/2013/01/zacs-christmas-break-dinner_31.html). I will admit that I have a reputation, among these friends, for being a good cook. On that note, everyone who ate my fish tacos, which is to say everyone who eats meat, loved them, including me. Now, to assemble these award-winning tacos, I took some catfish fillets, salted and peppered them, rubbed them with olive oil, and fried them in my caste-iron. In store-bought tortillas (I am not in an area that can source locally made tortillas, so I just picked the mass-produced one with the fewest ingredients), I put the fish and my pico de gallo, composed of diced grape tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, scallions, a tomatillo, lime juice, salt, and a habañero. I would have put some Mexican cheese, but the store lacked that too. Anyway, that was it.

            First of all, people started eating the pico on chips, so a good portion of it was gone before the tacos even began. I take it as a compliment. People made a point of telling me how good the pico was, and later, how good the tacos were. My ego aside, I want to stress both how simple and also how unlike the fare typically enjoyed these tacos were. They lacked added sugar entirely, there was less than a teaspoon of salt in everything, and maybe four and a half teaspoons of olive oil. Nevertheless, the limiting factor was I didn’t make enough of them.

            My theory is the modern, human brain can enjoy simply made, healthy food, but it is at war with the evolutionary tendencies of our bodies to crave rich, dense sources of calories. Now, part of this stems from a widespread and far-reaching ineptitude when it comes to cooking. If you do not know how to cook, your food will taste terrible. If I did not know how to properly season and cook the fish, and I did not know how to put together the pico so it would taste as it did, the tacos would have sucked. This is the destination many cooks (unfortunately, I am referring to both home cooks AND restaurant cooks) arrive at. At that point, the food is typically thrown away, which is then followed by a car trip to a drive-thru or a phone call for carry-out or delivery, or the ruined food will be ‘topped’. There are plenty of condiments, sauces, gravies, dressings, sprinklings, and shredded cheese to reach for in those situations. How do the aforementioned remedy the situation?...by adding some combination of sugar, salt, and fat. Ketchup and hot sauce make up for dry eggs. Gravy makes up for poorly cooked fried foods. Ranch dressing, I would argue, could be applied to virtually anything, and it would taste good. And Cheese? The pizza chain industry has been coasting on the profits from finding new places to hide cheese for the last 20 years.

Yes, every ingredient has a place in the kitchen. Butter, cream, salt, syrup, and frying oil are all indispensable in their own way. The problem is they are now used as crutches to compensate for absent cooking abilities. The solution lies in our inability to dislike the taste of anything that has high levels of fat, salt, and sugar in it.

In trying to support my theory, I could argue all night about the select people who actually enjoy the taste of healthy, nutritious food. That, however, is probably not strongly contested. I’m going deeper…In my attempt to begin the reformation, the support for my theory starts with exercise. There is pleasure in discomfort. There is pleasure in pain. How is that possible, in this otherwise, overwhelmingly hedonistic world? I will leave that to the neuroscientists and philosophers to answer. All I am interested in is your concession that people do enjoy exercise, for whatever reason(s) they do. People also enjoy eating healthy.  People are praised for ordering the salad. In a world of temptations, and self-restraint failures and relapses, there is positive energy in ideas that you just did something that was good for you. For whatever reason, even those in the self-induced, worst physical health, with no realistic intention of making a change, there is a feeling of accomplishment and pride in doing something for your health, and we all feel good after we do it. With that in mind, it is only a small step to realizing my theory. The modern brain appreciates the simple, balance, and healthy pleasure of properly prepared food; the brain has a more refined palate, if you will, than the primal human. It can appreciate nuances beyond the mere presence of sugar, fat, and salt. It is just hard to come by. Restaurants are rarely better at doing it than the home cook, and that is why most do not even try. That has warped the palate to the point where in the absence of culinary success, cooks revert to the trinity to save their reputation.

Let my fish tacos be a shining example that we have evolved, not enough to leave behind our craving for what is calorie-dense and nothing more, but far enough to understand, appreciate, and enjoy what is. Cooking is simple, but it ain’t easy.

The bottom line is that no ingredient should be neglected, but at the same time, no ingredient should be relied on, for neither philosophy will lead to culinary success. It goes without saying that fresh, high-quality ingredients are a must. From there, knowledge, understanding, and technique will beat the pants off  more butter, more bacon, and more cheese. 

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Kit Kat Lasagna

There comes a time in one's life where he or she discovers something that elevates them to the next level.  For Michelangelo, it was his 'David'....Beethoven had his nine symphonies...and for me, it is the Kit Kat Lasagna.

The recipe is simple enough.  One layer of marshmallows, then a layer of Kit Kats....then a layer of graham crackers followed by another layer of marshmallows.  Above that, a layer of M&Ms...then...more...marshmallows......topped off by a final layer of Kit Kats.

There is no set standard on baking time, but it needn't bake for too long in order to preserve the integrity of the lasagna.  In my opinion, it would be best to quickly bake the bottom layers, then add the top half and finish baking.  That way, there is a uniform melt to tease the palate.

"ichitaka05" from the forum ft86club.com has shared their rendition of this wild animal...

 Good luck on your endeavors as you attempt to ride this stallion of a dessert and if you do end up taming the beast, please send us pictures of your creation [contact@thedailyserge.com].  Good luck, and Godspeed.

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