Latest Cooking Talk Posts at VideoSift.com

Dead Animals and The Sift: Why I am a Vegetarian

MINK (http://cooking.videosift.com/member/MINK) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:31:03 -0700

(23 comments - 178 views)
Until I was about 23 I ate meat. I had a normal British diet of meat, vegetables, instant noodles and 80% confectionery.

Then I ate a bad prawn curry and spent the following week shitting blood and snot, as my entire stomach lining exited my arsehole in tiny spurts, every 10 minutes.

Fearing death, I just instinctively lost all desire to eat meat after that. It started as pure instinct.

Then... when I was once again able to keep babyfood inside me for more than 20 seconds, I did some research on the internet, and came to the conclusion that animals suffer enormously from modern meat production, and that humans suffer from the pollution and bad quality food.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE meat eaters, this is not an attack on you, I think you're wonderful people. Except that you pay to have genetically freakish animals tortured, killed, skinned, chopped, packaged and delivered to your town.

Around about now some of you might be saying "oh how do you get (insert sciencey sounding nutrient here) in your diet?"

Whatever dude!!!! You carry on eating your fucked up processed and artificially coloured sugar/salt/meat diet and keep deluding yourself that you get more vitamins and protein than I do. Keep telling yourself that driving to a McDonalds is "natural" whereas eating leaves is "for rabbits".

People think that vegetarianism is outdated. This makes me sad. You fuckers eat so much meat and get so much diabetes, the need for vegetarianism has never been more relevant.

People don't know that the meat and cereal lobbies influenced the "food pyramid". This makes me sad.

When I went veg, it was an individual thing... I didn't initially care what anyone else ate, I would say "go ahead, can i cook you a hotdog or something?"..... until i found out just how much meat production pollutes the planet, and stuffs food into highly inefficient meat producing units called "cows" instead of feeding humans with it. Not to mention the whole thing with the sheeps brains and the cows that start walking backwards.

So hi there meat eaters, and a big fuck you! Especially if you eat meat and whine about "carbon quotas" or some such bullshit. You really think all that vitamin B12 is worth it? Should I be happy about paying for your second coronary bypass operation?

Ahhhh.... but it TASTES nice and you are (as I am) a hypocrite. Just admit it, instead of telling me I look thin. OK?

- MINK

Embed from Brightcove for Mortal Souls

neuralnoise (http://cooking.videosift.com/member/neuralnoise) — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:51:07 -0700

(5 comments - 363 views)
So, what is the logic behind that not being possible? I read Brightcove was added nearly a year ago, but for diamonds only. Is there a workaround, something to change in the embed code so non-diamonds can also make it work?

i really wanted to post this recipe , and couldn´t find it anywhere else...

- neuralnoise

Hey - What's Your Favorite Sifting Snack?

critttter (http://cooking.videosift.com/member/critttter) — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:04:05 -0700

(42 comments - 463 views)
So I'm starting to feel in a rut with my current Kosher dill pickle Sifting snack. And I'm looking for new ideas. What works for you?
Bonus points if it balances nicely with beer and keyboard cleanliness.

- critttter

bah, aluminum pans

jwray (http://jwray.videosift.com) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:03:50 -0700

(7 comments - 351 views)
Cheap uncoated aluminum baking pans have good thermal properties, but there are two problems I have with them:

1. They're abysmally hard to clean. It takes a scotch-brite pad or the like, and when you scour off the stains with that you're scouring off the whole top layer, aluminum, stains, and all. You might as well use a power-sander.
2. Aluminum is harmful if ingested, and ingestion is likely if you're producing lots of aluminum dust by cleaning it with a very abrasive pad. Getting it clean with anything less is impossible.

So.... I'm looking for a copper baking pan that's coated with teflon. It's obvously the best design, therefore it probably doesn't exist. Maybe I'll settle for a glass baking pan, because that's also extremely easy to clean although it has terrible thermal conductivity.

- jwray

The man who unboiled an egg

kulpims (http://cooking.videosift.com/member/kulpims) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:06:51 -0800

(0 comments - 200 views)
I found this interesting article on Hervé This, a French chemist, working on the science of cooking

- kulpims

Cheese Addiction

djsunkid (http://djsunkid.videosift.com) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:48:09 -0800

(14 comments - 849 views)
Well, it's been two months since I promised a "how-to" cooking blog. I kind of lost track back then. I think the best way is to private message me with requests, and then sporadically, when the mood strikes, I'll try to answer them in cooking talk.

Two months ago, deputydog asked:
is there somewhere i can go for my mature cheddar cheese addiction?

This is a serious problem which affects us all. Cheese addiction affects over 50 percent of the population, ruining families, and destroying lives.

What are the symptoms of cheese addiction? There are many, but the foremost is a marked desire to consume large amounts of delicious, delicious cheese at every given opportunity. For deputydog it may just be mature cheddar, for countless others it may be Mozzarella Di Buffala, Limberger, Manchego, Castello di Roma, Parmigiano, Piave, Chevre, or Brie.

Other symptoms include

Uncontrollable salivation at the mere mention of gooey, luxurious melted raclette,

Urges to find and eat crispy toasted provolone

Lust for even just a picture of some aged emmental cheese with its wonderful holes.

Knowledge of all local Greek restaurants and which serve the best flamed Kefalograviera cheese (Street name: Saganaki)

While the problem is multifaceted, people should be aware of some of the so-called "gateway cheeses" like creme fraiche, cottage cheese (sometimes known by its street name 'curds'), or ricotta. "I'll just have a little, it goes well with some fresh apple slices" a young person might think. Before long, it's cream cheese and mascarpone, then exotics like cambozola or tallegio, and soon after they are spending their entire pay cheque on hard cheeses like Peccorino Romano or Grana Padano. It's a sad story that professionals such as myself see day after day.

Other dangers include cheese burgers. These, seemingly innocent food items, can send a chronic cheese addict over the edge, into binge consumption. Especially dangerous are so called 'blue cheese' burgers, with their insidious use of seriously habit forming cheeses like stilton, roquefort or gorgonzola.

Lasagna; Omlettes; Pizza; Salads; Sandwiches; Soups; Chicken; Pork; Vegetables like Rapini, Broccoli, Asparagus, Cauliflower; Mushrooms, the list of foods that a serious addict may consume with his habit is almost endless.

For example, a sautee of fresh nova scotia fiddleheads in some olive oil chilies and garlic, then deglazed with a dry white wine and served with melted danish blue is pure ecstasy to the afflicted.

Or a deep rich french onion soup with a garlic rubbed crostini of baguette with some grated gruyere toasted on the top can warm the soul of a poor cheese addict like almost nothing else.

Or even the simple grilled cheese sandwich! With the addition of a few filets of anchovy, and use of a suitable cheese like Mozzarella di Bufala, this traditional 'gateway dish' becomes something more- a habit forming problem of its own.

So in conclusion, there is no easy answer for a serious cheese addiction. While many programs exist, the mere sight of a tray of fresh fruit, sage darby, asiago, manchego and boschetto al tartufo will send even the hardest rehab graduate spiralling back into their love of all things cheesy.

My recommendation is to embrace your addiction. Find people who enable you, and then find yourself the nearest cheese shop- and indulge!

I think I'll have some smoked gouda myself! mmmmm!

- djsunkid

Cooking Class with DJsunkid

djsunkid (http://djsunkid.videosift.com) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:55:04 -0700

(46 comments - 1655 views)
I've decided to host a cooking Q+A here on the good eats channel. I've been a chef for almost ten years now, and am ready to field your cooking questions.

I'm thinking of possible starting a video how-to blog as well, but I will start with some question and answers.

So have at it- do you have any cooking questions?

- djsunkid