In today’s edition of Forky Friday, I’m throwing link love at posts that defend the healthfulness of eating meat, stress the importance of knowing where your meat comes from, and help you choose the best blender for your buck. And as a bonus, I’ve included a video to a crunchy brunch idea that I’m guessing you’ve never tried before.
Let’s dive right in!
- Have you heard about the new study that explains how RED MEAT WILL KILL YOU? I’m happy to report that three smart dudes (Dr. Chris Masterjohn, Chris Kresser, and Dr. Paul Jaminet) have addressed the issue, and have all come to the conclusion that you should still eat that steak. Of course, if you decide you’d rather pass on the meat, no problem – I’ll eat your share.
- At the annual International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conference in San Francisco this week, I repeated my Paleo elevator pitch until I was blue in the face. Unfortunately, I learned that Paleo’s got a PR problem. A good number of people in the food world have gotten the idea that: (1) Paleo = Atkins 2.0; (2) we eat nothing but meat; and therefore (3) we’re all gonna keel over from massive heart attacks. Ugh. Everyone should read this new post over at Nerd Fitness; Steve’s team puts forth a very balanced and reasonable approach to Paleo (and address a lot of the same questions I heard this week from skeptical food professionals). Wasn’t it just last week that I linked to a bunch of posts addressing Paleo debunkers?
- I’m sad that one of my culinary idols, Michael Ruhlman, wasn’t at IACP this year. His cookbooks (my most dog-eared being Ruhlman’s Twenty) pepper my sagging kitchen bookshelf, and I’m obsessively checking his Twitter feed and insightful blog like a crazy fan girl all the time. He’s also got a crazy cool iPad app that’s all about Schmaltz, and I cook from that, too. He recently posted a great piece about the importance of farm transparency and knowing how your meat is raised and processed. Read it here, if only for his no-holds-barred take on veganism.
- I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time at IACP with Erica Kerwien, the fantastic blogger behind Comfy Belly and the author of a new cookbook, Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Over six years ago, Erica started cooking sugar-free, gluten-free, and grain-free meals for her family when her eldest son was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. We bonded because we’re both fiercely protective mama bears and equally obsessive about testing and re-testing our recipes until we’re sure that our instructions – if actually followed! – will result in a satisfying meal. I can’t wait to dig into her new cookbook because I know her nourishing recipes will be delicious and fail-proof.
- For super-comprehensive kitchen tool/gadget reviews, I can always trust the nit-picky mavens at America’s Test Kitchen. They recently reviewed a bunch of high-end blenders to see which one reigns supreme. Yay! My trusty Vitamix 5200 is still the champ! For those of you who don’t want to spend $450, you can choose the co-winner, the Breville Hemisphere Control Blender which retails for $200. These results line up with Consumer Search’s aggregated reviews, which proclaimed the Vitamix the Best Heavy Duty Blender and the Breville the Best General Use Blender. (Yeah, I know they’re not cheap – which is why if you’re going to drop that kind of coin on a kitchen appliance, you owe it to yourself to do your homework!)
Last, but not least, here are a bunch of great recipes I’ll be making soon:
- Jeni Hulet’s Overnight Vietnamese Pickled Shrimp
- Hank Shaw’s step-by-step instructions on how to butterfly a fish
- Food52’s do-it-yourself bouquet garni
- Nordic Food Lab’s Hissing Cockroach Brunch (I’m totally kidding on this one)
**UPDATE! Russ Crandall’s fantastic Paleo-friendly blog, The Domestic Man, was just selected as a finalist in the Best Special Diets Blog category in Saveur Magazine’s 2013 Best Food Blog Awards! Vote by clicking here and share with your friends! Voting ends on 4/19/13!
Ciao for now!
