There is a red variety of the Anjou that our old friends the Euwers of Parkdale, OR discovered, nurtured, and patented. We love them Euwers, but I think the green version tastes a little better.

Thanks, Sumru!

Squidocto and his better-half never expected their house gift to be featured in the latest Scie-ence comic.

An honor!

Alimation from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.

Reminds me of the little marks on the sides of some turntables so you can tell if the platter is spinning exactly at 33.

[via Laughing Squid]

Have you had ramps or wild leeks before? They cost a fortune at the farmers market, but they grow all over the hills behind our farm. They are delicious. Kind of like a garlic-y onion with soft greens.

A nice geeky article on cooking onions just right. Yes, you can make dip out of them if you want, but why limit yourself? They are onions, one of nature’s most perfect foods….

Several great tips in here for sauteeing things beyond onions:
- baking soda greatly speeds the browning. Use gingerly (too much and it gets chemically)
- salt the oil before adding food (the salt penetrates more and you need far less)
- adding a little sugar to the oil before the food also speeds caramelization.
- use some liquid to control heat/prevent burning/retain that o-so-tasty fond. And you know what magical ingredient works well for this? Water.

Rosauers market in Hood River had live crawdads for sale (a holiday treat?). Of course you want to keep them on ice, but some seemed to have busted out and headed across the polar wastes to the pile of salmon.

Very interesting note on nitrate/nitrites found in bacon from the always-excellent Cook’s Illustrated.

Nitrate-Free Bacon

I often see “no nitrates or nitrites added” bacon in the grocery store. How does this differ from regular bacon?
— Eric Williams, New Orleans, LA.

Nitrite has long been a controversial food additive, with studies showing it forms carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines when heated in the presence of proteins, like those in bacon. Regular bacon is cured with nitrite (NO2) or a virtually identical chemical, nitrate (NO3), both of which act as preservatives, though only nitrite has the potential to form potentially harmful nitrosamines. Bacon labeled “nitrate-or nitrite-free” on the other hand, is brined with salt, a bacterial lactic acid starter culture, and celery juice (sometimes listed as “natural flavor”). But here’s the catch: Celery juice naturally contains a high level of organic nitrate, which is converted into the problematic nitrite by the bacteria in the starter culture and also by saliva during chewing. Despite this fact, it’s technically correct to label the bacon “no nitrates or nitrites added,” since the compounds are formed during production, not added as ingredients.

The question is: How do the levels of nitrite and nitrate in uncured bacon compare with those in its cured counterpart? When we fired up strips of our favorite supermarket bacon, Farmland Hickory Smoked, along with Farmland All-Natural Uncured Bacon (“no nitrate or nitrite added”), tasters found the sampled virtually identical in taste and texture. To quantify the nitrite and nitrate levels in these bacons, we sent three packages of each type to a lab for testing. For comparison, we also sent three packages of the Best Buy from our tasting of artisanal bacon, Applegate Farms Uncured Sunday Bacon (labeled “no nitrites added”). As we expected, all the of the bacons contained nitrite and nitrate and the nitrite levels were well withing U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines of no more than 120 parts per million (ppm).

But to our surprise, the uncured bacon actually had higher levels of nitrite than the cured meat: Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon registered an average of 9.7 ppm nitrite (and 48ppm nitrate), while its All-Natural counterpart showed an average of 16.3 ppm nitrite (and 10.3 ppm nitrate). And the Applegate Farms Uncured Sunday Bacon averaged more than three times the level of regular bacon: 35 ppm nitrite (and nearly as much nitrate, at 44.3 ppm). The bottom line: All bacon is likely to contain nitrite and nitrate, whether added at the outset or formed naturally during processing. If you want to avoid these compounds, you’ll have to avoid bacon – and any other processed meats containing celery juice – altogether.

I think Cook’s Illustrated should post this outside their paywall to drive traffic to their site.

And a huge thread on nitrate/nitrates/saltpeter/curing/definitions of bacon on Chowhound.

A wonderful, magical animal

Ah, the tastes of home.

The Internet Celebrities have a couple videos like this, directed by Casimir Nozkowski.

Map showing density of McDonald’s across the 48 states. Head for the black spots (but look out for oceans). One of the reasons we want to explore SE Oregon.

This cart sits off the intersection of Belmont and 34th avenue and I’ve yet to see it open. But if you look closely there’s still a dialogue of sorts taking place between the customer and staff.