GMOs and Why You Should Live On Only Popcorn (stove top popcorn)

I’m doing my best to understand Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods and determine whether they are safe to eat.  It is difficult to do, since the companies that produce GMO seeds assure us of their absolute 100% safety and the anti-GMO groups are hysterical about their danger.  I tend not to trust folks like Monsanto, Dow or Hooker Chemical based on their past history of deceit to protect profits.  The anti group likely has a valid point, but they are unusually bad at expressing it.  I often dismiss them, because they really don’t know how to present their argument in a cogent way, instead relying on fear and uncontrolled emotion to make their case.  For example, you just can’t scream “GMOS CAUSE CANCER” on a discussion board and fail to present any evidence showing how.  Similarly, you shouldn’t smear me with “YOU HATE THE PLANET” if you do not know my opinions, for certain and for sure, because actually I sort of like this planet and either way, it’s the only one we have.

We are stuck in a quandary.  The data from producers asserts that we should eat up all their GMO, trademarked foods.  We’ll live a long and happy and healthy and holy (since this is the American way) life.  On the other side, if you do a little digging, avoiding the crazies who troll the interwebs, you will find some pretty scary stuff about GMOs.  So, what is a person who wants to do the right thing for themselves and their family to do?  My best take on this is to avoid GMOs until the verdict is in. 

What does that mean?  You could do worse than follow the Fresh Fun Foods mantra of “When I die, I want to decompose.”  At the Farrell house we’ve been living this way for a long time.  Years back, when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I took a diabetes education class at the local hospital.  It was enlightening, because I realized I didn’t need to know how many fats and carbs were in a Bigg Mack, since I literally hadn’t been in a McEvil for 25 years.  Most of the presenter’s recommendations did not apply to me or our family, you see we don’t buy any processed food, there’s little junk food around the house and we don’t drink soda, sticking almost exclusively to water, beer, cidre or wine.  I have never had a Hot Pocket.  Why would I buy DiGiorno when Vinny’s is just down the block?  

Since GMOs turn up in processed foods, almost all corn in the USA is GMO, the best way to avoid GMO until the research and legislation shakes out is to quit buying the frozen prepared stuff and cook for yourself.  That’s where I come in.  Cooking is a wonderful family activity.  You’ll need to shop and chop.  Kids should be taught to value fresh foods and need to learn the best way to prepare what they buy from local producers.  Why not buy good, healthy food and prepare it yourself, rather than let someone make it for you in a factory.

If you want to completely avoid GMO, there is only one way that you can and that would be to go on a popcorn diet.  If you only eat popcorn, you will avoid all GMO, since popcorn comes from a type of corn that has never been modified, at least for the moment.  Now, there has to be a couple of qualifications here.  A popcorn diet may not give you all the vitamins and nutrients necessary to live.  That’s a big downside.  Also, you will have to learn to cook popcorn on a stove, because as we have learned, microwave ovens are rotten and so is that sickly yellow “butter flavored” stuff they jam in the package.  While the corn in microwave popcorn is ok, everything else around it wants to kill you.  

You’ll need a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, unless you want popcorn all over your stove.  Don’t use enamel lined pots like Le Creuset.  They don’t hold up to the heat.  Use peanut or salad oil.  Olive oil might sound good, but it does not hold the high temperature that you need and will burn, contributing an acrid flavor.  Popping up just a couple of kernels lets you know when the oil is hot enough to pop the remainder of the corn quickly, without burning.  Butter added early will burn and should go in at the last minute, preserving its sweetness.  Yes, once again, technique matters, even with popcorn.

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Popcorn  (serves 4)

1 c. popcorn

1 tbs. peanut or salad oil

1 tbs. unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

pinch black pepper

In a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, heat the oil and three kernels of popcorn on a high heat.  When those kernels pop, reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining popcorn to the pot.  It should cover the bottom in 1 layer.  More is not better.  Cover the pot and shake it back and forth while still on the heat to coat the kernels with the oil.

After a minute you will hear the corn begin to pop.  Resist the urge to look in the pot.  Shake it a couple of times.  After less than 5 minutes the popping will cease.  Give it another shake.  If there is no more popping, carefully remove the cover avoiding the burp of steam, add the butter, salt and pepper.  Recover the pot and allow it to rest one minute so that the butter melts.  Stir to mix in the butter and seasonings, turn the popcorn out into a large bowl and start fighting with the kids so you can get the chef’s share.

*If you want to play around with flavored popcorn, try adding a shake of paprika or chili powder with the butter.  Some garlic, finely chopped, could also work.  How about a squeeze of lemon and chopped fresh oregano?   If you want to get really crazy, skip the butter and season the popcorn with olive oil, garlic, finely chopped basil and diced sun dried tomatoes. 

They Give Out Free Oysters In Paris! (mignionette sauce, oyster stew)

We don’t always get away for a big vacation.  There are just too many bills and not enough money around the house.   Most of the time, it’s a run to the Catskills for a weekend of hiking and camping at Wilson State Park, a great place.  We try to hit the farmer’s market on Saturday morning in Kingston, then work up an appetite for the stuff we buy.  

Produce for sale in Kingston, NY.

Dinners are cooked over a campfire.  We’ve never been disappointed.  Those feasts taste as good as any restaurant meal and have made some spectacular memories. 

Last October was something different.  For about forever, we have been talking about going to France and spending some time seeing the great Gothic cathedrals of Normandy and Île-de-France.  These structures, many more than 800 years old are the most magnificent buildings ever constructed.  And any place where people have been going to for prayer for that long will have a special vibe.  We ditched the kids and flew directly to de Gaulle.  After a visit to Notre Dame, always the first stop, and a quick nap to catch up on the sleep we lost on the plane, we wandered down to Boulevard Saint-Germain, just to hang in the coolest city.

Paris is great.  I’ve seen a rainbow every time we're there.  The city was already ancient when the Vikings sailed up the Seine to conquer.  Art, literature, style, cafés, artisanal bakeries and gardens, they have it all.  The Parisians hosted Josephine Baker, Sidney Bechet and “Le Jazz” when we were too bigoted for good music.  Restaurants, hands down the best in the world.  History, yep that too, since Paris was where the kings lived since the time of Clovis.  It was the center of the Enlightenment and lived through the German occupation of WWII.  There’s even catacombs under the city resting the bones of over 6 million.  And, if that’s not enough, they give out free oysters in Paris!  I’m not lying.  Here’s the proof.

That's me, the huge guy on the right, waiting in awe for an oyster.  Do they
really hand out oysters to passersbys in Paris?  What a great town!

It seems that the oyster farmers of Oléron on the Atlantic coast had begun a push to popularize their oysters in Paris.  To do this, they did something simple, setting up a kiosk, handing out oysters then letting the product speak for itself.  They had four types, ranging from sweet and creamy to briny, with a copper/pepper finish.  The Claires were my favorite.  After some linguistic gymnastics, I was able to understand that they are finished in ponds swarming with blue algae.  Whatever…I want more.  Go to Paris.  They’ll give you oysters and want nothing in return except your praise.

We have good oysters in Eastern Pennsylvania.  Good stuff comes out of the Chesapeake Bay and the oyster fishery is coming back in the Delaware estuary.  Long Island oysters are inexpensive and tasty.  More costly, but worth the price, are the ones that come down I 95 from Duxbury, MA.  Eat oysters, either in Paris or at home.  

The following recipes are designed to highlight the best flavors an oyster has.  The mignonette sauce is spooned over cold, freshly shucked oysters.  Its acidity cuts the creamy sweetness of a fat oyster.  The oyster stew is quickly made and quickly eaten.  Milk, not cream which would be too rich, balances the natural sweetness.  Also, since we discussed mirepoix last time, we’ll get to see how a little dose of aromatic vegetables marry strong, complex flavors.  

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Mignonette Sauce  (for 24 oysters)

1/3 c. red wine vinegar

1 tsp. shallot, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. black pepper, coarsely ground

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Allow to marinate for at least one hour.

After marination, strain the sauce through a fine strainer.  Use the back of a soup spoon to press down on the pepper and shallots in order to extract all the liquid.

Shuck 24 oysters.  Spoon a little of the sauce onto each one and serve immediately.

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Oyster Stew (serves 4)

16 oysters, freshly shucked, liquor reserved, strained to remove shell pieces

1 qt. whole milk

1 tbs. carrot, finely diced

1 tbs. onion, finely diced

1 tbs. celery, finely diced

1 tbs. celery leaves, finely chopped

1 tbs. white potato, finely diced

pinch of grated nutmeg

pinch of black pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine the oyster liquor, carrot, onion, celery and potato.  Cover, put on a medium heat and sweat the vegetables for 5 minutes, until they are tender. 

Add the milk, bring the stew to a low simmer.  Season with nutmeg and pepper.  Transfer the oysters to the stew, cover it and turn off the heat, allowing the oysters to steep in the liquid for only 1 minute.  They will have begun to cook, but will not have toughened.

Divide the oysters and vegetables equally in warmed soup plates.  Ladle the milk over the oysters and aromatics, sprinkle the chopped celery leaves on top.  Serve immediately. 

Mirepoix Is Not a Childhood Disease! (chicken and vegetable puree soup)

What we are really doing as cooks is working to bring out the best in our ingredients.  Most of the time, you simply want to get out of the way of the food and let flavors shine.  That means using quality ingredients and easily understood technique that allows for clean, clear, unimpeded taste. 

Here’s an example.  When I teach soup making, we do a side-by-side test.  Using identical ingredients, we boil everything together in one pot and in the second we sauté the aromatics then simmer the soup.  It is a crappy v. good technique face off.  The boiled soup really does taste different.  It has a flatter taste.  It has less depth of flavor and the texture, its mouth feel, isn’t as velvety.  Proper procedure and good cooking technique matter.  When you sauté the aromatic vegetables, you build layers of flavor.

Today we’ll be working to understand the value of that classic French mix of aromatics, mirepoix.  This blend of chopped carrot, onion and celery is the flavor base for numerous stocks, soups and stews in the western tradition.  Like the Spanish sofrito or that Cajun combination of green bell pepper, celery, scallion and parsley, mirepoix provides a distinctive character which identifies the food as French.  Think of it this way, without ginger, garlic and scallions Asian foods would not have their great flavor complexity.  The same can be said for mirepoix.

Our recipe today is a variation on the soup that Cathy Farrell cooked for dinner last night.  She is a very good cook.  It is the perfect thing for a winter night, thick, rich with a huge, complex flavor.  Additionally, it is almost fat free and is packed with healthy vegetables, and if you must, gluten-free.  We had deep bowls of her soup with thick slices of crusty bread with butter.  The recipe makes a big pot, so do like the Farrells and have a bowl for breakfast or for lunch with a grilled cheese to dunk.

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Chicken and Vegetable Puree Soup

1 3# chicken, quartered

1 c. carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 c. onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 c. celery, peeled and roughly chopped

2 white turnips, peeled and roughly chopped

10 oz. canned crushed tomatoes

12 c. water

3 tbs. chopped parsley

salt and pepper

Put a large, heavy stockpot on the stove on low heat.  Remove the thick fat from the chicken.  Put it in the pot and sweat out about a teaspoon of fat.  Remove the remainder of the fat, the part that has not liquefied, and discard it.

Increase the heat to medium, sauté the mirepoix (the carrots onions and celery) in the chicken fat until their aroma is released and the onions are transparent.  Add the turnips, sauté for about 5 minutes, until they soften.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken.  Season with salt and pepper and sauté everything until the chicken begins to brown.  Add the tomatoes and water.  Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil.  Skim any proteins that rise to the top, reduce the heat to medium and slowly simmer the soup for 45 minutes, skimming occasionally.

With long handled tongs, remove the chicken and set aside to cool.  With a hand blender or food mill puree the soup and keep it warm.  Adjust the flavor with salt and pepper. 

When the chicken has cooled, remove and discard the skin and pick the bones clean of the meat.  Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces with your hands.  Return the chicken to the soup.  Save the bones for stock.  Bring the soup to a high serving temperature.  One final time, adjust the flavor with salt and pepper.  Stir in the chopped parsley before serving in large bowls.