Making Virgin Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil

Making coconut oil is a laborious process, but anyone who has made it will agree with me that the results are well worth the effort.

I'm going to take you to the Bare Pantry Show for this demo:

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

This is a healthy oil that is for cookery and topical use.

Savoury Green Monster Detox Smoothie

Blitz the following with pure distilled water to make a delicious, detoxing savoury smoothie:

1 ripe avocado
1/4 cucumber
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp organic apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1/2 tsp spirulina
1 tsp wheat grass
1 tsp barley grass
1 tbsp hulled hempseed
1 tbsp hemp protein powder
Dash of hot pepper sauce (optional)

Caveats:

This drink gives you a huge boost of energy, so it is best not to indulge before bedtime, unless you don't plan to do much sleeping.

Detoxing can cause flu-like symptoms as your body rids itself of toxins.

Schnitzels and Chicken Fried Steak

Below is the transcript of my chat with a friend:

My friend James: Afternoon pal. Do you know of a traditional eastern european dish which is Steak then covered in batter - served at easter? Friend of a friend of mine said it was Polish.

Pete Thomas: I recall something like it, but it is American chicken fried steak.

Pete Thomas: It may have its roots in Eastern Europe, but I think it is from the American soul food tradition: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-chicken-fried-steak/

Pete Thomas: There is a long tradition in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Poland of eating schnitzels. These were traditionally made of either veal or pork, breaded or battered. 

Poles don't eat much beef steak compared to Western europe and the USA.

Pete Thomas: http://www.renbehan.com/2013/01/breaded-pork-steaks-polish-style.html

Pete Thomas: http://honest-food.net/2012/12/21/wiener-schnitzel-recipe/

Pete Thomas: My fav: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/main-course/pork/schnitzel-or-jaeger-schnitzel.html

Pete Thomas: Jaeger schnitzel is served with jaeger/hunters/chasseur sauce.

Pork Ribs or Shin Beef - No Contest!

Be careful what you buy, even from 'reputable' stores.

I was shopping in my local ASDA today and I looked at a pack of pork ribs which looked fine - until I looked closer. On the label it said 'Carefully prepared by our butchers'. Carefully? Not 'specially'. So I looked hard at the ribs. 

They were certainly carefully prepared, but the care was cynically applied as deceit; masking the low meat content by skillfully leaving just enough meat on the bones to make them look meaty, while removing as much meat as possible. There was more meat on a jockey's whip than on those 'carefully prepared' ribs. 

I may even start a 'Food Hall of Shame' blog - just to show these cheating bastards up.

Fortunately, shin beef was on a special, so I decided to hog out on beef instead.

Shin beef is unpopular with today's lazy cooks, because it takes about 2hrs and 30mins to cook tender; so it's bonus time for guys like me who like tons of meat that is cheap, and don't mind waiting.

I made a mouth-watering succulent beef stew instead.

Hooray for lazy-arsed cooks I say