My husband's grandmother (my grandmother in law?) has recently been giving us a ton of old cookbooks that she has collected over the years after finding out that I like them. Well, I kind of feel like I hit the jackpot because there are some really really cool ones in there. There are also a lot of other ones, so we need to eventually go through them all (when I say a ton, I mean a ton, we must have well over a hundred by now). But in the mean time, I thought it would be fun to open one once in a while and try a recipe and post it if it is good. All of our Christmas Eve recipes that we made came from these books and we had a lot of fun with them. One recipe that I really like as a snack food was for "Chestnut Balls". I love chestnuts, but only buy them once a year because of their high cost. These remind me of a sort of baked falafal and I think you could do them with any nut. I followed the recipe exactly and added a little maple syrup to give balance out the dry taste that chestnuts have. Also, the recipe calls for "riced" chestnuts, but I just used ground.
2 cups ground chestnuts- I used a food processor
3 TBS butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 TBS heavy cream
some ground pepper
1-2 TBS maple syrup
Grind everything in a food processor and roll into size ball of choice, stick mixture in the fridge for a while first to help roll
Bake at 375 for about 20 min or until they feel solid
The recipe called for frying them. After an unsuccessful attempt at frying them in shallow butter, we reformed the and decided to try baking. That worked out really well. If I had lard or another appropriate deep fry fat I could have tried it, but I have never deep fried before and I like how light these tasted without lots of extra oil. We put them out with dinner and everyone kept asking us what kind of meatballs they were. I made them again later in the week to have on hand as snack. They are easy to transport and keep on hand and, I think, more interesting than plain nuts. I would like to try them with some crispy (soaked and dehydrated) nuts one day.
Revisiting an old idea here. I have recently and very excitedly accepted a summer internship working on an organic farm here in Maryland. The only real issue before I start is saving up enough money because I will not be able to work at my job while interning. I am thinking I could maybe work one night a week but I am not even sure about that. Saving money is never something I have never been good at. Granted, I only graduated from college last year and before that I was pretty much only making enough to support my lifestlye, BUT I would be lying if I said I never could have started saving a little at some point. I have implemented a flexible saving plan for the four months before my internship and am doing pretty well so far. Most of the time I make enough to afford to buy the food I wish to eat, i.e. organic whole foods, within reason. For instance, I don't buy a grass fed steak every week, but I can afford to buy one every couple of weeks. I think if I skimmed other places I could afford to buy even better food for myself and that is something I am just starting to realize and act upon. My husband and I spend a good amount of money on alcohol (wine), which is a topic for another post, but generally we are pretty good with staying within our means. The thing that I would say I have the most trouble not spending money on is clothing, but I would not say that I spend the most money on clothes because that will always be second to food. Like I described previously, my clothing ideals have not changed, I pretty much only buy organic or fair trade new clothes and will buy other clothes second hand. I would like to share some things that have helped me cut down on my spending in different areas:
Top One: Clothing
I ask myself a few questions before any purchase
- Can I afford it? Truly afford it as in "it is no big deal to spend the money on it", or do I feel like I have to scrape together some money and will really miss it when it's gone?
- Do I really need it? Will is improve my quality of life? If you truly need a new clothing item, it probably will, if not it is just extra and not necessary.
- Will I really love it and cherish it? Is it something I really love the design of, or am I just impulse buying?
Lastly, I try to picture myself in the item doing things that I might be doing in it. Is it flattering? Is it me? Do I actually even have time to wear it, or do I just want it? Is it too similar to something else I own?
Some of these can be applied to other things I spend money on, like kitchen gadgets and books. I have to ask myself if I TRULY need something. Also with all my books that have been piling up I can use a six-month rule; if there is no way I can get to a book within six months than I don't need to buy it right now. Keeping an Amazon wish list is great for that sort of thing I think, especially if the price goes down and all of a sudden something is a better bargain than it was.
I will say that shopping has actually helped my cut down on spending too, if that makes sense! Not actually shopping like going to the mall, but checking out some things online, but if I get tempted to buy something I can ask myself the above questions and normally I don't go through with it. Also like with Amazon, if I catch something on sale that I was tempted to buy a few months earlier, going to that site frequently paid off. I think it is a sort of "shock therapy", like if I constantly am being faced with cute clothing, it is not that big of a deal anymore. I knew a girl once who also helped herself stop spending money; one thing she did was take or get a picture of the item that she wanted instead of buying it because it made her feel like she still owned it. She was very into design, so I think she mainly meant things like furniture and decorative pieces. I always thought that was good advice, but not so much for clothing.
This has been a very long journey for me. Since high school when I would spend every last penny I could get on cute clothes to wear to school until now, I have changed a LOT, but I would like to keep improving my ideals and my actions. As always, any other ideas are very welcome!
As I am sure many people know, there are a few consistent problems with going out to eat too often. I would like to go over a few that are the most important to me and add my insight from my restaurant working experience (going on about 8 years now).
Some restaurants, of course, are more aware than other ones about these issues. The widespread farm-to-table movement is definitely proof of that. But I find that these problems still exist, even with the purest ideology. For the most part they are industry standards and can be very difficult for a restaurant to modify.
#1 Factory Farm Meat and Dairy
Unfortunately, CAFOs are still an overwhelming norm in America. The percentages vary depending on where you look, but according to FarmFoward.com, over 99% of the meat raised in the US comes from CAFOs. In stark contrast to pastured animals, animals raised in these horrible places are fed grain, corn and soy; kept in cramped close quarters and injected with various hormones and antibiotics (in the US, chickens and swine are not allowed to be given hormones, but can be given antibiotics; cows can be given both). Both of which end up in the final product.
According the Sally Fallon Morrell, people on an otherwise healthy diet can handle a small amount of commercially raised meat (Nourishing Traditions). She calls them "compromise foods" and warns to only eat them in small amounts. In other words, they are not the worst things you can eat if in a food-limited situation. However, she does put pasteurized, homogenized milk (commercial milk) into the "newfangled" category and warns that they are "best avoided by everybody". This is a problem because, while most good restaurants nowadays have better meat options, they still have (pardon me) crap milk options. I have noticed this working in restaurants and going out to eat. For some reason, chefs (pastry and savory) seem to overlook the dairy they use while at the same time ordering high quality meat. Therefore, it is more of a prerogative for me to avoid dairy in restaurants, but it can be difficult. Cream sauces, cream based soups, and desserts are the most obvious. I do make an exception for butter because it can be a much better cooking oil or sauce option when trying to avoid other things such as...
#2 Gross Modern Vegetable Oil
This is actually #1 for me personally. My biggest pet peeve if you will. Modern vegetable oils, including soy and canola as the top offenders, but also corn, cottonseed and some olive oils, are extracted by a process that strips any nutritive value, destabilizes the fats, and involves harsh chemicals (called a solvent) and, sometimes, hydrogenation. The result? Cancer and heart disease causing cooking oil not fit for even the poor rats they have been tested on. In the groundbreaking article "The Oiling of America", Sally Fallon Morell and Mary Enig describe the dangers of modern vegetable oils:
"Because polyunsaturates are highly subject to rancidity, they
increase the body's need for vitamin E and other
antioxidants. Excess consumption of vegetable oils is especially
damaging to the reproductive organs and the lungs—both of which are
sites for huge increases in cancer
in the US. In test animals, diets high in polyunsaturates
from vegetable oils inhibit the ability to learn, especially
under conditions of stress; they are toxic to the liver; they
compromise the integrity of the immune system; they depress the
mental and physical growth of infants; they increase levels of uric
acid in the blood; they cause abnormal fatty acid profiles in
the adipose tissues; they have been linked to mental decline
and chromosomal damage; they accelerate aging. Excess
consumption of polyunsaturates is associated with increasing
rates of cancer, heart
disease and weight gain; excess use of commercial vegetable
oils interferes with the production of prostaglandins leading
to an array of complaints ranging from autoimmune disease to
PMS. Disruption of prostaglandin production leads to an increased
tendency to form blood clots, and hence myocardial
infarction, which has reached epidemic levels in America."
The BIG problem is that almost all restaurants use some type of vegetable oil, and I have found that it is almost always soy or a soy oil blend. Soy oil is particulary damaging because it retains soy proteins which have an array of health issues associated with them. Also, many people are allergic to soy which is why is it so troubling that restaurants continue to use the oil. Also, most restaurants that claim to use olive oil tend to use a "blended oil" that also contains a vegetable oil and is a cheaper alternative to pure olive oil. In fact nowadays, olive oil can even be mislabeled and can be unknowlingly adulterated with vegetable oil. (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller).
I would also like to add that finding out what oil a restaurant uses can be very difficult. It is not an issue many people seem to be aware of, or they may believe they are doing the right thing by using a "healthy" vegetable oil. I have worked in great restaurants that cook with a good amount of butter and olive oil, but would still use veg oil for smaller tasks such as roasting nuts and salad dressings. For that reason, I do not eat salads out too often, but you can always sneak in your own dressings. High-end restaurants will tend to stick to olive oil in sauces because it tastes better and I think it would be easier to ask about sauces than cooking oils. I would recommend choosing a few restaurants that you visit often and being very honest with a server, bartender, or manager and tell them why you prefer your food to be cooked with a pure olive oil or butter. I do NOT recommend lying about an allergy. Even though it may be tempting at times, I think it is disrespectful to the people who actually struggle with them.
The oil issue is directly linked to my next concern...
#3 GMOs
Corn, soy, cottonseed and canola oils are all genetically modified. Milk products may also contain GM proteins from growth hormones (rbGH and variations). Restaurants not cooking from scratch may have many products with corn and soy in them, but the most common are the cooking oils. Unfortunately, even restaurants that try to avoid GMOs have a hard time with it because they are not labeled in this country. It is not the restaurants fault, and we should all do our part to try and get GMO lableing laws past so that they have the option to avoid them. Check out this great interview with Jeffrey Smith about avoiding GMOs at restaurants.
https://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/10/avoiding-gmos-when-eating-out-with-jeffrey-smith.html.
#4 MSG
MSG, or mono-sodium glutamate is an isolated salt of glutamic acid and used as a flavor enhancer in almost all processed foods. Since its arrival in the American market in the late 40s, MSG has been extremely controversial and, I think, there is well over enough evidence to prove that is is bad for people. MSG is an excitotoxin, meaning it has the ability to literally stimulate cells to death; specifically brains cells, by the use of glutamate receptors which are abundant in the brain. There is a wonderful book by Russell L. Blaylock called Excitotoxins in which he connects MSG with Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases, as well as obesity and poor development in children.
MSG can come in different forms and by many different names. Restaurants may order hundreds or no processed foods. Of course restaurants that cook from scratch will probably not add MSG to foods. If they are an Asian restaurant, they may add some form of it (and even still try to claim that they are MSG free). My biggest concern in restaurants in soy sauce and worcestershire sauce. If made traditionally, these sauces do not need to contain MSG; however most commercial varieties do. I would say, to be safe, stay away from most brown sauces and any cocktail such as a Bloody Mary that may contain either of these. Ask if the restaurant makes sauces from scratch and avoid Asian restaurants that you do not know about or get dishes with no sauce.
#5 Tap Water
I described a little of the dangers of unfiltered tap water here.
Restaurants do not filter their water so you will always have more exposure there. The main culprits are stocks and soups, pasta/rice/beans or anything that needs to be cooked with water, coffeee, tea and house-made cocktails or drinks. This is the least concerning to me, but I do feel that it should be mentioned as a reason to perhaps not go out to eat every day.
I do not go out to eat very often, for the above reasons and also cost, but these issues do very much affect me personally. When you work in a restaurant, generally they are obligated to serve you some sort of "staff meal" at least once a shift. It varies widely, as does the quality of the food served. You are also, hopefully, obligated to try the foods that you serve to guests. I was so happy when I started in my new place because they serve us the same foods that are on the menu. Other restaurants would order food specifically for the staff and it would not be as high quality. Now, I am served the same farm-to-table foods that are on the menu. However, the above rules all still apply. Also, I am in the suburbs now. When I worked in NYC, I could run out and get a smoothie or something nearby (I even use to down some raw oysters at a nearby inexpensive seafood restaurant on my break), but not anymore. So recently I have been trying to bring in some snacks and not rely on the staff meal too often. But it can be difficult... the food we serve is excellent and it is very generous of the kitchen staff to make us food at the end of a shift when they are tired too.
Now with all this concern piled on more concern, you would think we should all boycott all restaurants. However, going out to eat is also a very enjoyable experience and many restaurants exist that I would like to support even though they may participate in one of the above offenses. My advice would be, if going out in your neighborhood, to ask around and to focus on restaurants with some type of ideology that you agree with, say organic, local, or even an ethnic favorite of yours, and ask them all your questions in advance. Maybe email them if talking in person makes you uncomfortable. These restaurants are more likely to be used to questions and, for me anyway, I would prefer these types of questions to other ones. I think the 90/10 rule is a good one; if you eat really good foods 90% of the time, 10% of the time you can compromise and not worry. I am headed on vacation soon for Chirstmas, so I will be going out at least one meal a day.
How do you handle going out to eat? Are there any restaurants that you recommend? Any more advice is greatly appreciated!
http://naughtynutritionist.com/soy/soy-hidden-health-dangers/
http://www.goodsearch.com/search-web?keywords=the+oiling+of+america
www.eatwild.com
http://www.msgexposed.com/
http://www.labelgmos.org/
http://seedsofdeception.com/
I wanted to write this one a few weeks ago when this article came out, but alas, life gets in the way...
A few weeks ago articles appeared in mainstream news sources that referred to a Stanford University Study in which organic foods were measured against conventional foods in terms of nutritional value. In the NY Times article, the author starts against organic foods by stating that organic foods are no more nutritious than conventional and that they are not less likely to contain harmful E.coli. Other articles, such as the one that appeared on Yahoo, used the same format; which mounted to what seemed to be an outright attack on organic foods. For people who tend to skim the first few lines of an article and move on, the impression would be that an important study found that organic foods are not worth more money and are therefore not necessary to buy. As the article continued, the author did point out some positive outcomes of the meta-analysis; organic produce had consistently lower pesticide residues than conventional ones and organic chicken and pork had lower levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (such bacteria, it has been argued, is a direct result of antibiotic use in CAFOs).
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/science/earth/study-questions-advantages-of-organic-meat-and-produce.html
Thankfully, the rebuttals started pouring in. I first received Dr. Mercola's article which drew my attention to The Los Angeles Time's response:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-organics-20120905,0,5514318.story
The LA Times points out that nutritional values are not the main reason that people buy organic products. They also talked about the havoc that conventionally grown produce wreaks on the environment. A big point of the study was that, even though organic produce has lower pesticide levels, conventional produce still falls under allowable levels by the EPA. The LA Times pointed out that the EPA levels are most likely outdated and most pesticides have not been thoroughly tested.
Dr. Mercola's article was even more enlightening. He listed some studies that DID show that organic foods have higher nutritional values. He also outlines the larger argument, and shows why it is in the governments interest to stomp out demand for organic farming practices, especially in light of the recent GMO debate.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/17/organic-vs-conventional-food.aspx
All of this made me think of another argument, one that all of us have probably come across one time or another. The idea that organic foods are an elitist concept and the people who claim the market share on them are a privileged few. Article after article brings up the cost of organic foods over and over again, as if that is the real debate and the other reasons for buying organic are secondary.
My personal reasons for going organic pretty much include all the reasons one would. The primary one being that it is better for the environment. Second, it lessons the toxic load on our bodies and we already live in such a toxic environment; every little bit helps. I believe one of the biggest problems with chemical testing is that we do not test for cross-reactions with other chemicals and we have let so any chemicals loose into the world that humans (and other forms of life) have become the guinea pigs for chemical interactions. Also, organic foods taste MUCH better than conventional and, if bought locally, travel much less distance to get to me. All that being said, I generally put more of an emphasis on local food than certified organic, although both are normally grown using sustainable methods. I do not necessarily believe in (paying for) organic certification, however, if you are buying from a grocery store and not direct from a farmer, it can be a good way to ensure a higher quality product.
It can be very frustrating when one is trying their hardest to take care of themselves and their families and others look down on their efforts as "elitist". I am reminded of one of my favorite Joel Salatin quotes:
"True elitism is some bureaucrat standing up on his hind legs saying
consumers are too stupid to find a clean farmer. The real elitists are
those who say farmers are dirty and want to hurt their customers. I
don't understand why I'm called an elitist for wanting to eat what my
grandmother grew up on. Real elitists are the ones who deny me that
privilege, and erect a host of barriers to protect global industrialists
from peasants with pitchforks...like me."
The sad thing for me is that it is not "my grandmother" anymore, it might be my great-great grandmother...or even further back. But the point is the same, why should we be called elitists for not playing into the system? Does anyone really want to government to decide what foods we can and cannot eat, while making the pockets of companies like Monsanto bigger and bigger? There are plenty of ways to keep the cost of foods down while enjoying a healthy and low-toxicity diet. Because my husband and I almost never go out to eat, we probably spend much less money on food than anyone we know. Mercola mentions a few reasons why organic food can be more expensive and some shopping advice here:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/20/organic-food-is-more-expensive.aspx
I do believe, as the organic food movement grows, the idea of these foods as elitist will wither because local foods are seen as less of a highbrow market (I think, anyway). Also, many people who have had illnesses have turned to traditional foods to get better and have informed their friends and family of the benefits of such a change. I have a lot of hope for the future but have also experienced some of the "elitist" backlash myself.
What are your thoughts on the subject? What is the perception of local or organic food where you live?
My husband and I cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner for a group yesterday and I have to say that it went very, very well! All the food was delicious; I can't take credit for any of the recipes, but I can take credit for the work! We learned some valuable lessons though and I think we will be much better prepared for next year.
First lesson: Pay attention while shopping
I had never cooked for a group before so I just bought A LOT of groceries, thinking that we would just use any leftovers for ourselves. That would have worked out well if we had a refrigerator about twice the size of the one we have. We did make it work, but next time I think I should really pay attention to recipes and only buy what we need. I bought a ton of sweet potatoes to mash and we only used about half of what I bought PLUS we have leftover mash. I love sweet potatoes, but I think that might have been overkill.
Second Lesson: prepare basting liquid before putting turkey in the oven
I rubbed butter under the skin of turkey and figured it would mix with the natural juices of the bird while cooking and create a basting liquid. However, I think partially do to the leanness of a free-range bird, not a lot of liquid was seeping out. So we created an emergency basting liquid by pouring olive oil, white wine and a little honey over the bird about half-way through and then basted it about every 20 minutes. We saved it but I wish I had known to do that in the beginning.
Third Lesson: Unless you have proper chafing dishes, buffet style may not be a good idea
Probably self- explanatory, nothing stays the right temperature! We should have left everything on the stove, considering our small space, but our family really wanted to do an attractive buffet. May have to pick up some chafing dishes for next year.
Fourth Lesson: Keep it simple!
This is always the most important to me. I never cook for a large group and also almost never try really creative things, so it was important to keep everything simple and only use recipes I knew I could make. I think it is fun to try one or two things that you never have before though, like I rolled out my own pie crust for the first time (NT recipe). And made mashed potatoes for the first time. But both of those tasks I knew would be pretty low- stress. Also, when cooking for a "non-experimental" group of eaters, it makes things easier to have simple staple dishes. Plus, you can bring out wonderful flavors, like the sweetness of grass-fed butter, in simple dishes.
Some thing did work out very well. We bought a beautiful local turkey and mostly organic food, so we kept up with our usual ideals. I actually have used Thanksgiving as a time to try a new farm that I have not tried before and get a "taste" of what their chickens may be like for future buying. We compromised, of course, on all the food not being local. If we had been with a group that would appreciate local produce, we could have changed the food choices and have included them. But like always in these situations, I just do my best to buy regionally or domestically (whole foods has asparagus from Peru this time of year! That is just too crazy for me...)
As things have been a little stressful around here lately, it was nice to have a day where we turn off our minds to our everyday lives and tell ourselves we deserve a little break. I am definitely looking forward to the next holidays for that very reason. This was actually the first year in a long time that I have not worked on Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving is a big restaurant day in NYC) so my heart goes out to those who did have to work. It was nice to have a taste of what a "normal" holiday can be like!
I would love to hear how your Thanksgiving went; what would you change and what worked?
Hummus has been on of our favorite foods for a long time. It was my husband's go to snack for a long time, although he normally ate store bought. Even after we had stopped buying processed foods, he would still run out to the convenience store in a pinch for some hummus. The main problem with hummus from the store is that it is not soaked and sometimes made with rancid vegetable oils. Homemade hummus tastes much better and has a better texture; store bought tends to be thin and watery. After experimenting a bit in our new home, I think I have come up with a pretty good recipe for making soaked hummus.
Some people are concerned about using dried chickpeas for homemade hummus because they are hard to cook down, even when soaked, enough to become very soft. I actually like a little more texture to my hummus so I am good with that. Another option may be to use Eden Organic chickpeas, which come in a bpa free can and are packed with nori seaweed. Adding seaweed to beans while cooking is a traditional method and makes the beans easier to digest, even if they are not properly soaked. To soak dried beans you will need:
1. two cups dried chickpeas
2. four tablespoons acid (I use raw apple cider vinegar)
*I always use this table here, but you could find many others
http://www.wonderfulingredients.com/soaking-grains-and-beans
Very easy, just cover the chickpeas and acid with clean water. The beans will double in size so leave enough water and room for that to happen. I try to get the water level just right to where I am leaving enough room but not wasting more water than I have to. Chickpeas take about 24 hours of soaking to reduce phytic acid content. I normally always do about a day and a half for grains and beans that do not sprout easily (from my experience, that includes chickpeas).
When the beans are ready to cook, thoroughly rinse them off to diminish the acidic taste from your medium. Cook with fresh water on low heat. I leave it on the stove for a long time, up to 45 minutes even, to get them as soft as possible. Like I said, they will not become as soft as canned beans and eventually they will reach a point where they maintain their texture even with prolonged cooking. After they are done I like to rinse them with cold water to make them less hot before going into the blender and again reducing any leftover acid flavor. My recipe is:
2 cups cooked chickpeas (you will have some left over)
1 tablespoon tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
1 hot pepper(optional)
3 cloves garlic (lightly roasted or raw)
1/2 cup evoo
1/4 cup water
sprinkle of sea salt to taste
various herbs to taste
I puree the chickpeas with the evoo and lemon first with a good sprinkling of seas salt. From there you can add a little bit of water or more evoo to get the consistency you like. I like a thicker hummus and personally I find most recipes use too much water. I like the rich olive oil taste much better, but you can play with ratios of water and evoo (obviously there is a cost issue here too). Next add the garlic, hot pepper if you wish, and tahini. We do not like a strong tahini taste, but you could add one or two more tablespoons if you do. Get your herbs out and play around while blending them in. I like herbs de Provence as an all around mixture.
You can garnish with the extra chickpeas if you like or save them for something else. If you have any lemon juice leftover, you can squeeze some more on top before serving with a sprinkling of sea salt. I have been playing around with making my own crackers and also crostinis from leftover bread, but I snapped this picture with the organic brown rice crackers I buy sometimes. Along with some slow-cooker veggies, this makes a great afternoon snack or light lunch. You could even eat the hummus with some cut up raw veggies or placing a dollop on top of a salad to reduce the overall carbohydrates of the meal. Simple and Yummy!
Homemade Sauerkraut is just about as simple and nourishing as it gets! It makes a wonderful condiment to many meals and is much less expensive to make at home. This is also one of those cases where store bought products can be a far cry from the traditional food. I have been using the small batch method that Sally Fallon Morell introduced in "Nourishing Traditions". I am so grateful for this method, as some other ones out there seem time consuming and unsuitable for a small space. In NT, Sally writes, " The ancients understood the fact that important chemical changes took place during this type of fermentation. Their name for this change was "alchemy". Like the fermentation of dairy products, preservation of vegetables and fruits by the process of lacto-fermentation has numerous advantages beyond those of simple preservation. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances."
Wow! A great, easy process that preserves veggies, increases vitamins, and can prevent cancer? Count me in : )
Basically the method in NT involves pounding a whole head of cabbage with either salt or a combination of salt and isolated whey (you can make it from raw milk or yogurt). I have not been making whey recently, although I want to start up again, so I went the all salt route. The first time I made it, I used Sally's full recommendation of 2 tablespoons of salt. However, and probably because I used only about 3/4 of the cabbage instead of the whole thing, the end product was very salty. This time I cut back to 1 1/2 tablespoons for the whole cabbage. FYI: For the use of whey, you can use 1 tablespoon salt and 4 tablespoons whey. Make sure you core the cabbage and remove the outer leaves that are no longer hard. Sally's "basic recipe" also calls for a tablespoon of caraway seeds, which are a delicious addition.
I tried to cut it as fine as possible, but it can be very difficult. If anyone knows of a knife or tool that makes this easier, I would love to hear it. Also, the cabbage will continue to soften over time so if you happen to cut it more coarse, you can always hang on to it longer.
I filled up a plastic bowl with the washed cabbage and got ready to
pound it out. I definitely recommend doing this on a carpet on the floor
if you don't live in a building alone and do not want your neighbors
freaking out. Also, I found that being able to kneel helped use more
force and I can imagine traditional cultures doing it that way. I
probably pounded for about 10-12 minutes. You will hear bubbling noises and
notice some liquid coming out in the bowl. You do not have to go too
crazy because once it gets put in the mason jar, you will probably find
that you have more than enough liquid to cover the cabbage.
Transferring the cabbage to the mason jar (or jars in this case) is not
the most graceful process. I used a fork and my hands and did the best I
could. The recommended size is a wide mouthed quart jar. After you add some cabbage (maybe every other forkful) , press down with your pounder if you can, or another tool if it does not fit, to get as much in there as possible. I used a muddle type tool that we got for guacamole a long time ago.
I kind of felt like I let Sally down a little because I found it impossible to get all the cabbage in one jar. However, I realized the cabbage I used might really be considered a large one and not medium like she recommends, so I felt better : ). Make sure the cabbage is covered with its juices AND that you leave some space at the top of the jar. Both equally important things. The cabbage will ferment and expand so you need space. You will see bubbles and the jar will probably pop the first time you open it. You can transfer it to the fridge after three days and it will continue to slowly age. I added some herbs de provence to this batch and it turned out great. Sally has many recipes in NT and there are endless combinations of spices to be played around with.
One of my favorite new quick dinners is adding the sauerkraut to my slow cooker stewed veggies with melted butter. The sweet butter complements the sauerkraut and the mix of temperatures works well together. I can imagine sauerkraut in almost any soup to be divine...
I heard Sally Fallon Morrel speak once and she mentioned that she thinks people overdo it on sauerkraut and that you only need a little bit. She states in the book, also, that it is a condiment and should be used as such. I agree and I think I was one of those people overdoing it when I first found out how good it was for you. I read that it helped with digestion so I began to buy it from a local organic farm in NY that made it with their own cabbage. It was daunting at first because I thought I needed to eat a whole bowl at a time; after hearing her speak, I cut back and discovered I felt just as good with just a forkful with meals...
Books:
One great book that I have heard about again and again is "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz. He also just released anther one called "The Art of Fermentation". Also, Glowfglins blogger Wardeh Harmon has released "The Complete Idiots Guide to Fermenting Foods" that just got a glowing thumbs up review from the last WAPF journal.
