Category: food

No Trans Fat in Peanut Butter After All

Ashley Bischoff25 Comments

I’ve been enjoying natural peanut butter for about a year now. I first turned to it so I could avoid the trans fat in regular peanut butter.

Trans fat is created when liquid oils are turned into solids by adding hydrogen. And, food manufaturers like hydrogenated oils since they don’t separate like liquid oils. However, trans fat is also the worst kind of fat — it raises the “bad ” cholesterol while lowering the “good” cholesterol (even saturated fat leaves doesn’t affect good cholesterol).

You would think trans fat would be included on food labels, but that only goes into effect in 2006. So, in the meantime, you just have to look for “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils among the ingredients.

So, to avoid the trans fat, I went with natural peanut butter (which isn’t hydrogenized). However, I’ve learned that a study by the Agricultural Research Service — a part of the USDA — says that there’s no trans fat in peanut butter (natural or otherwise).

To see if the rumors had any validity, Sanders prepared 11 brands of peanut butter, including major store brands and “natural” brands, for analysis by a commercial laboratory. He also sent paste freshly prepared from roasted peanuts for comparison. The laboratory found no detectable trans fats in any of the samples, with a detection limit of 0.01 percent of the sample weight. […]

When I switched over, it took some time to get used to natural peanut butter; in particular, since its oil is in liquid form, the peanut butter can more easily slide off foods (such as apple slices). And, this study may be reason enough to switch back. In fact, just this weekend, I made an Elvis sandwich with regular peanut butter. And, that made for a tasty sandwich.

But, after tasting some regular peanut butter with a spoon, I realized that it didn’t quite have as much peanut taste as the natural peanut butter. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I soon realized that the sugar in the regular peanut butter may have masked some of the peanut flavor. So, I may look for some regular peanut butter next time I’m in Target, but I’m not sure if sugar-free regular peanut butter even exists ;).

DFWBlogs Cocktail Event: October

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

This month’s DFWBlogs cocktail event was at Mike’s Treehouse. Though their URL is fairly straightforward (MikesTreehouse.com), it took me a little bit to find it. I generally search Google for this kind of thing, just in case the restaurant have a goofy URL such as MikesTreehouseDallas.com.

As it turns out, their website is the third hit on Google for “Mike’s Treehouse” and I’m not terribly surprised — the only link on the splash page is JavaScript-based, so search engines are only able to see the splash page itself.

Looking up their address in MapQuest, it was only about two miles down Greenville from my apartment. In my head, lower Greenville seemed like more than two miles from here and I was hoping that’d be the case (since parking is such a hassle in that area of Greenville). As I drove there, I soon realized that it was in lower Greenville after all; fortunately, Mike’s had its own parking lot.

As I walked inside, I found our group right away (near the entrance). And, after a few more people arrived, we moved to the “rooftop” seating area. And while I looked over the menu, I ordered a Dos Eqis. It arrived shortly (with a lime, natch), but in a cheap plastic cup. That surprised me, actually — the vodka-and-cranberry that someone else ordered arrived in a proper glass, but the beer was served in a plastic cup (go figure).

Quite a few items on the menu tempted me. A club sandwich is always a good bet and it’s not every day that you see a blackened tuna sandwich. But, I was in the mood to try one of their burgers.

In contrast to their online menu (which lists several burger variations), the printed menu included just the Build You Own Burger for $5.95 (with any combination of toppings). There were about ten toppings to choose from and I selected a few easily (tomatos, pickles, ketchup, mayo). I would have selected a cheese as well, but none of their cheeses interested me (just American, Jack, and perhaps a third cheese).

Bacon was also on the list and I hesitated at first — but I then realized that the burger would cost the same with or without the bacon. So, I had nothing to lose and added that to my list as well. I also had to choose between waffle fries and onion rings; as I’m not much of an onion-ring person, I defaulted to the waffle fries. Satisfied with my choices, I placed the order (which our waitress took to memory without having to write it down).

The food arrived soon and I started with the fries. With a dash of pepper, they were great — hot & moist and still somewhat flexible. These days, it seems that many restaurants don’t put an effort into their fries, but these were some of the best I’ve had in a while.

The burger itself was also good. The bun was a bit boring and white-bready, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary. And, as a whole, the burger worked out very well. The warm and crumbly beef was arranged in a pleasantly thick patty — some restaurants shape their half-pound burgers as just a huge flat patty, sticking out the sides of the bun, but that helps no one.

And, as a welcome surprise, the bacon was above par. I find that most bacon used on burgers tends to taste as if it was cooked earlier in the day and only added onto the burger at the last moment (which is likely the case). But with this burger from Mike’s, the bacon was tasty and crispy (not the usual soggy bacon-wannabes that often end up on hamburgers). So, I was especially glad that I didn’t hold back on the bacon among my toppings.

The food at Mike’s was better than I expected. And, the wait staff was fairly attentive. But, I’m still not sure if I’d go there again. The plastic cup didn't even have the pretense of keeping my beer cold and I’m still wary about the parking situation in lower Greenville (sure, Mike’s had its own lot but what options would I have if that filled up?).

Low Carb Ketchup from Heinz

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

Reuters reports that Heinz is introducing a low-carb ketchup:

The new “One Carb” ketchup is the latest in a string of variations within Heinz’s $1.2 billion ketchup business in recent years. […] The new ketchup has only one gram of carbohydrates, 75 percent fewer than Heinz’ regular ketchup, the company said. […]

I’m not on Atkins, though I am going with The Zone (which has a reduction in some carbohydrates). And, since reducing my sugar intake, some foods with sugar now taste sweet to me.

In particular, both ketchup and barbecue sauce have plenty of sugar (or, even worse, corn syrup). And, these days, my sensitivity to the taste of sugar is high enough that regular ketchup just tastes oddly sweet to me (almost like sugared-tomatoes, which isn’t far from the truth).

So, it’ll be nice to make use of this upcoming One Carb ketchup from Heinz. If nothing else, I’m looking forward to it for the improved taste over regular ketchup :).

A New Take on Tuna Burgers

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I heard about an interesting recipe for tuna burgers from the AllRecipes.com Recipes Notes newsletter. Sure, even Food 911 has featured a tuna burger recipe, but that episode was almost a farce — a daycare center writes to the show to ask about how to make tuna more appetizing for the kids, and Tyler proceeds to make them tuna burgers made from diced tuna filets (not exactly an affordable solution for a daycare center).

Anyhow, back to the tuna burgers on AllRecipes. What struck me about these is that not only are these burgers tasty (“My husband … loves these tasty tuna burgers.”), but this recipe calls for regular called tuna (aha, that’s much more affordable).

The only downside, perhaps, is that the recipe calls for an extensive ingredient list. From bread crumbs, to onion, to red pepper, to dill weed and Worcestershire sauce, there’s a lot that go into these. Nonetheless, I’m quite tempted to try them sometime.

Tasty Tuna Burgers

Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 22 Minutes
Cook Time: 8 Minutes
Ready in: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs [Atkins people might be able to omit this]
  • 1/3 cup minced onion
  • 1/4 cup minced celery
  • 1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons chili sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed [I don’t even know what dill weed looks like. Yeesh.]
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 dash hot pepper sauce
  • 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 hamburger buns
  • 1 tomato, sliced
  • 4 leaves of lettuce (optional)

Directions:

  1. Combine tuna, egg, bread crumbs, onion, celery, red bell pepper, mayonnaise, hot chili sauce, chili sauce, dill, salt, pepper, hot pepper sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well. Shape into 4 patties (mixture will be very soft and delicate). Refrigerate for 30 minutes to make the patties easier to handle, if desired.
  2. Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray; fry tuna patties for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. These are fragile, so be careful when turning them.
  3. Serve on buns with tomato slices and lettuce leaves, if desired.

Cook’s Illustrated on Pepper Mills

Ashley Bischoff5 Comments

I’ve come to the conclusion that my pepper mill (or is it “pepper grinder”?) just isn’t cutting it: to get even dusting of pepper on my omelettes, I need to grind for what seems to be ten seconds or more. On top of that, the only size-setting appears to be “medium”, and there isn’t a means of adjusting that.

So, I had my mind made up to go shopping for a new pepper mill. I was about to trek off to Bed Bath & Beyond one afternoon to check out their wares, but I decided to check Cook’s Illustrated’s opinion first. For those not aware, Cook’s Illustrated is an advertising-free cooking magazine that prides itself on finding the best possible recipe for a dish (they’ll often go through dozens of variations before accepting the final version). And, in addition to recipes, they also test kitchen tools (they’re a bit like Consumer Reports that way).

Though watching their tv show, America’s Test Kitchen (on PBS), I’ve seen them test items such as oven thermometers and bread pans. So, I had a hunch that they may have tested pepper mills as well. A quick search on Google showed that to be the case. In episode 253 of their show, they indeed tested pepper mills.

Their tests were surprisingly thorough, including tests of capacity, grind quality, grind speed, ease of filling, and ease of use. And, though America’s Test Kitchen often finds that the more inexpensive components can perform as well as some of the more expensive versions, that wasn’t the case this time.

Reading over the show’s summary, they really loved the Unicorn Magnum Plus:

More than half of the mills tested did their jobs well, but the Unicorn Magnum Plus was the superstar. Its grind quality is exemplary, its output astounding, and its capacity huge. If that weren’t enough, it’s also easy to fill and comfortable to use. At $45, however, this mill was one of the two most expensive in the test (the second-place EHI Peppermate was $40). […]

I wasn’t expecting to see a $40-mill at the top. And, though I was hoping to find it for less online, it was consistently around that price when I checked at Froogle. Luckily, America’s Test Kitchen also commented on some more moderately priced mills: “If your budget is a bit more restricted, we recommend both the Oxo Grind It ($19.99) and the Zyliss Large Pepper Mill ($27.50).”

So, I’ve already decided on buying a new mill. But, I need to figure out just how much properly-ground pepper is worth to me. It has crossed my mind that I could save 50% on the mill by going for the Oxo over the Unicorn Magnum. On the other hand, maybe $40 isn’t that bad for a pepper mill if it’s the last mill I need to buy.

Update / 10-9-2003: I’ve ordered the Magnum Plus Pepper Mill from Cooking.com. Not only do they have one of the lowest prices on the web ($41.95), but I also found a 20% off coupon for Cooking.com at Dealcoupon.com which didn’t hurt either (that coupon expires 10-31-2003). I’ve also ordered a 2 lb bag of tellicherry black peppercorns from Penzys.

I actually wasn’t even aware of the various varieties of black peppercorns until I read this thread on eGullet about tellicherry black peppercorns — one forum member enthusiastically described them as having a “distinctive black pepper taste, fruity if that is possible, pungent but with flavor, not heat” (ooh!). If you’re shopping for a pepper mill or peppercorns, I also found this thread very informative — it actually links to several related threads on pepper mills and peppercorns.