Organ meats cooking class – 7:30pm Tuesday 3rd Sept 2013

I have been approached by a group of 10 people to run an organ meats cooking class next Tuesday 3rd Sept. I would like extend the invitation to anyone else who would like to attend, especially those who missed out on my last one in July.

I will be showcasing ways in which you can easily incorporate (and disguise!) nutrient-dense organ meats into meals including:

(a) chicken livers (in the form of pâté) (b) lambs brains (via omelette, cheesy scrambled eggs, and crumbed in spicy activated buckwheat flour) (c) lamb sweetbreads (in creamy mushroom sauce) (d) bone marrow (via vanilla berry custard and meat patties)

Cost is $60 per person and includes:

• information on the nutritional benefits of organ meats
• detailed handout including information on where to purchase organ meats with prices, and step by step recipes
• practical demonstrations
• hands-on experience
• food tasting
• opportunity to ask questions of myself and a local butcher

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When: 7:30-10:00pm (ish) Tuesday 3 Sept 2013 Where: 77a Hewlett Street, Bronte.

Spaces limited

RSVP:  To secure a spot contact soulla.chamberlain@me.com or 0407 871 884 and deposit funds (referenced with your name) into bank account:

Account name: star anise organic wholefoods

BSB: 062 267 Account no: 10166103

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Please feel free to forward to any friends or family members. Cancellation policy: once funds are deposited into my bank account they are non-refundable but can be transferred to another cooking class/workshop upon 48 hours notice.

Organ meats from pastured animals are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. Liver is loaded with fat soluble vitamins A and D, essentially fatty acids, highly absorbable iron, B12, protein, zinc and the richest source of folate. Organ meats should ideally be consumed at least once a week, if not more frequently. They are an especially important source of fuel and nourishment for athletes, children, those who are iron-deficient, those wishing to fall pregnant, as well as pregnant and lactating women. Organ meats were part of all traditional diets and were the most highly prized parts of the animal for our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Most people in modern society simply don’t consume organ meats on a regular basis. Here’s your opportunity to build reserves of strength and vitality by learning how. 

Restaurant review: Red Lantern.... on Riley

I love eating out at restaurants that serve a cuisine that I don't typically make at home. Case in point: Asian food. Enter: Red Lantern.

Red Lantern on Crown Street Surry Hills has been an institution in Sydney and now its younger sibling at 60 Riley St, Darlinghurst (opened June 2012) gives us yet another address to enjoy it's fresh and delicious Vietnamese cuisine.

The meat from the menu looks like a Feather & Bone catalogue. Traditional wholefoodies who favour pastured meat will be familiar with the providences of Gundooee (organic wagyu), Mirrool Creek (lamb), Melanda Park (free range pork) and Burrawong (organic ducks and chickens). For seafood lovers there's fresh line and wild caught fish. The vegetables (some chemical free and some conventional) are from local growers or farmers markets.  The menu has 12 entrees and 12 mains (double that of Red Lantern on Crown Street).

The staff bent over backwards to point us in the direction of those few dishes that they could make without the use of industrialised (vegetable) oils: namely the fish, crispy skin duck (which was my pick of the bunch), rice paper rolls,  betel leaf and various other vegetable side dishes. If you avoid anything deep fried or pan fried they will generally accommodate not using vegetable oils (if this is a concern for you I  suggest making the staff aware of this at the time you make a reservation and don't expect to be able to eat anything off the menu).

On the 2 occasions I recently dined there the staff were friendly and the service was excellent. And oh, grab a cocktail at the slick Red Lily bar out the back, while waiting for your table.

Along with Longrain and  Jimmy Liks, here's another restaurant I can add to my list for an Asian meal fix.

Contact details: 02 9698 4355 or click here for website.

Sugar Love (a not so sweet story)....

This  month's National Geographic features an article on sugar. Here are the salient points:

• Fact: Today the average American consumes more than 22 teaspoons of sugar a day.
• The problem: we evolved to get by on a tiny fraction of that.
• Upshot: whenever there is a mismatch of our genes and our environment, the result is mental and/or physcial degeneration. ie disease and illness follow.
• Some stats: today 1/3 of adults world wide have high blood pressure, in 1900 only 5% did. Today 347million people have diabetes, up from 153m in 1980. Obesity continues to rise even though saturated fat consumption has plummeted. Why? Sugar is one of the major culprits.
• Where we went wrong: in the 1960s the British nutrition expert John Yudkin conducted a series of experiments on animals and people showing that high amounts of sugar in the diet led to high levels of fat and insulin in the blood - risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. But Yudkin's message was drowned out by a chorus of other scientists blaming the rising rates of obesity and heart disease instead on cholesterol caused by too much saturated fat in the diet.
• Glucose vs Fructose: table sugar (sucrose) is 50% of each glucose and fructose. Glucose is metabolised all throughout the body, but fructose is processed primarily in the liver into fats (triglycerides) which can build up there and also enter the blood stream. The result risks are high blood pressure, obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
• The mutant gene: some 20 million years ago, well before mankind graced the planet, there was once a time of famine. At some point a mutation occurred in one ape making it a wildy efficient processor of fructose. Even small amounts were stored as fat, a huge survival advantage in months when food was scarce. The mutation was such a powerful survival factor that only animals that had it survived, including humans. Even though this gene got our ancestors through the lean years, when sugar hit the West in a big way, we had a big problem.
• The irony: the very thing that saved us could kill us in the end.

Nothing new in the article but another reminder that we need to think of sugar (especially when consumed in excess) not as just empty calories but as a poison, a toxin, and an addictive drug. Be wary of all of the hidden sources of sugar found in packaged goods, sauces, condiments, dips etc. Fruit juice is a big no no, especially for growing bodies.  It all adds up. Read all the labels and better yet start making as much of your own food as possible so you know exactly what is in it. Take solace in knowing that once you start cutting out sugar your taste buds will change over time so that you wont crave sweet foods at all. Great to see National Geographic bringing the dangers of sugar squarely in the mainstream.