Dried meat
: food, December 09 2020 ▶
Once in a while I like to have some intense flavor next to the fine glass of wine. Salami works just fine, but I go a step further by making some home-dried meat.
The meat:
Beef, pork, game meat will do (anything but poultry, although some people claim good results). The main goal is to be less-fatty, no membranes, veins, threads, etc. Just a clean slab of meat. Ideal proportions - 30cm, 10cm, 5cm, ~1kg. I used faux-fillet (sirloin) beef. Of course nowhere near the ideal proportions, but hey, there will be a "next time" for sure.
The tricky part - curing:
There are many ways to do it. I have tried them all and the "controlled dry curing" works best for me. All relative to 1kg of meat:
- 15gr regular salt
- 15gr curing salt
- 2gr sugar
- spices of your choice - ground fenugreek (cemen), ground black pepper, cumin - these are just for the curing process, so do not overdo it here.
- some working with your hands - rub the sugar, then the salt, then the spices into the meat.
- if you cannot vacuum-seal the meat, put the meat in a plastic bag, put it into a bowl of water, then tie it. This will ensure as little air inside as possible.
- put the bag in a cool place for 7 days (10 is also fine).
- turn it upside-down each day and massage it a bit.
Drying:
- put the meat out of the bag, rinse and pat-dry with kitchen paper. Moisture is unwanted.
- press it down with some weight overnight.
- put a hanging thread through the meat.
- mix your favorite spices, enough to fully cover it. I use again 1ts (tea spoon) ground fenugreek, 1/4ts cumin, 1ts sweet paprika and 1/2ts cayenne pepper, 1ts dried summer or winter savory. Rub the stuff all over the meat.
- leave it hanging in a cool, dry, airy place for 10 days.
...well I have to admit I cheated a bit on the last step, but the result was exactly the same. So I do not a have dry, airy place. Mostly because of the local climate. But I have an oven with a fan, that can be tuned down to 35C. 8 hours inside, with the lid slightly open to let the moisture out, did the task just fine. After that the meat was not 100% as I would like it to be, but I put it in kitchen paper and then in the fridge, so after 2 days it was "perfetto"!
Gravlax
: food, December 08 2020 ▶
A Nordic appetizer, which translates as "buried salmon" - old-school food preservation. Not only it goes best with cool vodka, but also makes a delicious lunch - just put 2 slices of bread, some soft cream cheese, rucola (rocket salad), some horseradish and the fish together and you will thank me later.
The ingredients:
- all measurements are relative to 1kg of salmon fillet with the skin
- 170g rock salt (sea salt will do)
- 30g pickling salt (if you do not have, just put 30g more rock salt)
- 200g sugar - I prefer brown sugar
- 100g vodka or gin - I use vodka
- 1 cup dill (chopped)
- 10g ground black pepper
- orange zest of a regular-sized orange
The making:
- rinse the salmon under cold water, dry with kitchen paper
- mix all the ingredients above, put a small amount at the bottom of a deep dish
- put the salmon skin-down
- use the remaining mixture to "bury" the fish
- put some foil on top, (optional) put something heavy to press it down
- leave in a cool place for 3 days
- put out the fish, rinse with cold water, dry with kitchen paper
- slice as thin as possible, enjoy
Chrysanthemum
: flora-fauna, November 13 2020 ▶
I have acquired these beautiful flowers mid-summer and by the end of the season have almost given up on them. They were struggling with the summer heat and sunshine. I had to move them to a shady spot in the morning, then move them back in the evening and water them constantly just to keep them alive ... then autumn came and the modest chrysanthemums literally "exploded" on the balcony. They cope really well with low temperatures (so far positive though), cloudy weather and high humidity.
I think the Latin designations is "Chrysanthemum indicum", but cannot really tell. Symbolically, in some European countries, they are associated with death, while in Asia with adversity. I do not care - I like them. So beautiful!
Historically chrysanthemums (or chrysanthema) trace back to 5th century China and a bit later to Japan, where they represent the nobles and particularly the Imperial family.
Pork tongue
: food, November 13 2020 ▶
That is the tongue of a pig. Also one of the best appetizers/side-dishes ever! It is fairly easy to prepare, but slightly more difficult to find, as general stores do not usually sell such stuff - you have to go to your local butcher. Here we go:
Ingredients - tongue:
- 600-800gr pork tongues
- 2 bay leaves
- 10-15 peppercorns
- 1-2 pimento seeds (Allspice)
- 1/2 tea spoon salt
Ingredients - sauce:
- 2 big garlic cloves
- juice of 1 big lemon
- 1/2 tea spoon salt
- 1/2 cup dill
- 1/2 tea spoon chili flakes
- 1 tea spoon Worcestershire sauce
Preparation:
Put the pork tongue in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes on MAX setting. Take it out, let it cool down, peel the skin with hands. DO NOT even think of throwing the stock away - you can make a soup or use it in another dish. Just strain it first. Some other recipes may ask for some oil, but the tongue is fatty enough, so I do not use any. Mix all sauce ingredients in a separate cup. Serve the tongue slightly warm and cut sideways.
When a branch fails
: tech, October 29 2020 ▶
I work in IT and when we have a problem, we try to solve it ASAP or the company starts losing money - indirectly most of the time, thus difficult to measure (also the reason why some managers underestimate the importance of having good engineers), but fast. If it is a big one, we work on shifts, until it is resolved. When I am done, I go to sleep, handing over to my colleague, who "returns the favor" 12 hours later. Vendors are engaged, test-scenarios are replayed, workarounds are implemented and so on... So, more or less, this is how IT operates in emergency situations.
And now we go to the healthcare industry. * My thoughts below are made up entirely with the assumption, that there is no conspiracy plot of enslaving the humanity, all actors do their best and their failure is not deliberate.
One year has passed since CoViD-19 stepped in and destroyed our society. And the little sanity, that was left. Hospitals are overwhelmed, medics die, whole healthcare systems are on their knees (US should not worry for the latter). People see nothing, but failure. The political one is more than clear - nobody expects politicians ever to solve a crisis, let alone a global one. The miscarriage I did not expect, was the scientific one. Yes, I give the prize "flop of the decade" to all pharma-scientist and their companies. It is astonishing to see an entire science branch to fail that badly, crushed by its own laziness, bureaucracy and narcissism! Not only they are not pressing enough, while millions of people are dying, but also utterly fail to provide meaningful "root cause analysis". Excuses like "we have to follow the procedures, which will take 2-5 years of testing" and "we cannot estimate how this virus functions" are complete nonsense. Bend the rules! Gather data faster! Engage AI for simulations! Experiment on people more!
"Yeeah, death seems a better option than a nasty rash!"
If I am working the same way, I will be on the street before noon. Despite what companies claim about the importance and strictness of the IT processes, my entire experience shows the need of a very flexible mindset in 99% of the cases when solving an issue. If drug companies cannot be flexible and adapt to the worst pandemic of the century, then maybe, their ways are entirely wrong. They should at least try different approach.
Another favorite excuse is "human body is so complex...blah blah". No it is not! Ask any down-to-earth surgeon with a broad general knowledge - humans are a sophisticated set of fine plumbing and wiring (and nothing more!). At least you do not need to reach that level of insane complexity. Most of the drugs are derivatives, so you do not work completely from the ground up. Even if there is no such, with enough testing (and motivation), you can assemble some cure in a matter of months and it will work on most of the people. The 1% you will lose anyway.
Shout out to all governments:
I pay high attention when it comes to the origins of the virus. Many scientists (Professor and above and who am I to even question them) say it has been tampered with. Not necessarily like entirely man-made, but tampered to become this highly-infectious, fast-mutating, not-so-deadly-but-very-damaging, elusive monstrosity. And the obvious questions - who and why? Past this, it is a conspiracy theory for now, but whoever did it, either has a cure/vaccine (meaning "it is possible to create one") or is completely insane. All I know is, that science needs to hurry. We do not have 10 years (the usual development time frame), we do not have even 5! You guys, all pharma-research-companies, are filthy rich, so money is not the problem. If "the plan" is to stall for years, we can just all go with the virus and whoever survives...and then we will come back for you with the pitchforks and torches.
To cheer up the mood a little bit, I present you today's number for China. I do not know how low your IQ has to be, to believe this. For comparison, Germany has registered 16000 cases. A country with 1.4 billion people, huge, polluted cities with extreme population density and "a person means nothing" philosophy...Maybe we should ask them: "how do you do it?" - the low number of infected people I mean.