Posts

And What About Capons?

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After that egg trivia post, I will now post about capons. Surely, not Al Capone. But capons of the rooster kind. With poultry, I prefer hens to roosters. Broilers to be specific. In the first place, I had the impression that rooster meat are tough. But I am getting ahead the story. So what are capons? They are roosters without penises which have been surgically removed at a young age. Typically, the castration is "performed when the chicken is between 6 and 20 weeks old". Capons are essentially a no-fighting bird as an after effect of castration. Eliminating its testes make the bird tamed. Capons live just to serve as a father for baby chicks. That's it. And because, capons grow slower than uncastrated cocks, they accumulate more body fat; the "concentration of fat in both the light and dark areas of the capon meat is greater than in that of the uncastrated males". Thus, capons are more tender, juicier and flavorful. In fact, in some places, capon

An egg head on eggs?

At this age, I realized recently, that I am not an egghead but still am 'ignorant'. Or perhaps, just maybe naive? Because, one morning as I was preparing breakfast and was taking out the eggs from the refrigerator, I suddenly got dense curious, do hens make love at all? Do they always do it with rooster to produce eggs? Huh! To even think this, early in the morning :-) And this is what I found out. All commercially sold eggs; those found in the super and wet markets are never fertilized. Generally, laying hens never mate. This type of hens are raised for laying purposes alone, nothing more. Awww shucks, those roosters are missing a lot. Joke! But when roosters and hens mate, the eggs resulting from 'the act' are what we call fertilized. We can still eat fertilized eggs, though. No, problem, still provide the same nutritional value. Though fertilized, eggs never develop into embryos because of refrigeration, the other end of the chicken egg production pendulum

How to Avoid White Bean Poisoning?

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My family loves beans, not the kidney but the white variety. We cook it with different cuts of pork, like chops, belly, loin or ribs flavored further with ham, bacon or sausages sauteed in olive oil, garlic, shallots and tomato sauce. Our bean recipe is further enhanced by the rich addition of cabbage (red) or chinese cabbage or what is locally known as pechay. Beans can be rich in protein and could be a good substitute to pork. This means that you can have this dish with less pork and just enough to save on the food budget. But did you know that improper way of cooking beans can prove toxic? Toxic enough to cause food poisoning? "Poisoning can be induced from as few as five raw beans and symptoms occur within three hours, beginning with nausea then vomiting which can be severe and sustained (profuse), then diarrhea. Recovery occurs within four or five hours of onset, usually without the need for any medical intervention". Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA, or phytohema

My Top EC Card September Droppers

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My THANKS to this blog's Top Entrecard Droppers. As always, my sincere appreciation to all of you guys. 1. Tasty Thoughts 2. Beaded Tail 3. The Positive Side 4. Hongkong iPod and Joomla 5. Losing Weight Intentionally 6. A Taste of Both Worlds 7. Pink Hues 8.Acakadut (EC did something to this blog) 9. Prove Me Wrong 10. A Second Cup

Is Barbie cooking now?

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When I was young I did not have the privilege of owning Barbie dolls. Because aside from not being available locally at that time I think, we could not have afforded it. Later, when I got me my own daughter growing up in what I can now consider a Barbie doll generation, she was lucky enough to receive a couple; from me, from my friends and from relatives. I recall getting her an expensive set, complete with all those curlers and mini make-ups, with wigs and various other girly accessories. There were other models , she owned, those that included Barbie's boyfriend, Ken I think, it was and Barbie's other playmate dolls. I am not sure. Oh well. The first Barbie doll was launched by Mattel its maker, in March 1959. She "wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a 'Teen-age Fashion Model,' with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte

(Cad) we afford to (bury) those chocolates?

Are you craving for your favorite chocolate shot today? Stop awhile. Look at what you are nibbling. Could it be Cadbury? One of England's confectionery maker, Cadbury announced a recall of their chocolates manufactured in a "small factory" based in Beijing. Yes, it was found to be tainted with melamine as well. Affected by the recall are chocolates distributed in the Asia-Pacific region only, ( said to be Australia, Taiwan, Nauru, Hong Kong and Christmas Island.) and not those distributed in the United States. "Preliminary tests showed melamine in Cadbury chocolates produced at the candy maker's Beijing factory, but it was too early to say how much of the chemical was in them, said a Cadbury spokesman who declined to be identified because of company policy". Of Cadbury's total worlwide sales, only 0.5% come from their Beijing factory, the AP news item said. See entire news feed here . Affected products were its : Dark Chocette, Eclairs, Dairy Mil

Are you willing to spend for designer chocolates?

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Designer clothes I can understand that. Haute cuisine, yes, I get that too. And now this is the guffaw of my life ta da-da-- designer chocolates from the famous Giorgio Armani . This is the real deal! A chocolate or confection product that's exclusively made by Armani Dolci, the confectionery store owned by Armani himself. And in time for Halloween too. Giorgio Armani's confectionery just "released a special ghoulish chocolate", described as chocolate pralines enclosed in white chocolate coating". Take a look at how goody it looks. The packaging is super. choco photo courtesy of wwd In a similar fashion maybe for the coming Christmas holidays, the Dolci Stores will once again offer pastries they traditionally make available to their uppercrust clientele, in much the same way they did in 2007. See the old cuisine news snippet and pic here . By the way, the Armani designer chocolates are seasonal and available only at Armani's main store in Milan, I