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Tabacco's Favorite Salad: Caesar Salad For Dilettantes - 2 Cheeses & Anchovy Trick! Iceberg Lettuce, Tasteless Tomatoes & Hellmann's Mayonnaise? - Call that salad? PS: Pasta Ain't Salad Either!
Tabacco’s Favorite
Salad: Caesar Salad
For Dilettantes
- 2 Cheeses &
Anchovy Trick!
Iceberg Lettuce,
Tasteless
Tomatoes &
Hellmann’s
Mayonnaise? -
Is that what you
call a salad?
PS: Pasta Salad
Ain’t Salad Either!
ENZYMES A-Z
Tabacco: If you are familiar with my previous Culinary Posts, you may have noticed one thing: a dearth of vegetable dishes! There is a reason – I prefer my veggies raw whenever possible. I don’t mean potatoes or rice, beans or greens; but I think raw vegetable salads are healthier than cooked veggies with the possible exception of tomatoes (really a fruit), so why cook vegetables that can be eaten raw! The main disadvantage of cooking vegetables, even if you steam them, is that you kill ENZYMES!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyme
This is all I’m publishing from this Article about enzymes. If you like technicalese, be my guest!
Enzymes are biological catalysts: this means that they speed up the chemical reactions in living things. Without enzymes, our guts would take weeks and weeks to digest our food, our muscles, nerves and bones would not work properly and so on - we would not be living!
A catalyst is any substance, which makes a chemical reaction go faster, without itself being changed. A catalyst can be used over and over again in a chemical reaction: it does not get used up. Enzymes are very much the same except that they are easily denatured (destroyed: but do NOT use this word since the protein molecule is not broken down into amino-acids, it just loses it shape and will not work any more) by heat. Our enzymes work best at body temperature. Our enzymes also have to have the correct pH.
All enzymes are made of protein; that is why they are sensitive to heat, pH and heavy metal ions. Unlike ordinary catalysts, they are specific to one chemical reaction. An ordinary catalyst may be used for several different chemical reactions, but an enzyme only works for one specific reaction.
Human saliva contains an enzyme called amylase. This enzyme helps to turn starch into a sugar called maltose. When you swallow a mouthful of food, the amylase stops working because it is much too acid in the stomach pH 2. Amylase works best in neutral or slightly alkaline conditions, i.e. at about pH 7. When your food gets into the small intestine, more amylase is made by the pancreas and this turns the remaining starch into maltose. Another enzyme (maltase) turns all this maltose into glucose. Glucose is then absorbed into the blood.
Enzymes in the human alimentary canal and what they digest:
Enzyme Substrate
Amylase Starch
Maltase Maltose
Sucrase Sucrose
Lipase Fats
Pepsin Proteins
All animals, green plants, fungi and bacteria produce enzymes: so enzymes are not just about digesting food. The enzymes, which we use to digest our food, are extra-cellular, that means they are found outside cells. We also have enzymes inside our cells; these are intra-cellular enzymes. Enzymes are used in ALL chemical reactions in living things; this includes respiration, photosynthesis, movement growth, getting rid of toxic chemicals in the liver and so on.
Viruses are rather different, but you do not need to know much about them for GCSE, so just make sure that you don't catch any!
Enzymes must have the correct shape to do their job. They are made of proteins, and proteins are very easily affected by heat, pH and heavy metal ions. Some people say that enzymes work like a key in a lock. If the key has been twisted by heat, or dissolved in acid or stuck up with chewing gum it will not work. Enzymes change their shape if the temperature or pH changes, so they have to have the right conditions. Copper ions are poisonous: if you get copper ions in your blood they will block up some of the important enzymes in red and white blood cells.
http://www.purchon.com/biology/enzymes.htm
T: Tablespoon.. t: teaspoon.. C: cup
Procedure
1- Trim core from romaine; separate into leaves, discarding wilted ones
2- Rinse in salad basket under cold running water; dry on paper towels
3- Crisp in zip-lock bag in vegetable crisper in refrigerator several hours or overnite
4- Several hours before serving, crush half garlic clove; combine with oil in jar with tight-fitting lid and refrigerate at least one hour
5- Heat 2 tablespoons oil-garlic mixture in skillet; add bread cubes (or croutons); sauté until brown all over; set aside
6- To remaining oil-garlic mixture in jar, add salt, mustard, pepper, Worcestershire and chopped anchovies; shake vigorously and refrigerate
7- In small saucepan, bring 2-inch depth of water to boil; turn off heat, carefully lower egg into water; let stand 1 minute, then lift out
8- Just before serving, rub inside of large wooden salad bowl with other half of garlic clove, then discard garlic
9- Tear romaine in bite size pieces into salad bowl
10- Shake dressing well and pour over romaine
11- Sprinkle with both cheeses and toss until romaine coated with dressing
12- Break egg over center of salad; pour lemon juice over egg and toss well
13- Sprinkle sautéed bread cubes over salad and quickly toss again
14- Garnish top with whole anchovies and serve salad at once
Yields 4 to 6 servings
Source: McCall’s Cooking School magazine, No. 2, pages 6 & 8
Anchovy Trick
The first time I made this Caesar, I used the anchovies straight out of the container. Who knew that such as small amount could ruin a dish with its saltiness. I figured out the solution myself, although I have since seen others use the same technique. Place anchovies in cup of cold water. The water will dilute the salt in the anchovies, making them palatable.
Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness! When you read Tabacco, if you don’t learn something NEW, I’ve wasted your time.
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization) – Think Tank For Other 95% Of World
Enzymes!