Traditional Cooking Methods page

[wiltondeportes]

For all the talk about traditional foods, I think we forget how preparation can change them.

I think eating raw meat is the only thing that you should not do with the modern situation. For that matter, does anybody have info on whether any primitive cultures did in fact eat their meat raw? When I say meat, I am referring to non-fish.

I've been making a lot of soups with my food. It's an all encompassing meal that has enough nutrition for all day. What I've discovered recently though is that it seems all that slow cooking and water seems to damage my vegetables. I stop getting intact phytonutrients and vitamins. I'm basically drinking fatty water with broken down carbs (the vegetables) or just plant matter. I think I was healthier when I cooked different ways.

Here's what I realized. In my mind, the traditional food layout would have been:
-meat, bone marrow, other offal and tubers (maybe gourds) by the fire
-gathered vegetables and fruit eaten raw

I recognize the naturalistic fallacy, but I don't think it applies here too much. Gentle roasting of that first category along with mostly fresh vegetables seems like it will provide more intact and wholesome nutrition than making everything into a stew. I'll recognize other cooking methods such as sauteing and grilling, but I think those are done moreso for the taste.

Thoughts?

[mixie]

I dunno--slow-cooking is known to make more bio-available the nutrients in many veggies. I can't imagine there are many foods more nutritious than a pastured beef or chicken stew made with bone/marrow stock.

[wiltondeportes]

I dunno--slow-cooking is known to make more bio-available the nutrients in many veggies. I can't imagine there are many foods more nutritious than a pastured beef or chicken stew made with bone/marrow stock.

The problem is that you then have to drink the entire broth to get all those nutrients. I'm not so much commenting on the meat though. I'm more referring to the mushy vegetables that had everything cooked out of them.

[spughy]

But everything - except heat-sensitive vitamins like vit C - cooks into the stew, so if you drink the broth too, you're not losing much, except texture. Some veggies are better absorbed like that anyway. The idea of eating raw veg is foreign to many cultures, it's not totally necessary as long as you can get some vit C from fruit or something.

[mixie]

The problem is that you then have to drink the entire broth to get all those nutrients. I'm not so much commenting on the meat though. I'm more referring to the mushy vegetables that had everything cooked out of them.

Right. What's wrong with drinking the entire broth? It's f*kin delicious, and if you skip it you're missing out on all the good gelatin, etc. Also, if your veggies are "mushy" then yer doin' it wrong ;09

[wiltondeportes]

Right. What's wrong with drinking the entire broth? It's f*kin delicious, and if you skip it you're missing out on all the good gelatin, etc. Also, if your veggies are "mushy" then yer doin' it wrong ;09

There's a butt load of broth to drink. It's really hard to eat all that food AND drink like a gallon or whatever of broth. It's just more volume than my stomach needs. I don't lose out on all the gelatin if I still eat it in a different way.

Maybe I am doing it wrong. I'm kind of a bad cook. At least I can safely cook roasted meats and tubers! Everything else can just be munched on.

[wiltondeportes]

But everything - except heat-sensitive vitamins like vit C - cooks into the stew, so if you drink the broth too, you're not losing much, except texture. Some veggies are better absorbed like that anyway. The idea of eating raw veg is foreign to many cultures, it's not totally necessary as long as you can get some vit C from fruit or something.

My understanding is that a lot of things can be damaged by excess cooking. Even proteins. Mind you...I'm generally cooking the stuff for around 4 hours on at least a simmer. Maybe I am doing it wrong, but I don't think I'm wrong on the fact that I'm getting less nutrition this way.

[mixie]

There's a butt load of broth to drink. It's really hard to eat all that food AND drink like a gallon or whatever of broth. It's just more volume than my stomach needs. I don't lose out on all the gelatin if I still eat it in a different way.

Maybe I am doing it wrong. I'm kind of a bad cook. At least I can safely cook roasted meats and tubers! Everything else can just be munched on.

It sounds like you're using wayyyy too much water, to me! Gelatin (and most of the nutrients you can extract from the bones) really only comes with wet cooking methods: soups, stews, or just rendering the gelatin out of the bones and saving it to cook with. You don't get it just from eating meat off the bone.
Is it helpful to offer some stew and bone stock recipes/techniques?

[wiltondeportes]

It sounds like you're using wayyyy too much water, to me! Gelatin (and most of the nutrients you can extract from the bones) really only comes with wet cooking methods: soups, stews, or just rendering the gelatin out of the bones and saving it to cook with. You don't get it just from eating meat off the bone.
Is it helpful to offer some stew and bone stock recipes/techniques?

I only use enough water to mostly cover what is in the pot. If I add less water, I think I'd start burning the food. Damned either way....

Give me everything you have on bone broth/stew. I love eating marrow by the way. I'll eat maybe 4 roasted 3-inch beef marrow bones with a dinner.

When you say gelatin, is that not just connective tissue? In other words, the cartiledge & tendons that are imbedded in the meat are full of gelatin. Possibly even the marrow would have gelatin? What is the value of gelatin anyways?

[mixie]

I only use enough water to mostly cover what is in the pot. If I add less water, I think I'd start burning the food. Damned either way....

Give me everything you have on bone broth/stew. I love eating marrow by the way. I'll eat maybe 4 roasted 3-inch beef marrow bones with a dinner.

When you say gelatin, is that not just connective tissue? In other words, the cartiledge & tendons that are imbedded in the meat are full of gelatin. Possibly even the marrow would have gelatin? What is the value of gelatin anyways?

Okay, good, fantastic--save all those bones. If you can cut them any smaller (or smash 'em with a sledge hammer), that might be helpful in aiding mineral extraction.
Speaking of which, on the value of gelatin, allow me to introduce you to the Weston A. Price Foundation: Why Broth is Beautiful!

...Actually, yeah. That's about everything you ever wanted to know about bone stock in one spot. Plow through that or skim for the recipes and techniques at the bottom. The "why" to eat the whole broth is up top, it's science-y around the middle, and the "how" is at the bottom. It's a FABULOUS resource.
I have a freezer half-full of chicken and turkey bone/marrow stocks I've been making all year and saving for Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking for the whole family. This stuff is like GOLD--I use it in/on/around everything. Sauce bases, soup bases, mashed cauli, use the fat for roasting veggies... Cheers! =)