Month: August 2017

There are two approaches to addressing the presence of day-old, room-temperature pizza.
On one side, you have the food scientists, the medical community, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). On the other, you have literally everyone else.

It’s not hard to guess which side says you have to refrigerate it or pitch it.

Experts tell us what to do with leftover pizza.

The official stance on food safety begins with something the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline calls, maybe a little dramatically, the “Danger Zone.” You do not want to take a ride into this Danger Zone, not even if you are Kenny Loggins and Tom Cruise combined. (Because, diarrhea.)

The food safety Danger Zone is the temperature range between 40 and 140 degrees. Hot food should stay above 140 degrees. Cold food should stay below 40 degrees. Otherwise, you are on a highway to…you know.
Of course, you have to serve the food, which means it will stay at room temperature during your meal. What about that, USDA?

Apparently, food can stay safe in the Danger Zone for a two-hour timeframe. If you leave perishable food out for more than two hours at room temperature, you should throw that food away, according to the experts.
Even if that food is pizza.

What We Really Do With Leftover Pizza

The other argument is less scientific. It’s simply this: “I do it all the time.”
Some people live on day-old pizza for years. Those same people probably reserve the refrigerator for a mostly empty bottle of ketchup. And though doctors tell them they are rolling the dice with their health, these people are not prone to food poisoning.
So what gives?

Food safety experts would say these people are just lucky and that their luck is likely run out eventually.
Writing for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, registered dietician Alice Henneman warns of just how many bacteria could be sitting on that slice of pepperoni come morning.
“Just ONE bacterium, doubling every 20 minutes, can grow to over 2,097,152 bacteria in 7 hours,” she writes (her caps).
Even worse, some food-borne pathogens develop toxins that resist heat, so reheating leftovers won’t get rid of them. Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, is one of these, and it lives all over the human body.

A staph infection can mimic what people call the stomach flu with grotesque accuracy; it’s what we usually mean when we say we have food poisoning, and it is not a pleasant experience.
In general, we’re against gambling with our health and suppose we have to come down on the side of the experts, so think twice about eating perishables that sat out all night.

Who’s getting food poisoning?

Our iron-stomached friends might beat the odds when they eat day-old pizza, but plenty of people don’t.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that one out of every six people in the U.S. gets food poisoning. According to the CDC, that adds up to 48 million Americans per year. Of these, 3,000 actually lose their lives to the infection.

Bacteria thrive at room temperature. We do not thrive on bacteria. Try tacking this sign on your bedroom door: “Do not enter unless the pizza is in the fridge.”
It could save you a lot of the worst kind of distress, which is intestinal. Don’t turn your gut into the real danger zone.

Call it carbonated, sparkling, bubbly, or just seltzer water. No matter the name, fizzy water is surging in popularity with sales increasing 42 percent in the U.S. market over the last five years.

Determining the exact reason for its spike in popularity is difficult, but seltzer has a few qualities that make it attractive. The most obvious reason is that the beverage is sugar-, salt-, and calorie-free.
As the American public weans itself off sugary drinks, it seems to be searching for a replacement.

As water surges, soda takes a dive.

Soda sales declined for a twelfth straight year in 2016. As study after study shows a link between sugary beverages and negative health outcomes, people are changing their habits.

Diet soda is waning in popularity even more than full-calorie soda. For years, low-calorie sodas with artificial sweeteners have been the choice of those watching their weight. Now research suggests that artificial sweeteners may increase people’s appetites and make weight loss even more difficult.
A study published in The Lancet showed that aspartame consumption increased people’s appetites more than plain water. This means that drinking a diet soda gives you fewer direct calories, but it increases the likelihood that you’ll consume more calories from another source or sources after drinking it.

There have long been concerns about other negative effects of artificial sweeteners. A meta-analysis of studies on non-nutritive sweeteners found conflicting results about whether sweeteners were actively bad for the health or simply neutral. Note that no studies indicated artificial sweeteners have positive effects on body-mass index or cardiac health.
Because of this research, consumers are ditching diet sodas at high rates. In 2016, Diet Pepsi consumption fell 9.2 percent and Diet Coke fell 4.3 percent.
It’s not clear that these former customers are embracing sparkling water, but clearly there is a share of the beverage market up for grabs.

Seltzer is not quite plain water in terms of nutrition.

The appeal of seltzer is clear in light of the confusing data on sweeteners. Because seltzer has no sweeteners or sodium, there are fewer health concerns. Seltzer waters often have flavors added to them, but these are generally natural ingredients added in small quantities.

It’s not all good news for seltzer water, though. Much like artificial sweeteners, there is evidence to suggest that the carbonation that is characteristic of seltzer water could increase your appetite.
There are also concerns that bubbly water could erode your tooth enamel—especially if the variety you select has citrus flavoring. Despite these concerns, experts agree that seltzer is far better for you than either regular or diet soda.

Millennials are embracing the bubbly drink.

Seltzer companies are finding a receptive audience in millennials through social media campaigns. Instead of television ads or magazine spreads, sparkling water company LaCroix focuses on Instagram.
The company uses hashtags, such as #LiveLaCroix, to find and interact with their customers. Those who pose with a can of brightly colored LaCroix could find themselves featured on LaCroix’s Instagram page, which has more than 100,000 followers.

The gaudy colors of LaCroix cans make them perfect for featuring in photos. But the additive-free sparkling water found within those artsy cans is what really spurred the beverage’s rise to prominence.
Unless researchers uncover major health risks with carbonation, we expect seltzer water to keep growing in popularity.

A trip to Europe can be full of surprising little differences from what we’re used to in the U.S. Of course, the electric plugs are different, the cities are more pedestrian friendly, and Germans love David Hasselhoff much more than the average American does.

But one of the most surprising differences is that Europeans keep their eggs sitting on the kitchen counter instead of in the refrigerator.

This may strike Americans as wrong, but there’s a simple explanation. To prevent Salmonella and other bacteria from contaminating eggs, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandates that facilities involved in the distribution of graded eggs wash and refrigerate them.
Washing ensures that chicken poop and other sources of bacteria are promptly removed from the eggshell, and refrigeration prevents new bacteria from growing on it. However, this egg-washing process also removes the egg’s natural protective coating.

Michael Ruhlman, author of Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World’s Most Versatile Ingredient, says, “The egg is a marvel in terms of protecting itself, and one of the protections is this coating, which prevents them from being porous.”
When the coating is removed, the egg can no longer protect itself from bacteria that threaten to invade its newly opened pores. That’s why Americans who work and cook with graded eggs have to keep them refrigerated during all parts of the supply chain, including at home.

Most European countries vaccinate their chickens against salmonella.

Because egg sanitization isn’t a requirement for European egg farmers and distributors, their eggs’ protective coatings are still intact and they can leave their eggs unwashed and out of the fridge.

An intact natural coating allows an egg to protect itself from most bacteria without refrigeration (although the egg’s unrefrigerated shelf—or counter—life is only about 21 days, as compared to 50 in a refrigerator).
Much of the world prefers this approach, because eggs left with their naturally protective coating don’t require constant refrigeration.

This is a much cheaper solution to egg storage, which is especially helpful in countries where refrigeration isn’t as heavily relied upon or as accessible as it is in the U.S.
Another advantage of unwashed and unrefrigerated eggs is that they are better for cooking. Room-temperature eggs increase the volume of a batter or dough more than cold eggs do. They also mix into the batter more easily.

Of course, American recipes may call for eggs to be brought to room temperature before being used.
Fortunately, putting them in a bowl of warm water can help achieve this result in just a few minutes.

Both approaches reduce outbreaks of salmonella.

The obvious question is, “Which method works better?” Should we wash and refrigerate eggs or vaccinate chickens?

The answer is not entirely clear, and many experts say that both ways achieve the same goal of reducing salmonella outbreaks.
“They’re different approaches to basically achieve the same result,” Vincent Guyonnet, a poultry veterinarian, told NPR. “We don’t have massive [food safety] issues on either side of the Atlantic. Both methods seem to work.”

A recent spate of salmonella cases in the U.S. may shift opinions on vaccination.

There have been 961 reported cases of salmonella in 2017 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s already more than the 895 cases in 2016.
Most of these cases are linked to to contact with live poultry as opposed to egg consumption. Experts believe that backyard chicken coops with poor hygienic conditions are the main culprit for the spike in cases.

Namely, if you choose sanitized, graded eggs, they need to be refrigerated until use. If you choose to rely on the eggs’ natural protective coating, you have to be tolerant of dirt clods and maybe even a little chicken feces—resisting the urge to rinse until right before cooking.
We don’t expect either side of the Atlantic to change their way of handling eggs. Americans like their eggs spotless and long lasting. Europeans prefer a more natural and easier-to-cook egg. Since both methods keep consumers safe from disease, there’s no need for either group to change their ways.

Work hard enough, and you might get a statue.
Work even harder, and you’ll become a food.
No, not in a Soylent Green way. If you’re lucky, someone will name a food after you, and you’ll live forever in the hearts, minds, and stomachs of the people.

If you’re looking for an example, look no further than…

The Person: Caesar Cardini

Born on the banks of Lake Maggiore in the Italian Alps, Caesar Cardini went on to became a successful chef in Tijuana, Mexico.

His restaurant attracted many rich and famous Americans during Prohibition, and he regularly introduced innovative new dishes, much to the delight of his guests.
His most notable invention was a salad dressing consisting of Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, and a few other key ingredients. To keep the focus on the dressing, Cardini served his salad on a simple head of Romaine lettuce.

He called it the aviator’s salad, but his customers preferred to call it by his name.
Thus, the Caesar salad was born.
Eventually Cardini trademarked his dressing and marketed it in the United States, which led to some profitable salad days for the Italian-Mexican chef.

The Person: Richard Foster

In the early 1950s, John Brennan owned a produce company called Brennan’s Processed Potato Company, and they’d purchased too many bananas (perhaps they should have stuck to potatoes).

When he asked his brother Owen to come up with a recipe, Owen turned to his sister, Ella, and Chef Paul Blangé.
Yes, four people were involved in a dish that basically comes down to setting some bananas on fire. In any case, Bananas Foster, named for New Orleans’ Crime Commission chairman Richard Foster, was an instant hit at the Vieux Carre? Restaurant on Bourbon Street.

For the most faithful version of the dessert, check out this recipe from Brennan’s Restaurant.

The Person: Sylvester Graham

Graham was a Presbyterian minister and part of the temperance movement of the 19th century. He urged his followers to avoid drinking and to adopt a vegetarian diet high in whole grains.
In fact, he even criticized white bread as being devoid of nutrition. Sounds pretty modern, right?

Well, not so fast. Graham had some pretty austere views on entertainment that wouldn’t quite mesh with our shameless Game of Thrones binges.
He thought that excitement in general was unhealthy and was so fond of the bland life that he discouraged even eating spicy food lest the devilish spices ignite the diner’s sinful desires.
Graham himself did not invent the graham cracker, but his followers, the Grahamites (yes, that’s really what they’re called), came through with the original recipe. They thought the bland-but-healthy treat exemplified their leader’s teachings.

Unlike modern graham crackers, the originals weren’t caked with cinnamon and sugar. They were actually intended as a sort of therapy: Start to think sinful thoughts, and you could reach for one of the wholesome crackers to drive impure urges from your head.
The Grahamites would probably be aghast if they saw modern graham crackers: full of sugar and being eagerly implemented as the bookends of a s’more.

The Person: Dame Nellie Melba

Melba was an Australian opera singer who rose to prominence in the late 19th century. Her real name was Helen Mitchell, but a divorce convinced her to radically alter her life.

So she changed her name to Nellie Melba (an homage to Melbourne, her hometown) and headed for Europe.
She studied opera in Paris and was quickly recognized as a singular talent. Her June 1889 performance in Romeo and Juliet cemented her stardom, and she went on to perform all across Europe, eventually traveling to Russia to sing for Tsar Nicholas II at his request.
She even captured the attention of famed French chef Auguste Escoffier, who named at least four foods after her. Escoffier’s now-famous thin, dry toast was Melba’s preferred nourishment during an illness in 1897.

The singer claimed that the dry bits of bread were easy to digest. Peach Melba? Not so much.

The Person: Clara Hirschfield

Leo Hirschfield moved to Brooklyn to sell handmade chocolate treats in Fort Greene. Sounds like a millennial hipster, right?
Actually, this was around 1896, and Hirschfield was a poor Austrian immigrant whose father had created a handful of candy recipes in his home country.

Hirschfield eventually went to work for the Stern & Staalberg company in Manhattan and patented several cooking techniques to make unusually textured candies.
The first of these was called bromangelon jelly powder. Jelled desserts were popular at the time and bromangelon became an ingredient in many desserts, including Orange Sponge and Bromangelon Snow Pudding.
In 1907, Hirschfield came up with an even more popular treat: the Tootsie Roll. He made it using the patented techniques he had invented and named the candy after his daughter, Clara, whose nickname was—you guessed it— Tootsie.

A hundred years later, Tootsie Rolls remain the flagship product of Tootsie Roll Industries, a company that makes over half a billion dollars a year.

The Person: Dr. James H. Salisbury

Dr. Salisbury was an early lover of food fads, and he believed quite rightly that diet was strongly linked to overall health. Modern science certainly validates that idea, but Salisbury’s specific doctrines weren’t quite on target.
Salisbury thought that vegetables and starches caused a variety of diseases including tuberculosis and mental illness. His solution: a diet consisting of beef and coffee.

As it turns out, vegetables aren’t so bad for the body. Salisbury’s low-carb diet still has its proponents, but his main contribution to the world is his tasty recipe for ground beef.
In 1888, Salisbury cooked ground beef with onion, either by deep frying or boiling the ingredients (he wasn’t too clear about his methodology) and dubbed the result the Salisbury steak.

It’s a free country, but the American Heart Association recommends eating chicken, fish, and beans instead. Still, the Salisbury steak is a guilty pleasure because, as it turns out, fried ground beef doesn’t taste too shabby.

The Person: Dr. Charles T. Pepper

Charles Alderton, a pharmacist in Waco, Texas, came up with the recipe for Dr. Pepper in 1885.
He branded his concoction “a Waco,” but his boss, Wade Morrison, wanted a catchier name.
Morrison settled on “Dr. Pepper,” but nobody really knows why. He almost certainly chose a name with “Dr.” in it because carbonated beverages were viewed as medicinal and he wanted to emphasize its healthsome properties (even if there really weren’t any).

The theory has long been that Morrison named the soft drink after his former employer, Charles T. Pepper.
Pepper was a Virginia physician who worked as a Confederate surgeon during the Civil War. He opened a pharmacy after the war and, according to rumors, Morrison worked there.
However, Milly Walker, collections manager and curator at the Dr. Pepper Bottling Co. Museum, finds no evidence that Morrison ever worked for that Dr. Pepper. Walker believes that Morrison named the drink after an unrelated Dr. Pepper who lived closer to his hometown.

Whichever Pepper was the inspiration, only Morrison profited from the soda, which still enjoys widespread distribution (and more recently, bizarre commercials) to this day.

Be happy none of these dishes show up at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner anymore. It’s hard to believe, but at a certain points in history, people gleefully ate what we now consider appalling science-lab concoctions.

1. Perfection Salad

Now, you might not consider this meal a “salad” or “perfection,” but at the time of its creation, this molded monstrosity was a hit.
In 1904, Mrs. John E. Cook of New Castle, Pennsylvania, won third place in a recipe contest with her Perfection Salad submission. That recipe got her $100 and a brand new sewing machine. Not part of the prize? Its fate of making later generations queasy.

This salad stuck around for decades, sometimes even finding its way onto the table at holiday dinners. It’s made of unflavored gelatin, lemon juice, vinegar, shredded carrots and cabbage, chopped celery and green pepper, and a little bit of apple juice.
The real trick to blowing people away with this dish is using the most impressive Jell-O mold you can find. Because nothing screams “Happy Holidays” like a jiggling tower of shredded vegetables.

2. Ham and Bananas Hollandaise

This 1940s recipe tries to combine what was once an exotic flavor (bananas) with comfort food (ham and cheese) but fails to really make it work.
Caribbean recipes use ham and bananas together, but that wasn’t even an option for American tables until the fruit made its way to the U.S. in the 1880s.
For this recipe, you need six thin slices of ham, six peeled bananas, mustard, hollandaise mix, and light cream. Spread each slice of ham with mustard, wrap one around each banana, and bake in a casserole dish for 10 minutes.

While the bananas are in the oven, prepare the hollandaise sauce mix with the cream. Once the sauce is finished, pour it over the bananas and bake for just five more minutes.
You’ll know when this meal is ready to eat when it looks like a shiny yellow disaster.

3. Chicken Chaud-Froid Salad

The term chaud-froid (French for hot-cold) perfectly suits this hot (or, in reality, cold) mess of an entree. The chaud-froid has many origin stories, but one of the more popular versions involves the Maréchal de Luxembourg eating his dinner late.
The maréchal invited guests over to his château for a dinner party one evening but then had to leave right before dinner was served. The guests ate without the maréchal, but when he returned, he asked for his meal to be presented.
Every dish was brought out as it had been given to the guests earlier—except for the chicken. That particular dish was finished with egg yolks, which, if reheated, would curdle. The chicken was brought out cold, and the maréchal loved it. It was then he coined the phrase “chaud-froid,” which refers to a dish made hot but served cold.
Chicken chaud-froid salad might not sound too bad, but the recipe basically turns chicken breasts into gelatinous, mayo-laden blobs. We’ll pass on this one.

4. Jellied Tomato Refresher

Here’s the perfect snack, beverage, or light meal to serve to your friends and family if you never want to see any of them again.
The Jellied Tomato Refresher was originally a 1970s Weight Watchers recipe, because apparently if you wanted to lose weight, you could only drink frozen tomato juice at parties.
To make the Refresher, start with unflavored gelatin, water, and tomato juice. Mix them together and add dehydrated green pepper flakes, artificial sweetener, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and ground cloves.

Chill in the refrigerator until the gelatin has set. To serve, mix lightly with a fork to add some texture, scoop into a glass, and garnish with a pepper slice.
It’s just like tomato juice, but you have to chew.

5. Liver Sausage Pineapple

Yes, you read that correctly. Who wouldn’t want to show up to a get-together and dig into a well-crafted, terrifying pile of liver sausage made to look like a pineapple?
None of us—meaning this 1950s Better Homes and Gardens recipe doesn’t translate well into the 21st century.
To build your pineapple base, mix one pound of liver sausage with lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and mayonnaise. Using a medium sized jar as an internal pillar, form the meat into a pineapple shape. Chill the base in the fridge while you whip up its “frosting.”

The yellow slather is made of unflavored gelatin, water, and mayonnaise. Cover the liver sausage with a thin layer and chill once more to allow the coating to solidify.
Add artistic markings, olives, and even a real pineapple top to complete the piece.

6. Frozen Cheese Salad

Everyone agrees that the best way to eat cheese is frozen, so make sure you include this nonsensical appetizer on the menu of your next dinner party.
This frozen cheese salad is made from cottage cheese, blue cheese, buttermilk, lemon peel, Worcestershire sauce, and barbecue spice. Blend all the dairy products and spices together, mold in a tray, and freeze for at least three hours.

Remove the cheese block from the freezer 15 minutes before serving and line the platter with broccoli florets for show (because obviously you can’t dip the florets into frozen cheese).
Et voilà, you’ve earned yourself a ticket out of making anything for a dinner party ever again.

7. Tuna Cheese Macaroni Loaf

The 1950s American culinary scene was decidedly obsessed with turning things into loaves that had no business being served in any kind of molded form.
This tuna macaroni recipe is no different. Why you would need a tuna macaroni entree is beyond us, but here it is.

To make this loaf, heat evaporated milk with mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and grated American cheese. Once the cheese is melted, add olives, chopped celery, drained tuna, bread crumbs, and cooked macaroni noodles to the sauce. Place in a greased loaf pan and bake for about 30 minutes.
Let the loaf cool for a minute before you remove it from the pan. Serve with additional cheese sauce if desired.

8. Creamy Dried Beef Mold

Here’s another molded meal that is in the running for worst name in the history of cooking. To make this treat you use your favorite ringed Jell-O mold, gelatin, and a whole lot of dried beef.
Combine gelatin with water, milk, mayonnaise, and mustard. Set aside and chill for at least 30 minutes until it has thickened but not fully set.

Then stir in your lima beans, celery, cheese, lemon juice, dried beef, and onion. Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate for three hours.
Basically tasteless, boring celery leaves are the official garnish for this thoroughly unappetizing meal. Enjoy.

9. Lobster Relish

Now, this hors d’oeuvre sounds completely normal and even potentially tasty. Just don’t open your eyes when you’re eating it. Lobster relish has never looked more terrifying than it does in this recipe, which recommends a presentation suggestive of the relished lobster’s ability to stand up and crawl off the table back to sea.
This recipe starts off like all the others on this list, with our favorite ingredient: gelatin. However, this snack takes some real finesse to construct.
First step: Heat the unflavored gelatin with vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. When the mixture has cooled slightly, pour a small amount into a Jell-O mold and turn it to create a thinly layered coating. Repeat this process a few more times until there’s a solid barrier of gelatin on the mold.
Press shrimp into the clear jelly for an avant-garde look.

Next, mix together another batch of gelatin sauce with smashed cucumbers, salt, pepper, and green food coloring. Pour into the bottom of the mold and let it set. Once the green layer is firm, pack in the pieces of lobster.
By the end of this culinary experiment, you should have a multi-colored, multi-layered seafood tower, held together by Grandma and Grandpa’s favorite new-age ingredient.
Don’t forget to garnish with full crab legs—claws on and, table space permitting, hanging off the platter.
And never complain about quinoa or flaxseeds again.