I feel well enough to try Atkins induction again. The palpitations are gone, even without taking potassium. My energy level is back to normal--no more trucking on the treadmill early in the morning to burn off nervous energy or emergency meat, cheese and mineral water stops after yoga. It's back to lounging around to Chopin and Debussy in the morning and stopping at the wine bar for pleasure.
I'm using the original Atkins book: Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution from 1972. While looking in the book for a way to make gelatin (which is allowed on induction, but Jello(TM) and products like it have questionable ingredients), I felt the earth move under my feet: those recipes from 42 years ago look delicious and they're mostly real food. It makes sense, though: the cooks who wrote the recipes probably didn't have had a palette used to low-fat food full of added sugar or a bag of tricks to make low-fat food edible. Anyone who writes a recipe called "Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream Salad" can't have a mental hook to hang a low-fat idea on. The meat, vegetables and fat combine to bring out each others' flavor. And wacky products like soy burgers, rice flour, almond milk and boneless, skinless chicken breasts probably hadn't come on the scene.
Can we take all the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and patch up faulty tires and repair the treads on shoes and replace missing asphalt shingles with them and declare the boneless, skinless chicken breast dead? I want something else! When I saw "breaded chicken" in the book, I read "dreaded chicken." It turns out the chicken called for wasn't boneless, skinless, or dreaded.
The recipes didn't call for ingredients so primitive that they're now exotic to most of us, though, like tripe or a boar's head. No, 1972 is just far enough back in time for low carb recipes to make now. I had to improvise with the citrus gelatin since I didn't know how much sweetener was in a packet of Sugar Twin and never heard of D-Zerta or Shimmer. But if the batch turns out well, I'll post the recipe.
I'm using the original Atkins book: Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution from 1972. While looking in the book for a way to make gelatin (which is allowed on induction, but Jello(TM) and products like it have questionable ingredients), I felt the earth move under my feet: those recipes from 42 years ago look delicious and they're mostly real food. It makes sense, though: the cooks who wrote the recipes probably didn't have had a palette used to low-fat food full of added sugar or a bag of tricks to make low-fat food edible. Anyone who writes a recipe called "Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream Salad" can't have a mental hook to hang a low-fat idea on. The meat, vegetables and fat combine to bring out each others' flavor. And wacky products like soy burgers, rice flour, almond milk and boneless, skinless chicken breasts probably hadn't come on the scene.
Can we take all the boneless, skinless chicken breasts and patch up faulty tires and repair the treads on shoes and replace missing asphalt shingles with them and declare the boneless, skinless chicken breast dead? I want something else! When I saw "breaded chicken" in the book, I read "dreaded chicken." It turns out the chicken called for wasn't boneless, skinless, or dreaded.
The recipes didn't call for ingredients so primitive that they're now exotic to most of us, though, like tripe or a boar's head. No, 1972 is just far enough back in time for low carb recipes to make now. I had to improvise with the citrus gelatin since I didn't know how much sweetener was in a packet of Sugar Twin and never heard of D-Zerta or Shimmer. But if the batch turns out well, I'll post the recipe.
Comments
Stir 4 packets of Knox gelatin into a cup of cold water for a minute. Add 1T of orange flavor, 1t of vanilla, 1/2t powdered stevia. Stir in 3 cups boiling water for 5 minutes. Pour in a 9x13 dish and refrigerate for 3 hours.
Again, it has a mild flavor and color. Anyone who's used to standard American desserts probably won't like it since it's a lot like eating a piece of fruit.
The best substance to make gelatin which is available in stores in US are pig feet. Animal heads contain too much meat. It takes many hours on a stove to extract it.
Anyway, I was writing about a pig head being not optimal source for a gelatin, the best source is animal feet - there is hardly anything else there except a connective tissue, but cooking time is significant - at least 8 hours, better 12. It suppose to be a leaf gelatin somewhere around (may be chief's shops), I guess something is added to a gelatin powder to avoid caking.
When I was young, we could buy only whole chicken without a possibility to choose animal parts, and the breast was the less desirable part - too dry and tasteless. I was collecting breasts in my freezer, when I got three, I made chicken patties using a meat grinder adding A LOT of sauteed in an ample amount of fat onions and extra skin from the neck.
I'm sure you can get pickled pigs' feet at an ethnic market. I wouldn't even know where to shop for an animal head.
Chicken feet are very good for a meat jello, except they will get disintegrated into very small pieces which are hard to fish out. Feet have an amazing amount of bones.
Couple comments went missing when I was trapped into the useless discussion with Jane, and I mistakenly though that one of my comment on your blog was missing too, but it was a mistake on my part. Jane is such a clinging burdock! I hope she will stay away from me in a future after reading what I had to say to her. I tried not to talk with her since I had read her discussion with Anthony Calpo, but got trapped several times anyway. She is worse than any troll, however I can't help but to feel sorry for her circumstances.
Knox gelatin is pork from CAFO pigs. At least look at Great Lakes' stuff, which is from range-fed beef, although they are in Argentina.
Tuyrannocaster
If I get more gelatin (so far, results have been just so-so), I'll get some non-CAFO product.
I have used the Great Lakes and it pays to look around, pricewise. The stuff costs more than the cheapo gelatin, but I couldn't bring myself to eat CAFO gelatin. I make my own broth and it has so much gelatin in it that we just give the Great Lakes to the dogs now - it's great for their joints. (See http://canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/gelatin.htm for some really interesting stuff on gelatin and epilepsy )
Tyrannocaster
I changed one of the comment settings, so hopefully all your comments will get through.
Cooking pig feet is the main reason I own a pressure cooker - two-three hours is usually enough.
I never imagined I'd get so much information on gelatin. Thanks, everyone!
Now, whether all of this means that you HAVE TO HAVE the gelatin in your life is a different issue. :-)
Tyrannocaster
-Tyrannocaster