The Low Down

The human body is a metabolic marvel comprised of dozens of little systems connecting to create one complex system. Food is the fuel, the input, for the systems. Our metabolic machinery evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to function optimally on select fuels. These fuels were the original, Primal foods of the human organism. Over these hundreds of thousands of years our Big Game Hunting, small prey capturing, scavenging, foraging, gathering, opportunistic ancestors accumulated experience and wisdom about nourishing themselves. The learned to preserve and predigest foods to maximize the quality of their metabolic fuel. Eventually they learned to cook foods without destroying the important nourishing properties of the food, and then they learned to heal the human body with food. Only recently in the human evolutionary experience, have we abandoned all these hundreds of thousands of years of accumulated epicurean genius. Now we fuel our marvelous, complex metabolic machinery with crap invented to create profits for agribusiness. We have become dumb eaters. As we regain our eating intelligence it doesn't make sense to move back to the savannah and put out our fires or climb into our cave and pretend there is a glacier next door. It makes sense to fuel our bodies with all the primal human foodstuffs, prepared and preserved with accumulated ancestral wisdom and served up for the undeniable desires of the human taste buds. Primal, paleolithic food choices, handled according to ancient food ways resulting in outrageously good food.
PRIMAL. SMART. DELECTABLE.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sunday Dinner Side dishes: Japanese Miso meets Chippewa Wild RIce



Wild Rice with caramelized onions, Baby Greens with Sesame Dressing

Finally, we have managed to grow an abundant enough crop of greens so that I can make a salad and haven't used up the entire garden! This is absolutely due to NO work of my own. My father and sons are the gardeners. Tonight's salad will have sorrel, 3 kinds of leaf lettuce, tat soi and red mustard greens. The red mustard greens have a peppery bitterness as they should, so they can stand up to a robust dressing.
Sesame Dressing
1t toasted sesame oil
3 heaping Tablespoons of white chick pea miso (see note below)
1/8c rice vinegar
1/8c water
You could add a touch of raw honey to cut the vinegar if you wanted.

You might wonder if miso could possibly be Paleo since it is made from either soy beans or chick peas usually. Clearly the answer is "no". In my home I use miso because it is one of a few easily included sources of good bacteria and enzymes that are so sadly missing from our ridiculously hygenic existence. There is some very interesting research about the protective effects of miso for those exposed to the atomic bombs in Japan. Finally, any food that takes years to make has to be special. My favorite is South River Miso because they use traditional processes, excellent ingredients and package in glass. This is an excerpt from their website:
Unpasteurized miso is a "living food" containing natural digestive enzymes, Lactobacillus, and other microorganisms which aid in the digestion of all foods, and which have been shown to ward off and destroy harmful microorganisms, thereby creating a healthy digestive system.

In traditional Japan, miso gained a special place in the minds and hearts of generations who came to rely on miso soup as an essential part of their daily life. In Physical Constitution and Food, Dr. Shinichiro Akizuki, director of St. Francis Hospital, Nagasaki, writes:

I have found that, with very few exceptions, families, which make a practice of serving miso soup daily, are almost never sick.... I believe that miso belongs to the highest class of medicines, those which help prevent disease and strengthen the body through continued usage...Some people speak of miso as a condiment, but miso brings out the flavor and nutritional value in all foods and helps the body to digest and assimilate whatever we eat....
-The Book of Miso, page 25.

Wild Rice with Caramelized Onions
Wild rice is the seed of a marsh grass. Try to purchase rice harvested by the Anishinabe. Traditional users of wild rice. It is extremely important to their local economy and the cultural survival of their people. You can read about it here. This site has a picture and description of the difference between the most commonly available "Wild Rice" and true American wild rice.

I like to use a longer cooking approach to my wild rice, but you can just follow instructions on the package. I begin early Sunday morning by rinsing the rice. In a heavy stock pot I place 2c rice, 6c Non-tap water and 2T whey or saurkraut liquid. It is important to avoid chlorinated water when you want the benefit of living cultures in your food. Chlorine kills things. Nerve gas, you know? The whey (from raw milk which I give to my kids) or the saurkraut liquid adds an acidity to the soaking liquid as well as some bacterial activity. I leave this in a sunny spot on the counter all day til I am ready to bring it to a boil and simmer it for about an hour. Sometimes there is excess liquid I drain off, sometimes it all cooks away. Just keep an eye on it at the end. The grains should be a little chewy, but tender.

To caramelize onions, chop 3lg yellow onions . Melt 6T butter in a heavy pan and add the onions. It takes nearly 30min to properly caramelize onions. Keep the heat high enough so that the onions are browning, but not so hot they crisp or burn. The longer you allow the cooking, the sweeter they will taste.
Add a big spoonful of caramelized onions on your serving of wild rice.
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