Weight loss

Turkey

If you continue having problems, message me via the blog’s contact page.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy.

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. After returning from Brisbane, I’ve enjoyed the week at work. As everyone tries to wrap up the calendar year, our diaries are full of meetings.

Recipe — turkey drumstick

I found some turkey legs to try.

Turkey isn’t my favourite meat. I thought I’d give a leg a try rather than breast meat. I assumed dark meat would be tender and juicy.

Originally, I was going to use a water bath, but all the recipes run for between 24 and 36 hours. I know my precision cooker can manage this, but I’d prefer not to use it for longer than a few hours.

I decided to use my pressure cooker, and I chose a cooking time of 25 minutes.

Equipment

  • Pressure cooker

Ingredients

  • Turkey leg (also known as a drumstick)
  • Beef stock

Instructions

  1. Place the turkey leg and beef stock into the pressure cooker.
  2. Seal the lid and turn it on.
  3. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
  4. At the end of the 25 minutes, turn off the heat and allow the pressure to equalise naturally.
  5. Remove the lid and take the leg out of the cooking vessel.
  6. Strain the cooking liquor and keep in the refrigerator as a mixed species stock.
  7. Preheat the oven to a high temperature.
  8. Pat the surface of the turkey leg with absorbent paper to remove as much moisture as possible.
  9. Put the meat into the oven for a couple of minutes to brown the skin.
  10. You could use a small gas torch to melt butter over the turkey if you have one.
  11. Put the leg onto a dinner plate.
  12. If you’re following a meat-only diet, just the meat will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. You can pick up the leg and just bite into it. This minimises washing.
  13. If you’re low-carbohydrate eating, meat and some plant-based foods like avocado, leafy green leaves, olives, and tomatoes are a good combination.
  14. If you’re not concerned with carbohydrates, fill your boots.
  15. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, this turkey leg won’t be suitable.
  16. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  17. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. Eating with your fingers is okay, in my opinion.

Thoughts on the meal

The leg was tender, and it wasn’t tough or stringy. It was filling.

I have another leg in the freezer. I may cook it in the new year.

Final thoughts

  • Do you like turkey? What is it about turkey meat that you enjoy?
  • I will try to post my Christmas meal on Monday afternoon.

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog are not medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience. My opinions remain mine.

For health advice, see your regular medical practitioner. For diet advice, consult with appropriately registered professionals.

Avocado and lamb cutlets

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe if you don’t care for my rambling palaver.

If you continue having problems, message me via the blog’s contact page.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. 😊 My target audience is readers who live alone and are keen to cook meals for themselves. If you’re part of a couple, I hope the recipes are adaptable for you, too.

I also share my opinions (not advice) on topics others may (or may not) be interested in. With my recent change in diet (SAD→CSIRO TWD→LCHF), the blog’s emphasis is shifting to sharing my opinions (not advice) on some food and non-food-related topics. Your comments are welcome, even if I may disagree.

I cite most journal articles or books I’ve read and mentioned. You can see the citations at the bottom of the post.

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week.

The weather is getting warmer, and with warmer days and evenings comes a greater sense of well-being, at least for me. Today, it is also wet, I don’t mind wet weather. I know many readers prefer colder, dry weather. We’re all different.

Last week, I cooked kangaroo steaks. Coincidentally, this week, I was engaged in conversations at work about kangaroo/wallaby meat and parasite infestation. I enjoy discussing biological threats and their implications for human health, especially when they overlap with my interest in food and cooking.

Work is getting busier, so I enjoy it when my job and personal health and nutrition interests intersect, and I can read and learn more about food, food safety, and human health.

What have I been watching?

Star Trek: The Next Generation

I’ve now finished the seventh and final season in this series. It had some excellent episodes, and in my opinion, the final episode, which wraps the series, is one of the best in the franchise.

I’m going to start watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

What have I been reading?

Standard mental health first aid manual

My employer is encouraging employees to undertake Mental Health First Aid® training. The hope is that collectively, as an organisation, we will look out for each other through greater awareness.

The core of the training is a book, viz., “Standard mental health first aid manual” (fourth edition). (Kitchener, 2017)

During the week I took part in the training and found the manual to be well written and very helpful.

More information can be found at the Mental Health First Aid® website.

Lipoprotein(a) and diet—a challenge for a role of saturated fat in cardiovascular disease risk reduction?

The authors consider new information on dietary recommendations to reduce saturated fat intake to modulate an individual’s global risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). While it is known that lowering dietary saturated fat intake decreases low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations, the findings increasingly show an opposite effect on lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) concentrations. Many studies have shown a role for an elevated Lp(a) concentration as a genetically regulated, causal, and prevalent risk factor for CVD. However, there is less awareness of the effect of dietary saturated fat intake on Lp(a) concentrations. The authors discuss this issue and highlight the contrasting effect of reducing dietary saturated fat intake on reducing LDL cholesterol and increasing Lp(a). It appears that a low carbohydrate, high saturated fat diet can reduce Lp(a). (Law et al., 2023)

Honey, what’s in a name?

During the week, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), issued a media release seeking comment on whether the honey from Australian stingless native bees should be permitted. It comes down to definitions of honey, and at the moment, it seems the food standard definition doesn’t accommodate Australian stingless native bees.

With Jeremy Clarkson in mind, if the Australian Native Bee Association Inc. is unsuccessful, perhaps they should call it Australian stingless bee juice. 🤔

If you are not familiar with the connection with Jeremy Clarkson, in a search engine (I use Duck Duck Go, but Google, Bing, and others will work), enter search terms like “Jeremy Clarkson”, “Diddly-Squat” “Bee juice” and hopefully you will see the connection.

What have I been listening to?

Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter (Wright, 2023)

Tom Wright (also known as N. T. Wright) is an Anglican bible scholar who (in my opinion) articulates the historical facts of the bible in a compelling way. I’ve enjoyed listening to his podcast and watching him speak via YouTube videos. He has a winsome approach to teaching doctrine.

Recipe

The more I read about meat in the human diet, the more I favour ruminant species. I’m eating more beef and lamb and less pork and poultry. For my palate, foregut fermenting mammals have a more pleasant flavour and texture in their meat and fat.

I also eat New Zealand Pacific salmon over locally farmed Tasmanian Atlantic salmon. The difference in flavour and texture is distinct. I’m also conscious of the criticisms of the Tasmanian salmon farming industry. This week, I read a newspaper report suggesting the criticism of the industry may create economic hardship for many people residing in Tasmania. I hope they find a solution that allows them to keep employed and improve the health and well-being of the salmon they farm.

Eat me, Gary.

I saw a rack of lamb ribs in the supermarket and felt it speaking to me. “Buy me and eat me, Gary”.

I’m also adding a modified guacamole 🥑 for tonight’s meal. During the week, Lorraine, from Not Quite Nigella, posted a recipe for what she believes is the BEST guacamole recipe.

Equipment

  • Oven
  • Meat thermometer
  • Gas torch

Ingredients

  • Rack of lamb
  • Iodised salt
  • Garlic
  • Rosemary
  • Avocado
  • Red onion
  • Coriander (some people call it cilantro)
  • Lime (for the juice)
  • Birdseye chilli
  • Pork rinds made with lard (no seed oils used)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 120 °C for a low cooking temperature.
  2. In the baking tray, add bruised garlic cloves and stalks of rosemary (I bruised the garlic with a metal weight).
  3. Place the lamb on a wire rack over a baking tray.
  4. Insert the meat thermometer into the thickest portion of meat.
  5. Place the lamb into the oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches 55 °C.
  6. If the fat isn’t brown enough, use a gas torch to sear the fat.
  7. When the lamb has rested, carve the cutlets from the rack and sear the cutlets in a hot frypan with some of the lamb fat collected in the baking tray.
  8. Keep the lamb fat for future use. I hope to keep my Lp(a) low with some saturated ovine fat. 😉 🐑
  9. In a medium-sized bowl mix the onion with the lime juice and salt and allow to sit on the counter for 20 minutes.
  10. Tear the coriander leaves and stalks.
  11. Place the avocado 🥑 flesh into a bowl and smash with a fork. I like my smashed avocado to be chunky rather than smooth.
  12. Stir in the onion, marinating juices, chilli, and coriander (leaves and stalks).
  13. Eat the guacamole with the pork rinds before the avocado oxidises because of exposure to oxygen in the air.
  14. If you don’t like avocado, consider serving the lamb cutlets with vegetables or eat it with some extra seasonings like iodised flaky salt and freshly ground black peppercorns. If you’re following a meat-only diet, just the meat will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. If you’re low-carbohydrate eating, the meat and some plant-based real foods like avocado, leafy green leaves, olives, and tomatoes are a good combination. If you’re not concerned with carbohydrates, some sautéed asparagus with hollandaise sauce would be great. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, this animal meat won’t be suitable.
  15. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  16. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. Eating with your fingers is okay, in my opinion. For this meal, I ate the meat lollipops by holding the rib bone and gnawing the meat from the bone. 🦴 I dipped pork rinds into the guacamole and put them in my mouth with my fingers. I didn’t need to dirty a knife or fork. 🍴

Cooking guide for rack of lamb

DonenessInternal Temperature (°C)Internal Temperature (°F)
Rare49–52120–125
Medium-rare54–57130–135
Medium60–63140–145
Medium-well66–68150–155
Well-done71 or higher160 or higher
Cooking guide

Thoughts on the meal

Tonight’s roast was an experiment. Many recipes suggest a higher oven temperature, e.g., 200 to 220 °C. Those recipes also recommend searing the lamb before entering the oven. I was interested in knowing the texture if I used a much lower oven temperature and took a low and slow approach to hopefully render the fat better.

It turns out, this approach works well. It takes longer, but the outcome is good. I recognise that many others will disagree and cook their rack of lamb differently. I’m trying to simplify the process and maintain the flavour and texture that suits my palate. This low-temperature approach also resulted in some great pan juices that didn’t evaporate.

Since changing my diet, I’ve been enjoying more lamb. The money I’m saving by not buying starchy, high-carbohydrate plant food and processed food is going into buying better-quality meat.

The birdseye chillies and lime juice gave the guacamole a nice zing. 🔥

While I’m probably eating more meat-only meals, avocado 🥑 is a regular feature in my meals. I am conscious that, unlike beef and sheep which are environmentally friendly when you consider the carbon dioxide sequestration and soil care in regenerative farming, avocado farming has problems. This is especially true for water requirements. (Buxton, 2022)

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog are not medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience. My opinions remain mine.

For health advice, see your regular medical practitioner. For diet advice, consult with appropriately registered professionals.

References

Buxton, J. (2022). The great plant-based con: Why eating a plants-only diet won’t improve your health or save the planet. Piatkus.

Kitchener, B. A. (2017). Standard mental health first aid manual. Mental Health First Aid Australia.

Law, H. G., Meyers, F. J., Berglund, L., & Enkhmaa, B. (2023). Lipoprotein(a) and diet—A challenge for a role of saturated fat in cardiovascular disease risk reduction? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 118(1), 23–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.05.017

Wright, T. (2023). INTO THE HEART OF ROMANS: A deep dive into Paul’s greatest letter. SPCK Publishing.

Legend

BMI = Body mass index.

CGM = Continuous glucose monitoring.

CSIRO TWD = Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Total Well-being Diet.

CVD = cardiovascular disease.

FMT = Faecal microbiota transfer.

FSANZ = Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

LCHF = low-carbohydrate healthy-fat eating.

Lp(a) = lipoprotein(a).

LDL = low-density lipoprotein.

Red meat = is the meat of mammals, including pork.

SAD = Standard Australian diet (rich in carbohydrates, poor in healthy fats, and heavy in processed and ultra-processed products).  

T1DM = Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

T2DM = Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

T3DM = Type 3 diabetes mellitus is a new term some people are ascribing to Alzheimer’s Disease.

TOS = Star Trek: The Original Series.

TNG = Star Trek: The Next Generation.

ENT = Star Trek: Enterprise (originally called Enterprise).

DS9 = Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Multi-animal species master broth

Dear Reader, 

Welcome to Yummy Lummy, the food blog for people who live alone and want practical meal ideas. 

If you want to skip the introduction, jump to the recipe

Introduction 

I hope you’ve had a good week. This weekend, five jurisdictions in Australia will change to daylight saving time. The result is five different time zones. It seems odd for South Australia to be 30 minutes ahead of Queensland. For readers not familiar with Australian geography, Adelaide is west of Brisbane. 

I’ve never been a fan of daylight saving time. I like waking early and being in bed early. 

What have I been watching this week 

I’ve been watching YouTube videos from medical practitioners, nutrition scientists, and physiologists advocating a low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat way of eating. Many of these people recommend a carnivore way of eating. 

Salt 

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on salt. I don’t understand why anyone would want to use the heavy-metal-contaminated salts from the Himalayan mountains and other places. From a non-communicable disease public health perspective, iodised sodium chloride (NaCl) is recommended. Iodine supplementation during pregnancy prevents cretinism. Iodine supplementation for a population maintains the intelligence of the community. Community average intelligence quotient results can be affected by insufficient iodine in our diets.

If you have a spare hour, here’s a link to a podcast featuring one of my medical heroes. 

The man who saved a million brains: Creswell Eastman’s pioneering work with iodine deficiency disorder.” 

I’m not keen on “pink” salts. A study conducted in Australia reported some products to have levels of contaminants that are not healthful and that the claims made by the vendors require the consumer to ingest more salt than is likely to be palatable (Fayet-Moore, Flavia, Cinthya Wibisono, Prudence Carr, Emily Duve, Peter Petocz, Graham Lancaster, Joanna McMillan, Skye Marshall, and Michelle Blumfield).1

MacOS Sonoma 

Last week, I updated my telephone and tablet operating systems.

I haven’t always been a user of Apple Mac products. Until I moved to Canberra, I was a dedicated Microsoft Windows user. I used to scoff at friends and workmates telling me to buy an Apple desktop or laptop. Part of my opposition was that Apple desktop computers looked very odd, and some laptop versions were also weird. 

When I moved to Canberra, two “events” coincided. The first was the amplification of computer viruses affecting MS Windows software, and the second was that Apple Mac laptops started looking good. 

I was getting tired of the problems associated with using expensive antiviral software. Back then, that software slowed the operating system’s speed. I knew computer viruses could still affect Apple Mac products, but it was an asymmetrical problem. 

I became a dedicated user with my first Apple MacBook. 

The new MacOS Sonoma was released this week (after the iOS and iPadOS releases last week). 

The new operating system has some nice enhancements which I’m enjoying. 

Recipe 

Equipment 

  • Slow cooker 
  • Oven 

Ingredients 

  • Beef short ribs 
  • Iodised salt 
  • Lamb, pork, and chicken broth — This broth combines cooking efforts over the last few weeks. I cooked the lamb and pork together and the chicken using the lamb and pork broth.

Instructions

  1. Place the beef short ribs into the slow cooker. 
  2. Add the broth and some extra salt. 
  3. Cook the beef on low heat for 8 hours. 
  4. Gently lift the short ribs from the slow cooker and place them on an oven tray. 
  5. Pour most of the beef, chicken, lamb, and pork broth into a container and refrigerate it.
  6. Reduce the remaining broth and use it like it’s a jus over the meal.
  7. Air fry the ribs for 20 minutes at 160 °C (320 °F). 
  8. Serve the meat in any way you like. You can eat it alone and drink some broth on a carnivore diet. You could serve it with low-carbohydrate vegetables like leafy green vegetables or avocado if that’s your preference. If you want, it would also taste great with some gravy and potato mash. 
  9. Give thanks to the Lord

Multi-animal species master broth 

I wonder how far I can go with this broth. If I was able-bodied, I’d buy a duck and maybe some goat to add to this broth. I don’t think I’d add an oily fish, though.

Photographs

I didn’t photograph the final broth because it looks like the lamb, pork, and chicken broth. 😊

Reference

  1. Fayet-Moore, Flavia, Cinthya Wibisono, Prudence Carr, Emily Duve, Peter Petocz, Graham Lancaster, Joanna McMillan, Skye Marshall, and Michelle Blumfield. “An Analysis of the Mineral Composition of Pink Salt Available in Australia.” Foods 9, no. 10 (October 19, 2020): 1490. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101490

Slow cooker lamb shoulder

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe

Dear Reader, 

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. A food blog about cooking meals for one.

Introduction 

How has your week been? I enjoyed some warmer days early in the week with daily maximum temperatures around 28 °C (about 82 °F). It was nice to be able to walk around in shorts and also to get outside and expose my scar to some sunlight. Yes, I have ichthyosis. My skin is always dry and scaly.

Patella ORIF scar getting some “bennies“.

I’m looking forward to warmer weather, although all residents of Canberra know that we can expect frost any morning until at least the second Tuesday of November. 

What I’ve been watching this week 

The bearded butchers 

The Bearded Butchers” is a YouTube channel featuring a butcher business from the USA. They specialise in sharing information on cattle, pig, and sheep butchery and meat processing for our tables. 

I have this desire to learn how to butcher cuts of meat properly. I want to break down and fabricate an entire pig and lamb. 

I also dream of having a decent workbench and freezer to cut and freeze my cuts. 

House 

Originally titled “House M.D.”, this is one of my all-time favourite shows on TV. Gregory House is an antisocial medical practitioner with specialist training in infectious diseases and nephrology. 

A muscle infarction in his right thigh left him with chronic severe pain, influencing his personality. The chronic pain has resulted in opioid dependence and the need to use a cane. 

He’s abrasive and contrary, but more often than not he’s correct. I don’t mind people who are obnoxious if they’re right; I do not like opinionated, obnoxious people who try to foist their views on me with poor-quality evidence. 

A big surprise 

I haven’t measured my mass since the morning of my injury. Because I cannot remove the brace, I didn’t see much point standing on the scales. I also don’t know the mass of the leg brace. 

During the week, curiosity got the better of me, and I stood naked on the scales after breakfast, coffee, and about a litre of water. With the brace on my mass, it was a huge surprise. I was more than a kilogram lighter than I’d been since high school. 

New Apple operating systems 

This week, Apple released iOS17 and iPadOS17. Updating the operating system on these devices feels more effortless these days. With Apple providing beta versions months in advance, release problems are fewer. 

Both devices feel faster to use, and I like some app enhancements. 

Given how expensive new Apple devices are, these major operating system updates are like getting a new smartphone and tablet without paying for them. 

Recipe 

I cooked this during the week and thought it was worth sharing on the blog. 

Equipment 

  • Slow cooker 
  • Oven 

Ingredients 

  • Lamb shoulder roast — boneless, rolled, and trussed with butcher’s twine 
  • Speck — I think of speck as fancy bacon. There will be readers who think cured meat is bad for our health. But there is no proof of causation of cured meat and malignancy. At best, there are association studies. The odds ratios, however, are fairly poor and close to 1. Unlike the epidemiological studies associating cigarette smoking and lung carcinoma which was later proven with mechanistic research.
  • Salt — I use iodised salt 
  • Black and white peppercorns 

Instructions 

  1. Place the lamb and pork into the slow cooker with a cup of water, a couple of teaspoons of salt, and a couple of teaspoons of whole peppercorns. 
  2. Cook on low heat for 10 hours. 
  3. Carefully remove the meat and strain the liquid to remove solid matter. 
  4. Place the meat into a baking tray and cook uncovered in an oven set at 180 °C (356 °F) for 30 minutes. The oven stage will dry the surface and create a thin crust over the lamb. 
  5. While the meat is in the oven, slowly boil the strained cooking liquor to evaporate the water and thicken the liquor. The reduced liquor will make a lovely lamb and pork broth. 
  6. Remove the meat from the oven and break it down with tongs. The lamb and pork will fall apart with little effort. 
  7. Transfer the pulled meat to a container for refrigeration. 

Meal ideas 

Here are some photographs of how I used the lamb and pork in a few meals. I still have most of the lamb and pork in the refrigerator, and it will keep me going for a few more meals. 

Final thoughts

  • How has your week been?
  • Do you update operating systems as soon as they’re released?
  • Have you watched “House”? Did you like it?

YouTube video

Sodium bicarbonate and tenderising meat

Dear Reader, 

I hope you’ve enjoyed a good week. 

I don’t have a recipe to share tonight. I want to describe how I have used sodium bicarbonate to tenderise meat. 

What is sodium bicarbonate?

Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is an odourless white crystal with a molecular mass of 84.0066 g mol–1. It’s primarily used as a rising or leavening agent to aerate foods like bread. This occurs when NaHCO3 combines with hydrogen (H+) and reacts with the acid, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) plus water (H₂O) and sodium (Na+) are formed. CO₂ is the gas that bubbles through the dough. 

I also use NaHCO3 to clean my stainless-steel cooking utensils in the kitchen, like frying pans and saucepans. 

This week, however, I exploited another feature of NaHCO3, its ability to tenderise meat. Watch Dan from America’s Test Kitchen (YouTube video below); he explains it well. 

How have I been using sodium bicarbonate?

Most people would use sodium bicarbonate (also known as baking soda) with raw meat. I have been using it with cooked meat. Because I’m a “freestyler” in the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, I design my own meals. This relies on cooking the meat portions on the weekend. I find using a water bath, and water heater/circulator for sous vide cooking the most convenient and time efficient. I know many people do not have this equipment. Many prefer using a frying pan and stove, a barbecue grill, or grilling in the oven. It doesn’t really matter what you use for cooking your meat. I manage my work and life around convenience. 

I don’t know if I’ll stop the weekly meal planning and preparation when I retire. It seems like an excellent discipline to retain. 

Meat cooked this way is always tender; however, the second cooking phase can cause the meat fibres to toughen when using this meat in a stir-fry. I’ve used sodium bicarbonate to avoid this and retain my desired suppleness. It works a treat. 

Another terrific resource on sodium bicarbonate in the process known as velveting is the book, “The Wok: Recipes and Techniques” by J. Kenji López-Alt. Check out page 74, where you will find the “Basic Velveting” section. 

Another blogger you can read for wisdom is Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella. Lorraine, who I think is “Better than Nigella”, has written about velveting in a few of her posts. The main one is velveting Chinese beef, chicken, and pork.

Coincidentally, America’s Test Kitchen tweeted this today.

Why Baking Soda is the Most Useful Ingredient in Your Kitchen

While sodium bicarbonate is not specifically mentioned, I can’t help but share a YouTube video featuring Lan Lam. She is a terrific pedagogue and reminds me of my Mum. 

The Secret To Mastering Burgers, Sausage, and Meatballs

On the subject of my mother, I recall, as a young child, standing next to Mum in the kitchen while she cooked. I would watch her use utensils and toss her wok. I also noted her use of sodium bicarbonate and corn flour (in North America, I think you call this corn starch). 

When I left home, I would try to emulate Mum’s cooking, but I am a lazy man who takes shortcuts. When I’ve taken to using those extra techniques that seemed natural to Mum, my food has brought back some of those pleasurable memories of how soft and delicate meat can feel in my mouth. 

An experiment

In Dan’s video, he also mentions that sodium bicarbonate helps enhance the browning of food. 

I thought I’d see if sodium bicarbonate enhances the browning of a lamb rump steak cooked a few weeks ago and frozen. 

I thawed the lamb overnight and then let it sit in a dilute solution of sodium bicarbonate and water for about ten minutes. 

I washed the surface of the meat and then patted it dry with a paper towel before searing it in a hot frying pan. 

Check out the result in the photograph. 

I don’t think it really helped with the searing of the meat. What it did you is make the lamb rump steak noticeably more tender. It’s a bit of a faff, but worth it if you want to improve the mouthfeel of meat. 

Photographs

Here are a series of photographs and descriptions of how I’ve tenderised meat this week and enjoyed the combination of tender meats and vegetables.

You can improve the texture of beef, chicken, pork, and lamb with sodium bicarbonate. I expect it will work with any other mammalian and avian meat. 

You may have noticed in the photographs of my lunch at work, I’m using a new lunch box. I used to use Tupperware plastic containers that were quite good but there was always a rick the lid would detach accidentally.

I’ve now purchased a couple of Avanti stainless steel containers which have a secure fitting lid.

Gifted kipfler potatoes

A workmate grows kipfler potatoes. Potatoes aren’t a big part of the CSIRO TWD. I can’t say no to free spuds though.

Zucchini “noodles” Pork Curry Kipfler potatoes Ginger beer

Final thoughts

I hope you found this post interesting. If you’ve never tried tenderising meat with sodium bicarbonate and you give it a go, please come back here, and leave me a comment on what you think about it. I’d be keen to know if you think it’s worth the extra effort. 

A few people have been asking about how I feel while on the CSIRO TWD. I’m feeling well. I’m feeling more flexible and agile and more energetic. One downside, though, has been the change in bowel habits. It’s not as regular, and the pungency of the aroma, especially of my flatus, can be embarrassing in workplace situations. 

This week’s TWD photo

Photograph of Gary wearing a maroon polo shirt.
Entering week 5 of TWD