LCHF

Two types of beef ribs

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. Yummy Lummy is a blog for people who live alone and are keen to cook meals for one.

I also share my opinions on topics others may be interested in. With my change in diet, the emphasis is shifting to my opinion on some food and non-food-related topics.

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe if you don’t care to read my views.

Lake Ginninderra on a cloudy but warm day

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine was great. I continue to recover from my injury. My surgeon is happy for me to see a physiotherapist, and I’m doing some range of motion exercises thrice daily.

My bare legs sans leg brace with my new stick between my legs. I’m happy that with physiotherapy, I can bend my knee to about 70°.

What have I been watching?

The Equalizer trilogy

There used to be a TV show from the 1980s called “The Equalizer”. It starred Robert Woodward as Robert McCall. McCall is a retired intelligence agent who helps people with trouble coping with life.

The movie series starred Denzel Washington as McCall. The third and final movie was released a couple of months ago. I like Denzel Washington as an actor. He also seems like he’s a decent bloke too.

A new TV series has been produced. I don’t think I’ll watch it. The movies are sufficient for me.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick (TV Mini-Series 2023‑2023)

Set in 1970s New York City, The Continental explores the origin of the hotel-for-assassins focus of the John Wick movie series seen through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott.

The biggest star of the John Wick movies for me was the 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, which featured a 428 in3 big block V8.

What have I been reading?

Life expectancy associated with different ages at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in high-income countries: 23 million person-years of observation. (Kaptoge et al., 2023)

This study looked at the effect a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) has on longevity. This observational study was conducted using information from 19 high-income countries. The authors calculated age-adjusted and sex-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality according to age at diagnosis of diabetes using data from 1,515,718 participants, in whom deaths were recorded during 23.1 million person-years of follow-up.

Every decade of earlier diagnosis of diabetes was associated with about 3–4 years of lower life expectancy.

The main message

While longevity isn’t my most important goal, I’d like to keep living if I’m happy and living happily. Avoiding T2DM will help achieve this. Rather than my end of life being a medical intervention, I’d like to use nutrition for the same outcome. Avoiding unnecessary carbohydrates (noting that no dietary carbohydrates are necessary) by focusing on real foods seems to make the most sense.

A bench seat on Lake Ginninderra with SAD written on the armrest. It reminded me to avoid the Standard Australian Diet.

What have I been listening to?

Monroe Doctrine book series

I’m now in volume VI and hopefully get to volume VII this weekend.

As a book series, I think this is a series I could easily re-listen to annually.

Making It So a Memoir by Patrick Stewart

Kathleen gave me a copy of this book to listen to as a gift.

The title refers to similar words one of Sir Patrick’s best-known characters says in most episodes of that TV show. If you’re not familiar with Sir Patrick and the roles he plays, I’m guessing you may not be interested in this book.

His Wikipedia entry mentions a bit of trivia I wasn’t aware of. Sir Patrick holds a world record for longevity performing a character.

Recipe

The dietary lifestyle I’ve now adopted is mundane regarding recipes. While it remains spring in Australia, and noting that Canberra isn’t the warmest place in the country, I’m still using my slow cooker and air fryer for indoor cooking.

I hope as summer approaches, I can use a frypan more. I don’t have a very efficient exhaust system in my flat, so unless I open windows and doors, the smoke from cooking meat easily triggers the smoke alarm. I can get good airflow in the flat when the windows and doors are open.

I see outdoor cooking in my future, but more about that when we’re in summer.

I chose two styles of beef short ribs for this recipe because I wanted to eat the meat directly from the smaller ribs and keep the meat from the short rib fingers for later in the week.

Equipment

  • Slow cooker
  • Air fryer

Ingredients

  • Beef short ribs (3 ribs)
  • Beef short rib fingers (2 ribs)
  • Beef, chicken, lamb, and pork stock — you can use any meat-based stock for this. You could also use a plant-based stock or a meat and plant stock. I’m using this because it’s what I have at hand.
Beef ribs for the slow cooker
Beef ribs for the slow cooker
Beef ribs for the slow cooker with beef, chicken, lamb, and pork stock

Instructions

  1. Place the meat and the stock into the cooking vessel.
  2. Slowly cook for eight hours.
  3. Remove the meat and place the ribs on a tray and into the air fryer for 20 minutes at 160 °C (320 °F).
  4. Set aside a portion of the ribs for dinner, put the rest of the ribs into a container and refrigerate. The rib meat can be used for lunches during the week.
  5. Filter the cooking liquor and keep it as the perpetual master stock.
  6. Serve the ribs with vegetables or eat them alone. If you’re following a carnivore diet, just the ribs will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. If you’re low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat 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, mashed tubers like potatoes or sweet potatoes would work well, as would mashed pumpkin. You could make a roux with flour, oil, or butter to make a gravy. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, these ribs won’t be suitable.
  7. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  8. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. This includes your fingers. I like holding the rib in my fingers and gnawing the meat from the bone. I ate the prawns with chopsticks. 🥢
Slowly cooked beef short ribs and short rib fingers prior to the air fryer
Slowly cooked beef short ribs and short rib fingers after finishing in the air fryer
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Beef ribs after gnawing them

Thoughts on the meal

As far as slowly cooked meat goes. Ribs are great. I don’t seem to be able to get beef cheeks delivered. I think as I become more ambulatory, I’ll make excursions (also known as hobbling) to the shops to buy cheek meat.

Refreshment from Kathleen

Kathleen introduced me to a new drink. Kathleen suggested a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of sparkling mineral water. Occasionally, I’ve enjoyed morning lime juice and tap water, but the ACV and mineral water drink is next level. It tastes good.

I also like that the ACV will possibly help stave off dementia so I don’t lose my mind too early as we grow old together. 🤪 (Tripathi et al., 2020)

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog do not constitute medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience.

References

Kaptoge, S., Seshasai, S., Sun, L., Walker, M., Bolton, T., Spackman, S., Ataklte, F., Willeit, P., Bell, S., Burgess, S., Pennells, L., Altay, S., Assmann, G., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Best, L., Björkelund, C., Blazer, D., Brenner, H., Brunner, E., … Kromhout, D. (2023). Life expectancy associated with different ages at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in high-income countries: 23 million person-years of observation. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 11(10), 731–742. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(23)00223-1

Tripathi, S., Kumari, U., & Mitra Mazumder, P. (2020). Ameliorative effects of apple cider vinegar on neurological complications via regulation of oxidative stress markers. Journal of Food Biochemistry, 44(12). https://doi.org/10.1111/jfbc.13504

Lamb lettuce wraps

Posted by Gary

Jump to the recipe if you want to skip the introduction.

Introduction

Dear Reader,

Hello there. I hope you enjoyed a good week. I’m still euphoric from last weekend’s trip to Brisbane and time with my daughters and parents.

Returning to Canberra reminded me again how good Brisbane is.

What have I been reading?

I’ve been reading nutrition articles in my spare time.

I came across an excellent paper describing the nitrate–nitrite–nitric oxide (NO) pathway. Dietary nitrate has various beneficial vascular effects, including reducing blood pressure, inhibiting platelet aggregation, preserving or improving endothelial dysfunction, and enhancing exercise performance in healthy individuals and patients with peripheral arterial disease. (Lidder & Webb, 2013)

Some studies with nitrate or nitrite also show the potential to protect against ischæmia-reperfusion injury and reduce arterial stiffness, inflammation, and intimal thickness.

I was interested in the ramifications of blood pressure control and other potential physiological benefits.

It also raised a question about the difference between the nitrates in leafy green vegetables and those found in cured meats like bacon.

To answer the question, I visited three large language model artificial intelligence platforms, viz., Bing, ChatGPT, and Bard. Check out the answers at the end of this post.

Noting that the main difference is the pathways to either nitric oxide or nitrosamines, I wonder what the outcome would be if I ate bacon with antioxidants. That would be an interesting experiment.

What I find interesting is the assumption that observational studies, including meta-analyses and systematic reviews are accepted without question by so many. The difficulty is that unlike the situation with cigarette smoking and lung carcinoma where the association was strong with odds ratios >30, for the nitrates and gastrointestinal carcinoma, the odds ratios are much less and in the order of just over 1.

The absolute risk is low when you take into account that gastrointestinal carcinomas occur in people who have never consumed cured meats. That said, it would be unethical to undertake a randomised controlled trial exposing a group of people to a diet with a lot of cured meat in it. Cause and effect may never be proven.

For me, this tells me that bacon, Spam®, and cured sausages are not everyday foods, but when I put them into the context of low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating, these foods are not anathema. Nor are they forbidden to me. The danger from sucrose, refined carbohydrates, and even complex so-called slow carbs is far greater in terms of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, and obesity. There is a growing belief that many malignant events are a result of insulin resistance.

Please note, reader, this is my personal opinion as it applies to my own health. I’m not providing advice to anyone. I get questions from friends and family, and I find writing out my thoughts here useful. The most important message for anyone reading this and thinking about their own health is to speak with their regular general practitioner. If you don’t have a GP, I urge you to find one and develop a strong relationship.

Recipe

Equipment

  • Slow cooker

Ingredients

  • Lamb bones
  • Lamb shanks
  • Iodised salt
  • Iceberg lettuce

Instructions

  1. Brown the lamb shanks and lamb bones in a hot oven.
  2. Place the lamb shanks and lamb bones into the slow cooker.
  3. Cook for 9 hours.
  4. Remove the meat and bones and then pass the cooking liquor through a metal sieve. The filtrate is the start of what will become bone broth with a few more uses with other joints of meat.
  5. Pull the meat from the bones and place into a refrigerator container. Discard the bones.
  6. Wash the lettuce leaves and spin them in a lettuce spinner to remove as much water as possible.
  7. Place some of the meat along with some olive oil and apple cider vinegar into a couple of lettuce leaves and roll them to form a bite-size bundles.
  8. You can serve these bundles of meat with a anything you like. I chose a little salad of avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives dressed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.
  9. Give thanks to the Lord.
  10. Eat with your fingers.

Thoughts on the meal

There’s nothing special or difficult about this meal. It requires no skill and given most of the cooking happens slowly the big advantage is that my flat is filled with the aroma of lamb fat and lamb meat.

Photographs

Pulled lamb wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves with a small salad
Lamb bones and lamb shanks
Slowly cooked lamb bones and shanks
Pulled lamb
Pulled lamb wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves
Pulled lamb wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves
Pulled lamb wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves

References

Lidder, S., & Webb, A. J. (2013). Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway: Vascular effects of dietary nitrate. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 75(3), 677–696. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.2012.04420.x

Bing

What is the difference between the nitrates in leafy green vegetables and those in cured meat like bacon?

Nitrates are a set of compounds that involve nitrogen and oxygen molecules. While they are often associated with cured meats, green, leafy vegetables are much richer in nitrates1. The nitrates found in vegetables may help reduce the risk of carcinoma, whereas eating foods high in added nitrates can cause health risks.

Cured or processed meats such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and ham often contain added nitrates and nitrites. These compounds prevent the growth of harmful bacteria, add a salty flavour, and make the meat appear red or pink2. Nitrates convert to nitrites, and in the stomach’s acidic environment, nitrites interact with specific components concentrated in meat to form N-nitroso compounds, which are potential carcinogens.

In summary, while the nitrates in leafy green vegetables may have health benefits, those in cured meats like bacon can have adverse health effects.

ChatGPT

What is the difference between the nitrates in leafy green vegetables and those in cured meat like bacon?

Both leafy green vegetables and cured meats like bacon contain nitrates, but there are essential differences in their sources, roles, and potential health implications:

Source and Chemical Structure:

Leafy Green Vegetables: Nitrates in vegetables come from the soil and water in which the plants are grown. They are naturally occurring and absorbed by the plants during their growth. Nitrates in vegetables are primarily in the form of nitrate ions (NO3–).

Cured Meats (Bacon): Nitrates in cured meats are additives, primarily in the form of sodium nitrate (NaNO3) or sodium nitrite (NaNO2). These additives are used in the curing process to preserve the meat’s colour and flavour and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria.

Conversion to Nitrites:

Leafy Green Vegetables: Vegetable-containing nitrates are converted into nitrites (NO2–) by bacteria in your mouth and gastrointestinal tract. These nitrites convert to beneficial compounds like nitric oxide (NO) in your body.

Cured Meats (Bacon): Nitrites are additives in cured meats. Nitrites play a crucial role in preserving the meat’s colour, flavour, and safety, as well as preventing the growth of harmful bacteria.

Health Implications:

Leafy Green Vegetables: Vegetable nitrates are generally considered beneficial for health. Nitric oxide, produced from the conversion of nitrates, promotes healthy blood vessels, regulates blood pressure, and supports overall cardiovascular health.

Cured Meats (Bacon): Concerns exist about the potential health risks of consuming large amounts of processed meats containing added nitrates and nitrites. High consumption of processed meats is associated with an increased risk of specific health issues, including colorectal carcinoma and other chronic diseases. The nitrites in cured meats can react with amines in the meat to form compounds called nitrosamines, some of which are considered carcinogenic.

Dietary Context:

Leafy Green Vegetables: Consuming a variety of leafy green vegetables is generally encouraged as part of a balanced diet due to their high nutritional content, including vitamins, minerals, fibre, and antioxidants.

Cured Meats (Bacon): Processed meats like bacon are typically higher in unhealthy fats, sodium, and calories and are often low in essential nutrients. As a result, consume processed meats in moderation and choose leaner and less processed protein sources.

In summary, while leafy green vegetables and cured meats contain nitrates, their potential health implications differ. Leafy greens provide natural sources of nitrates that can positively affect health, whereas the nitrates added to processed meats can raise concerns when consumed excessively.

Bard

What is the difference between the nitrates in leafy green vegetables and those in cured meat like bacon?

The nitrates found in leafy green vegetables and cured meat are chemically the same but have different effects on the body.

Nitrates in vegetables convert to nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide has many beneficial effects, including lowering blood pressure, improving blood flow, and reducing inflammation.

Nitrates in cured meat convert to nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are compounds linked to carcinoma.

Nitrates in vegetables are not harmful because of accompanying antioxidants, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, which help prevent them from being converted into nitrosamines. Cured meat, on the other hand, does not contain these antioxidants, so nitrates are more likely to be converted into nitrosamines.

In addition, the processing methods used to make cured meat, such as smoking and salting, can also increase the risk of nitrosamine formation.

For these reasons, it is safe to eat leafy green vegetables, even though they contain nitrates. However, limiting your intake of cured meat is best, mainly processed meats such as bacon, hot dogs, and sausages.

Here are some tips for reducing your intake of nitrates from cured meat:

  • Choose fresh meat over processed meat.
  • Look for meats labelled “no nitrates added” or “minimally processed.”
  • Cook meat at lower temperatures and for shorter periods.
  • Avoid smoking or salting meat.

Following these tips can reduce your risk of exposure to harmful nitrosamines.

LCHF Crumbed steak

Posted by Gary

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

Introduction 

Dear Reader, 

I hope you have enjoyed a good week. 

I’m continuing to listen to books when I’m not working. 

I’ve finished “The Case for Keto” and am in the middle of “Good Calories, Bad Calories“. The science and health journalist Gary Taubes wrote both books. 

These books are consolidating my understanding of lipid metabolism and the interplay with cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and other aspects of metabolic syndrome. 

I remember in medical school not being fond of eucaryotic biochemistry as opposed to procaryotic biochemistry. Reading these books, plus books by Timothy Noakes and Nina Teicholz, have at least got my attention. 

I can see the arguments for low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating to inhibit insulin resistance and stave off diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. 

I wanted to see if I could make crumbed steak with pork rinds tonight.

Recipe 

Equipment 

  • Air fryer 
  • Blender 

Ingredients 

  • Porterhouse steak (thinly sliced) 
  • Pork rinds (commercially bought)[1] 
  • Egg (beaten) 
  • Olives 
  • Avocado 
  • Cherry tomatoes 
  • Olive oil 
  • Apple cider vinegar 

Instructions 

  1. Convert the pork rinds to a crumb using a blender. 
  2. Beat an egg. 
  3. Dry the surface of the steak with a paper towel. 
  4. Dip the steak into the egg. 
  5. Dredge the steak through the pork rind crumb. 
  6. Cook the crumbed steak in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 180 °C. 
  7. Make a salad with olives, avocado, and cherry tomatoes. Dress the salad with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. 
  8. Serve the steak and salad with some Dijon mustard and sour cream. 
  9. Give thanks to the Lord. 
  10. Eat with a steak knife and fork. 

Thoughts on the meal 

I liked it. The pork rinds aren’t as crunchy as panko breadcrumbs, but they did the trick. Air frying the steak was also quick, easy, and free of lots of smoke and mess.

I’ll be doing this more regularly.

Photographs 

Pork rinds
Pork rinds
Pork rinds (crumbed)
Thinly sliced porterhouse steak
Pork “crumb” porterhouse steak
Pork “crumb” porterhouse steak with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives.
Pork “crumb” porterhouse steak with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives.
Pork “crumb” porterhouse steak with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives.
Pork “crumb” porterhouse steak with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives.

Footnotes 

  1. The only problem with these is the rice bran oil ingredient. Its nutrient characteristics are 38% monounsaturated, 37% polyunsaturated, and 25% saturated fatty acids. I’m not sure if rice bran oil is hydrogenated or not. 

Standing rib roast

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

This weekend you’re getting a double bunger. Last night, I cooked a Scotch fillet steak. Tonight, I’m cooking a standing rib roast with a difference.

I found a two rib brace1 at the supermarket and thought about cooking it in the pressure cooker. The plan is to then split them and air fry them. I wanted to see if I could get an extraordinary tender steak with a great crust.

Lake Ginninderra. This is near where I live. Today was gloriously sunny. Cold, but sunny.
Pork crackle rinds with blue vein cheese makes for a perfect post-walk snack.

Recipe

Equipment

  • Pressure cooker
  • Air fryer

Ingredients

  • Standing rib roast
  • Bone broth
  • Beef dripping
  • Butter
  • Avocado
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Olives
  • Sour cream

Instructions

  1. Put the beef and broth into the pressure cooker and cook for 45 minutes.
  2. Allow the pressure to equilibrate naturally.
  3. Remove the beef and carve between the ribs.
  4. Put one rib into a vacuum bag and seal it. Place it in the freezer for a meal at a later date.
  5. Dry the surface of the remaining rib and rub some beef dripping over the surfaces.
  6. Air fry for 5 minutes a side at 200 °C.
  7. Place a small knob of butter on the steak and let it melt.
  8. Make a salad with the avocado, olives, and cherry tomatoes.
  9. Add a dollop of sour cream.
  10. Plate it up.
  11. Give thanks to the Lord.
  12. Eat with a steak knife and fork.

Thoughts on the meal

The steak was tender and moist. The crust was okay.

The longissimus dorsi muscle was chewy but not tough. It was very beefy in flavour. The spinalis dorsi muscle (fat cap) was gorgeously tender and had that lovely fatty meaty mouthfeel. Gnawing the fatty meat from the bone was a bonus.

This is a guaranteed way of getting a tender piece of steak. This is important for people with poor dentition.

Photographs

Brace of beef ribs. Not cheap.
Pressure cooker air fryer beef ribeye with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives with a dollop of sour cream.

Footnotes

  1. Brace. One meaning for the word brace, is a pair of similar things. So a brace of ribs, is two ribs.

Scotch fillet and prawns

Posted by Gary

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

Introduction 

Dear Reader, 

I hope you have enjoyed a good week. I spent five days in Brisbane visiting family. 

While I was there, I tried two new places. The first was Fuzzy Duck Cafe, and the second was the Sandgate Post Office Hotel. 

The Fuzzy Duck Cafe is located in Kedron and is close to where I was. The breakfast options looked good, and I liked the ability to modify the elements of a dish. Because I’m low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating, I went with eggs Benedict with crispy bacon and avocado sans bread. 

The lunch and dinner options looked great at the Sandgate Post Office Hotel. I had the rump steak with a seafood side and béarnaise sauce. The seafood side consisted of three plump oysters, three battered prawns, and a serving of crumbed squid. The meal came with chips and a leafy green salad. 

I had to compromise my eating, so I ate the prawns and squid with the carbohydrate coating, but I gave my chips to one of my daughters. 

I wrote two short reviews on Google Maps. 

Fuzzy Duck Cafe 

Read the review on Google Maps.

Sandgate Post Office Hotel 

Sandgate Post Office Hotel rump steak with oysters, prawns, and squid. Served with chips, salad and béarnaise sauce. I didn’t eat the chips and compromised with the battered prawns and squid.

Read the review on Google Maps.

Tonight I’m cooking reef and beef. It was good on Thursday; it will be good today. 

Recipe 

Equipment 

  • Precision cooker 
  • Water bath 
  • Gas torch 
  • Frypan 

Ingredients 

  • Scotch fillet steak 
  • Salt 
  • Butter 
  • Prawns 
  • Lettuce 
  • Olives 
  • Avocado 
  • Cherry tomatoes 
  • Olive oil 
  • Apple cider vinegar 

Instructions 

  1. Thaw the steak. 
  2. Cook the steak at 53.9 °C for 1 hour. 
  3. Remove the steak from the bag and dry the surfaces with a paper towel. 
  4. Sear the steak in a frypan with butter. 
  5. Cook the prawns in the burnt butter. 
  6. Make a salad with lettuce leaves, olives, avocado, and cherry tomatoes. 
  7. Dress the salad with apple cider vinegar and olive oil. 
  8. Place the steak on a dinner plate with the prawns atop. Add a knob of butter, and with a propane (or butane) torch, melt the butter over prawns and steak. 
  9. Add the salad to make the food look good. 😉 
  10. Give thanks to the Lord. 
  11. Eat with a steak knife and fork. 

Thoughts on the meal 

The steak was tender and juicy, while the prawns were firm and fresh. I considered making a compound butter with curry powder but decided against it because I wanted unadulterated flavours. 

The salad was a salad; it helped make the food look good. 

Final thoughts 

  • Would you give away perfectly cooked chips? 
  • Do you like venues that permit you to modify the dishes to suit your dietary requirements? 

Photographs 

Sous vide scotch fillet steak
Sous vide scotch fillet steak with prawns cooked in burnt butter and served with a lettuce, tomato, and olive salad.