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What To Eat Today – One Mad Chef https://jimmyschmidt.com Fri, 19 Jan 2024 19:29:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 118841042 Legends of the Stove Gala https://jimmyschmidt.com/legends-of-the-stove-gala/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legends-of-the-stove-gala Fri, 19 Jan 2024 19:19:49 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=3383  The “Legends of the Stove” Gala was a historic gathering of iconic chefs, restauranteurs, and front-of-the-house legends from metro Detroit including Chef Milos, Chef “Duglass”, Chef Shawn Loving, Chef Ed Janos, Chef Jimmy Schmidt, Chef Michael Ransom, Chef Anthony Lombardo, Chef Luciano Del Signore, Chef Brian Polycn, Chef Greg Upshur, Master Sommelier Madeline Triffon, Adrian Lark, Joe Vicari, and more.  The event announced “Detroit-City of Chefs”, a documentary film to be released later this year on Detroit Public Television by Keith Famie, executive producer, chef, and his video production team. These featured chefs include James Beard Award winners, Michigan Master Chefs, Culinary Olympic Teams, and most importantly the humble, hardworking chefs and pastry chefs that make Detroit a great food city.

Here are a few links for your review. 
 
Film Trailer:
 
Film Website:
 
Below:  Jimmy & Stephen Schmidt presented Wagyu Short Rib atop a Chanterelle Ravioli.

The “mock’ ravioli was made from paper thin slices of celery root to simulate the “pasta” , filled with chanterelles and hedgehog mushrooms, with Wagyu Beef Short Rib nugget, and topped with a salad of crispy celery root, parsnip, sage, rosemary, shallots, chives, and truffle oil scented Magenta Beet  micro greens. * Wagyu Short Ribs were made possible by Dearborn Brands.

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2023 Mead Open Competition https://jimmyschmidt.com/2023-mead-open-competition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2023-mead-open-competition Thu, 25 May 2023 16:14:15 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=3145 WORLD MEAD OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP TASTING & DINNER

HOSTED BY SCHRAMM’S MEADERY  

                              MENU PAIRINGS BY JIMMY SCHMIDT                                 

ASSORTED TINY TASTES

Artichoke & Castelvetrano Olives Tapenade Crostini

Ahi Tuna Tartar Chips, Glazed With Chilpotle Aioli

BBQ Glazed Malpeque Oysters

Smoked Salmon Grilled Boirson Black Bread Bites

St. Ambrose Draft Mead “Razzputin” & “Rhythm & Blues”

DINNER

Ginger Seared Sea Scallops 

Roasted Fennel, Red Endive, & Pea Tendril Nest

Cloaked with Fennel Pollen Emulsion, Crispy Shallots

Golden Coast Mead “Wildflower Sour”

Smoked Slow Cooked Wagyu Shortrib 

Morel Mushroom & Root Vegetable Gratin

Splashed with Blackberry Gastrique, Crispy Sage & Parsnips

Schramm’s Mead “A Smoke of Fortune”

Cherry, Boysenberry, Raspberry, Black Currant

 

DESSERT

Nocturn Double Dark Chocolate Pot

Topped with White Chocolate Frozen Crema, Red Caramel Drizzle. Lucky Salt

Triaxial Meadsmiths “Burst and Bloom” Black and Red Raspberry Mead

 

FOODS By Chefs Jimmy Schmidt & Brian Recor

The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage’s fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

Mead is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man, and was first made in ancient times.

 
Here are definitions of some mead specific terminology you will see on the rubric: 
Traditional –  A mead made without any fermentable or flavoring ingredients other than honey
Melomel – A mead made with fruit
Cyser – A mead made with apples
Metheglin – A mead made with spices
Pyment – A mead made with grapes
Braggot – A mead made with grain, traditionally barley malt. A hybrid style of mead and beer
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Spring Morel Mushroom Season is Here in Michigan https://jimmyschmidt.com/spring-morel-mushroom-season-is-here-in-michigan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spring-morel-mushroom-season-is-here-in-michigan Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:21:33 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=3133

My son’s an expert and finding the best and the biggest in the woods!

SETTING THE FLAVOR OF MORELS FREE
TODAY’S LESSON: Nothing is as delicious as fresh morel mushrooms sautéed in sweet butter but how can you enjoy the flavor without all the fat? The trick is in the technique and we’ll show you a couple of methods tobring out that special morel taste.
WHY IT TASTES SO GOOD: Mushrooms are mostly water which contains almost all of the distinct flavor profile. Cooking techniques which concentrate these juices will intensify the flavor of the morel. Besides the direct mushroom taste, the use of high heat during cooking will caramelize the natural sugars to produce that wonderful, deep-toasted flavor. The overall combination of these two flavors produces that incredibly rich morel mushroom flavor.
ADVANTAGES: Cooking with low or no fat obviously has its health advantages but also allows the subtle flavor of the mushrooms to come forward no longer covered by the taste of heavy fat. Morels are low in calories with lots of fiber, some vitamins, minerals and, most importantly, that great taste.
HOW TO SELECT PERFECT MORELS: Wild morels can be a number of different species which will result in slight variations of flavor and texture. Select the best by freshness as noted by full, plump stems. The texture should be pliably supple, never dry or soggy. Avoid crumbly paper-like mushrooms which will disintegrate when cooked. Store in a paper bag with a few holes poked in it for ventilation, in the coldest part ofthe refrigerator. Use within a few days to enjoy them at their peak.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE: Mushrooms are like sponges. Clean the mushrooms by trimming the stems, then brushing away the dirt with a stiff, small brush, such as a toothbrush. If they are dirtier, rinse well under slowly running cold water, one by one, and immediately drain in a colander. NEVER soak or submerge in water. Dry
in a lettuce spinner or on paper toweling well. The trick to concentrated mushroom flavor and cooking without steaming is to keep the mushrooms dry.

 

Morel Mushroom & Wild Ramp Blini

Makes 4 servings

4          Rye Blini, cooked recipe follows

1          tablespoon unsalted butter

8          ounces fresh morel mushrooms, cleaned and stems trimmed as necessary

16        small ramps, pull off coarse outer skin, trim roots and rinse as necessary

            Porcini sea salt

            ground Telecherry black pepper

1          tablespoon snipped fresh chives

2          tablespoons creme fraiche

2          tablespoons Purple Haze goat cheese

 

To Make:

 

Position the cooked blini in the center of each warm serving plate. 

 

In a medium skillet over high heat add the butter cooking until it starts to brown.  Add the morels cooking until seared on all sides, about 3 minutes.  Add the ramps cooking until wilted and tender, about 1 minute.  Add the chives.  Season to taste with Porcini salt and black pepper.  Remove from the heat.  Position the morels atop the blini.  Artistically position the ramps atop the morels.

 

In a small bowl combine the creme fraiche and goat cheese.  Spoon the creme fraiche atop the ramps.  Serve.

 

Created by Chef Jimmy Schmidt

 

 

 

 

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The food we are eating in destroying our climate and here’s how to change it https://jimmyschmidt.com/the-food-we-eat-is-destroying-the-climate-heres-how-to-fix-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-food-we-eat-is-destroying-the-climate-heres-how-to-fix-it Thu, 09 Mar 2023 00:07:21 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=3117

New research calculates how much climate change our food system could cause and how to avoid it.

The global food system, and the agriculture industry that supports it, could cause as much global warming as all human activity has caused since the industrial revolution, new research finds.

The planet has already warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times. That might not seem like much, but it’s the primary driver of more extreme weather and a cascade of other dangerous effects from climate change. Under the current status quo, greenhouse gas emissions from our food system alone could warm the planet by an additional degree. That’s enough to blow past global climate goals set under the Paris agreement and significantly intensify climate disasters.

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent that grim scenario, according to the research published today in the journal Nature Climate Change. But we’ll have to rethink the way we farm, eat, and handle our food waste.

We’ll have to rethink the way we farm, eat, and handle our food waste “Everybody eats,” says Catherine Ivanovich, lead author of the new research and a PhD candidate at Columbia University. Considering the environmental impact of our food is “important as we look into the future in terms of supporting a global population, while also maintaining a secure climate future,” she says.

Ivanovich and her colleagues poured through assessments of how much pollution different food items produce and then modeled how much they each contribute to global warming through 2100. All in all, if the world continues to produce and consume food in the way that it does today, the food sector alone could cause the planet to heat up an additional 0.9 degrees Celsius.

A few food groups in particular are responsible for a whopping 75 percent of that global warming. They’re foods that are high sources of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first couple of decades after it’s released.

Beef and other ruminant meat, a category that includes hoofed mammals with four stomach compartments like goats and sheep, are at the top of the list when it comes to causing climate change. Rice and dairy are next, the other two food groups responsible for a whole lot of methane emissions.

This is how cows became notorious for their gas. When they burp, they let out methane. Their manure also releases methane and another potent greenhouse

gas, nitrous oxide. But people are still at fault; global meat consumption rose by 500 percent between 1992 and 2016 along with growth in population, incomes, and the adoption of more Western diets across the world.

After ruminant meat, rice is the food item responsible for the most global warming. Flooded rice paddies are a breeding ground for methane-producing microbes. And rice is a staple food for much of the world, which is also why it has such a big environmental footprint. But on a per-calorie basis, rice and other plant foods are much less greenhouse gas intensive than animal foods.

The authors of the new research highlighted three big steps to take to limit greenhouse gas pollution from food, strategies that could cut their global warming potential by more than half.

The trickiest of those tactics is for humans to adapt to the climate risks we face by altering our diets. In this case, the researchers aren’t asking for anything extreme or even for people to eat vegetarian. Their modeling, which found a 55 percent reduction in the food sector’s contribution to future global warming, is based on people following healthy diet recommendations from Harvard Medical School. Those recommendations include a protein-rich diet that cuts down on saturated fat and cholesterol. That might entail residents of more affluent countries reducing their meat consumption, while people experiencing poverty might increase how much meat they eat. And Ivanovich is quick to say that any changes in diet need to respect cultural traditions.

“There’s never going to be one silver bullet”

Changing systems for how we produce food and treat wasteis just as important. About a third of the world’s food production is lost or wasted, which then goes on to generate methane emissions in landfills. Throwing less food out will be crucial for efforts to tackle climate change, and that can be achieved through relatively simple fixes like retailers offering products in smaller packages.

There are more complex efforts to genetically engineer rice or produce cattle feed that reduces methane emissions. And while those technologies could play a role in limiting climate change, they need to be balanced with other strategies that get us away from the “business as usual” that got us into a climate mess in the first place.

“There’s a valid concern that if we get too hung up on a technological fix, then we might ignore the other behavioral and policy interventions that we need,” says Brent Kim, a research program manager at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and who was not involved in the new research. “There is absolutely a role for technology, but I think that has to be considered holistically. Climate change is such a severe and urgent problem, there’s never going to be one silver bullet.”

 

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LUCKY’S FIRE + SMOKE https://jimmyschmidt.com/luckys-fire-smoke/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=luckys-fire-smoke Wed, 25 Jan 2023 00:12:31 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=3074

LUCKY’S JOB 1 = GREAT TASTE!

Great Food Nourishes the body, the mind and the soul!  

It provides life and the reason to live!

Lucky’s Foundation is Great Beef

Cows have the unique ability to capture and absorb the micronutrients from the plants of the pasture and convert it to animal protein to nourish our human lives.  The Wagyu-Angus breed has the unique ability to produce more Omega fatty acids than other breeds and disperse these benefits throughout their muscle structure for our benefit and enjoyment.  

 

 

Noble Ingredients such as Gulf Shrimp, and Local Fish capture rich aqua micro nutrients through their diet converting to marine based proteins as well.

The plant world provides so many wonderful nutrients to enhance our lives.  Vegetable rich in Carotenoids, Flavonooids, Polyphenols and Catechins are essential to the health of our microbiome and so many of our active body functions. 

 

Noble grains such as basmati rice and protein rich lentils are combined to achieve a complete plant based 20 amino acid protein.  Culinary techniques cook the grains to make complex carbs for better nutrition and blood sugar control, while reducing those pesky lectins (see below,,link)

The Botanical plant world has a lot to contribute with tasty spices that deliver rich flavonoid polyphenols to elevate the flavor of the dish and nourish your body.  Turmeric, Ginger, Chiles, Black Pepper, Cumin, Coriander and many, many more make up our Lucky Spice Blends laced through all our dishes. 

Don’t forget healthy fats that also fuel our bodies.  Omega rich Wagyu  Golden Culinary Oils are in our great candles, pretty to look at and tasty for dipping our bread.   A2 Cow Butter with micronutrients, MCT rich Coconut Oil, and of course Polyphenol rich Olive Oil round our Lucky’s Pantry.

Sip Soar Restore with Lucky’s Twisted Classic Cocktails that are enhanced with botanical enriched restorative syrups for taste and nutrient delivery in your now guilt free – good for you cocktail!   

 

WHY FIRE……

In “Catching Fire” by Richard Wrangham, Fire is presented as kindling the evolution of the modern human by breaking down protein and other nutrients to make them more bioavailable to our digestive system.  It radically decreased the time our ancestors spent on collecting, chewing and digesting food for nutrients to survive.  

Yes, raw food has more nutrients than cooked food BUT most raw nutrients are less or not even nutritional available without cooking.  For instance it is absolutely necessary to cook Carotenoids such as carrots, tomatoes, peppers, corn as the only way to make their nutrients BIOAVAILABLE to your body.

WHY SMOKE… 

Smoke led us to the fire that transformed us as a species.  Smoke is excitement and when we catch it we can transform it into delicious flavor.  LIVE SMOKED Wagyu Beef Short Ribs captures being inside the smoker while enabling you to dig right in.  LIVE SMOKED Twisted Cocktails takes you right inside the fire charred barrel that has tamed wild liquor spirits into delicious.  Marshmallows on fire atop the Twisted Smores takes us back to out childhood campfire fun.  Smoke goes hand in hand with Fire, harnessing the flavor and nourishing benefits of delicious natural foods.

 

Lucky’s LIVE Smoked Wagyu Short Rib

 

HOLY TRANSFORMATION..

In the beginning, first comes the cure, the secret blend of Lucky’s  Famous Red Spices with all the fixings that takes the wonderful Wagyu Beef to the next world of flavor sensation that everyone loves.  Originating in the Fertile Crescent in the beginning of history the spices complete the protein structure thus preserving flavor, texture, color, and nutrition.

Second comes the low and slow wood smoke.  The Wagyu cured cuts are hung to expose all surfaces to the subtle scent of the flavorful smoke, for hours and hours, gently merging the rich flavors of the Red Spice Cure surrounded by wisps of Apple and Hickory Smoke.

Third, the Slow & Low cooking for 12 to 24 Hours achieve the rich Umami Flavor and Silky Fork Tenderness.  Then and only then, it is ready for Lucky’s Classic & Innovative food creations.

This HOLY TRANSFORMATION is a journey of Tender Love.  From Harvest to Aging to Red Spice Curing to Hickory Smoking to Low & Slow Cooking only takes about 60 days!   

See more at http://luckysfiresmoke.com/. Also https://luckyslafayette.com/gallery/

WHY DOES LUCKY’S COOK SO LOW (TEMPERATURE) AND SLOW?

The “low and slow cooking temperatures”, lower than the temperature in a smoldering fire, melt the Omega rich amino acid marbling and natural connective tissues to delicious sweet silky texture.  This “low and slow” is not hot enough to drive out the natural juiciness, thus preserving the incredible aged Wagyu flavor and texture.  “Low and slow” also delivers more flavor and better texture while breaking down the proteins for more absorption and better nutritional delivery to our body.

LUCKY’S GREAT TASTE DELIVER SUPERIOR NUTRITION

More Protein & Fiber, Lower Complex Carbs  

WITHTOUT – No Wheat, No Gluten, No Soy, Low Lectines

NONE OF THE BAD STUFF!!

The Troublesome Gluten, Wheat, Soy & Lectins……

Yes, Lucky’s menu is completely composed of Gluten Free Ingredients.  Our Super Buns reflect our goal to create “better for you foods “ with higher proteins, good fats and lower carbs, all without gluten. We do not have wheat, soy or pork of any type in our kitchen.

As you know gluten is only one protein in a huge family of proteins called lectins.  Some lectins are severely poisonous while others are less troublesome to consume.  We try to eliminate or minimize these other sources of lectins on the menu as well.  It is generally believed that celiac disease could also be stimulated by other lectins not solely gluten. 

http://luckysfiresmoke.com/gluten-lectins

Phytic acid is considered an antinutrient because it impairs mineral absorption.  Phytic acid prevents the absorption of iron, zinc, and calcium and may promote mineral deficiencies.  Phytic acid is mainly found in grains, nuts, and seeds. Foods high in phytic acid include cereals, legumes, and certain vegetables.

Sweet Protein Breads and Buns (Dough Products) 

Lucky loves bread and everything made from dough but wheat flour is not so good for you.  Not so long ago Congress enacted the flour enrichment legislation in  War Food Order of 1943 to add essential nutrients stripped during processes and naturally absent from wheat flour, to offset deficiency cesease syndrome and insure better available nutrition to our population.  (See foot note below)

The little Wheat Protein in bread only converts 25% of its protein into your system compared to Whey Protein conversion of 100% into bioavailable nutrients to you.

Lucky’s approach is start with noble seed flours (no wheat no soy no gluten) with cleaner carbohydrates and fiber combined with rich sweet digestible proteins such as wholesome natural milk protein which converts 95% to your system that we use to make our Lucky’s Sweet Protein buns and breads.  With more protein and fibers,there are less carbohydrates in these delicious breads,buns,rolls and pastries.

The Bread we Love that Loves Us Back  

 

LOTS OF THE OTHER GOOD STUFF FROM THE PLANT WORLD..

Carotenoids are a class or more than 750 naturally occurring plant pigments that the 

results of observational studies suggest that diets high in carotenoid- vegetable and fruits are associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and some cancers,

They are best absorbed with fat in a meal.  Chopping, pureeing and cooking carotenoid containing vegetables in oil generally increase the bioavailability of the carotenoids they contain.

Flavonoids are various compounds found naturally in many fruits and vegetables. They’re also in plant products like wine, tea, and chocolate. There are six different types of flavonoids found in food, and each kind is broken down by your body in a different way. Flavonoids are rich in antioxidant activity and can help your body ward off everyday toxins. Including more flavonoids in your diet is a great way to help your body stay healthy and potentially decrease your risk of some chronic health conditions.

Catechins are a class of flavonoids – plant-based chemicals that help protect plants from environmental toxins, repair damage, and give certain foods, such as wine, tea and chocolate, their color and taste. They’ve also been found to have powerful antioxidant effects in people.

SUPERIOR COOKING TECHNIQUE TO DEVELOP NUTRITION – 

EXECUTED BY LUCKY’S CULINARY ARTIST TEAM

SEE MORE HERE OF LUCKY’S FOOD HERE

Complex Carbs are created by advanced culinary techniques that convert simple blood sugar spiking carbs into slow burning microbiome friendly complex carbs.  Complex carbs are the best fuel for our life as a journey not simple carbs that give us a short sprint to the end.

Pressure Cooking is very effective to break down those pesky lectins.  Lectins are those plant based human pesticides that can kill us directly, but in our common diet kill us slowly by destroying our gut body friends that make up our microbiome.

Lucky’s Chicken – Poultry Curing and Butter Poaching Technique

** oil vs water based thermal capacity and energy transfer

The thermal energy to cook food travels with less thermal capacity through fats than through liquids.  This culinary technique works very efficiently at lower temperature to cook food for our nutritent benefit.  This lower energy-lower temperature range drive out less moisture from the foods maintaining better textures, juiciness and or course nutrients.

A broad range of progressive culinary techniques, expand the taste and nutritional benefits of the vegetable world.  Lucky’s chases fresh and deep rich flavors from our friends in the plant world so you can love your vegetables as much as you love proteins.

At Lucky’s we love bread, so our approach is to start with the best noble seed flours that have more flavor, more protein and cleaner carbohydrates to make our Lucky’s Sweet Protein rolls and buns.  Yes they have bigger flavor and a rich texture because they are packed with better for you nutrients.  

Lucky’s doesn’t use wheat flour because unless it is enriched, it really has very little nutritional value, too many carbs and not so good for you gluten.

(Without enrichment the flour is unsuitable for human consumption)

NOTES: 

In the 1930s and 1940s specific deficiency disease syndromes were first identified and documented in the United States (Foltz et al., 1944; McLester, 1939; Williams et al., 1943). Based on this new science, in 1940 the Committee on Food and Nutrition (now the Food and Nutrition Board [FNB]) recommended the addition of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and iron to flour (NRC, 1974). About that time FDA first established a standard of identity for enriched flour that identified specific nutrients and amounts required for addition to any flour labeled as “enriched” in order to improve the nutritional status of the population (FDA, 1941). The approach of using a standard of identity, which establishes the specific type and level of fortification required for particular staple food to be labeled as enriched, has remained a key aspect of fortification regulations and policy in the United States. These standards have been amended over the years, but they continue as the basis for the addition of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, and iron to enriched flour, with the addition of calcium as optional.

Concurrent with these activities, the nutritional status of Americans was being questioned as a result of the poor nutritional status of young men enlisting for service during World War II. These concerns led to the National Nutrition Conference for Defense in May 1941, convened by President Roosevelt. An outcome of this conference was the recommendation for flour and bread enrichment using the existing standards developed by FDA (Quick and Murphy, 1982).

Although the original FDA standard was not amended to include bread for several years, the enrichment of bread began in 1941 as a result of discussions among FNB, AMA, FDA, and the American Bakers Association. The voluntary cooperation of bakery-associated industries led to 75 percent of the white bread in the United States being fortified by the middle of 1942 (Quick and Murphy 1982). The first War Food Order, enacted in 1943, stated that all flour sold for interstate commerce would be enriched according to FDA standards.

Read more at https://www.healthline.com/health/what-are-flavonoids-everything-you-need-to-know

ALLERGENS WE AVOID OR IDENTIFY

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Dr. Gundry Decadent Wellness Dinner @ Ojai Valley Inn with Nancy Silverton + Jimmy Schmidt https://jimmyschmidt.com/dr-gundry-decadent-wellness-dinner-ojai-valley-inn-with-nancy-silverton-jimmy-schmidt/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dr-gundry-decadent-wellness-dinner-ojai-valley-inn-with-nancy-silverton-jimmy-schmidt https://jimmyschmidt.com/dr-gundry-decadent-wellness-dinner-ojai-valley-inn-with-nancy-silverton-jimmy-schmidt/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2022 15:38:12 +0000 https://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=2589 Great Food can also deliver Great Nutrition!  Nancy Silverton, Jimmy Schmidt and Dr. Gundry teamed up with Chefs Andrea Strand, Michael Treanor and Melissa  Lamb of Ojai Valley Inn  to present a Decadent Food and Wine Wellness Dinner at the incredible Farmhouse. See more

Ojai Valley Inn is nestled in the bohemian enclave of Ojai, California is the historic AAA Five Diamond, Ojai Valley Inn, a luxurious retreat that has been one of California’s most revered destinations since opening in 1923. Located just 90 minutes north of Los Angeles, the resort overlooks the unspoiled natural beauty of its mountain surroundings and celebrates the relaxed glamour of California’s past to create an unparalleled resort experience that is quintessentially Ojai. The resort turned the page to a new chapter in 2019 with the unveiling of The Farmhouse, a 50,000 square-foot epicurean event center, connecting world-class food culture, sublime indoor and outdoor settings and bucket list events.

THE WELLNESS DINNER

with DR. STEVEN GUNDRY

Jimmy Schmidt, chef, Food Researcher & Inventor

Nancy Silverton, Mozza Restaurant Group

Elizabeth Wong, Executive Chef, Mozza Restaurant Group

The Farmhouse at Ojai Valley Inn – February 5, 2022

FIRST

Nancy Silverton

Celery Hearts with Lemon, Mozzarella di Buffalo, and Cantabrian Anchovies

Ampelos Blanc de Noir 2018

SECOND

Jimmy Schmidt

Gingered Sea Scallop with Spring Fennel, Asparagus Threads, Leeks, and Endive

Ampelos Phi Viognier 2021

THIRD

Nancy Silverton

Indian Spiced Chicken Salad

Ampelos Lambda Pinot Noir 2018

MAIN

Jimmy Schmidt

Black Spiced Wagyu Short Rib with Kilned Basmati, Puy Lentil,

Wild Mushroom Ragout, and Crispy Shallots

Ampelos Gamma Syrah 2018

DESSERT

Nancy Silverton

Lemon Posset with Pine Nut Amaretti

Ampelos Epsilon Late Harvest Viognier 2016

 

 

https://burgundybluephoto.pixieset.com/farmhouse-25-wellnessdinnerwithnancysilvertonanddrstevengundry/

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Dr. Gundry + Jimmy Schmidt Podcast https://jimmyschmidt.com/dr-gundry-jimmy-schmidt-podcast/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dr-gundry-jimmy-schmidt-podcast Tue, 11 Jan 2022 18:08:22 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=2575

More and more of us are cooking at home these days.

And that’s great news — since home cooking is the BEST way to control the food you eat and manage your health. 

But how can you make your home-cooked meals truly extraordinary?

Well, to help me out, I’m joined by my friend and award-winning chef Jimmy Schmidt.

Jimmy is a three-time James Beard award-winning chef, who’s opened restaurants across the U.S., written several books about cooking, and has worked with me since 2004 to develop special collaborative dinners exploring taste and nutritional development. 

On this episode, Jimmy and I talk all about the nuts and bolts of cooking. We explain how to find the RIGHT ingredients, share the secrets to creating awesome flavors, and explain the common mistakes many home cooks make (and how to fix them). 

On this episode you’ll learn:

  • Why perfecting THIS skill makes cooking fun and stress-free (plus, your food will taste better too) (15:00)
  • Why this SUPER common cooking mistake is leaving your food dry — and HALF as flavorful (and what to do instead) (24:00)
  • How to find the healthiest, most delicious ingredients without breaking the bank (29:00)
  • 2 of the most essential (but less common) kitchen tools every “home chef” should have – and how they can take YOUR cooking to the next level (30:00) 
  • What MOST restaurants never clean… and yes, your food CAN be affected!(33:00)
  • The scary truth about CORN and your health — and the surprising foods that corn is hiding in (you’d NEVER suspect #3!) (39:00)
  • Why everyone should have a “library of sea salts” in their kitchen — and yes, there’s a RIGHT and WRONG way to use each type of salt! t (45:00)  

Mentioned on this episode:

Jimmy’s Website 

The Energy Paradox: What to Do When Your Get‑Up‑and‑Go Has Got up and Gone 

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy:

066: Introducing: The Plant Paradox Family Cookbook

166: He went lectin-free and it changed EVERYTHING (Plant Paradox vegan)

118: Dr. Gundry says: go ahead, bake bread!

133: The RIGHT way to read a food label

Episode Transcript:

Watch on YouTube:

 

*******************************************************************

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT? PLEASE TAKE THIS ANONYMOUS, 1-MINUTE SURVEY.

WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE DR. GUNDRY CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE.

SHARE, SUBSCRIBE and RATE “THE DR. GUNDRY PODCAST” HERE on ITUNES.

 

About Dr. Gundry

Dr. Steven Gundry is a renowned heart surgeon and New York Times bestselling author of “The Plant Paradox” and “The Plant Paradox Cookbook.”

 

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The ancient potato of the future https://jimmyschmidt.com/the-ancient-potato-of-the-future/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ancient-potato-of-the-future https://jimmyschmidt.com/the-ancient-potato-of-the-future/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:34:09 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=2564

By James Dinneen

Solanum jamesii, aka the Four Corners potato, has sustained Indigenous people in the American Southwest for 11,000 years; USDA is now studying its 8-year shelf life, and its resistance to disease, heat, and drought. The future of this remarkable little potato remains unwritten.

“Hello everybody,” Bruce Pavlik said to no one. It took me a second to realize that Pavlik, an ecologist at the University of Utah’s Red Butte Garden, was addressing the plants. We were standing above a wide desert canyon just outside Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah; near us was a stand of juniper trees. Further out, the canyon bottom was dotted with fragrant sagebrush and twisted piñon. And somewhere down there, likely near two humps of red sandstone where people once lived for a thousand years, were the potatoes.

Lisbeth Louderback, Pavlick’s collaborator and spouse, appeared beside him wearing a backpack GPS rig. An archaeologist at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah, Louderback would use the rig to mark the locations of any potato plants we found, precise to the millimeter. Leaves collected from each plant would then be sent to a lab for DNA sequencing, the latest data in a sprawling research project on a wild potato species called the Four Corners potato. In 2017, Louderback and Pavlik found evidence that Indigenous peoples in the Southwest have used the potato for at least 11,000 years—far longer than any other documented potato use in North America.

That finding spurred the pair to delve further into how Ancestral Pueblo, Ute, and Diné people used the potato along with maize, squash, and beans—the so-called “Three Sisters” core to Indigenous agriculture in the Southwest. Archaeologists believe the Three Sisters were first domesticated in Central America, then brought to the dryland farms of the Colorado Plateau through the extensive trading networks that existed at the time. Louderback and Pavlik suspected the potato had also been carried around, cultivated, and perhaps even domesticated, all within the Four Corners area. If true, the potato would represent one of only a handful of independent crop domestication events anywhere, and the only known example in North America west of the Mississippi. “It puts us on the map,” Louderback told me.

“Reconnecting to the potato brings back our stories, our songs, our connection to the landscape. It brings back the cultural memory of how we used to nourish ourselves.”

But plumbing the potato’s secrets has required more than just archaeology. What started with Louderback and Pavlik has grown into a collaboration between some unlikely partners, with different, arguably incompatible views of how the potato should be used and valued. These include Department of Agriculture (USDA) geneticist John Bamberg, who is leading the work to interpret the potato’s DNA for fingerprints of domestication. Separate from the archaeology, Bamberg is working to use the Four Corners potato’s unique genes to breed a common potato more resistant to disease, heat, and drought—an increasingly urgent project in the face of our changing climate. Bamberg’s team is also exploring some of the potato’s other singular traits, like its ability to remain viable for eight years in the fridge, or its resistance to extremely cold temperatures.

Also on the team is Cynthia Wilson, a Diné nutritionist and traditional foods advocate working to restore the potato to Native communities and gardens, and to collect ancestral knowledge from Diné elders. “Reconnecting to the potato brings back our stories, our songs, our connection to the landscape,” Wilson told me. “It brings back the cultural memory of how we used to nourish ourselves.”

In August, I traveled to the Four Corners area to learn more about this curious group, and the potato that has brought them together. From Salt Lake City, I headed south with Louderback and Pavlik in search of potato clusters that might have persisted from ancestral gardens. In the Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation, I met with Wilson at her home, where growing the potato seemed an act of defiance against centuries of oppression. And in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, I met with Bamberg, whose potato breeding research may well be a feat of modern agricultural science with a genetic debt to centuries of Indigenous farming. I left sure this most ancient potato, whichever way one chooses to see it, is anything but stuck in the past.

Unless you are a uniquely experienced potato eater, the Four Corners potato, known by botanists as Solanum jamesii (pronounced james-EE-aye), is unlike any potato you’ve eaten. The potato you’ll find in a grocery store is Solanum tuberosum, the common potato. Idaho, Russet, Yukon and the rest are all varieties of that species, which was domesticated in the Andes around 8,000 years ago, cultivated by the Inca, and brought to the rest of the world by the Spanish in the 16th century. The Four Corners potato, Solanum jamesii, is related to the common potato in somewhat the same way coyotes are related to dogs. Its tubers are about as small and varied as grapes.

Louderback and Pavlik’s saga with the tiny potato began in 2013. Louderback was working to reconstruct ancient Southwestern diets using microscopic starch grains recovered from an archaeological site in Utah’s Escalante Valley. She had found grains she thought might be from the potato on an 11,000-year-old grinding stone, but had not yet developed a way to distinguish the grains of one potato species from another. And while there was ethnographic evidence that the potato had been used for centuries by Hopi, Diné, Zuni, and a number of other Indigenous groups, there was no evidence for potato use that far back in time. In any case, the plant was uncommon that far north. Even if the grains turned out to be from the Four Corners potato, it seemed unlikely to have been a significant source of food in the region. Louderback might have disregarded the unidentified grains, had two things not happened. 

Solanum jamesii Torr. Distribution in the US SW. Data source: Plants National Database; home/profile page/data source and documentation for Solanum jamesii Torr.

First, doing field work one day, Pavlik found a small cluster of potato plants growing just a few hundred steps from the Escalante Valley site. Then, a few days later, the pair happened upon a book at a local bed and breakfast that claimed Mormon cavalry in the 19th century had called the Escalante area “Potato Valley.” The two finds suggested to them that the Four Corners potato may have been a more important food source than they had believed. Further, if people had not only foraged, but transported and cultivated the potato, it was also conceivable that selection by farmers of the best-performing plants and adaptation to new habitats had altered the wild potatoes into something more desirable to people, something domesticated. “We thought, this is too good,” said Pavlik.

It was conceivable that selection by farmers of the best-performing plants and adaptation to new habitats had altered the wild potatoes into something more desirable to people, something domesticated.

That’s not to say proving any of it would be easy. “[Archaeologists] aren’t used to thinking about living things,” Pavlik told me. “They’re all bones and stones. Living things aren’t so convenient.”

Over the next several years, Pavlick, Louderback, and a growing group of collaborators, including Bamberg and Wilson, pursued these suspicions about the potato along multiple lines of evidence: starch grains, geographic distribution, nutritional analysis, and traditional knowledge. With this, they established that the potato was used, transported, and cultivated widely in the Four Corners region. To show domestication however, they needed more DNA from potatoes growing near archaeological sites, which is why Pavlik and Louderback had appeared in the desert talking to plants.

 

Bruce Pavlik marks Four Corners potato plants with red flags near Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument in southeastern Utah. November 2021

Soon we were hiking down a steep sandy wash, still mushy from rain. This boded well. Without sufficient moisture, the potato’s tubers can remain underground for more than a decade awaiting their moment to sprout. That’s a sensible strategy for a desert plant, but it can make for tough collecting. In 2019, a dry year, the team’s first survey for the domestication project had been a disappointment. Then 2020 was a bust due to both drought and Covid-19. But this summer was looking up: On the drive from Salt Lake City south to Bears Ears, a late summer monsoon had brought every plant in that red desert country into its most vivid green.

Pavlik, up ahead, was the first to find potatoes. “Look at all of ‘em. Oh my god!” he shouted. When we caught up, he pointed out a cluster of at least 80 short leafy plants, topped with sweet-smelling white and yellow flowers. They were growing along the rim of a stone-ringed depression Louderback explained was likely once the foundation of a pit house. “Even on this small scale, the plants are with the archaeology,” Pavlik said. The ground around the potatoes was littered with fragments of ceramics, some with black and white geometric patterns, others with grooves finger-pressed in the clay.

After marking each potato plant with a bright red flag, the pair went to work collecting GPS data and leaf clippings, sealing each sample in teabag-like sacks to dry. Later, the leaves’ DNA would be purified, then sequenced.Differences between wild and archaeology-associated populations might then indicate domestication, especially if those genetic differences were linked to desirable traits like tuber size or bitterness. The hope was that these plants, and their genomes, were artifacts, just as much as the ceramics scattered around them. 

Lisbeth Louderback and Bruce Pavlick measure GPS coordinates of a Four Corners potato plant in an area near Bears Ears National Monument they call the

That evening, over a dinner of steak and mashed potatoes (what else?), Louderback and Pavlik explained what it would mean to find robust evidence that the potato had been domesticated. Though the genetic data remains preliminary (their most recent paper shows potatoes from archaeological sites often cannot produce seeds, a sign of a genetic bottleneck possibly caused by human transport) they agreed such a finding would put the Four Corners potato on the world-historical map of agricultural beginnings. It would point, as Pavlik put it, to “the genius of [Indigenous] stewardship and ancestry.” It would also deepen the story archaeologists tell about ancient diets in the Southwest, adding another energy-rich and nutrient-dense option to the middle-Holocene menu.

Proving Solanum jamesii was domesticated could also have implications for how the potato and other culturally significant plants are managed within Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, both of which were expanded by President Joe Biden in October on the recommendation of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. (When Haaland, herself a member of the Laguna Pueblo, visited Bears Ears in April, she was served the Four Corners potato, twice.) Plants like the potato, Pavlik and Louderback argued, deserve to be better documented and protected, especially in ways that incorporate the people and knowledge responsible for protecting them in the first place. “It’s yet another example of ingenuity thousands of years before the white man came around,” Louderback said. 

Potsherds are scattered at thousands of archaeological sites in and around Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. November 2021

Of course, it’s not as though Indigenous people familiar with the potato require archaeological or genetic evidence to be sure of any of this. At meetings to discuss the potato with Native farmers, Pavlik said he often gets a similar response after going over his and Louderback’s research: “Well, we could have told you that.”

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]]> https://jimmyschmidt.com/the-ancient-potato-of-the-future/feed/ 7 2564 Climate change is bringing back long-lost forms of food poisoning https://jimmyschmidt.com/climate-change-is-bringing-back-long-lost-forms-of-food-poisoning/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=climate-change-is-bringing-back-long-lost-forms-of-food-poisoning https://jimmyschmidt.com/climate-change-is-bringing-back-long-lost-forms-of-food-poisoning/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2020 04:49:45 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=2473

BY Emma Penrod

Fungal toxins known as mycotoxins, including some thought lost to history, are claiming new territory as the Earth warms.

Karen Jordan, a North Carolina dairy farmer and practicing veterinarian, knew she had trouble the minute her cows’ hair began to stand up on end.

When a cow is healthy, she explains, their hair lays tight and sleek against their skin. But one by one, her cows began to poof up like agitated cats. A few days later, she found out why—the corn she had fed her cattle contained an invisible, harmful compound called T2.

Then she “got unlucky” a second season when she picked up another bad batch of feed, this time a load of cotton seed. That year, she figures, the rash of hurricanes had dumped so much water on southeastern farms that mold, and associated toxic compounds called mycotoxins, had spoiled whole swaths of cropland.

“This year we were wet early, and then it kind of straightened out. But in the Midwest, it was wet late. That was the perfect stew for a mycotoxin year.”

People involved in food production have been aware, on some level, of the presence and harms of mycotoxins for at least 2,000 years. These toxins, we now know, are harmful chemicals produced predominantly by the fungi that grow in grains. Historically, mycotoxins have triggered outbreaks of gangrene, convulsions, heart failure, paralysis, mental illness, and may have even played a role in the Salem witch trials. Today, they are largely considered a problem for animal producers, whose animals can fall ill and even die if fed contaminated grain or silage.

But the toxins are rapidly spreading, hastened by climate change and reduced global crop diversity.

This January, John Winchell loaded up his truck to pay a visit to farms throughout the northeastern U.S., where he consults with farmers about the detection and prevention of mycotoxins on behalf of Alltech, a global animal and food production supplier. The last three years, he says, mycotoxins have been particularly prevalent in the U.S. But he takes comfort in the fact that the uptick is not exactly mysterious—it’s all due to the weather.

“We’ve had two years of consistently wet weather,” he says. “This year we were wet early, and then it kind of straightened out. But in the Midwest, it was wet late. That was the perfect stew for a mycotoxin year.”

Lot of Holstein Cow eating in a milk production farm. November 2020

Once a farmer realizes they have a problem, they must identify the source. For larger dairies, this process can take so long that by the time you get your tests back, the guilty load of feed is probably already consumed.

While the last two to three years stand out for having produced exceptionally high levels of mycotoxin contamination—particularly in chopped up, fermented corn stalks and leaves that are fed primarily to cattle—this isn’t a recent trend. National data collected by Alltech, Winchell says, shows a steep increase in many of the toxins common to the U.S. since monitoring began in 2012.

Some of this increase can be attributed to advances in scientists’ ability to detect mycotoxins, as well as a growing library of just how many varieties actually exist. But experts around the world agree that climate change is also playing a significant role. Not only does climate change promote the weather conditions that trigger mycotoxin production, but shifting weather patterns are causing various toxins to appear in new regions of the world—places where food producers can be caught unawares, unable to respond in time to prevent widespread contamination.

For developed countries like the U.S., mandatory tests rolled out in recent decades are designed to catch these outbreaks before they impact consumers. But in developing countries, or among low-income populations that may be more inclined to consume homemade or craft food products, mycotoxins remain a growing concern.

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This Salmon Is the Wagyu Beef of the Seafood World https://jimmyschmidt.com/this-salmon-is-the-wagyu-beef-of-the-seafood-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=this-salmon-is-the-wagyu-beef-of-the-seafood-world Mon, 16 Sep 2019 21:56:34 +0000 http://jimmyschmidt.com/?p=2133
By Kate Kramer

Eco-friendly Ōra King salmon from New Zealand is rapidly becoming a chef’s favorite.

When it comes to luxury fish, tuna rules. It’s the star of almost every extravagant sushi meal and the world’s most expensive fish, going for $3.1 million in Tokyo earlier this year.

Salmon is America’s workhorse fish. Among the reasons for its popularity: It’s healthy, packed with omega 3-fatty acids and vitamin D, and versatile, served raw, smoked, or cooked, as the protein boost to infinite salad bowls. Americans eat around 918 million pounds of salmon annually; in 2017, revenues were $688 million for the wild-caught fish and $67.7 million for Atlantic farmed. Read more

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