Fit For A Winter Night In Chicago - Marcia’s Chocolate Russians

January 3rd -The Joyful Commemoration Of Breaking Even

By working continuously and vigorously in an organized manner, taking care not to duplicate efforts or overlook a vital step in any sequential array of steps to accomplish a given task, I can attest that at 6:00 PM on January 3, 2008 I am nearly back to the place I began at 5:00 this morning.

These days, fighting entropy to a standstill for more than 12 hours fully justifies the commencement of festivities

And, thanks to Marcia Arnold, the instigator of the query that prompted The Quintessential Chocolate For The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka, the Heck of a Guy post dedicated to the expiation of those combinations and permutations of “Cadbury’s,” “chocolate,” and “caramel” that best fulfill the Choco role in the drama that is Chocolodka, I have the perfect party potable for a frigid, bitterly cold, bring the brass monkeys inside sort of night like tonight:

Marcia’s Chocolate Russians

The recipe is simplicity itself:

Mix 1 part chocolate vodka,¹ 2 parts Kahlua, and 5 parts chocolate milk.²

Once a Chocolate Russian is in hand, one is, I can assure you, only a few sips away from intoning metaphysical melodies along the lines of

Thanks, Marcia

Footnotes

1. While Marcia’s recipe calls for generic chocolate vodka, I admit my bias for the top shelf, name brand stuff - Chocolodka, of course ~back~
2. Marcia notes that “obviously these are proportions that I personally like, but they can be adjusted to your own taste.” ~back~

Show Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Possibly Related Posts:

In Case You’re Unsure If You Live In Chicago, …

Heck Of A Guy Blog Summer 2006 Symbol Chosen

The Quintessential Chocolate For The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka

Media: Better Than A Triple Axel

Apolinary POlek Sings Pani Zimy

The Quintessential Chocolate For The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka

Heck of a Guy 2007 Christmas Season Update #4:
It’s The Most Chocolodka Time Of The Year - Internationally

A few days ago, an email arrived with an inquiry that read, in part:

After I emailed the answer, it occurred to me that if ever there was a time that called for

that time is this Christmas season.

Consequently, I am, in the spirit of the holidays, sharing my response to this vital issue which involves international economics, marketing tactics, government regulations, nationalism, and individual personality traits,

But first, …

The Original Chocolodka Revelation

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Chocolodka is DrHGuy’s favorite version of Chocolate Vodka.

A set of incredibly witty and erudite instructions and the recipe for this magical concoction, lushly illustrated with photos of Lord of Leisure, Hippie With Tiara, and Lady Lawanda performing the tasks involved in producing Chocolodka, was published in April 2006 at The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka - Chocolodka.

The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka - Chocolodka

That post introduced Chocolodka thusly,

Gentle reader, would your life be enhanced by an elixir that

1. Is intoxicatingly delicious and deliciously intoxicating
2. Makes any event an occasion and any occasion an event – occasionally or eventually
3. Convinces your sweetie that making snow angels naked while you videotape the event would qualify as madcap merriment?
4. Persuades you and perhaps even other (also elixir-ingesting) individuals that you are a fuuuuuuunnnnn sort of guy or gal?
5. Infuses your empty, barren life with meaning, love, and joy?

Well, Bunkie, if you’ll settle for four out of five, then I’ve got just the thing for you, a little something I like to think of as

Now, on to today’s question.

The Cadbury’s Caramel Query

Dear Correspondent,

It’s a pleasure to hear from another seeker of the ultimate life-affirming force or, as I like to call it, Chocolodka, especially when said seeker has done her homework.

The answer to your query re the use of Cadbury’s Caramello in place of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel is that most frustrating of responses, “it depends.” Here is what my otherwise lucid father persisted in calling - ahem - the dealio.

A bit of historical background is useful. I found the original list of ingredients approximately 142 internet years ago (4 or 5 years ago in non-cyber notation) when I was searching for certain British goods to purchase as gifts for a woman I was then dating (who has since found her bliss in another relationship) who grew up habituated to certain products produced and sold only in the UK. In the process, I stumbled across a forum for English expatriates in which a Brit offered her recipe for chocolate vodka. She was, I still recall, adamant about the use of what she called “Cadbury’s Caramel,” which I have since learned had undergone a marketing-driven name change to “Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel” shortly before I discovered the recipe that included that selfsame candy bar.

Not being the patient sort, I was interested in the possibility of a workable alternative chocolate-caramel source that didn’t necessitate a shipping delay of 2-3 weeks, at least in those days. In the course of making inquiries about this issue, I discovered that in 1998 Hershey’s had bought out Cadbury’s US operation and that, subsequent to that date, the “Cadbury’s Caramello” known to citizens of the USA has been manufactured by Hershey’s. Some candy aficionados maintain that it is is subtly different than its British counterpart. Further, the US FDA and its English equivalent enforce different standards pertinent to the production of such foodstuffs.

To further complicate matters, the equivalent candy in Canada is the “Caramilk,” which is produced by Cadbury Adams and in Australia, Cadbury still produces “Cadbury’s Caramello.”

In any case, I produced my first batch of Chocolodka using Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel. The reactions of those who sampled the results of that first effort were so overwhelmingly positive that I have never experimented with other ingredients. On paper, I’m sure the Hershey’s Caramello and the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel.are so similar that the results of mixing either with cheap vodka and heating that mix until the candy is melted and blended with the liquor should produce almost identical tasting concoctions. And, as I point out in my post, “the basic constituents are nature’s two most perfect foods, vodka and chocolate,” so how wrong can one go?

On the other hand, I think the modest difficulty in obtaining the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel. adds to the mystique of the product and, in turn, the appreciativeness of the recipients. The Anglophilia connotations seem a plus as well.

So, as for me and my clan, we will stand forthright and steadfast behind the long and hallowed traditonal, original, genuine Chocolodka recipe, but I would equally forthrightly and steadfastly refuse a blind tasting comparing my elixir with a Caramello-based version because I suspect that whatever differences might exist would dissolve after knocking back a couple of samples.

My bottom line suggestion is that you try it both ways and choose your favorite. What’s the worse case scenario - you end up with two bottles of Chocolodka, one of which you like a bit better than the other. Poor baby.

Before closing, I should point out the Chocolodka is a dense drink that typically has chunk-lets of chocolate-caramel floating in it. Most Chocolate Vodkas I’ve tasted have contained much lower concentrations of chocolate.

Good luck - and do let me know what you discover in your explorations.

Your Chocolodka Chum,

DrHGuy

Footnotes

1. From Luke 2:14 (King James Version): “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” ~back~

Show Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Possibly Related Posts:

Fit For A Winter Night In Chicago - Marcia’s Chocolate Russians

Quintessential New England - West Arlington, Vermont

The Heck Of A Guy’s Image According To Google

At Every Unique Wedding

The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka - Chocolodka

The Leonard Cohen Food Files

This Post Contains 24% Of Your Recommended Daily Allowance Of Leonard Cohen

It’s coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin’
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.

~ From Democracy by Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen - Restaurant Consultant

Writing at Gremolata,¹ Nancy Hinton² opens her essay, What Leonard Cohen taught me about food, with these words:

Peeking under the silver dome to check out the entrée,³ it turns out that the key to the lesson is that “… Leonard Cohen’s music made me [Ms Hinton] realize that it is still possible to be touched profoundly by something without understanding every nuance.”

She goes on to discuss the parallel situation in which she, as a chef, might feel her skills are wasted in preparing meals for yokels.⁴

Her point, of course, is that less refined customers may genuinely and profoundly enjoy her food without grasping each aspect of the process of preparation or the product much the same way that she is deeply moved by Cohen’s songs and words without grasping each aspect of the process of preparation or the product.

And, she is precisely correct (i.e., her view is identical to mine) about Leonard Cohen’s generosity of spirit in making his music and poetry accessible not only to a widely diverse audience but also to other musicians, who have made covering Leonard Cohen songs, especially for television soundtracks, one of the few high growth industries in the current economy; to visual artists, who use his words as inspiration; and to more profoundly creative sorts like Phillip Glass, who adapt and weave his work into their own visions.

Heck, he’s gracious to journalists, some of whom clearly lack any manners, let alone a valid perspective on his oeuvre, and who use his conversations as well as his professional work to sell cold remedies and diet colas advertised in their publications.

He is even nice to bloggers, including those who incessantly nag about including “Do I Have To Dance All Night” on his new CD,⁵ who claim that Dolly Parton was the actual model for Suzanne and that the original name of “Take This Waltz” was “Take This Waltz and Shove It,”⁶ and who extend invitations for threesomes and foursomes⁷ to Anjani.

I admit to being a tad disappointed that the chef-author chose not to comment on Leonard Cohen’s penchant for “pair[ing] Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with a 1982 Chateau La Tour,”⁸ his experience during his five year stay with the Zen monks on Mount Baldy as a cook (his specialties were soups and a lauded preparation of teriyaki salmon),⁹ or the Red Needles cocktail he concocted, according to the authoritative LeonardCohenFiles, from Tequila, Cranberry juice, Lemon (and/or exotic fruits), and ice.

Otherwise, however, Nancy Hinton’s post is not only an interesting, relevant, and thoughtful piece well worth reading but also a heartening source of encouragement for folks like me who have on occasion been treated cavalierly at one or two of your swankier beaneries. The idea of a hot-shot chef who believes in putting out her best work for every customer, regardless of his bumpkin titer, and who has a thing for Leonard Cohen has me ready to hie myself to Montreal to chow down at Ms Hinton’s establishment.

Her post can be found at

Leonard Cohen - Food Critic

Bernadette and Lorca cook for Leonard And Anjani. Food tasting and comments follow.

Leonard Cohen - Vegetable

The November 20, 2007 post at Let the Sky Rain Potatoes, a “blog about food” written by Shelly Blake-Plock,¹⁰ is ominously titled Is Leonard Cohen a Vegetable?

Happily, this has nothing to do with Leonard Cohen becoming comatose but deals instead with the question that everyone, one assumes, has asked him- or herself at one time or another, “What sort of vegetable Leonard Cohen would be if Leonard Cohen happened to be a vegetable?” ¹¹

The author suggests first a radish, then a Savoy cabbage. A commenter makes the case for an acorn squash. I like the rationales provided although I never had much use for radishes, cabbages, or squash of any sort. It’s a quick, fun read and can be found at

Lady Lawanda, an accomplished culinary sort herself, is steadfast in her opinion that he would be a string bean. Anjani is on record that he would be a cabbage, but more about that later.

Footnotes

1. Hmmm. I see now that this post is actually reprinted at Gremolata. It was originally published on Ms Hinton’s own blog at What Leonard Cohen taught me about food on September 18, 2007 ~back~
2. Nancy Hinton (aka Soup Nancy) describes herself on her own blog, soupnancy, thusly:
   I’m thirty seven years old, an anglo from Quebec City, and a chef by profession. Formerly the chef de cuisine at L’Eau à la Bouche, I now cook at “la Table des Jardins Sauvages”, a woodland table specializing in wild plants and mushrooms just outside Montreal, and I consult and teach on the side. In spirit, I’m a proud Québecoise and Canadian, who loves Montreal, and the country too. I’m a fiesty, passionate, idealistic, slightly obsessive-compulsive insomniac, who loves life, and my job. I love food and cooking, and making people happy. I love to work hard and play hard. I love fire and knives; I love fresh herbs, tomatoes, almonds and cheese. I love curry, and meat broths, and everything anise flavored. I love anything from a pig, anything green, and anything pickled. I love good coffee and wine, and eating with chopsticks. I love the smell of men’s cologne, of Dad’s bagel shop, and of fresh coriander. I love making lists and checking things off. When not in the kitchen, I love newspapers, reading and rollerblading. I love CBC radio, Leonard Cohen and being in the sky.

   She sounds, in fact, delightful - if a bit exhausting. ~back~

3. The wordplay could have been worse - I considered using “spill the beans” ~back~
4. To be fair, she doesn’t call the culinary disadvantaged “yokels.” She calls us “country bumpkins on a bender,” which I’m sure is meant only in the nicest way. Shucks, within the Québecoise crowd, “country bumpkins” is probably one of those expressions that masquerade as insults but are actually used as an ironic signs of comradely, not unlike men in the Ozarks greeting each other with “Jim, you ol’ SOB, how are you?” ~back~
5. See The Best Leonard Cohen Song You’ve (Probably) Never Heard and many, many other posts ~back~
6. See 10 Fake Items About Leonard Cohen ~back~
7. The number of folks to be invited is a matter of ongoing negotiations ~back~
8. Quote from Anjani Thomas. See Pitchfork interview ~back~
9. See Rolling Stone, “The New Leonard Cohen” ~back~
10. His description of himself opens with “Although Shelly Blake-Plock may be better known in some circles for his music and poetry, it is as a culinary experimentalist that those among his circle of close friends best know him.” ~back~
11. On raising this query, the blogger, who appears to share my willingness to declare the obvious to eliminate misunderstandings, immediately goes on to respond, in reference to the subjunctively stated condition of Leonard Cohen being a vegetable, “which he is not.” ~back~

Show Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Possibly Related Posts:

The Cult Of Leonard Cohen Heresy, Part II

Goldilocks, Leonard Cohen, and Search Site Strategies

Media: Prince Charles Recommends Leonard Cohen To His Lads

Media: Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins - Who By Fire

Leonard Cohen - As Presented By Lyneth Morgan

It’s The Most Honeycrisp Time Of The Year

The Honeycrisp Essentials

As I wrote one year ago in Honeycrisp Apples: Sweet As Honey and Crisp As, Ah, A Really Crisp Apple2,

The Honeycrisp, true to its name, is the sweetest apple I’ve found. Theoretically, sweetness may not appeal to every palate, but the Honeycrisp consistently rates highly in blind taste tests, and I’ve yet to meet that individual who, on trying this apple, has found the gustatory sensation anything other than delicious. The taste is, in fact, sufficiently intense that I typically eschew chomping directly into a Honeycrisp, opting instead to slice it into small pieces and savor the smaller bites. I also find that, while I take great pleasure from the taste, I am ordinarily satisfied with half an apple and set aside the rest for another time.

And the texture, nicely captured in the phrase “explosively crisp,”³ is to my taste, perfect.

This apple’s appearance does, however, fall considerably short of spectacular and, as the supply on hand at my local market dwindles, approaches unappealing, with many lumps, bumps, and asymmetry among the specimens. Nonetheless, I’ve found even these unattractive examples to be delicious, sweet, and exceedingly crisp.

Indeed, I have yet to find a single Honeycrisp apple that was not delicious, sweet, and exceedingly crisp.

The Horticultural, Agronomic, Botanical, and Economic Aspects of the Honeycrisp

This non-impressionistic background data is actually pretty darn interesting, but I covered the primary points last year and, rather than produce another version of the same content, I invite readers to peruse my jeremiad re the decline of apples in general and the Braeburn in particular, to meet the parents of the Honeycrisp (the Macoun and Honeygold⁴ apples) and their matchmaker (the University of Minnesota), to discover the peak season of and storage instructions for the Honeycrisp, and, most importantly, to understand the reason I believe the exquisiteness of the Honeycrisp is safe for now but at risk after 2008, all of which can be found at Honeycrisp Apples: Sweet As Honey and Crisp As, Ah, A Really Crisp Apple.

And, speaking of last year’s news, Heck of a Guy would like to welcome the Chicago Tribune to the Honeycrisp bandwagon. The October 10, 2007 edition of the Trib carried a story about the Honeycrisp written by Susan Taylor, called One sexy apple, which differs from the 2006 Heck of a Guy Honeycrisp essay primarily by virtue of the Tribune’s inclusion of recipes for Honeycrisp apple salad, Pan-seared scallops with Honeycrisp apple and celery leaves, and Grilled radicchio and Honeycrisp apple salad with balsamic vinaigrette. This blog’s post, in contrast, contained no cooking or preparation tips other than my recommendation to cut these specimens into slices rather than chomping directly into the hitherto inviolate fruit lest the intensity of the taste overwhelm ones ability to appreciate it. So, if you have 4 heads of radicchio, some shallots, a handful of walnuts, and a batch of scallops that are in danger of going bad on you unless they are used right away, then the Chicago Tribune Food Section is where you should head first. If, on the other hand, you just want to read about a really good eating apple, … well, by now you know where you can find my stuff.

As I’ve Said Before - Again

One of my buddies, to whom I had sent an Honeycrisp harvest alert two or three years ago, complained that the only content of my email was material about this apple and demanded information about my children, social life, and reading. My reply conveniently summarizes this post as well:

Credit Due Department: All photos are from The University of Minnesota Honeycrisp Apples Photo page

Footnotes

1. While I selected a new lead photo for this year’s Honeycrisp homage, I am convinced that any change to the caption used in last year’s Heck of a Guy Honeycrisp post could only attenuate its impact ~back~
2. Minor editorial revisions have been made in these paragraphs but hardly enough to try passing this section off as new work. ~back~
3. ”Explosively crisp” and variations of this phrase appear so frequently in reference to Honeycrisps that I suspect it is part of the marketing campaign; it does nonetheless effectively evoke the sensation of biting into one of these specimens¹
   1. I now have, in 2007, indirect evidence that the above speculation, made in my 2006 Honeycrisp post, is on point. The graphic shown below is an official media-ready photo made available in high resolution on the University of Minnesota Honeycrisp Photos download page from the folks who created and promote the Honeycrisp.
   
   
   

   
   
   One may quibble over distinctions between apples associated with fireworks and apples associated with explosives, but I maintain that those marketing motifs are too similar for their application to a single type of apple to be coincidence.

   ~back~

4. The Honeygold itself is a product of the union of the Golden Delicious and Haralson ~back~

Show Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Possibly Related Posts:

Honeycrisp Apples:
 Sweet As Honey and Crisp As, Ah, A Really Crisp Apple

Christmas Past Tense

The Seductive Charms Of College Basketball Tournaments

The Picaresque Prodigal’s Pictorial

Urban Skills: On The Road

Saturday Night Is Theme Night

Menu, Music, and Movie

Menu

Thanks to the culinary skills of Lady Lawanda, she, The Prodigal, and I¹ dined last night on a special themed menu that featured Totally Drunken Chicken and Mojito Cupcakes (pictured above).

Note that this is not your ordinary “Drunken Chicken” found at the local Chinese eatery nor does it have anything to do with a can of beer No, this is your really soused, snockered, bad example for the children, DUI (Dining Under the Influence) Totally Drunken Chicken. AKA Mucho Boracho Pollo, devised, according to the Chicago Tribune article, When the wives are away, the guys will saute by one

The recipe for Totally Drunken Chicken² is from the same article and is available online at Totally Drunken Chicken Recipe

The recipe for those luscious looking Mojito Cupcakes is available at Mojito Cupcakes on the VeganYumYum site, which is also the origin of the photo atop this post.

Yep, we paired a recipe from a hard core vegan cooking site with a recipe for liquored up chicken. Our contention is that if God didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat.

Our beverage of choice for this repast? Crystal Lite lemonade, of course.

I can attest, with Lady Lawanda and The Prodigal concurring, that the chicken is a delight and that, as we say back home, Jason done good. Cupcakes are a tad on the sweet side for me (especially if my internist reads this blog), but my co-conspirators for the evening assure me they are dandy and worthy of a Heck of a Guy recommendation as well.

Music

Background music was culled from the summer vacation playlist and is skewed toward C&W tunes, including

It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere - Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett
Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off - Joe Nichols
Jose Cuervo - Lindy Gravelle
Whiskey Girl - Toby Keith
Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo - Tracy Byrd
Was I? - Madeleine Peyroux
Whiskey River - Willie Nelson
Drinking Wine Spo-Dee O’Dee - Jerry Lee Lewis
Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffet

Movie

After dinner entertainment, provided by The Prodigal, was the classic Jackie Chan martial arts movie:

Footnotes

1. The Mesomorph was working ~back~
2. Totally Drunken Chicken
   Preparation time: 30 minutes
   Marinating time: 45 minutes
   Cooking time: 30 minutes
   Yield: 8 servings
   Nutrition information per serving: 266 calories, 38% of calories from fat, 11 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 82 mg cholesterol, 11 g carbohydrates, 30 g protein, 217 mg sodium, 1 g fiber

   8 chicken breast halves, skin on
   2 cloves garlic, minced
   1/2 cup each: tequila, lime juice
   1/4 cup each: chopped cilantro, olive oil
   1 teaspoon salt

   Mango salsa:
   2 mangoes, pitted, sliced
   1 tomato, chopped
   1/2 jalapeno, minced
   2 tablespoons each: chopped cilantro, lime juice, tequila
   1/2 teaspoon salt
   1/4 teaspoon sugar
   Juice of 1 lime

   1. Combine chicken with garlic, tequila, lime juice, cilantro, olive oil and salt in a large food storage bag. Seal; turn and press to coat chicken. Set aside 45 minutes. (Refrigerate if marinating any longer than 1 hour.)
   2. For salsa, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside 30 minutes.
   3. Prepare grill for indirect medium heat. Remove chicken from marinade; discard the marinade. Grill chicken, skin side down first, then turning as needed, until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve with salsa. ~back~

Show Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Possibly Related Posts:

On Track For A Saturday Morning

Leonard Cohen On The Loose

The Night 3,000 Turkeys Died: A Reading By Julie Showalter

Leonard Cohen, Philip Glass, and the Iceberg

Blue Alert Alert

To Make An Omelette, Does One Have To Take A Few Carcinogens?

While cross-referencing contents from last year’s blog entries for the next Heck Of A Guy 2006 entry, I came across a warning about the Ziploc Omelette featured in the 22 July 2006 post, Mr. Science Gets Kinky; Breakfast Follows under the charming title, Ziploc Omelets may be Toxic.

The article opens with this paragraph,

The actual warning followed that introduction:

Well, Phooey

My first thought, of course, was “Well, Phooey – now I have to write one of those You know that great idea I suggested? Well, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea after all posts.”

My second thought was, “The University of Illinois is using my tax money to warn citizens of the dangers of Ziploc omelettes? And the warning doesn’t have any of those 18-syllable chemical names, scientific hedging, or a single request for grant money for a full-fledged study of the Ziploc-egg carcinogen scourge? What’s that all about?”

My third thought was that in one line of 23 words, “Might I add that eggs and cheese have fat which gets much hotter than water thus the likelihood of melting the plastic increases,” this “press release from the University of Illinois” manages to demonstrate deficient scientific knowledge, several grammatical errors, and an incredibly snotty tone.

Revelations

Such thoughts led to a few internet searches which, in turn, revealed the following:

1. The Ziploc Omelette¹ recipe can be found on multiple web sites and is popular with campers, large families, and, particularly, the Girl Scouts, who have apparently been making this concoction, using one kind of plastic bag or another, for at least 15 years.

2. The warning, exactly as printed above, can be found on at least 35 web sites, often preceded by headings that are characterized by all caps and multiple exclamation marks.

3. One web site the warning cannot be found, however, is its original home: “http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/mclean/news/news3600.html” Further, a search of that site, “http://web.extension.uiuc.edu,” shows several references to “Ziploc” but none to “Ziploc Omelet,” “Ziploc Omelette” or, indeed, to any terms unique to that document.

4. The sharp-eyed reader might have noted that the point of origin of the “press release from the University of Illinois that was claiming that Ziploc omelets may be toxic” is not “http://www.uillinois.edu,” which is the web site of the University Of Illinois, but is instead “http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/mclean,” which is the web site of the University of Illinois Extension - McLean County.

5. Question & Answer #4 of Ziploc’s Frequently Asked Questions follow:
Q: Can I boil in Ziploc® Brand bags?
A: No. Ziploc® Brand bags are not designed to withstand the extreme heat of boiling.

6. Re the warning of “the possible contamination of foods with known carcinogens that may be present in plastic containers and wraps,” I refer the anxious reader to this article from the ever-reliable Snopes Urban Legend site: Plastic-Tac-Toe

For the especially anxious reader, I have excerpted the first two lines of the piece, which goes into some detail:

Claim: Research has proved that microwaving foods in plastic containers releases cancer-causing agents into the foods.
Status: False.

So, What To Do, What To Do?

The only issue that is certain is that S.C. Johnson’s lawyers are doing everything possible to assure that their employers aren’t sued for anyone chowing down on a ham, cheese, and molten plastic omelette.

Making omelettes in a pan on a hot stove the way my mom taught me isn’t difficult; consequently, it is, I suppose, relatively simple to eliminate any imminent danger the Ziploc Omelet may present by cooking ones eggs in an iron skillet – probably. I mean, it’s not as though we have to invade a foreign country to look for WMDs that carry a payload of hot eggs & plastic.

On the other hand, there are still a batch of former Girl Scouts who have somehow survived this hazard.

As always, it comes down to an individual assessing the actual risks and benefits and decides.

Perhaps the most useful quotation from the press release is the warning that “It is so easy to start something unhealthy … . All you have to do is type it up and send it out to everyone you know via e-mail. It spreads like wild fire.”

Yep.

Of course, the DrHGuy Message is

Maintain A High Index Of Suspicion Regarding Internet Reprints Of
Purported University Of Illinois Press Releases That Contain Obvious Grammatical & Scientific Errors And Are Written In A Shrewish Tone

Footnotes

1. By the way, “omelet” and “omelette” are both accepted spellings. And, while we’re at it, “Ziploc” is the correct spelling of the registered trademark of re-sealable food storage bags made by the SC Johnson Co. ~back~

Show Social Bookmarks

Hide Sites

Possibly Related Posts:

Mr. Science Gets Kinky; Breakfast Follows

Mr. Science Rechristened Lord of Leisure; Photo Gallery Opens

Four Favorite A.E. Housman Poems Served Straight Up

How To Create and Use A Personal Medication Record

Lord of Leisure Vs Semliki Forest Virus