Jan Virtanen

Red wine braised oxtail, with roasted marrow bones. My favorite meat dish is freshly killed wild deer liver, tastes sweet, its also propably par none most nutritious meal.

Its similar to cod liver i think, very soft. When i left it on a paper towel for a moment, it kinda stick and melt to it! I dont know about foie gras but i guess its very similar. Fatty and difficult to work with.

How would you cook burbot liver, its very delicate. I fried one but i figure its too harsh for such a delicate meat. What would be a good sous vide temperature?

Lamb lungs and kombu. Still trying to figure out the lungs... Perhaps they work ok when ground fine into a ragu or something. They feel like meat marshmellows.

Would it be a good idea to sous vide the pancreas? Should i still poach and shock it?

I just picked my meats from my local organic farm, they included me with some beef pancreas and lamb lungs. What would be the best culinary application. Especially the pancreas. I am nose to tail eater but no clue how i just prepare this strange looking organ. Any tips?

I recommend this one: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Food-Plate-600dpi.jpg Very healthy, notice complete lack of processed foods. No grains or sugar except rice. I did a short period of ketogenic diet to get my body fat adapted. I am very lean (10% body fat) but even then i had difficulties maintaining enough weight so i added potatoes back. Ketogenic diet removes almost all hunger. I never count calories. No need to with whole foods diet, almost impossible to eat too much vegetables, meat and fish. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-real-life-reasons-why-the-primal-blueprint-works-for-me/

I have been following an anchestoral diet for a year now. I am not doing it for weightloss. But for better health and longer disease free life. I ditched all grains, sugar and all industrial neolithic foods. I dont eat dairy or drink alchohol anymore. I started very low carb to get my body totally fat adapted. Now i eat some potatoes after training or road cycling. When not excersising i dont need many carbs. I eat plenty of healthy unprocessed fats. That means absolutely no Omega 6 rich seed oils like canola. I use virgin coconut oil, duck fat, bone marrow fat and home rendered pastered tallow. I eat plenty of vegetables and mushrooms a day. Usually somewhere between 1-2 kg. Several organic pastured eggs per day. Offal foods like liver, kidney, marrow and heart, every week. And wild fish 4-5 times a week. I strive to eat nutrient dense foods. I dont eat foreign fruits, only local wild berries (they are free too!. I feel good, i have less depression, sleep is vastly better. Blood pressure dropped alot. Had full blood tests done and all vitamin levels are great. I have no desire to eat oreos, bread, pasta or other crap very nutrition poor foods anymore. Only unprosessed simple nutritious foods without labels. Its amazing how easy this is.

This is totally unknown cut of beef in Finland. I requested it from local ranch (send a picture from a butchery book) and now its the only steak cut i buy, its so good, I sous vide it 1.5H 55C, excelent, and always include plenty of marrow with the sauce.

I think Blumenthal used three different cuts for burgers and presalted only one of them before grinding. I have the book somewhere.

Yes, some of the mills do not have strong enough middle support (cheaper ones are with steel wire, better are made with more solid piece) for the crank, hence more flex, and it doenst give tight enough pressure. If that made any sense.

I dont use it due to unnatural omega 3/6 ratio, and due to its high PUFA content. They are very easily oxidised during cooking. Coconut oil is quite stable, its highly saturated so its safer to heat it. And it has almost no omega 6. Better to stick with good EVOO, imo. Worst kind of oil is propably soybean oil. You would have to eat tons of salmon to eaven out your omega 3/6 ratio if you would use it. But its only used in some cheap packaged stuff, hopefully not at home. I have health issues but i have now lower inflammation markers after using olive oil, coconut oil, and dropping wheat. YMMV.

I like to use my old french food mill, gone are seeds and peel. Usually i dont bother, less waste too.

Interesting, i remember Blumenthal presalting 6hours before grinding for his perfect burgers.

The dark glass helps occlude light, if the storage place happens to be, say, an open, dim (not fully dark) shelf. Incidentally, if you really want to minimize the exposure to oxygen, you can add (carefully cleaned) marbles to the olive oil to keep the volume at 'full', as you use it up (I've done this with photo chemicals for the same reason, but not olive oil; I buy small bottles I use up in a couple of weeks). Yes i am actually photographer by profession and kept my Xtol developer in tons of small glass bottles, i was so scared of it to die on me But it never did.

I used a bit deer heart last time i ground some burgers, that was my most succesful burger patties.

So i guess it would be better used on stocks then. I like them as is too, they taste little sweet, like marrow. But hard to source around here. I guess i could try to use this super thick stock in patties.

My refrigerator has a compartment for wine and beer, it keeps about 14C I dont notice any loss of flavor. I put my EVOO to small brown bottles. I only use good olive oil, usually i dont cook with it, i just you it in salads. When it comes to room temperature it tastes fine to me, but i am not experienced cook. But i never buy cheap oils. Finland is so crazy about rapeseeed oils, i think its unhealthy stuff. I may sound crazy but sometimes i even bring my own little bottle of oil, if i know that they use canola oil in salad dressing.

I keep all oils in the fridge, to minimize the oxidation. Oxidised oils arent good for you. I use plenty of coconut oil too which doesnt oxide or break down in cooking as cheap industrial vegetable oils do. I have a little brown glass bottle with olive oil for daily cooking. Which i take out of the fridge before cooking to come up to temp.

I have a bunch of beef fat that i would like to render, what temp would you recommend? Also what would be a good temp for cooking marrow bone sous vide?

Do you think grinding tendons to the mixture would be a good idea? Does it render to collagen during short cooking? I have been using tendons for stock, they are great for that, amazing gelly stock Also grind some beef heart for flavor.

This might be useful: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=4637 , http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?cat=3

Some other that might be benefitful: Green tea (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21595018?dopt=AbstractPlus), Turmenic/curcumin (improves LDL reseptor effiency and is highly anti-inflamatory, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14642080 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21908599 ) Coconut milk/oil for medium chain fatty acids, lauric acid, most easily digestable. But start them slowly, needs time for body to adapt. I have an anti-cancer whole foods diet, there so much cancer in our family. I cook alot of vegs curries, avoiding omega 6 as much as possible, i eat no sugar or grains, and eating fish and trying to get as much sun light as possible here in north. Vitamin D is vital. The what you dont eat is more important than what you eat.

As it happens soon theres reindeer in season. I would like to buy some meat from Lapland but i dont know what shape of cuts to request. When i cook beef i like tail, cheeks and shortribs, and hanger steaks. Tail is definatly my favorite cut of beef. I would like to eat wild meat and not agriculture grown stuff anymore. I have no experience with reindeer meats. I would use them as braise or sous vide. I like the fatty cuts. They also sell marrow bones, i am sure they make a great stock but they are little expencive.

So its basicly fermented or cultured? Atleast in local room temperatures shouldnt take long? I see, some ghees are made from buffalo milk too.