Menu Help Needed for Tricky Eaters

[CalumC]

"Suddenly, everybody has become lactose-intolerant. But the truth is that very, very few of us are so seriously afflicted that we cannot drink even a glass of milk a day without trouble. I know several people who have given up cheese to avoid lactose. But fermented cheeses contain no lactose! Lactose is the sugar found in milk; 98 percent of it is drained off with the whey (cheese is made from the curds), and the other 2 percent is quickly consumed by lactic-acid bacteria in the act of fermentation."

From http://www.slate.com/id/3152/ but like i said, its in one of his books.

[LizD518]

I made a delicious mushrom & butternut squash risotto the other night:

Soak dried porcinis (or wild mushroom mix) in hot water with a bit of dried thyme and a bay leaf, strain and use this broth, with the addition of a little dry white wine as your cooking liquid. Reserve the soaked myusherooms and mince finely.

Sweat some finely minced onion in olive oil, add the rice and sautee for a minute. Add diced butternut squash, diced soaked mushrooms and sautee for a minute. Add the first bit of cooking liquid and proceed as normal. I salt several times along the way, continually tasting so I don't over-do it. I also added minced criminis that I had sauteed in some butter until they were nicely cooked at the very end. And finished it with a big lump of Mt. Tam cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan - but that was in place of the butter that I would normaly use. It was so filling and satisfying.

[SeanDirty]

I made a delicious mushrom & butternut squash risotto the other night:

Soak dried porcinis (or wild mushroom mix) in hot water with a bit of dried thyme and a bay leaf, strain and use this broth, with the addition of a little dry white wine as your cooking liquid.  Reserve the soaked myusherooms and mince finely.

Sweat some finely minced onion in olive oil, add the rice and sautee for a minute.  Add diced butternut squash, diced soaked mushrooms and sautee for a minute.  Add the first bit of cooking liquid and proceed as normal.  I salt several times along the way, continually tasting so I don't over-do it.  I also added minced criminis that I had sauteed in some butter until they were nicely cooked at the very end.  And finished it with a big lump of Mt. Tam cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan - but that was in place of the butter that I would normaly use.  It was so filling and satisfying.

←

Liz, why would you salt along the way?? Its actually not to good to do that... Salting at the middle or beginning will make very little difference except open your dish up to over seasoning... I understand if lets say your making eggplant and you want to remove some moisture and you salt it then... But you should really salt and pepper at the end so you can tweak flavors... Like heres an example...

Every time i buy stocks in the super market i find that once you reduce it there is a ton of salt in it... so you could imagine if i were making a soup and i salted all the veg as i was sweating it... and then i go and add the stock... everything would be oversalted...

Now mainly i say that because your making a risotto. Because the flavors will be all together in the end due to its consistency... If your making a steak with separate components of course your going to salt each of them... But for liquidy food... you should season at the end.

Dont forget to Add Acid!! im sure the dish will be a TRip!

[prasantrin]

"Suddenly, everybody has become lactose-intolerant. But the truth is that very, very few of us are so seriously afflicted that we cannot drink even a glass of milk a day without trouble. I know several people who have given up cheese to avoid lactose. But fermented cheeses contain no lactose! Lactose is the sugar found in milk; 98 percent of it is drained off with the whey (cheese is made from the curds), and the other 2 percent is quickly consumed by lactic-acid bacteria in the act of fermentation."

From http://www.slate.com/id/3152/ but like i said, its in one of his books.

←

Just because Jeffrey Steingarten says it, doesn't make it true. This, to me, is analogous to all those people who say alcoholics can eat dishes where alcohol is an ingredient because the alcohol burns off. Science has shown not all the alcohol burns off, and how much alcohol remains depends on many factors, including the cooking process, itself (flambeed vs. braising etc)

Not all lactose is always consumed in the cheese-making process, and not all cheeses have equal amounts of lactose. Hard cheeses because they are aged have much less lactose than a cheese like ricotta. The woman says she's lactose intolerant, and as a guest, she's entitled to be believed.

WebMD with further references from scientific studies.

Lactose intolerance is very common-approximately 50 million people in the United States have the condition.1 Worldwide, 70% of adults have some degree of lactose intolerance.2

Lactose intolerance occurs more often in Native Americans and people of Asian, African, and South American descent than among people of European descent. Experts believe that lactose intolerance is directly related to how long ago a person's ancestors were introduced to dairy products.

(Note that Jeffrey Steingarten belongs to the "people of European descent" category, so perhaps when he wrote "very, very few of us", maybe he meant "very, very few of us of European descent.")

Edited December 12, 2008 by prasantrin (log)

[CalumC]

"Suddenly, everybody has become lactose-intolerant. But the truth is that very, very few of us are so seriously afflicted that we cannot drink even a glass of milk a day without trouble. I know several people who have given up cheese to avoid lactose. But fermented cheeses contain no lactose! Lactose is the sugar found in milk; 98 percent of it is drained off with the whey (cheese is made from the curds), and the other 2 percent is quickly consumed by lactic-acid bacteria in the act of fermentation."

From http://www.slate.com/id/3152/ but like i said, its in one of his books.

←

Just because Jeffrey Steingarten says it, doesn't make it true. This, to me, is analogous to all those people who say alcoholics can eat dishes where alcohol is an ingredient because the alcohol burns off. Science has shown not all the alcohol burns off, and how much alcohol remains depends on many factors, including the cooking process, itself (flambeed vs. braising etc)

Not all lactose is always consumed in the cheese-making process, and not all cheeses have equal amounts of lactose. Hard cheeses because they are aged have much less lactose than a cheese like ricotta. The woman says she's lactose intolerant, and as a guest, she's entitled to be believed.

WebMD with further references from scientific studies.

Lactose intolerance is very common-approximately 50 million people in the United States have the condition.1 Worldwide, 70% of adults have some degree of lactose intolerance.2

Lactose intolerance occurs more often in Native Americans and people of Asian, African, and South American descent than among people of European descent. Experts believe that lactose intolerance is directly related to how long ago a person's ancestors were introduced to dairy products.

(Note that Jeffrey Steingarten belongs to the "people of European descent" category, so perhaps when he wrote "very, very few of us", maybe he meant "very, very few of us of European descent.")

←

Steady on there, apologies if i've riled you a bit, I just included because it was relevant and interesting.

As I remember from the actual article, there was some sort of scientific study into it, if i find the book back home over christmas i'll come back with what it says. Anyway, we've managed to stray away from the topic a little, back to the menu talk.

[santo_grace]

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know what I ended up cooking.

I stuck with a couple of my original appetizers of an eggplant/pepper dip and cheese/crackers.

Also, stayed with the tomato roasted soup.

Salad was very basic - arugula, red onion and dressing.

I modified a seafood stew over rice - the sauce was a tomato base, and with the seafood I used only shrimp since my guest couldn't eat as much shellfish as I thought.

Poached pears for dessert served with either dulche de leche gelato or soy milk ice cream.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I wanted to serve the shrimp over polenta, but I'll admit I haven't made polenta before and was having too busy of a day to think about it. I'm putting it on my list of dishes to make by the end of the winter.