Finger

  • Wendy’s chili again used for criminal activity

    Posted: December 2nd, 2011 - 3:28pm by Doug Powell

    On March 22, 2005, Anna Ayala claimed she found a finger in a bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy’s restaurant. The finger became the talk of the Internet and late-night talk shows, spawned numerous bizarre tips and theories about the source of the finger, and led to dozens of copycat claims. Wendy’s lost tens of millions of dollars.

    Turns out the finger belonged to a co-worker of Ayala’s husband who severed it during a construction accident and was planted in the chili in a misguided attempt to extort money from Wendy’s.

    In Jan. 2006, Ayala, 40, was sentenced to nine years; the hubby got more than 12 years.

    Two days ago, police in York, Pennsylvania, charged Shelby Lyn Adams, 40 (righ, exactly as shown), of York, with killing her 90-year-old grandmother, Ada Adams, by poisoning her Wendy's chili with morphine three years ago in York Township.

    The investigation lasted about three years -- set back by the lengthy gathering of scientific evidence and a change in investigators because of a promotion in 2010, said Chief Thomas Gross with York Area Regional Police.

    "The detectives did a thorough job at the scene, which was difficult
    considering the death of a 90-year-old woman with no real evidence of a disturbance," Gross said Thursday afternoon.

    Police also had to wait on autopsy and forensic results from vomit on Ada Adams' blouse, which showed the plant substances found in Wendy's chili, according to court documents.

    Gross said that suspicious family members were "very persistent in getting justice for their mother."

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    Wacky and Weird  |  0 Comments
    Chili, extortion, Finger, morphine, murder, Wendy's
  • Lamb on a shovel in a fire pit: finger test insufficient

    Posted: October 22nd, 2010 - 7:30am by Doug Powell

    Once the kid goes to sleep, Amy and I usually adjourn to the bedroom, no matter how early, and chill.

    I go through my ritual of flipping through bad TV while Amy does fascinating farm animal things on Facebook.

    Last night, my flipping took me to the Primal Grill With Steven Raichlen, where the dude was cooking lamb chops on a shovel in a fire pit.

    Apparently, by holding the shovel over the open wood fire, the smoke curls up over the shovel to add a robust flavor to the chops.

    This guy’s got way too much time on his hands.

    To check if the lamb was properly cooked, he pushed his finger into a chop, proclaimed it “spongy” and therefore done.

    However you want to cook meat – with a shovel, a pick-axe, a V-8 engine -- use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer to ensure a safe food temperature.

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    Thermometers  |  0 Comments
    Finger, Lamb, planet barbecue, primal, Shovel, thermometer
  • Simply Recipes explains how to use fingers to test if meat is cooked (total BS)

    Posted: September 4th, 2009 - 6:03am by Doug Powell

    In the expanding category of really bad food safety advice is this entry from Simply Recipes:

    There are two basic methods to test for how done your meat is while you are cooking it - use a meat thermometer, or press on the meat with your finger tips. The problem with the meat thermometer approach is that when you poke a hole into the meat with a thermometer, it can let juices escape, juices that you would rather have stay in the meat. For this reason, most experienced cooks rely on a "finger test" method, especially on steaks (whole roasts are better tested with a thermometer).

    For example, the story explains that to test for raw: Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of your other hand and push on the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. Make sure your hand is relaxed. This is what raw meat feels like.

    There’s more. This is what Johnny Cash and I think (below). Stick it in. Use a thermometer.

    Thanks to another barfblog.com reader for the tip.


     

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    Food Safety Policy, Raw Food, Thermometers  |  4 Comments
    Doneness, Finger, Johnny Cash, Meat, Simply Recipes
  • New iFSN infosheet -- Dirty Finger Al

    Posted: September 6th, 2007 - 9:31pm by Ben Chapman

    One of the best ever monikers in any food safety story came out courtesy of our friends at healthinspection.com.  Dirty Finger Al inspired today's infosheet which can be found here.

    Dirty Finger Al got his name because he is allegedly “grotesque in his hygiene because of filthy hands and fingers and open, oozing sores while cooking.”   And he's a chef. Yum.
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    Raw Food, Salmonella, Wacky and Weird  |  0 Comments
    Dirty, Finger, Handler, Top Chef