Which came first, the gecko or the egg?
Australia's ABC News Online reports that Dr Peter Beaumont, the Northern Territory president of the Australian Medical Association, says he may have accidentally discovered how the potentially deadly salmonella bacteria gets inside chicken eggs when he discovered a dead gecko between the inner shell and the membrane of a chicken egg he cracked open while cooking.
He believes the discovery is a world first and has handed the egg shell over to health authorities who will look for the presence of bacteria in the yolk and try to work out how the gecko got into the egg.
Dr Beaumont says he suspects the gecko entered the chicken before it entered the egg, stating,
"Eggs are made inside chooks up this tube from their bottom. Now obviously this tube is in contact with the whole outside world. It has to be that the gecko climbed up inside the chook and died up there while the egg was being formed before the shell was put on it."
He says the discovery could have wide reaching implications for the egg farming industry, as it may explain how the potentially deadly salmonella bacteria gets into eggs.
Look at the cell phone on that gecko (gordon, below).
He believes the discovery is a world first and has handed the egg shell over to health authorities who will look for the presence of bacteria in the yolk and try to work out how the gecko got into the egg.Dr Beaumont says he suspects the gecko entered the chicken before it entered the egg, stating,
"Eggs are made inside chooks up this tube from their bottom. Now obviously this tube is in contact with the whole outside world. It has to be that the gecko climbed up inside the chook and died up there while the egg was being formed before the shell was put on it."
He says the discovery could have wide reaching implications for the egg farming industry, as it may explain how the potentially deadly salmonella bacteria gets into eggs.
Look at the cell phone on that gecko (gordon, below).
Raw eggs sicken 50 Aussies
A bunch of Australians had their summer-Xmas holidays ruined by barfing after contracting Salmonella from raw eggs.
The New South Wales Food Authority says that a group of 35 people fell ill, probably from salmonella, after eating homemade fried ice cream with a coating made of raw egg batter at a party. There were also 11 cases from another gathering where raw egg was used in caesar salad dressing and chocolate mousse. Three children also became ill after drinking affected egg nog
The New South Wales Food Authority says that a group of 35 people fell ill, probably from salmonella, after eating homemade fried ice cream with a coating made of raw egg batter at a party. There were also 11 cases from another gathering where raw egg was used in caesar salad dressing and chocolate mousse. Three children also became ill after drinking affected egg nogIs it safe to use raw eggs to make homemade egg nog?
With snow creating blizzard conditions and the Interstate closed, Manhattanites may be tempted to stay at home and curl up with some festive egg nog.And every year, the same question comes up: is it safe to use raw eggs to make homemade egg nog?
Sort of?
Egg nog is a festive beverage generally prepared during the holiday season for family and holiday celebrations. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a drink in which the white and yolk of eggs are stirred up with hot beer, wine, or spirits. A number of recipes can be found on the Internet, including http://www.eggnogrecipe.net/.
Egg nog is traditionally prepared with raw egg yolks and whites. In the 1998 Salmonella Enteritidis Risk Assessment for Shell Eggs and Egg Products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that 1-in-20,000 shell eggs is contaminated with Salmonella.
The folks at the Egg Safety Center estimate that the odds of any one person in the US getting sick from SE in eggs is 1 in 2,240 or 0.045% each year. Unless egg nog is your primary, year-round source of eggs, the risk estimate for the seasonal beverage would be smaller.Many egg nog recipes call for alcohol whether it be beer, wine, or spirits, and many believe that the alcohol in the drink kills harmful bacteria, including salmonella. The Extension Service at the University of Minnesota says there is no scientific data to supports this claim. “Alcohol inhibits bacterial growth but cannot be relied upon to kill bacteria.” Consequently, adding more alcohol to a recipe may increase its potency, but it will not ensure the destruction of all bacteria.
Pasteurized eggs or store-bought egg nog are microbiologically safer alternatives.
Me? Too much fat in egg nog.Here are three recipes from Sunday's N.Y. Times.
1958: Eggnog
This recipe appeared in The Times in an article by Craig Claiborne.
As Freeman pointed out, “It’s important to get good farm-fresh eggs, with really orange yolks and really thick cream; these are the main constituents of the drink.” Halve the recipe for a smaller gathering.
12 eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup bourbon
1 cup Cognac
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 pints heavy cream
Grated nutmeg
1 to 2 cups milk (optional)
1. In an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until thick.
2. Slowly add the bourbon and Cognac while beating at slow speed. Chill for several hours.
3. Add the salt to the egg whites. Beat until almost stiff.
4. Whip the cream until stiff.
5. Fold the whipped cream into the yolk mixture, then fold in the beaten egg whites. Chill 1 hour.
6. When ready to serve, sprinkle the top with freshly grated nutmeg. Serve in punch cups with a spoon.
7. If desired, add 1 to 2 cups of milk to the yolk mixture for a thinner eggnog. Makes about 40 punch-cup servings.
——
2007: Roquefort-and-Pear Eggnog
By Eben Freeman, the head bartender at Tailor in SoHo.
3 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled
1 1/2+cups heavy cream
4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup poire William, or other pear brandy
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.
1. One to two days before making the eggnog, combine the cheese and cream in a container and refrigerate for 36 to 48 hours.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk, combine the egg yolks, sugar and poire William. Beat until pale yellow and emulsified. Chill for 2 hours. Line a sieve with cheesecloth, and strain the cream-and-cheese mixture.
3. Whip the cream to stiff peaks, then fold into the egg-yolk mixture. Beat the egg whites until fluffy, then add the salt and continue beating to stiff peaks. Fold into the cream mixture. Chill for 1 hour. Serve in small cups with a spoon. Serves 10.
——
2007: Cedar-Scented Eggnog
By Eben Freeman, head bartender at Tailor in SoHo.
1 cedar plank or 1 sheet of cedar paper, for wrapping food
1/4 cup bourbon
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Cognac
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Pinch salt.
1. Two days before making the eggnog, infuse the bourbon. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a vegetable peeler, shave strips of cedar from the cedar plank until you have 1/4 cup of shavings (if using cedar paper, break it into pieces). Spread the shavings on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until toasted, about 20 minutes. Let cool, then combine with the bourbon, cover and let sit for 48 hours.
2. Strain the bourbon through a jelly bag or a tea towel. In a mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy, then with the mixer on low, slowly add the bourbon and the Cognac. Chill for 2 hours.
3. Whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold into the yolk mixture. Beat the egg whites and salt to stiff peaks and fold into the same mixture. Chill for 1 hour. Serve in small cups, with a spoon. Serves 10.
Bodybuilding diet: all natural BS protein shake recipe
Something called Real Muscle Online says that when you are bodybuilding, it's important to stay healthy while achieving goals and not buying into a lot of the typical bodybuilding weight loss and mass gain crap.But they apparently buy into movie crap and don't care about barfing from Salmonella.
When getting your daily protein it is important to do it smartly. Too much protein is not good for you. Too much protein from unhealthy sources is not good for you. Lets keep it clean.
Ingredients:
Banana
Free range eggs
Raw milk
Uncooked honey
Whey protein if you want
As you can see the ingredients all have a common theme. They are natural. They are uncooked. You see when you cook a food you destroy a lot of the enzymes that make up the proteins and so on. This means they are less effective in your body. What good is a protein if it is unable to do its job?
These natural ingredients are a lot more effective than the dead protein powders you buy on the shelf.
Just because it was in the movie Rocky doesn't mean it's a good idea.
Score 1 for food safety
Buried in a N.Y. Times piece on the demand for cage-free eggs is this nugget that Ben found while editing AnimalNet tonight:"Officials at Notre Dame turned down a request by a campus animal rights group to switch to cage-free eggs after investigating the issue for six months.
The university, which serves 16,000 meals a day in its dining halls, visited both cage and cage-free operations, examining animal welfare, food safety, environmental impact, taste and other issues. Both operations they toured appeared to take equally good care of their chickens, said Jocie Antonelli, nutrition and safety manager.
The university decided that its current source of eggs, which uses a cage system, had the edge in food safety.
“There are pros and cons to each system,” Ms. Antonelli said. “Either way, these are not free-roaming chickens living out in a pasture.”
The story does not explain what constituted the edge in food safety, but the mere mention of food safety - microbial food safety - is encouraging.
