smoked food - Link: Cordon bleu comes to the City

[Guest guest]

Hi Judy,

You're probably thinking of hot smoking, which does cook the food, and is hot

enough to cook it fast enough to avoid spoilage. Depending on what reference you

use, the upper limit for cold smoking is 80-90F and so that is well within the

range of raw food.

 

Cold smoking was originally used to preserve food for the winter. Now its

commonly used because it tastes better to many people than hot smoked food. Its

interesting that in spite of this widespread traditional example of raw food

keeping better and tasting better than cooked food, people were (and mostly

still are) sure that cooking is a better way to go.

 

Cold smoking is done with a small cool fire, with the food high enough above the

heat source that it gets the smoke, but little heat.

 

Of course the industrial food people just add liquid smoke flavoring to food,

which was distilled from wood smoke, to create " smoke " flavored food.

 

What many of the health oriented people overlook is that smoking helped preserve

food because it killed microbes and left a layer of chemicals on the food that

restricted the growth of microbes. This coating also slowed down the process of

the fat becoming rancid. A less romantic and more accurate way to describe

smoked food is food with a anti-bacterial and anti-fungal coating of tar,

antioxidants, and carcinogenic chemicals on it.

 

While raw food dishes with smoked ingredients might be trendy, and might appeal

to people who are eating a mainstream diet and to people with numbed taste buds,

once you add smoked ingredients to a recipe, I wouldn't call it health food

anymore.

 

Though I still occasionally eat a bit of smoked food because it was so

traditional and important when I was growing up, every time I look at it this

way, the bit I eat gets smaller.

 

May your day be filled with clarity, grace, strength, progress, and warm

laughter,

Roger

 

 

-

" Judy Pokras " <vegwriter

 

Sunday, June 29, 2008 10:50 PM

Re: Link: Cordon bleu comes to the City

 

 

> Interesting. I wonder if it's 100 percent raw. I don't know how it could be

> with dishes that are called " smoked " this or that. I don't know how you get

> a smoked flavor with all raw ingredients.

>

> Judy

>

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Roger. I agree with you that even so-called " cold " smoking is not

beneficial to the health of anyone eating that food, because of the

chemicals involved.

 

 

--

Judy Pokras

vegwriter

author

The Little e-Book of Raw Holiday Recipes

editor/founder/publisher

Raw Foods News Magazine

www.rawfoodsnewsmagazine.com

An online magazine celebrating raw vegan cuisine since March 2001, and

featuring authoritative info, breaking news, and fun interactive features on

the raw vegan lifestyle. Have you signed up for our free e-newsletter?

 

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 5:07 PM, Roger Padvorac <roger

wrote:

 

> Hi Judy,

> You're probably thinking of hot smoking, which does cook the food, and is

> hot enough to cook it fast enough to avoid spoilage. Depending on what

> reference you use, the upper limit for cold smoking is 80-90F and so that is

> well within the range of raw food.

>

> Cold smoking was originally used to preserve food for the winter. Now its

> commonly used because it tastes better to many people than hot smoked food.

> Its interesting that in spite of this widespread traditional example of raw

> food keeping better and tasting better than cooked food, people were (and

> mostly still are) sure that cooking is a better way to go.

>

> Cold smoking is done with a small cool fire, with the food high enough

> above the heat source that it gets the smoke, but little heat.

>

> Of course the industrial food people just add liquid smoke flavoring to

> food, which was distilled from wood smoke, to create " smoke " flavored food.

>

> What many of the health oriented people overlook is that smoking helped

> preserve food because it killed microbes and left a layer of chemicals on

> the food that restricted the growth of microbes. This coating also slowed

> down the process of the fat becoming rancid. A less romantic and more

> accurate way to describe smoked food is food with a anti-bacterial and

> anti-fungal coating of tar, antioxidants, and carcinogenic chemicals on it.

>

> While raw food dishes with smoked ingredients might be trendy, and might

> appeal to people who are eating a mainstream diet and to people with numbed

> taste buds, once you add smoked ingredients to a recipe, I wouldn't call it

> health food anymore.

>

> Though I still occasionally eat a bit of smoked food because it was so

> traditional and important when I was growing up, every time I look at it

> this way, the bit I eat gets smaller.

>

> May your day be filled with clarity, grace, strength, progress, and warm

> laughter,

> Roger

>

> -

> " Judy Pokras " <vegwriter <vegwriter%40gmail.com>>

> < <%40>>

> Sunday, June 29, 2008 10:50 PM

> Re: Link: Cordon bleu comes to the City

>

> > Interesting. I wonder if it's 100 percent raw. I don't know how it could

> be

> > with dishes that are called " smoked " this or that. I don't know how you

> get

> > a smoked flavor with all raw ingredients.

> >

> > Judy

> >

>

>