Post by YoungFogey on Jan 11, 2006 22:59:36 GMT -5
I've known for some time that I really needed to get rid of those darned "Silverstone" (nonstick) pans we've been using, and switch over to stainless and/or cast iron, depending on use. But tonight I had that lesson driven home in a very depressing way!
Ma and I have been getting kinda tired of Christmas cookies for dessert and I wanted to make something a little more special for tonight. So I decided to make up some cooked pudding. The pudding itself was nothing all that great, just a regular mix (with "natural flavors" all the way down at the bottom of the ingredient list, behind "artificial flavors" and yellow dyes number 5 and 6.
But to make it especially nice, I used three cups of my precious raw milk, which I get (indirectly) from an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania every two weeks -- Maryland not being particularly "enlightened," to put it mildly, where raw dairy is concerned. Ma isn't too keen on raw milk, either, but this would be cooked, and the Jersey milk is so nice and thick and rich! I knew she would really like it.
The instructions were to stir constantly, over medium heat, until it comes to a boil. Well, as I stirred, I started to see first a few, then a lot of little black specks in it! Looked like I'd added pepper, which of course I hadn't. I couldn't figure it out at first, until I suddenly realized that it was bits of the non-stick coating (which was particularly worn on that pan anyway) breaking loose and circulating all through my nice Jersey-milk pudding!!! I was, and am, appalled just thinking of it. And of course, that got me wondering how long it had been happening in things that concealed what the vanilla pudding had revealed...
I hated like sin to discard three cups of milk, though those of you with cows that produce more than you can easily use might laugh to think of it! But that's what I did. I wasn't about to subject either Ma or myself to consuming a lavish peppering of weathered non-stick coating pieces! Again, I hate to think how many we've been eating, or for how long, already. Ick! Yuck! Bleah!!!
So tomorrow I'm heading to Boscovs to find replacements. They have a set of All-Clad-made "Emeril-ware" pots there for $199, I may just get them -- it's a bit high on the hog for me, but might prove a good investment from a health-and-safety perspective. I've heard this set is not quite as good as "standard" All-Clad, but I also know for a fact I can't afford the fancy stuff! And I'm going to get a frying pan, at least, in cast iron. Been meaning to do that for some time, anyway.
*sigh* This seems to be my ... week? year (2006)? ... to discard convenient but unnatural things for health reasons, actually. I just poured some of my hand-carried spring water (from a real spring) down the drain a few nights ago, because I realized my plastic cup was shedding plastic fragments into it! Retired said cup, and am now drinking out of glass (or ceramic) only. Hope I haven't consumed too many plastic shavings, and that they'll someday process out of my colon! Arrrrrrgggh!!! This is not a healthy world we live in, unfortunately.
Sorry, folks, just had to "vent" for a bit, there!
A much-chastened
Tom
Ma and I have been getting kinda tired of Christmas cookies for dessert and I wanted to make something a little more special for tonight. So I decided to make up some cooked pudding. The pudding itself was nothing all that great, just a regular mix (with "natural flavors" all the way down at the bottom of the ingredient list, behind "artificial flavors" and yellow dyes number 5 and 6.
But to make it especially nice, I used three cups of my precious raw milk, which I get (indirectly) from an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania every two weeks -- Maryland not being particularly "enlightened," to put it mildly, where raw dairy is concerned. Ma isn't too keen on raw milk, either, but this would be cooked, and the Jersey milk is so nice and thick and rich! I knew she would really like it.
The instructions were to stir constantly, over medium heat, until it comes to a boil. Well, as I stirred, I started to see first a few, then a lot of little black specks in it! Looked like I'd added pepper, which of course I hadn't. I couldn't figure it out at first, until I suddenly realized that it was bits of the non-stick coating (which was particularly worn on that pan anyway) breaking loose and circulating all through my nice Jersey-milk pudding!!! I was, and am, appalled just thinking of it. And of course, that got me wondering how long it had been happening in things that concealed what the vanilla pudding had revealed...
I hated like sin to discard three cups of milk, though those of you with cows that produce more than you can easily use might laugh to think of it! But that's what I did. I wasn't about to subject either Ma or myself to consuming a lavish peppering of weathered non-stick coating pieces! Again, I hate to think how many we've been eating, or for how long, already. Ick! Yuck! Bleah!!!
So tomorrow I'm heading to Boscovs to find replacements. They have a set of All-Clad-made "Emeril-ware" pots there for $199, I may just get them -- it's a bit high on the hog for me, but might prove a good investment from a health-and-safety perspective. I've heard this set is not quite as good as "standard" All-Clad, but I also know for a fact I can't afford the fancy stuff! And I'm going to get a frying pan, at least, in cast iron. Been meaning to do that for some time, anyway.
*sigh* This seems to be my ... week? year (2006)? ... to discard convenient but unnatural things for health reasons, actually. I just poured some of my hand-carried spring water (from a real spring) down the drain a few nights ago, because I realized my plastic cup was shedding plastic fragments into it! Retired said cup, and am now drinking out of glass (or ceramic) only. Hope I haven't consumed too many plastic shavings, and that they'll someday process out of my colon! Arrrrrrgggh!!! This is not a healthy world we live in, unfortunately.
Sorry, folks, just had to "vent" for a bit, there!
A much-chastened
Tom