Grannie Annie’s Pozole

I don’t often do recipe posts. Honestly, I don’t often cook. But my friend Sarah Shotts is working on an awesome new adventure, Project STIR. She wants to create videos of families cooking together and passing down recipes and kitchen secrets.

Her project really hit home for me as I lost my Mother in August and my Dad’s Mom last October. What I wouldn’t give for a few more hours in the kitchen with either one of them.

So many of the things that make a dish delicious can’t be found on the recipe card. I hope Sarah’s project helps to preserve dishes for other families and cultures.

I decided to share my Grannie Annie’s Pozole.

Like most grandmas, Grannie Annie was happiest with a
 baby in her lap. That's Vallie at about 3 months.

I grew up in Texas, but my Dad’s family lived for several years in New Mexico. In those years, my Grandmother picked up several culinary traits from the Hispanic and Native American cultures in the Jemez Mountains. She made homemade tortillas and sopapillas and put green chilies in everything.

Pozole is a prehispanic soup traditionally made with pork and hominy. According to Dad (and verified by Wikipedia), the word pozole actually translates to simply ‘hominy’ in the native Aztec language.

Our family always ate Pozole on New Year’s Day, but I wanted to share it because it’s one of the most unique dishes we eat.

Bonus! It’s super easy and can be made in the crock pot!

I had to call my Dad for a recipe. Turns out there’s not one written down, so he recalled the recipe from memory.

POZOLE

3 big cans hominy (drained)

2 cans of Green Chili Enchilada sauce

1 can for chopped green chili

Jar of chopped pimentos

Pork or chicken cut to bite size

Salt and pepper

You may need to add a little water to cover all of the ingredients in the crock pot.

It takes 3 to 4 hours for the meat to cook and it is ready to eat.

He said Grandma used to make it with dried hominy that she soaked overnight, but it was just as good with canned hominy.  Grandma was very particular about how her dishes looked in the bowl, so she would buy some yellow and some white and then add pimento to make it look pretty.

We fixed the Pozole late morning and let it cook for most of the afternoon.

We made ours with chicken, but pork works just as well. I wanted to take a picture of the cut-up chicken, but I was chasing kids while Dad was doing the work.

Even the kids enjoyed it.

I love a good crock-pot recipe.
So easy and great for this time of year.

We topped it with shredded cheese and ate it
with flour tortillas. Dad warmed the tortillas in the
skillet to take the ‘store-bought’ taste out of them.

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Don’t judge cooked meat by its color.

Just… don’t.

Everyone, myself included, does it. We look at the color of the inside of a burger or chicken to determine if it’s cooked. Is it pink? Nope. Chomp chomp!

Here’s the problem: Color is not a good indicator of safe cooking temperatures. You have to use a meat thermometer to be sure meat is cooked to safe temperatures.

Meat turns from pink to brown because the protein that makes meat red (myoglobin) is denatured as it is cooked. The protein is damaged and doesn’t reflect light in the same manner anymore, so the meat appears brown.

Lots of factors can affect how quickly or slowly the protein is denatured as it is heated. Meat color changes can vary due to the pH (acidity) of the meat, the age and gender of the animal, how long it was stored, the way it was packaged, whether it was frozen, even the feed and water of the animals can affect cooked meat color.

Sometimes meat turns brown too soon!

Meat scientists call this phenomenon Premature Browning. It can be really dangerous because meat looks done, but it hasn't been cooked to a safe temperature.

This photo is from a great fact sheet about beef color from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Both of these patties were cooked to an unsafe temperature (55°C or 131°F). Patty A looks very undercooked, but patty B looks done.

I have a previous blog post about fresh meat color. Remember that we talked about meat being oxygenated (red), deoxygenated (purple), or oxidized (brown)? Researchers at Kansas State found that when patties were cooked in the oxidized (brown) state, their cooked color was brown, even at temperatures that were too low to kill deadly bacteria like E. coliand Salmonella. Other research has found that the packaging can cause meat to brown faster, too.

Regardless of why the meat turns brown at too low of a temperature, sometimes it happens. The best way to insure that your meat is cooked properly is to use a meat thermometer.

Ground beef should be cooked to 160°F and poultry should be cooked to 165°F.

Sometimes meat stays pink too long!

Meat scientists call this phenomenon Persistent Pinking. It is not as much a food safety issue as it is a perception and eating quality issue. When meat looks pink, even if it’s been thoroughly cooked, people will think it’s undercooked and will keep cooking it until its way overcooked. When it’s overcooked, it tastes terrible.

I am conducting research on persistent pinking in ground beef this summer. 

These patties were all cooked to exactly 160°F.
You can see how some of them are still pink in the middle.

Research has shown that a high pH (more basic) can protect the proteins at greater temperatures and keep them from turning brown. They may also stay pink because of a higher concentration of the myoglobin protein. Right now our research is creating more questions than answers, but it sure is interesting.

Persistent pinking can also be caused by outside substances interacting with the meat and creating the pink color.

Nitrites are a good example of one of these outside substances. Sometimes we want this pink color to appear, like in the case of ham, sausages, or bacon. However, very small amounts of nitrites can get into the meat (especially poultry) and create a pink color that kind of looks like ham. If you don’t expect the meat to be pink and it is, you may think it’s undercooked.

These pictures were sent to me by Dr. Jim Claus at the University of Wisconsin. He is one of the leading researchers in persistent pinking in processed meats. These are a pair of turkey slices and some tuna chunks with persistent pinking problems. All of these were cooked to a safe temperature, but some clearly have some color issues.

This is a pork chop that was cooked wrapped in bacon. Looks like the nitrites in the bacon seeped into the pork chop and created a pink color.

Sometimes the ovens that cook the meat can introduce gasses that react with the muscle and cause it to turn pink. We like it when this happens in smoked meats, but when you don’t expect it, you may be concerned it hasn’t been cooked enough.

This is a smoked sausage from an awesome BBQ restaurant in south Texas. See how the smoke has created the ring of pink around the edge of the sausage?

When you see pink color in meat, look to see where the off-color is within the pieces. Undercooked meat will be pink in the middle, but persistent pinking issues are more likely to occur on the surface.

Even what the animals (especially birds) eat or drink can introduce substances that can change the cooked color of their meat. Nitrates and nitrites that occur naturally in the feed and water can remain in the birds and create some color problems, especially around the bone.

This is another picture of some cooked chicken pieces from Dr. Claus. You can see some really severe pinking problems in them.

If you are served something that you think looks underdone, it’s OK to ask what temperature it was cooked to. Sometimes meat is just stubbornly pink, but sometimes it may actually be underdone. When it comes to my kids, if I think a piece of meat they've been served may be underdone, you bet I'll ask the waiter about it. 

The best way to know is to use a meat thermometer.

Cook it to a temperaturenot a color.

The USDA has a great fact sheet about meat color that gives more detail about persistent pinking and premature browning.

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Microblogs: Ham vs. Lamb

The day before Easter, I surveyed my followers on social media on their preference of ham or lamb for Easter dinner.

According to my survey, more of you are eating ham today than lamb. Some chose beef. The reason we eat lamb today is pretty obvious. The lamb represents the sacrificial lamb of God.

But in the US many more of us will eat ham and I wanted to do a little research as to why. I secretly was hoping I would find that we ate ham at Easter because the pink color of ham matched our pretty pink Easter dresses and pink dyed eggs. But, probably not.

Some say that the tradition of ham at Easter goes back to pagan traditions associated with the celebrations of the Spring equinox, and others say that ham was eaten during this time because pork was considered a lucky meat by pre-Christian Europeans.

However, in the Ozarks and much of the rural US, the tradition of ham at Easter probably originated from the fact that pigs were slaughtered in the winter and the hams and shoulders were cured. The curing process in those days took many months, so the first hams were ready at Easter.

It really doesn't matter why we choose ham or lamb or beef, what matters is that we are taking the day to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus with our families or (like we do it) with our church family.

After note: For lunch, Ed made a ham for church pot-luck and had a piece of it, but there is a man at our church that makes some awesome BBQ chicken, so that's what I had. 

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What’s in a food label? Uncured, naturally cured or no nitrate or nitrite added.

This year I’ve been working on a series of posts about food labels and what they mean. In earlier posts, I talked about what the Natural label means on a meat package, but I get some questions about Uncured, Naturally Cured or processed meat products that are made without nitrate or nitrite.

I’ve covered this topic before in a post called ‘What is Nitrite?’, but I wanted to cover it again in the labeling series.

Some processors want to create friendlier, less chemically labels and choose to remove nitrates. Also, when meat processors want to use the Natural or Organic labels, they are not allowed to add nitrites and nitrates as they are classified by the USDA as chemical preservatives.

 

What if you just removed these ingredients from natural products?

Just take it out. Problem solved.

Some processors do that, but without nitrite, deli ham would not be pink, it would basically be just a pork roast. Tasty meats like bacon and hotdogs wouldn’t have the same flavors we enjoy. And, most importantly, all of these products would be more susceptible to spoilage and the growth of dangerous bacteria. The nitrite helps them last longer on store shelves and in your refrigerator. Nitrite also makes them safer for you and your family.

So, removing it doesn’t work.

What is nitrite anyway and what is its purpose in meat?

Nitrite is added to processed meats like ham, bacon, and sausages (hotdogs, bologna, etc) for 4 reasons:

1.       It prevents the growth of Clostridium botulinum (the bacteria that causes botulism). Botulism can shut down your nervous system and that’s not healthy. It also helps control other dangerous pathogens and bacteria that cause spoilage, so it helps keep meat safe.

2.       It is a very powerful antioxidant and keeps the meat from going rancid. The fat in processed meat can get funky flavors if allowed to oxidize, and nitrite helps to keep that from happening. Ever notice why a package of ham can last for weeks in your fridge while leftovers go bad in a few days?

3.       It gives cured meats their distinct pink color. The nitrite reacts with the muscle protein and changes it to pink, and it stays pink for a much longer time than fresh meat stays red.

4.       It gives cured meats their distinct flavor. That unique “hammy” and smoky flavor of a ham or that unique bacon flavor in bacon comes from the nitrite.



German researchers discovered that nitrite and
not nitrate (curing cousins) was the form of
curing salt responsible for meat curing, and
started to exclusively use nitrite for curing.

Also, without nitrite, several products would completely lose their identity. The USDA has standards of identity that regulate what is a hot dog, bologna, or even bacon and nitrite is an important ingredient for making them what they are. Without it, they are no longer “cured.” This means bacon without nitrite would no longer be bacon, but would instead be cooked pork belly.

How do “Natural” and “Cured” coexist?

Even though, nitrate and nitrite are not allowed to be directly added to natural and organic labeled meat products, other ‘natural’ ingredients with high levels of naturally-occurring nitrate can be used to replace the synthetic forms.

Many vegetables contain high levels of naturally accumulating nitrate. In fact, the main human dietary source of nitrate isn’t processed meats, but actually green leafy vegetables like spinach and celery. When the nitrate is converted to nitrite, presto… meat curing can naturally happen.

Meat processors can use vegetable powder in processed meats as a source of nitrite to create the pink color and cured flavor. On the label, it may be listed as celery powder, flavoring, or natural flavoring. The nitrite derived from vegetables and found in vegetable powder and in natural meats is exactly the same compound as that found in conventionally cured meats.

However, this substitution doesn’t replace all the nitrite needed to provide important quality and safety attributes. The final nitrite levels are lower and the vegetable powder may have to be limited because it can give the meat product its own flavors, too. These lower nitrate levels mean that the naturally cured meats are not as well protected from spoilage and pathogenic bacteria like Clostridium botulinumand Listeria monocytogenes. So, other steps must be taken to help keep the product safe. Meat processors add natural antimicrobial ingredients or use extra processes like high pressure processing to protect against spoilage and dangerous bacteria.

So what’s the difference, really?

Generally, natural meats are going to be more expensive because the ingredients that go into them are more expensive. However, when your dinner hits the table, natural and conventionally-cured meats should taste the same and both are safe and nutritious for your family.

  

For this post, I want to thank Dr. Jeff Sindelar from the University of Wisconsin for helping me explain all the nitrate/nitrite chemistry. Jeff and I have been buddies since graduate school, and he is a great meat scientist who has devoted his research to naturally-cured meats. You can see him talking about it in his Meat Myth Crusher video.

 

 

 

 

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Packaging questions: Purge

It’s one of my most commonly-asked questions.

What is the deal with that blood or water in my package of meat?

Beef steaks and purge
Photo courtesy Macc Rigdon

When you take your tasty cut of meat out of the package, there is a pinkish liquid that is left behind. Most of the time, there is even a little soaker pad in the package to soak it up.

What is that stuff?

Short answer:



It’s a combination of water, lactic acid, and meat pigments that seeped out of the meat.

Longer answer:



Soaker pad in a chicken tray

In science class, we all learned that our bodies are largely made up of water. The same is true for animals, and a high percentage of that water is held in the muscles and stays in the muscle when it’s converted to meat.

Water in the meat is what creates the juiciness we experience when we eat a juicy steak, a tender ham, or a succulent turkey (#tokenthanksgivingreference). Water helps give meat the texture and flavor we expect. Meat without water is jerky, dry and tough.

Think of the proteins in meat as a sponge. As the meat ages and the more it is handled (cut, shipped, packaged, etc.), the protein sponge loses its ability to hold onto water. So, the water seeps out of the meat over time.

When the water seeps out, the protein that gives meat its color (myoglobin) flows out with the water. That protein gives the purge its color. Although it’s similar to the protein that gives blood its color (hemoglobin), it is not blood.



Pork chops in a purge loss study
Meat scientists have lots of
creative ways to measure purge
Photo courtesy Macc Rigdon

The ability of the meat to hang on the water is dependent on several different things, including the species and age of the animal, the fatness and grade of the meat, the length of time since the animal was harvested, which muscle the cut of meat was from, and how the meat has been handled and processed. Meat scientists spend hours and hours trying to figure out purge and what causes it.

Sometimes meat processors will add a solution to meat cuts to make them more tender, flavorful and juicy. That solution can change the amount of purge in a package, but the presence of purge does not automatically mean that water or anything has been added to the meat. Most of the time, purge is just a natural result of water leaving the muscle.

Some of the water in meat will evaporate out when it’s cooked. That’s why cooked meat is lighter in weight than raw. As the meat is cooked, the myoglobin will denature and lose its red color. So the juice that runs out of a rare steak may still be pink or red, but the juice from a cooked steak is colorless.

So, the water in meat packages is just purge, water and a little myoglobin. Maybe we should give it a better name.

Vacuum packaged pork with purge
Photo courtesy Macc Rigdon 

 

Something I learned from writing this blog: When you ask your meat-scientist friends to send you pictures of purge, be prepared to get a whole lot of them! I wasn’t pleased with my own photos, and a whole community of meat scientists responded when I sent out a request for pictures on facebook. Thanks, friends!

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What’s in a food label? Antibiotic free

This summer I started a blog series on food labels. I’ve covered labels you see on meat products like Organic, Natural, Grass-fed, and Raised without Hormones.

Another claim you commonly see with ‘Raised without Hormones’ is ‘Raised without Antibiotics,’ ‘No Antibiotics Added’ or ‘Antibiotic Free.’



About two years ago I wrote a blog post about why antibiotics are used and Antibiotic Residues and Antibiotic Resistance. I’m not going to get into those topics in this post, just stick to the labels.

First, let me address Antibiotic Free.

Just like the similar label concerning hormones, the ‘Antibiotic Free’ claim is misleading and shouldn’t be found on a meat label. You may see it on some marketing claims that are not regulated by USDA, though.

All of the meat you buy in the US should be Antibiotic Free. Even if the farmer used antibiotics, those antibiotics shouldn’t be in the meat because the FDA regulates how antibiotics are administered to animals. The time when the farmer must stop using antibiotics before the animal is harvested is known as the withdrawal time. Those times differ between types of antibiotics and the species of animal, and they are explained on the antibiotic label.

Withdrawal times allow the animal to metabolize the antibiotic and eliminate it from the body so that no residues will be left in the meat. Therefore, all meat should be free of antibiotics.

Back to the Label

When a meat company uses the ‘No antibiotic added’ or ‘Raised without Antibiotics’ label, they must be able to prove to the USDA that no antibiotics were used to raise that animal.

Basically, that’s it. If the animal has never been given antibiotics, the meat company can use that label.

This has probably been the simplest of the labels in my labeling series.

Have you seen any other labels that you have questions about?

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What’s in a food label? Raised without hormones

I’ve been writing a series of posts about food labeling. My previous posts have been about labels that involve the whole system of raising animals, like Organic, Naturally-raisedor Grass-fed. Some labels are more specific and address one particular technology used for raising animals like hormones or antibiotics. Today I’m going to address the labels concerning hormones in meat.

First let me address “Hormone Free”

A big joke in the livestock industry is when we see a food, especially meat milk or eggs, advertised as “Hormone Free.”

All animals have hormones and need them to grow and produce meat, milk, eggs, babies, or whatever. All food has hormones. Nothing can actually be ‘hormone-free.’ Saying that beef is “hormone free” is about as pointless as talking about a boneless chicken ranch (you know, all the chickens just lay there.)

But, we all know that they really mean that the animals were raised without the use of added hormones.

Technically, you cannot label a meat product as hormone free. You see it on signs and menus, but it shouldn’t be on a label.

You CAN label a meat product as “Raised without hormones” to let the consumer know that no extra hormones were administered to the animal. Now, that means different things depending on which species the label is on.

What does that mean for Pork and Poultry?

In the US, it is against federal regulations to use hormones to raise pork and poultry.

Yep, its true.

 

Wait… what?

That’s right, no pork or poultry in the US is raised with hormones (other than the ones they make in their own bodies).

But you see it on pork and poultry labels?

Yep, meat companies are allowed to label their pork and poultry with a “No hormones administered” label. All pork and poultry in the US is eligible for the label. When they choose to use that label, they have to also write that “Federal Regulations prohibit the use of hormones in pork/ poultry.”



Some examples of pork and poultry labels that say that hormones are not allowed to be used.

 

So, what about beef?

In beef, it is legal to administer hormones to the cattle. They are similar to the hormones the cattle produce naturally and they allow them to grow larger, leaner, and more efficiently. They help the cattle grow more beef using fewer natural resources.

These hormones are actually administered in what we call an ‘Implant’ in their ear, not usually fed to them. There are several different options available, and they are usually applied in the feedlot or finishing phase of the animal’s life (the last few months) before harvest.

Just like anything given to the cattle, the FDA and USDA have rules and regulations that the farmers must follow concerning the implants. These rules will involve how long they can be administered and how long before harvest.

Back to the label. When the implants are not used, the beef company may say so on the label.  

Big Island Beef was really popular in Hawaii
It is raised without the use of hormones.

Very often the ‘raised without the use of hormones’ label will accompany another claim like Natural, Grass-fed, or Organic.

How much does it really matter?  

When beef raised without hormones was compared to that from cattle that was given hormones, the level of hormones in the beef was slightly different. In an 8-oz steak, the amount of estrogen found in steak from the implanted steer was 5.1 nanograms and that found in a non-implanted calf was 3.5 nanograms.

How big is a nanogram? One nanogram is one billionth of a gram. That 8 oz steak is a little over 226 grams.

 
This has been an awfully long post to answer a simple question, but people that know me expect that. I hope this helps to understand another meat label. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

 

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What’s in a food label? Natural

Last week, I started a blog series about food labels and what they mean. I was inspired by a trip to Manhattan, KS to talk to the Kansas Nutrition Council about food labels.

This week, I’m going to cover the label ‘Natural.’

Natural is a label that you see on lots and lots of foods.

Examples of Natural labels

The USDA defined the term Natural in 2005.

Basically, Natural means that a meat product does not contain any…

·         Artificial color or flavoring
·         Coloring ingredient
·         Chemical preservative
·         Artificial or synthetic ingredient
And that the product is minimally processed.

The term natural refers to the meat itself and how it was processed. It has nothing to do with the way the animal was raised. The Natural term should be accompanied by another term that further explains what it means, like Natural, no artificial ingredients, minimally processed; Natural, Grass-Fed; or Natural, raised without antibiotics. You can see some examples of those claims in the picture above.

All fresh meat is eligible for the term Natural regardless of how the animal was raised.

Sometimes you may hear that meat was Naturally Raised. This claim was defined by the USDA Ag Marketing Service in 2009 and carries a different meaning than Natural does. 

As of 2016, the Ag Marketing Service of USDA no longer verifies this claim. 

I’ve found that most foods simply state the individual claims rather than just saying the animal was Naturally Raised. Those claims, like raised without antibiotics or hormones, and grass-fed, are also in my What’s in a Food Label? series.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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Farmland

I normally don’t have movie reviews on my blog, but for one movie, I’m going to make an exception. Last night, I was invited to the Arkansas screening of the movie, Farmland.

Chances are, if you read this blog, you have an interest in how your food is produced, and if you’re interested in learning about how food is produced in this country, you need to see Farmland. A group called the Farmers and Rancher Alliancefinanced the film, and it was directed by Academy Award-winning director, James Moll.

Six young farmers were featured, from across the country, representing many aspects of modern American agriculture.

·         I have to say my favorite was Brad Bellah, a cattle rancher from Texas. His ranch is not too far from where I grew up, and the scenes from it made me gasp with reminders of home. I practically cheered when they pictured his family all decked out in the red and black of my alma mater, Texas Tech. He and I probably had many of the same professors. During the movie, his twins were born in the same hospital where I was born. Most importantly, he raises cattle for beef production. Our family also raises beef cattle.

·         The film traveled to Georgia to the poultry farm of Leighton Cooley. We watched him fill a barn with baby chicks and teach kids about chickens.

·         I was so impressed with the work ethic and drive of Margaret Schlass on her Certified Naturally Grown vegetable farm in Pennsylvania. She was the first-generation farmer in the group and she talked about how hard it was to start a farm from nothing.

·         Ryan Veldhuizen and his family raise pigs, corn and soybeans in Minnesota. He and his brother comically argue about tractors and land.

·         Large scale organic farming was represented by Sutton Morgan from California. He learned about farming produce from his dad, but turned his operation to all organic.

·         David Lobergtook over his corn and soybean farm from his dad, and it’s tough to watch one of the sadder points of the movie when he talks about losing his dad to cancer.

This film doesn’t shy away from the hard subjects. They cover GMOs, Organic farming, pesticides and chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, and animal cruelty videos. It was interesting to hear all the different takes on those tough subjects.

The main take away from the film was that our food is produced by people. People who work hard and want the best for their families.

It’s hard to devote the time and energy to traveling to a farm for a tour. Lots of farmers would love to have you. This film is a great chance to spend about 70 minutes on farms with young farmers and learn how our food is produced.

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