Toast National Sandwich Day with Sandwich Cocktails

A cheeseburger in a glass, a potent PB&J, a liquid BLT -- it's time to take the sandwich into cocktail hour. Literally.

In honor of National Sandwich Day on Nov. 3, Flor de Caña rum has teamed up with mixologists to turn sandwich classics into tasty libations.

The Sandwich Cocktail menu created by the Nicaraguan rum company features "crustless cocktails" -- the Peanut Butter & Jelly, the Cheeseburger and the BLT.
"The cheeseburger cocktail I created is well balanced and allows the character of Flor de Caña's 7-year-old rum to add a complexity to the beef stock reduction that a neutral spirit could never achieve. Notes of dark caramel, burnt toffee, and toasted nuts also create a well-rounded tasting experience, offering the satisfaction of what one might call comfort food in a glass," said Trevor Burnett, a Toronto-based cocktail consultant.

National Sandwich Day falls on the anniversary of John Montagu's birthday -- the fourth Earl of Sandwich who wanted to find a way to eat with one hand while gambling and so asked his servants for his lunch meat between two slices of bread, InformationWeek reported.

Data from the National Restaurant Association shows that the hamburger is the most popular sandwich in America, on about 75 percent of menus listing sandwiches. Chicken comes in second.

And cocktails aren't the only way to celebrate. BlueMountain.com, Yahoo, ICQ and eGreetings offer National Sandwich Day e-cards to let your friends know you care. About sandwiches.

THE PB&J

Created by Gianfranco, Tippling Bros.

1.5 oz Flor de Caña 7 yr rum
.5 oz Lustau Palo Cortado Vides
.25 oz Strawberry jam
.25 oz Peanut syrup (see recipe below)
1 Egg white
1 Banana

Shake all ingredients in a Boston shaker without ice, then add ice and shake vigorously again.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass that is rimmed with minced salted-peanuts.

Garnish: A banana slice.

Peanut Syrup
1. Combine 2 parts water with 2 parts sugar in a pot.
2. Bring sugar water to a boil.
3. Add 1 part minced peanuts.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Strain to remove peanut particles.

The BLT
Created by Niccole Trzaska

1.5 oz of Bacon-infused Flor de Caña 7 yr rum
2 oz Sacramento tomato juice
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Pinch celery salt
Pinch black pepper
Squeeze of lemon juice
Dollop of horseradish
Fresh cilantro to taste

Pour all ingredients over ice shake and then strain over ice.

Garnish:
One piece of bib lettuce wrapped around a thick piece of crispy applewood-smoked bacon and an avocado slice. Use a toothpick or skewer to secure with a cherry tomato.

THE CHEESEBURGER

Created by Trevor Burnett and Whitney Munro, Tipicular Fixin's

2 Roma tomatoes, muddled
1 oz Iceberg lettuce water
1 oz Flor de Caña 7 yr rum
1 oz Beef jus (well reduced)
2 tbsp Toasted bread crumbs
1 tsp Dried mustard powder
2 tbsp Aged Cheddar
1 large Kosher dill pickle
Salt and pepper to taste

Muddle tomatoes, add ice, and slowly pour lettuce water. Stir rum and beef jus together in stainless shaker. Float rum mixture over ice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Garnish: Cheddar frico and pickle knot.

Garnish instructions:
Heat pan to medium heat, sprinkle in Cheddar and use sides of spoon to gather cheese into a circle. Brown and remove from pan to cool on plate.

Mix bread crumbs with dry mustard. Wet rim of glass with pickle juice, dip glass in crumb mixture.

A Slider Made with Tastykakes: Would You Eat It?

When Adsum chef/owner and self-proclaimed "Philly fat kid" Matt Levin heard local Philadelphia baker Tasty Baking Company -- better known as Tastykake -- was facing bankruptcy, he immediately began "screwing around" with his longtime favorite treat, the Peanut Butter Kandy Kake.

Realizing that the chocolate-enrobed, peanut butter-layered treat closely resembled a burger bun, he decided to create a dish that would raise awareness of Tasty's dire situation. "The early versions were jacked up," Levin admits, "but they progressively got better. The sour component and the spice needed to balance the sweet."

Levin's sweet and savory invention is now being served at his restaurant Adsum: two house-ground brisket patties topped with sour cherry-sriracha jam and American cheese, each sandwiched between two of the Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes. Levin is even squirreling away a portion of the sliders' $11 price tag in a Tasty fund. "I'm a small Philadelphia business," he says, "and they were once a small Philadelphia business. This is our way of helping a brother out."

Some Food Addictions as Powerful as Drugs

We toss around the word "addicted" a lot when it comes to food: "I'm addicted to chocolate," or "I'm addicted to cheese fries." So should it really come as a surprise that maybe some of us really are addicted to our favorite foods?

This according to a study published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers took a sample of about 40 women ranging in weight and scanned their brains as they were tempted with the promise of either a tasty chocolate milkshake or a "calorie-free tasteless solution" (which sounds like water to us).

What they found were that parts of the brain that have previously been associated with drug and alcohol addiction were also activated in the women who were anticipating the shake. These areas were even more active in participants who scored high on tests measuring their level of "food addiction."

"If certain foods are addictive, this may partially explain the difficulty people experience in achieving sustainable weight loss," the study's authors, led by Ashley Gearhardt of Yale University, wrote.

They go on to note that it's not only the omnipresence of inexpensive, mouthwatering treats that may make such addictive impulses difficult to control, but the fact that we're bombarded with delicious imagery of food as well. It's possible that all those commercials showing the slow, tantalizing scoop of "rich, creamy" ice cream or the golden bubbly ooze of melted cheese on pizza could trigger the brain's reward response system as well.

The implications seem to be that for those who have trouble losing weight, the answer may not lie so much in the next fad diet as in something that more resembles Alcoholics Anonymous. As one researcher who was not involved in the study but who has also examined addictive behavior notes: "For food addicts, addiction treatment is more logical than current treatments that they have to choose from."

Read more: http://www.slashfood.com/2011/04/05/some-food-addictions-as-powerful-as-drugs/#ixzz1kIAZeWD8

Breast Milk Ice Cream: Would You Try It?

We weren't that crazy about the savory dessert craze -- bacon ice cream? no thanks -- but the Brits have a new idea for something tasty to end your meal: Breast-milk ice cream.

The Daily Mail reports that each helping of the frosty dessert is served in martini glass by costumed "Baby Gaga" waitresses at a shop called The Icecreamists, in London's Covent Garden, and we're sure the Baby Gaga itself, a combo of breast milk and Madagascan vanilla with lemon zest, will prove to be a winning formula. (At least when it comes to getting attention.)
The first batch of milk -- 30 fluid ounces, donated by a 35-year-old woman from Leeds -- was not enough to make the planned 50 servings. But not to worry. At least 13 other women have volunteered to provide milk for future batches, which sell for around $22.50 per serving. Hey, don't knock it if you haven't tried it. You might find the plain old chocolate now sucks.

"PORK" The other white meat....

If you are a pork lover like me you should try Kurobuta Pork. Kurobuta Pork is a Japanese name for a certain quality of pork. The style of pig that it comes from is Berkshire pigs. Kurobuta Pork is darker than standard pork, with a richer taste, soft white fat, and good marbling throughout. It is never injected with brine water "seasoning", as much pork is. It is very expensive. Pork being sold as Kurobuta in the United States is raised by Snake River Farms and Eden Farms. Pork being sold as Kurobuta in the UK is being raised in Worcestershire. The royal family at Windsor Castle maintained a large herd of Black Berkshire. The pigs there and the United States are fed beer and grain, and allow the pigs to go swimming this method is not part of the breeding tactics in Japan. Not to say the only real Kurobuta Pork is raised in Japan but the raising methods is different in other Countries. Berkshires are early-maturing black pigs and often have white on their legs, faces, and the tips or their tails. The snouts are dished and are of medium length. The ears are fairly large and are erect or slightly leaned forward. They have fine wrinkle-free necks and well-sloped shoulder blades. They have short, straight legs and a straight underline belly. I suggest if you’re a pork lover and you ever have the chance to try this style of pork do so!

What's in Your Meat? FDA Reveals Antibiotic Use in Livestock

Until now, we've only guessed the amount of antibiotics used were high to keep our pig, cattle and poultry stocks healthy. In fact, the Animal Health Institute predicted 11.1 million kilograms were used nationwide in 2005. But the Food and Drug Administration's records don't go back that far.For the first time, the FDA has released an estimate. In 2009 alone, "13.1 million kilograms of antimicrobial drugs were sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals" in the U.S., cites Livable Future from the report (.pdf) made available to the public last Thursday. There's also a chart listing approved antibiotics in each drug class.That 13.1 million kilograms is just short of 29 million pounds. "That's a lot," writes Maryn McKenna on her Wired magazine blog. (McKenna is a journalist specializing in infectious diseases, and the author of Superbug, notes Food Safety News.)We think of antibiotics as a good thing, something to rid ourselves of disease, but overuse can lower resistance, and that's exactly what we're seeing in meat production. This in turn calls for stronger antibiotics, which don't just stay with the animal. It carries through to the land and those working on it, not to mention its unidentified consequences to those who consume the meat.Nutritionist Marion Nestle notes in The Atlantic that since this is the first report, "it is not possible to say whether the numbers are going up or down. But the agency is now requiring meat producers to report on antibiotic use so we now have a baseline for measuring progress."

Japan Sets Radiation Limits for Fish

Japanese officials have found radioactive iodine at 7.5 million times the legal limit in seawater near the crippled Fukushima plant. That staggering number has prompted the Japanese government to set radiation safety standards for the first time for seafood -- 2,000 bequerels of iodine per kilogram of fish.

Kounago fish caught on Friday, approximately 50 miles from the nuclear plant, were found to contain 4,080 bequerels of radioactive iodine-131 and 526 bequerels of cesium 137. According to the Wall Street Journal, those results were the first clear indication that fish were being contaminated as a result of leaks from the Daiichi plant.

Nichols Fisher, a professor of marine sciences at SUNY at Stony Brook told the New York Times that according to some radiation safety guidelines, people could eat 35 pounds of fish per year containing the level of cesium 137 detected in the Japanese fish.

"So you're not going to die from eating it right away, but we're getting to levels where I would think twice about eating it," he was quoted as saying.
The current radiation leak is coming from the No. 2 reactor. The Los Angeles Times reports that workers at the plant have been releasing water into the Pacific Ocean to make room for on-site storage tanks that will hold more highly contaminated water. While iodine-131 has a half life of eight days and will eventually dissipate, scientists are especially concerned about the levels of cesium-137 which could linger in the area for decades.

Fukushima is not considered a major fishing area for Japan, but according to CBS News, fishermen are worried that demand will collapse for seafood caught elsewhere.

"Even if the government says the fish is safe, people won't want to buy seafood from Fukushima," fisherman Ichiro Yamagata told CBS News. "We probably can't fish there for 10 to 20 years."

Seaweed, which can concentrate levels of radioactive elements as it grows is also of concern for Japanese consumers. The nuclear disaster is threatening the livelihood of coastal seaweed farmers as well.

"We have to live day by day, " Mitsue Murakami, a seaweed, scallop and oyster farmer on the island of Oshima, 90 miles north of Fukushima told NPR. "We won't know for years how much radiation exposure people received. The thing I'm most worried about today is if people stop buying our seaweed and scallops because they're afraid of radiation."