meat – Page 2 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

What’s inside that sausage?

Ever wonder what’s in that delicious looking sausage. Well the Dude of Food has been wondering and finally took the time to tear one down and see what’s in there. Above is your typical average sized sausage found in any US market. This is not a small breakfast sausage but a regular sausage. This one weighed in at 46 grams as shown.

The first thing I don’t like eating is the intestinal lining that sausage is held together with. There just doesn’t seem like any nutritional value to this stuff. The next thing I noticed was the amount of white fat speckles mixed in the meat so I cut the skin wrap from around the sausage and began to pick the specs out with the tip of a corn holder.

You can see in the photo below that there was a good amount of those white fat particles in there. The other things that were hidden in there are what look like small gristle beads. They are rounded and look like little white nuggets. I am pretty sure these things are about as healthy for you as plastic but who knows. Anyhow, I weighed the pile of garbage that had accumulated on the tin foil and it weighed in at 10.6 grams including the intestinal wrapping but not the weight of the foil. That works out to be roughly 22% useless unhealthy waste in every sausage.

So for nearly every 5 sausages you eat 1 of them is all fat and nasty gristle waste. Granted this was the first one I broke down and the brand was recorded but not given here as I want to test a few more brands and see what the averages are before any brands are named.

I also bought a small, stainless steel kitchen grinder and have been experimenting with grinding various blends of meats and spices for my own sausage patties and meatballs in search of a healthier mix.

What do Paris, forks, Dukes and Ducks have in Common?

In 1582 the rich folk of Europe used to wear fancy, albeit uncomfortable looking things called a ruff around their necks. See this picture painted in the early 1600’s called ‘Portrait of an Old Woman’ by Frans Hals of Antwerp. Popular King Henry IV wore a ruff too.

In fact in Paris 1592 King Henry IV inaugurated use of the very first fork ever because of his ruff. The food tool was designed to keep people’s dinner off of their ruffs. Henry may have been a slave to fashion but using the fork stuck, so to speak.

The establishment where this 1st fork thing went down with Henry happened at a restaurant known as Tour d’Argent. This place once made a menu for a dinner hosted by the Duke of Richelieu, who was the nephew of a French Cardinal, that consisted solely of beef prepared 30 different ways! I wonder if this is where steak tartare came from? In 1929, La Tour d’Argent prepared it’s 100,000th famous ‘Caneton Tour D’Agent’ dish. For the curious non French reader this translates as pressed duck. They began numbering the amazing dish in 1890 and served pressed duck number 1,000,000 in 2003. That reminds me of a joke that always quacks me up.

Q: Why did the duck cross the road?

A: He saw a Tour d’Argent chef ahead.

You can read more about the historic La Tour d’Argent and it’s history at https://tourdargent.com/en/heritage/ To read more about the famous chefs of La Tour d’Argent click to

http://www.foodreference.com/html/artlatourdargent.html

Flippin’ Pizza in Long Beach is home to a neighborhoods awesome pizza.

If you are a pizza lover, like many folks who now live in Los Angeles are, then you will be happy to know the Dude of Food has picked up where the LA Weekly Best Pizza Search has left off in the search for Southern California’s Top Pizzas and has found another contender for the Top 10 Pizzas in the Area list at the Flippin Pizza location.

Upon entering Flippin Pizza it is apparent the place is fresh and clean. A friendly staff member greeted and informed me of the daily specials. The nice staff member turned out to be the owner, Anthony. We chatted and I learned that the restaurant had been open since August 2015 at 6269 East Spring Street, Long Beach.

They offer daily pizza specials and also offer a happy hour from 3-6p with $4. pints. (Hello, Pizza, Beer & NHL Hockey!) Besides carefully crafted pizzas you can find really nice salads too. The lunch specials offer various versions of slices, salads and drink options.

The Dude of Food tried a slice of the 4 Cheese and a slice of the Little Brooklyn and was satisfied with both. The crust is thin and lite. It is not all rubbery and sweet which is a good thing. Both slices could have been a little greasy but both showed signs of very little accumulation on top.

The two slice and a drink lunch special will run you $6.50 and will satisfy your pizza craving for the time being. Flippin Pizza is Dude of Food approved and will be appearing on the list of Top 10 as the survey works towards the Top 5 round.

If you are craving pizza in the Long Beach / Lakewood area give Flippin Pizza a call and have something delivered. 562/421-1111 http://www.flippinpizzalongbeach.com

insta @p3_stuff

San Gusme’s best restaurant – Sira e Remino in Tuscany.

The Dude of Food recently visited the gorgeous Tuscan region of Italy. Luckily, my aunt and uncle were in the area and invited me stay at their rented villa for a couple nights. The place happened to be a short walk from the cool old Italian village called San Gusme. In this village you will find one of the world’s finest culinary dreams come true. A place called Sira e Remino.

The restaurant’s sign which says Sira e Remino un cult, is exactly the kind of cult I need to join. Their place is located within the small old village walls and is absolutely awesome. The greeting and hospitality were warm and genuine. Our party of 7 were shown to the ‘Frank Sinatra room’ in the back away from the local soccer club filled bar. The local team was loudly rooting for a national team.

Our group began this heavenly experience with lots of wine followed by salads, anti pasta, then more wine followed by pasta and incredible sizzling meat trays. There wasn’t a thing that wasn’t perfect about this entire place, staff and meal. The prices were far from greedy. The quality and portions were ultimately generous. This meal will be remembered for life.

Thank you Sira e Remino. Now I’m thinking I should get a job here just to be close to your quality food.