13 November 2015

Winter Is Upon Us, So MOAR STEW-ROIDS


I'd sort of abandoned this series, thinking there was no place to go with it, but that's about as sensible as the Christians' collective spazzing about the "War On Christmas" they allege Starbucks is waging with their redesigned holiday cups.  One can have too much stew like one can have too many blowjobs- the shit just isn't fucking possible.  Moreover, I've not even delved into hearty soups, which is partly where I'm going with this, as I didn't even know the actual difference between a soup and a stew until googling it.  Apparently, the difference is mostly theoretical.  According to "Taste of Home":
What's the difference between soup and stew? In theory, a soup is a combination of vegetables, meat or fish cooked in liquid. A stew is any dish that's prepared by stewing - that is, the food is barely covered with liquid and simmered for a long time in a covered pot.


In short, they're pretty much the same fucking thing.  Meat and vegetables in a broth, with all of the deliciousness and nutrition you can possibly pack into them.  They're both easy as all hell to make, they're endlessly modifiable, they warm you up on cold days, and they can be fucking crucial for bulking diets jest because they add an easy-to-digest calorie bomb to any meal or serve as a meal in and of themselves.  Ori Hofmekler loves the holy hell out of soups and stews, and his diet, the Warrior Diet, revolves around them because they're what the ancient Romans lived on.
"I'm a big believer in soups and stews, not just in cold seasons, but even in warm weather.  I think having veggies and soup is one of the best ways to start a meal.  Hearty vegetable soups and stews, where everything is cooked together- often veggies, roots, meats or seafood, and whole grains- have a great advantage in that many tastes, textures, and aromas combine in one hot, hearty meal.  This thousands-of-years-old-tradition is extremely good for your satiety" (Hofmekler 69).
If you're an American male, it's likely veggies are noticeably absent from your diet, so it probably makes sense to add soups and stews to your diet just to ensure you don't contract cancer at age 40or end up with some horrible nutrient deficiency.  That's not to say that you necessarily will have either of those things happen if you subsist on a diet of naught but meat, but it makes sense to hedge your bets when you can... especially when doing so is fucking delicious.

Split Pea Soup

I have no idea why it became a fad to eat peas in the Roman Republican era, but for some reason, Romans thought peas were the unadulterated shit.  They ate them like Michael Moore eats doughnuts, and peas soup was so popular that the comic playwright Aristophanes mentioned it in his bizarrely themed play The Birds, and street vendors all over the Republic sold hot pea soup (Pease).  You might be thinking to yourself that hot pea soup is a pretty fucking stupid thing to try to eat while walking, and I'd have to agree with you... especially when you're busy tripping over the bedsheet you wrapped around yourself in an idiotic attempt to clothe yourself according to Roman fashion.  Nevertheless, pea soup was a cornerstone of the Roman diet, and fueled the Roman army to victory first over the Etruscans, and later over the rest of the world.


I've no idea how the fuck the Romans made their soup, but it's entirely possible they made it the way I make it- in a clay pot.  Clay pots are awesome for beans (peas are legumes) because for some reason the beans get a kind of velvety feel when cooked in a clay pot.  If you don't have one, I highly recommend Romertopf- that's what I use in my pea soup.  No matter how you cook it, whether it be in a crock pot, a clay pot, or a regular pot, split pea soup is badass both from a taste standpoint and a nutritional standpoint- even without meat in it, pea soup has 8 grams of protein per cup.  No meat, you say?  Fuck all that shit- my dad imparted to me long ago that the best way to make split pea soup is with smoked pork, both bones and meat.  Using smoked pork gives off salt, which enhances the flavor, and the marrow from the bones adds both nutrition and flavor.  It does, however, add an extra step- making the broth.  That's really not all that hard, however, so I'll just throw it in with the rest of the soup and let you guys have the fuck at it.

Ingredients

8 cups water
1 large ham bone
2 cups dried split green peas
2 large carrots, peeled and diced small
1 medium onion, halved
6 large garlic cloves
2 large celery ribs, include leaves, chop small
1 large bay leaf
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1 pinch dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions

Dump the peas into a soaked 4-quart clay pot (you're always supposed to soak clay pots before using them).  On the stove, bring your water to a boil, add everything but the peas and garlic, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.  After 60-90 minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove all of the solids from your broth, remove the ham bone,and cut off any remaining ham into bite size pieces.  If there are any big chunks of ham floating around, dice those, too, and add them to the peas in the clay pot.  Dump in your broth, add the garlic, and.put the clay pot in a cold oven.  Once that's done, set the oven temperature to 450 °F and cook for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally to check the consistency- the peas should be soft and mushy.  After that, you just season to taste with pepper.

I generally eat split pea soup with buttered french bread- for some reason the two go together in my mind.  Additionally, if you're bulking, you'll want the extra calories anyway.


Marha Pörkölt – Hungarian Beef Paprika Stew

If you're not familiar with what badasses the Hungarians are, you've not been paying attention.  Hungary is literally littered with statues of Attila the Hun, as the people who founded Hungary, the Magyars, were horse nomads who joined the Hunnic confederation when the Huns swept into Europe.  Consummate badasses in their own right, the Magyars regularly raided the neighboring Slavs and shared a culture with the cannibalistic murder-machines the Scythians and the Sarmatians.  What fueled their endless raiding, slaughter, and general awesomeness?  Stew, of course.   The following recipe literally translates to "beef stew", as the Hungarians are apparently unconcerned with nomenclature because they're too busy being violent badasses.  This stew is no joke.


Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. beef stew meat
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 large tomato, cored and chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions

In a large saute pan, heat vegetable oil over medium, and if you're using olive oil, make sure it's regular olive oil rather than extra virgin, because extra virgin burns ridiculously easily. Add the minced onion and saute for about 8 minutes, when the onions should be softened.  Add the garlic and green bell pepper and continue to saute for another 5 minutes till garlic is fragrant and bell pepper is tender-crisp.  Add the beef to the pan and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-6 more minutes, stirring twice, till meat is browned.  Sprinkle paprika and caraway seeds evenly across the top of the meat. Add diced tomatoes to the pan. Pour 4-5 cups of hot water into the pan, till the meat is almost covered. Stir and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cover to pan. Let the mixture simmer slowly for about 90-100 minutes, replenishing the water as needed to keep it from getting dry.

The stew is ready when the meat is fork tender and the sauce is thick. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste before serving, if desired.  Because we're all about the permabulk over the winter, I recommend that you eat this over some sort of starchy carbohydrate, like rice or noodles.  I'll hit you with a recipe for herbed noodles in a second, but before I do so, you guys need to know about the hot pepper paste Hungarians put on everything- Erős Pista.  This stuff tastes as badass as can be, is an awesome condiment for this stew, and is easy as hell to make.


Erős Pista

Ingredients

Red spicy peppers
Red sweet peppers
Salt
The ratio of spicy to sweet peppers is to taste, but a 1:10 ratio (1 sweet pepper for every 10 spicy peppers) seems to work best.

Directions

Wash the peppers and remove the stem.  Process the peppers in a food processor or grinder.  Add 2 tbsp of salt per 5 ozof ground peppers.  Place in jars that have been washed and thoroughly dried.


Herbed Egg Noodles

Ingredients

Kosher salt
12oz wide egg noodles
1 cup fresh Italian parsley, minced
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, minced
2 tbsp fresh chives, minced
2 tbsp butter
2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Bring a stockpot of salted water to a boil.  Drop in the noodles and cook according to the directions on the package.  While all of that is going on, stir together the green stuff.  When the noodles are done, strain them, toss in the butter and oil, and return the noodles to the pot (with no heat).  Toss the noodles until the're coated in butter and oil, then season with salt and stir in your herbs.  BOOM- you've got un-boring noodles to throw your stew onto.

Next time you're in Starbucks, don't forget this.

So, there you have it- a couple of new recipes to try out while I finish up a couple of new training articles and test more hearty soup recipes.  Also in the works are a new series on meat pies that will contain entirely home-gown recipes that I'll be doing in collaboration with the owner of Bello Foods, a startup specializing in pizza and cheesecake that won't tear up the digestive tracts of people with sundry shit-your-pants style GI diseases.  That series will ultimately culminate in a cookbook- yup, a motherfucking Chaos and Pain cookbook.  So, there's a bunch of cool shit in the works and the articles should start coming fast and furious again.

Until that day, motherfuckers.

If you didn't like the recipe for Erős Pista, there's always this.

Sources:
Hofmekler, Ori.  The Warrior Diet.  St Paul:  Dragon Door Publications, 2003.

Vegetarians in Paradise.  Pease Porridge Hot, Pease Porridge Cold.  Web.  11 Nov 2015.  http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch52.html

19 comments:

  1. The book "Nourishing Broth" seemed to help me quite a bit when it comes to making broth. I believe I recall coming across some of the best parts on the web somewhere... like the troubleshooting tips.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I put John McCallum's recipe for a badass broth in on of the stewroids blogs. Making a good broth can really add a shitload of nutrition to your meals.

      Delete
  2. http://freedompowerandwealth.com

    Looks like great meals for cold days.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Badass, another stewroids entry. I love this time of year because it's pretty much all I eat anymore when the weather sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jamie,
    I've been following your blog for quite a while and this is my first comment.Marhapörkölt is the balls as you'd put it.My grandma makes the best marhapörkölt in the world and since I go to college,I have quite a lot of free time and after I'm done with the heavy lifting I ofrten visit her and I feast on the pörkölt she prepares.
    Thank you for mentioning our badass stew.By the way,I don't know if you dig fish but if you do,check out halászlé-fisherman's soup which is prepared from carp.Real tasty but constantly removing the fishbones from your mouth are a royal pain in the ass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hate the shit out of fish, but I'll pass it along to my piscetarian friends and see if anyone wants to test out some recipes to include here. I fucking love Hungary, so it was my pleasure- that's a badass stew!

      Delete
  6. If you are making Hungarian Beef Paprika Stew, go to the trouble of tracking down some real Hungarian Paprika. Once you've tried that, you'll throw away whatever generic crap you have sitting in your cupboard. Their goulashes generally use sweet paprika, but a little of the spicy paprika in combination kicks things up a notch nicely.

    The other thing you might do is switch from the clay pot to cast iron. The Lodge combo cookers are pretty great. Athletes are often low in iron, and regular cooking in cast iron helps bring levels back up. That is how this thing works: http://www.luckyironfish.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a ton of La Crousset stuff in storage, but it's in South Carolina, so I can't get to it easily. Once I do, though, I'll give it a shot. I use a cast iron grill plate for grilling, so it stands to reason I should try the cast iron combo cooker. Good looking out!

      Delete
  7. Shit, I forgot about split pea soup. Time to make a batch. Please allow me to return the favor.

    Yukgaejang (Spicy Korean beef stew)
    http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/yukgaejang

    I skip the fernbrake (hard to find, but delicious) and add an egg or two.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha- Korean stews and soups were next on the list for me to try making!

      Delete
  8. I love the articles about different recipes and look forward to the cookbook.

    Different story, perhaps you know about the BodybuildingRev channel on YT, they have a video challenge series called "strength wars", I think you'll like it:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bncIbN_HnY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually I am- my ex used to work for Strengthshop, so she hipped me to those. That's a pretty cool series!

      The cookbook is going to be baller. I have already made a few of the condiments I want to try,and am finishing my first meat pie recipe tonight. You guys are going to fucking LOVE this series.

      Delete
  9. Great work on your blog. You probably already know this - but once of the legends of where American Chili comes from, is from Hungarian cowboy immigrants that came here and worked our southern cattle ranches. They lacked the ingredients to make traditional goulash but found themselves with a wealth of meat in US, and new ingredients like legumes, and hence chili was born. There is no substitute for Hungarian paprika, especially the spicy variety. I've had experts over here tell me paprika is only for color in food, and whenever I hear that I realized they've never cooked with the real stuff.

    More good goulash cooking tips & ideas here:

    http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/Goulash/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Also - your Sups' used to be on Amazon, sold by a 3rd party I think. Now many of them are gone, and new ones aren't there. Will you guys setup an official Amazon store? Way easier for me to order through there, and setup ordering schedules, etc. Help the overly busy working travelers out!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Like many dazzled by the paleo concept, I tend to avoid beans. Stuff like peas, lentils, chickpeas and the whole range of beans are pretty tasty, pretty cheap, and contain protein. But according to critics are toxic.Any thoughts on beans?
    I notice in your article the Warrior diet guy refers to whole grains, another paleo target. Might as well throw in the grey area of dairy.
    If we accept grains, legumes, dairy, it seems that there is not much left of the paleo concept to advocate, except avoid processed additive, sugar and salt laden food. Maybe we don't have to go back to paleo, just go back a few generations. Eat protein. Don't fear fat.
    I doubt low or high carb are a good idea for the athlete, keep it moderate depending on goals.
    Don't know how true this is but it makes sense; eating bones, like chewing the end of chicken bones or stewing bones is really good for the joints.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Seems the perfect time to bring up the meat pie floater.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_floater
    A traditional Australian dish of meat pies floating in pea soup. Sold, Roman style, as street food.

    ReplyDelete