[Sca-cooks] Figs

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Olwen the Odd wrote:
>
>> So, what _is_ the problem? Is it just that you get all queasy at the
>> thought of doughnuts? Loukoumades? Apple fritters?
>>
>> Adamantius
>
>
> By and large the answer to that is yes.

Okay, that's a good and respectable reason to feel the way you do, but
perhaps it would be more appropriate to say something that equates to,
"I have a problem with / don't like fried foods" rather than to condemn
an entire cooking genre by saying, essentially, "Fried foods have a
problem: they're fried."

A fair amount of the foods Elvis used to eat in his time were, frankly,
at least in my opinion, gross, but the simple fact that something is
fried doesn't make it gross. First of all, these are matters of highly
subjective opinion (although I wonder if there's anybody on the planet
who could get into the mashed-potato, sauerkraut and burnt-bacon melange
he was allegedly fond of), and secondly, it almost invariably turns out
that the perceived drawbacks of any cooking method are in fact the
result of improper cooking, or rather, improper use of the method. Fried
foods, for example, are no more dripping with grease than a broiled
steak would perforce be charred to ashes. Or, for that matter, marzipan
must, by definition, be oozing with its de-emulsified almond oil. In the
above examples, what is actually being criticized is really improper
practice, not the theory behind them

With regard to fried foods in general, we as a culture seem to have a
sort of background pathological fear of them, largely because it turns
out that if you have a genetic predisposition to dying young of heart
problems or strokes, _and_ you eat a lot of fried foods, _and_ the
complement of your diet is not properly balanced, high in fiber,
whatever, _and_ you don't exercise regularly, there's a _really_ good
chance you will have a heart attack and die. As for everybody else,
there's a 100% chance that you will eventually die of something. For
some people, the whole fried pie thing really does feed into this line
of thought (it may be the idea of anything already shortened with fat
being subsequently immersed in oil). But, again, any properly fried food
is about as likely to be greasy as, say, most properly baked puff pastry.

Although, to be honest, the idea of Dr. Atkins' suggestion of
deep-fried, bacon-wrapped cheddar chunks makes me want to heave until my
toes are sticking out my mouth...

Adamantius (with apologies to any who were eating while reading that
last line)
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98