Need Communal Kitchen Tips

[theCryptofishist]

My preferred salt source:

[unjonharley]

Most of my playa food is rehydrated.. I'm having a problem with gas cooking..
This year the kitchen will be in out of the wind.. tight cobana.. I have a simmer plate.. Anyone have good ideas on simmering foods

[Sunbeam56]

Yeah, come over to our done, and I will feed you.

[EspressoDude]

[quote="theCryptofishist"]My preferred salt source:


I thought you would prefer the salt mines at Salzburg, Hallien, or Hallstatt, and maybe pick a bone or two

[CaffeineGirl]

Totally non-scientific, anecdotal story re: sea salt vs. iodized salt:

The only salt I ever added to food for years was an occasional tiny sprinkle of sea salt. At last years burn I had a lot of really active days with camp set up and take down, nights doing pyro and burn support work, and Sunday temple burn crew. Came home complelely exhausted and depressed with tight achy muscles. A month later still felt like crap.

Then read a health article where a woman wrote in with identical symptoms to mine. She also only used sea salt. Her doctor diagnosed her with low iodine levels. So I got some iodine from the store, dosed myself for a couple of days, and started adding a little iodized salt to my diet. The muscle aches and low energy cleared up within a day, and my moods came out of the dumps.

Did some reading about it, and learned that most of the salt used for processed food is not iodized. So you either need supplements or iodized salt to get it. Learned my lesson.

[The Rod]

No flamage felt. Thanks for your thoughtful response GreyCoyote.

The dead sea is laden with industrial waste toxins, so is the air we breathe, the rivers that irrigate our crops, the ocean and just about everything else. Crippled nuclear reactors still spewing radioactive crap into the sky and the sea. The shit is literally everywhere. However I'm not going to let it stop me from enjoying my favorite bio-accumulative foods: milk, eggs, seaweeds, fish, meat, and vegetables irrigated with surface water. And yes, the milk I drink is raw, eggs are free-range and the animals I eat are wild or pastured.

The modern diet that is largely based on refined crap is a result of the industrialization of our food. This approach allowed us to remove almost everything of nutritional value from our foods and in reaction we are adding it back in in ways that taste like shit.

Iodine deficiency is a tricky subject. We can say that when we switched over to refined crap we saw iodine deficiency, we corrected by adding iodine to our salt. I would argue that iodized salt is not a solution, more of a temporary fix, like sawdust in the gearbox.

Take the refined crap away and start eating real food and we no longer have a need for iodized salt. And, my favorite (not really) part is that until about 3 years ago (or so) almost all the flour processed in the U.S. came iodized due to the use of iodine in wheat processing, now most manufacturers have switched to bromine, a slightly more toxic cousin of iodine. Now there is even less Iodine in the average Americans diet. Iodine deficiency is pretty common in this country, and iodized salt is barely keeping it from reaching levels of mass-goiterification again.

I guess I'm not making a very strong case in defense of sea salt vs. iodized anymore...

[Sunbeam56]

LeRocFrench - come eat with me.
We raise chickens. We raise cattle. I have a veggie garden.
Not everything I cook is certified home grown... but I WANT to feed you.

[msj2u]

I precook all my food, freeze and then heat in an aluminum pan. Very little to wash. Also, I bring a bbq to do a lot of the meals.

We eat better meals at the burn then at home...lol (one year was steak and shrimp on the bbq)

Boil in a bag omelettes are awesome for a quick meal as well.

May have to drop in at Sunbeams though! LOL

MSJ

[EmilyD]

Oooo please elaborate on "boil in a bag omelets". How do you do that?

Do any of you here use those fancy pouch sealing machines? I hear they have BPA free pouches. It's very appealing to not have to deal with dirty pans on Playa.

[msj2u]

Omelette in a bag:

I use 2 eggs per person, whipped with a fork, add anything you would like, *(cooked bacon, veggies, cheese, etc) Use a ziplock bag....you can also write your name on the bag if they aren't all going in at the same time, just keep track of what time YOU put yours in the water.
Put in a pan of boiling water for 13 minutes. When 13 minutes is done, use thongs to remove, cut open bag, ENJOY!
Side note, depending on your pan, you can cook 6-8 bags at the same time.

MSJ

[pretty_monster]

> I'm thinking about suggesting that people bring paper plates and cups / minimal resuables to minimize water use. Have burn barrel. Good? Bad? - everyone on the playa should have a reusable cup on their persons at all times. EVERYONE. you shouldn't need to supply cups from the kitchen. yes to paper plates. you don't even need your own burn barrel. you can keep burnable trash in paper bags and take it to the big "barrels" on the Esplanade.

No. You cannot burn paper in the communal burn barrels/platforms. This is new (year or two).

really?! this is kind of a big deal. can you tell me where to find that information? all i can find is the usual list of toxic stuff you wan't burn, don't leave scars, take your ash away, etc.

[theCryptofishist]

Trilo may know. The main site is hard to find information on, and the search function always just brings out 5 year old posts that have little connection to what you're looking for.

[unjonharley]

Burning anything with food stuff on it is foul..

It is just too fucking hard to teach people what to and not burn..

Most people live in the senseless act of. It in my hand, I don't want it there, throw it away now.. Or, a little bit wont matter.. The other day as I was driving past a person walking.. I saw the person with some papers in there hands. As the person approached a bridge, they chucked the unwanted papers into the water.. Didn't look right or left or break stride.

[Just_Joe]

really?! this is kind of a big deal. can you tell me where to find that information? all i can find is the usual list of toxic stuff you wan't burn, don't leave scars, take your ash away, etc.

I just scoured the site and couldn't find any reference but I *think* I heard it last year (as a new thing). No general camp waste? Paper? IIRC, they were just wanting big stuff.
I try to stay away from them anyway- the fumes from morons burning carpets gets to me.

EDIT: A JULY 2013 JRS it says "Separate and sort trash in your kitchen before you leave, including compost and recycling. Once you're in the desert, collect food waste in a mesh bag. The food will dry up, becoming light and nearly odorless. Burn paper and wood in a community burn platform."

[FIGJAM]

Bring this.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Maximus ... 60&bih=618

[Sunbeam56]

Love the piggy bus! Doesn't eat trash, but is wild... do you remember "Spider Pig"?

MSJ - by all means. We are bringing extras. I'm going to divide food into 8 sections - and will feed until the food runs out every one of the 8 days that I plan on being there... Did I tell you - I have a knack for cooking?

And none of it will be dehydrated.
BACON TAMALES!!!

And, I plan on, with Elliot's help, hosting a traveling car of food around midnight when the weather permits.
Sorry dudes - just too old and sleepy to brave bad weather.

[tatonka]

dont forget a BBQ

[Sunbeam56]

Excellent !

[The Rod]

I'm coming over for bacon tamales...