Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Cast Iron Skillet Wings

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I’m not the least bit ashamed to admit that I’ve been a life-long fan of chicken wings, and before becoming a Primally-aligned eater roughly four years ago, had never met a wing prep that I didn’t like.

Chicken wings are an absolutely perfect hand food, just the right size for easy maneuvering to pick all that delicious protein off the bones, with a great ratio of skin to meat (if prepared well) to satisfy the pickiest grilled protein fan.

We have a house favorite grilled chicken wing recipe (dust them with garlic powder and paprika before grilling) that involves basting the flock of wings with our family secret butter and Worcestershire-based sauce, but sometimes the weather just won’t cooperate when you have the itch for wings.

We’ve just come through the rainiest first three months of the year on record here in the DFW area, and recently on day 8 or 9 of what was to be an 11 day straight run of rain, my lovely wife said it was time for wings. Figuring who the hell am I to argue when Momma says it’s time for wings, this recipe came back out of mothballs from a particularly long winter during our Montana days.

With a tip of the hat the original Buffalo Wings recipe which called for a sauce made simply of butter and Frank’s Hot Sauce, we prefer to make this recipe using either a traditional Louisiana-style hot sauce (hello Crystal, my old friend) or with a Tex-Mex bent using something like Valentina.

Oven roasting the wings in a hot oven on a base of cast iron allows the wings to cook slowly enough to absorb the flavors and fat used, yet in a hot enough setting to get nice and crispy and build layers of flavor as you add the hot sauce just a bit at a time over 20 to 30 minutes. Yep, you’ll use an entire bottle of sauce; be patient, you’re building layers of flavor that beat anything you’ll ever see at that wing eatery down the road.

These are great party food by the way, and we like to pour a batch onto a big platter, set it in the middle of the table and let everybody go to it, with your favorite dressing for dipping on the side (we’re torn between blue cheese and a creole honey mustard, with a good ranch a close third).

Roughly two pounds, wings, separated (see note)
7-8 ounces of your favorite hot sauce (see above)
2 tbsp grass fed butter
1 tbsp avocado oil
Good salt and fresh ground pepper
1/4 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or Cajun/Creole seasoning)

Fire the oven and preheat to 475.

Prep the wings by cutting off the tips, and then separating the drumettes from the wingettes; save those discarded tips for your next chicken stock batch.

When the wings are prepped and the oven’s almost there, set your largest cast iron skillet on the stover over medium-high heat; when it’s warmed for several minutes melt the butter and oil together in the skillet.

When it’s hot, add the wings and stir to coat, then sprinkle liberally with the salt, pepper, and cayenne, and then spritz just enough of the hot sauce over the wings to give them a coat. Stir the wings and throw in the oven.

Now for the next 2o to 30 minutes, until the wings are fully cooked, browned and crispy, you’re going to pull the skillet from the oven every three minutes, turn the wings over, and coat with more hot sauce (again, just enough to coat the wings).

Serve hot from the oven with your favorite dipping sauce alongside as per above.

Hot damn, these are good. And easy.

Enjoy.

 

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes and More 1 April 2020

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As we continue to grapple with the real and imagined impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resultant COVID-19 infection process it causes, it’s impossible to escape the onslaught of daily news (medical/investigational and in the lay press) that we all see every day. Here’s a few topics that have caught my eye this past week you might find interesting…

Fauci on COVID-19 from the 26th – a bit more optimistic perhaps.

Antivirals and COVID-19 – A British trial.

More detail on the loss of taste and smell as prodromal symptoms.

Most critical comorbidities seen in North America’s severest cases.

Vitamin C being used aggressively in NYC treatment after Asian success.

More on the COVID-19 and ACE2 connection.

Another interesting clinical marker of more severe disease?

A fascinating reminder of the history of hand washing in medicine.

Sometimes the most useful innovations arise from times of distress.

Should you exercise during these trying times? Hell yes.

Keeping your car clean.

A Slightly Lighter Look at These Trying Days

How a Texas Grocer Got Ready – a model for logistic planners.

Modeling COVID-19 fashion Texas style.

Jocko’s heart hammer.

I’d love to see gardening make a huge comeback in society; reminds you of Victory Gardens and gardening is great therapy.

COVID-19 Video of the Week

A Reminder of the Several Key Imperatives from NYC Doc

Food, Glorious Food

Grant Achatz omelette tips.

Even the pros fail an omelette flip now and again.

Thyme Butter Basted Red Snapper

Attaboy Monday, HEB, and the Power of Thanks

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Attaboy Monday

Very thankfully one of my mentors demonstrated by example and drilled into me the vital importance of catching people doing something good, recognizing their effort, and offering often what was simple but direct praise and a “thank you”. Down the road he, using the down-home vernacular that belied and understated his impressive intellect, began to refer to these as “attaboys”.

I’m personally convinced under normal circumstances we as a society in North America (and probably the world) would benefit from telling those around us attaboy much more often, even more so in these days of perceived mayhem and madness we find before us.

Today’s Attaboy: HEB

Texas Monthly recently posted this article praising the efforts of a regional grocery chain down here in Texas called HEB; that’s a screen shot of their article above. The authors did a worthy job of digging into the preparations HEB made early in the game, seemingly far ahead of the curve, to serve their customers. During the years we’ve lived in Texas and had HEB’s available they’ve been our grocer of choice, and we’re currently huge fans of their Central Markets (CM) here in the DFW metroplex.

It has been nothing short of stunning to see how HEB and CM have, for the most part, maintained order and have been damned near fully stocked while other grocers around them, at least those I’ve visited over the past few weeks, have fallen in disarray, with shelves picked clean and left empty for days. They’ve truly been serving their community, almost always with a smile and words of encouragement and commiseration.

Attaboy, and thanks.

The Power of Thanks

Talking with friends, family, and clients over the past few weeks, understandably not many feel thankful these days, though I’d encourage you to find someone to thank today, and every day from this point forward. These are trying days, though they will pass, even if they do leave a mark on many a family, society as a whole, and regional, national, and world economies for some time to come.

Thanking someone is a very powerful expression of gratitude and appreciation, and the more you exercise your thankfulness muscles, the more opportunity to do so will present itself.

Stay healthy, mind your risks, wash your hands, stop touching your face, exercise, eat well, and thank someone today.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Thyme Butter Basted Red Snapper

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For today’s Friday Feast I’m pleased to share a little trick that I learned this year during my brief stint working in a commercial restaurant kitchen during my “take a peek behind the curtain” look at the food industry.

As it turns out, the executive chef of the team I was working with had spent years running an upscale eatery in the Dallas metro that primarily focused on fresh seafood. The volume of fish and shellfish they prepared and served back in the day was absolutely staggering (Dallas/DFW is a metro that loves eating out), and this gentleman handled fish, shrimp, and oysters with a deft efficiency that was a marvel to watch.

Every time I had a chance I pestered him for tips and tricks that were readily translatable to the home kitchen, and the most useful one he shared was this very preparation that works for almost any fish, though we talked most often about using it for a firm fleshed white fish like red snapper and redfish here in Texas, though flounder, cod, halibut, and several other of course work as well. Leaving skin on one side (on the half shell, at least down here in the South) helps maintain the integrity of the fillet, though of course that’s up to you.

Having been taught over the years to pan sauté fish fillets over higher heat, I was a bit surprised at Chad’s insistence that the best way to prepare this dish was as follows.

Having prepped your fish (trimmed, washed, removed any remaining scales), the fillets need to be patted dry thoroughly while pre-heating a (preferably non-stick or a well-seasoned carbon steel) pan over medium-low heat.

Splash a tablespoon or two of avocado or olive oil in the pan (you’re cooking over lower heat, so olive oil works here), then season the fillets generously with good salt and perhaps a grind of fresh pepper (we also use a fresh cajun spice mix occasionally) and place skin side down in the heated pan.

You need to pay attention here, if the oil smokes, you’re running too hot; removed the pan, turn down the heat, put the pan back over the heat and be patient. Pending how thick your fillets are, you’ll most likely cook for 4-6 minutes before turning, and only after the fish has released from the pan. Don’t try to turn or “scrape it off” if the initial side hasn’t released – it will eventually.

Carefully turn the fillets using a fish spatula if you have one, and then drop in several generous pats of your favorite grass fed butter and a handful of fresh herbs – we’re partial to the magic that thyme brings to the dish, though experiment and try your favorites.

As the butter melts (and it might take a bit of time as you’re cooking over lower heat), tip the pan to one side, pooling the butter, and then spoon it over the fillets as they cook. Continue basting intermittently until the fish is cooked through to your preference.

After removing the fish to warmed plates and topping each with a few sprigs of thyme, squeeze half a lemon’s juice (or more if you wish) into the butter remaining in the pan, stir it in, and spoon over the fillets.

Enjoy this one, you’ll be coming back to it again and again.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 24 March 2020

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I don’t know if you’re one of the many who are suffering from a bit of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 fatigue these days, we certainly are around our camp, but it remains a critical imperative that we all stay in the loop to pick the gems of reporting and updates out of the flood of misinformation out there every day.

From where I sit today as a retired physician it is reassuring to see more acknowledgement of the simple and critical fact that we have no idea how big the actual denominator is – how many are actually infected and experiencing the mild or asymptomatic forms of the COVID-19 clinical syndrome (most suggest 80% or more of the actual total). Knowing the actual denominator is of course the only way the true CFR (case fatality rate), actual risks of serious infection and clinical outcomes, and overall R0 values can be accurately determined.

And finally, a quick reminder on nomenclature. The virus itself is the SARS-CoV-2 you see in the literature and news, and COVID-19 is the clinical syndrome / disease the virus causes in humans.

An updated example above of a critical care one-pager on COVID-19 management as of 22 March. Updates posted every several days at the link, and you can view other systems’ “cheat sheets” there as well.

Anosmia (loss of smell) as a prodromal symptom.

Two recent looks at hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19: from a US rheumatologist and a French intensivist.

Flattening the curve in S. Korea.

Some thoughts on how a ketogenic diet might impact immune modulation.

A nursing home team working the isolation game. Well done.

How much toilet paper do you really need? Of course there’s an online tool to calculate that.

How About a Little Fasting and Fitness News?…

A TRE/TRF review from an unlikely source. (Free Medscape account required)

A 10-hour TRF window yielded impressive results in a metabolic syndrome cohort.

Jeff Cavaliere’s bodyweight workout for those of us homebound.

How about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s no-gym home workout?

Food, Glorious Food

What do vegetable oils do to your body? A solid video from Dr. Benjamin Bikman.

OB NOLA BBQ Shrimp.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: OB NOLA BBQ Shrimp

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Strolling by the seafood counter in my favorite grocery last week I spied a beautiful bin of wild caught Gulf brown shrimp on sale; after confirming they were plump and fresh I grabbed a pound and a half to cook through the last trial of this NOLA BBQ shrimp recipe we’ve been adapting (and spicing up) from Emerill’s version.

Barbecue shrimp done “New Orleans” style implies not shrimp done on the barbie, but shrimp pan sautéed, dripping with a garlic and Worcestershire spiked butter sauce, though there are probably literally dozens of variations floating around out there.

There are two things about Emerill’s classic recipe that my family has really enjoyed over the years – one is the deep, rich flavors that build using his technique to craft a shrimp stock using the shells. I’ve found that for the occasion when you buy a load of shrimp that have been shelled, you can sub in a prepared seafood stock for the water with great results too. Simmering the stock with a handful of various spices and lemons, then reducing it down significantly, yields flavors you’d never guess you could craft in your home kitchen.

The second thing we really like about this recipe is the fact that the cream based sauce has a bit more body, especially when mounted at the end with some nifty grass-fed butter.

This looks much more complicated than it is and comes together very quickly for the final cook. Just plan a bit of time to give the sauce simmer and reduction time to yield their magic.

And if you’re incorporating a carb refeed day into your routine, this is an absolute delight over a scoop of rice. Hot damn.

3 lb shell on or 1.5 lb shelled shrimp
1 tbsp creole/cajun seasoning
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
Fresh ground black pepper

2 tbsp avocado oil, divided
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp fresh minced garlic
Reserved shrimp shells if using
3 bay leaves
2 tsp creole/cajun seasoning
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
2 lemons, peeled and sectioned
2 cups water (or seafood stock if not using shrimp shells)
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
Optional: 1/4 dry white wine or sherry
1/4 tsp good salt

2 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp grass fed butter
1 tbsp chives or small green onions, chopped fine

Wash and peel the shrimp if using shelled, reserving shells. Rub with 1 tbsp of your favorite creole seasoning and 1 tsp Old Bay, dust with black pepper, then throw in the fridge.

In a medium saucepan sauté the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp oil until just soft, then add the shrimp shells, bay leaves, creole and Old Bay seasonings, the prepped lemons, Worcestershire sauce, wine or sherry, salt, and 2 cups water (seafood stock if not using shells). Simmer for 30 minutes, cool and rest for 15 minutes or so, then strain into a small saucepan (should have about 1.5 cups).

Now reduce the flavored stock over medium-high heat until roughly 1/3 cup remains, set aside.

Finally, in a medium skillet heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat and sauté the spiced shrimp for 2 minutes or so until just opaque; add the cream and the reduced flavored stock, stirring to mix well.

Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then quickly remove the shrimp to a heated platter. Now whisk in the butter (cut into small pieces) and remove from heat. Spoon the thickened sauce over the shrimp, garnish, and go to it.

Hot damn, and enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes, and More 18 March 2020

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After leading off with links covering SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 for the past several links posts, let’s lead off with a few other interesting reads and topics today – the pursuit of wellness and good health goes on despite the 24/7 news cycle of doom and gloom.

Low and very low calorie ketogenic diet safe -and effective- in mild renal failure patient group.

Stubbornness lessens ultimate AD risk?

Germans spending less time on Facebook are happier.

Another shot across the Sucralose bow.

Don’t let perfectionism get in the way of achievement.

Squat for health?

COVID-19 Links and Reads That Caught My Eye This Week

Please note, this is in no way meant to serve as a comprehensive posting of the very latest news and data on the story – you’re inundated by that around the clock, and we’re (as greater humanity) still hampered by lack of hard data regarding how this virus behaves and how to best combat its impacts.

A Seattle Intensivist’s One-pager on COVID-19. (Note – updating continually, full size image at the link)

Medscape’s COVID-19 resource page.

Youth sports in the COVID-19 era.

One view of social distancing.

30 home workouts when you’re bugging in.

Speaking of workouts, I’m a longtime fan of BeachBody’s home program (P90X still rocks.)

Podcasts of the Week

Brad Kearns with the PHC team talking keto and longevity.

One of the clearest thinking minds I’ve found on the COVID-19 story is that of Karl Denninger, a Florida-based economist breaking the story down daily from a math perspective. He’s candid, unabashedly not politically correct, and one of the brightest minds I’ve read in a long time. Try this podcast, or look for the latest posted on his landing page (click the logo at the top of the page).

Food, Glorious Food

Southern chefs talk hot sauce.

Add this one to your organ meat list – the lost art of Southern Hash.

Our favorite Mu Shu Pork cheat for home.

Two Quick Things to Remember Today…

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As many in the world stand agog at the disruption and chaos invoked worldwide by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 infection it causes, please take time today to remember a couple of simple yet critical things.

Remember, and Reach Out to, the Elderly and Infirm in Your Neighborhood

While it’s clear that there is far, far more we don’t understand about the behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the intermediate and longer term responses of the human body to the COVID-19 process, it’s brutally obvious that the virus has thus far has been devastating to those in their 8th and 9th decades of life in particular.

Take a bit of time today and reach out to your more mature family, friends, and neighbors – make sure they’ve got the immediate essentials needed to manage these first of what indeed may be a number of days at home, and offer words (and deeds if needed) of encouragement and support.

The more mature among us, hopefully wiser as well, have seen various life challenges come and go, and most understand that ‘this too shall pass’ is much more often true than not.

And Remember Those Who “Keep Us Alive”

Reader JK in Houston sent in a link to an article recently posted in National Review – Remembering Who is Keeping Us Alive – a worthy, quick read today.

From the article –

…The point is that in our age of necessary shutdowns and staying home, one thing we must do is eat — and eat well to stay healthy. And that means lots of people have to go to work and produce food and transport it to the major cities, and not always in isolation on the south 40.

Farmers do a lot more than just drop a seed in the ground and then by rote watch it sprout into a corn stalk, as one of our nation’s richest and most influential figures lectured us not all that long ago. For millions to subsist at home, to force the virus to sputter out, they must eat, as well as have power, running water, law enforcement, and sanitation. And that means millions of Americans must go to work as usual and sustain the elementals and existential forces of American life for 330 million, usually out of sight and out of mind, as we concentrate on the required quarantining of universities, offices, bureaus, sporting events, etc…

Hang in there, be smart, turn off the news, and do some remembering today.