Chicken Pomodoro Freschi

[kit]

Alan, I'm glad you tried the chicken with tomatoes and basil and happy you liked it. Great combination. Everyone has different tastes and financial limitations and as 'culinary artists' those of us who make our own meals all have the right to vary from a given technique any way we want to. Experimenting with foods is a good thing. My thought is to make things myself so I know exactly what's going into my body than to roll the dice and accept whatever someone else has pre-made and sells in the local supermarket. A quick look at the ingredients in a pre-made entree tells me a lot.

Clipper, the reason that brining a meat with salt makes it more juicy is the same reason that my doctor would have a fit if I did that. Salt causes meat to retain water whether you're marinating it or inside one's body. In my case, salt causes fluid to collect and be retained around my heart and lungs. This scenario isn't my, or my doctor's, first choice so I don't brine meats, don't put salt in my dishes and never use free salt at the table, which is why I tend to overcompensate and use more herbs and spices than usual. As I mentioned, we all have different tastes and for different reasons. But brining sounds like a good idea if your body can tolerate it.

One other way to make a tough meat more tender is to marinate it overnight in a solution of water with a little baking soda. The slight alkalinity breaks down the muscle fibers over time. This was a favorite technique with many lower price places like Bonanza and Ponderosa, and still might be in the newer establishments. They generally serve cheaper cuts of meat that have been tenderized, which is fine as long as it's not overdone. You have to experiment a little with the proportions of baking soda to water as well as marinating time.

[clarencebunsen]

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, an eighth teaspoon contains about as much sodium as a normal adult should consume in a day.

[Clipper]

I always assumed that those chemically tenderized little slabs of gristle loaded beef from Ponderosa were tenderized with Monosodium Glutamate which is also high in sodium content. I had never heard of tenderizing meat with sodium bicarbonate. I have drank a sodium bicarb solution for acid indigestion on occasion, and I would not care to have meat soaked in that stuff for any extended period. It tasted saltier than salt water.

I also have often wondered why using a salt/sugar brine to tenderize meat and keep it juicy, doesn't make it taste salty in the least. It simply doesn't seem to retain the salt when you rinse it before cooking.

Chemistry was not one of my favorite subjects. I struggled to pass it in high school and swore that I would never take college level chemistry.

[kit]

Good points, Clipper. I, too, have occasionally taken sodium bicarbonate for upset stomach and it works very well (1/2 teaspoon stirred in 1/2 glass of cold water). The sodium for me is also a concern, but I don't consume it very often.

As an aside, and this will most likely soon be debated on this thread, is that with a pH of about 8, being slightly alkaline in nature, ingesting the sodium bicarbonate helps to make the system more alkaline which tends to kill most viruses. If your system is kept slightly alkaline in nature, the chances are you'll never get a cold or any other affliction caused by a virus because viruses cannot live in an alkaline environment. I suspect that many will jump on this statement and refute it, but it's been true for me and many others. Of course it's best to alkalize your system with proper foods rather than with sodium bicarbonate. Many other foods, however (usually the ones many people like best) tend to acidify the system and allow viruses to flourish. This information, by the way, comes from the writings of my chief guru, Edgar Cayce (fascinating to follow his works).

[Clipper]

www.edgarcayce.org/are/holistic_health/data/thdiet2.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Cayce

Edgar sounds like a man of varied gifts and talents Kit. He sounds like he was a very unique fellow indeed. His wiki biography is a very interesting read. I find his diet especially interesting. I am sure that it is quite healthy if you are inclined to follow it faithfully. I am busy enough following guidelines for cholesterol, sodium, transfats and such, to take the time to add the acidity or alkalinity of my food choices to the my dietary concerns. I most likely will not be adding litmus paper to my shopping list any time soon.

I have never been much of a follower of holistic medicine or psychics, although I know many people who swear by holistic cures and thoroughly believe in whatever a psychic tells them. I guess I would be listed as a skeptic if I were be categorized as one or the other.

I myself simply try to eat a somewhat balanced diet, that includes plenty of vegetables, limited starches, plenty of poultry, fish, and pork, and probably too much red meat (my downfall in dietary choices.) I guess when my time comes they will find me face down in a plate containing a 16 oz slab of rare prime rib, and a baked potato with sour cream. I will of course have already consumed my salad with honey mustard dressing. When they pick me up and wipe the horseradish and sour cream sauce from my face, they will uncover a sinfully satisfied smile on my face that they can't wipe away no matter how hard they try. If I croak before lunch they may catch a hint of bacon or pork sausage on my breath.

My cardiologist gave me a clean bill of health just last week, and said no testing other than an annual EKG would be necessary for 5 yrs. I guess I am more interested in living my life and enjoying it, rather than in prolonging it through sacrificing the things that bring me pleasure. I abused and misused my body for many years when I was younger, and luckily survived relatively unscathed.

I DO understand that with some of the serious health issues that you have that you have to be much more aware of, and careful about what you eat and drink. You have my sympathy my friend. I am glad that you are still able to enjoy some of the culinary delights that you take pleasure in preparing and eating. I hope that healthy choices and a good diet allow you to be with us for many more years.

[clarencebunsen]

I tried a version of this last night. I used ingredients on hand so it was a bit modified. It was quite well received. Thanks.

Re: Baking soda & alkalizing the body. I'm not going to argue with your results. They are what they are. I will quibble a bit about the chemistry. (I'll add my usual disclaimer. I'm not a chemist or particularly well trained in chemistry. High school chemistry plus one year of college chemistry is the extant of my formal training.)

I got interested in blood chemistry some three years ago when I had a gout flair up. It took awhile to get it under control and I wanted to understand as much as I could to prevent a re-occurrence. Sodium bicarb is a commonly mentioned folk remedy. The reason it persists as a remedy is that it has some efficacy for some people. It does however have some very negative effects for some people, raising blood pressure being one of the most common.

My understanding of digestion is that the stomach is strongly acid (pH below 7, can be as low as 1 or 2). The stomach also secretes sodium bicarbonate to buffer the solution to a pH of 3-4 because the enzymes that denature the food proteins work best in that range. There is a natural feedback controlling the acid and base secreting cells to maintain the pH in the proper range.

Once the stomach contents empty into the duodenum, the acid contents stimulate the pancreas to secrete more sodium bicarbonate to neutralize the digestive fluids. For the rest of the trip through the digestive track the pH is close to 7.

From my understanding then, taking bicarb will buffer the initial spike when acid secretion first starts (hence the relief of "heartburn") but the net result will be to stimulate the acid cells to produce more and suppress the bicarbonate producing cells.

However, it does seem obvious that what we swallow can effect blood chemistry. As I read I became more confused rather than enlightened. Try to determine, for example, whether coffee consumption is helpful, hurtful or neutral as it relates to gout. Take any position you want and I'll find a study that contradicts it.

One site I found that seemed to take a "no axe to grind" approach to this subject was GoutPal and it's associated forum. I went back to it last night and found that its layout had changed dramatically since my last visit (a couple years) and I had a bit of trouble finding the info I wanted. Here are links to a few pages I found useful for learning about blood chemistry:

www.goutpal.com/gout-diet/gout-diet-menu/

www.goutpal.com/gout-diet/

www.goutpal.com/2886/treating-gout-with-baking-soda/

And one quote:

I am preparing summary information for the Gout Diet Menu.

This page will explain how an alkalizing menu can help gout sufferers.

The most important thing to realize is that this has nothing to do with neutralizing uric acid, a common misunderstanding. Adopting an alkalizing gout diet creates an environment in your body where uric acid is more soluble. This has a noticeable effect on uric acid kidney stones.

The second-most important thing is to realize that you must analyze the whole of your menu to estimate the acidic load of your total diet. Individual foods are meaningless in isolation, though once you have a view on your entire menu, you can look at individual foods to see where you must make changes.

I realize that the site creator has a style that tends to force one to open a lot of links while reading a single article. That doesn't bother me since I typically have half a dozen links open whenever I'm online but it may bother some.

I'm providing the links not because I think everyone needs to know about gout but because I think it provides some info on diet and blood chemistry.

A couple other comments. The site has a lot more ads than I remember. I don't object to them but I ignore them. The fonts on their forum have changed. I dislike the new look.

[Deleted]

I had a gout attack about 4 years ago. I was put on a medication that I can't remember for treatment. I haven't had an attack since but I rarely eat red meat. So not sure exactly how I have been set free.

It is true that baking soda will nock off the delicate acid/alkaline balance in our digestive system but I heard on Dr. Oz that for a once in a while treatment it is much safer that prescription acid reducers. Protonix is one that come in mind and that through constant use screw up the balance. So why do the Doctors prescribe it i gues because it is the lesser of two evils--high acid production and heartburn more alkalinity and indigestion problems.

[clarencebunsen]

"I had a gout attack about 4 years ago. I was put on a medication that I can't remember for treatment. I haven't had an attack since but I rarely eat red meat. So not sure exactly how I have been set free."

There are two types of medication prescribed to treat two different aspects of the disease: anti-inflammatories to knock down the acute flares and uric acid reducing drugs to reduce uric acid deposits in the joints.

For a long time the anti-inflammatory of choice has been colchicine. When I say a long time there is documented recommendations for its use dating back 3500 years (although the gout specific recommendations are only for the past 2000 years). It works very well and the side effects are tolerable for most people. It was very cheap, one or two cents per pill. Unfortunately, a couple years ago a change was made regarding drugs which had been grandfathered in by the FDA. Two thousand years of documented use was not considered a substitute for clinical studies. Studies were done, a limited patent was granted and brand name pills now cost $5-6 each. Don't have a flare up again you can't afford it.

For long term reduction of uric acid levels in the blood, allopurinol is the medication of choice. Its history isn't as long, only 50 years or so. It's still generic and cheap.

If you were unfortunate enough to choose the wrong genes (my mother and one of my sisters are both on gout medication) red meat or no red meat makes very little difference. For some people chicken or even beans can trigger an attack.

[kit]

CB,

I don't mean to side-track the gout issue... it's very important for people in that situation to know as much about it as possible. Thanks for sharing the fruits of your investigation and by all means continue with it whenever necessary. I don't personally suffer from gout (yet) so I can't provide any scientific input about it.

Regarding sodium bicarbonate... when a meal causes the pH of the chime in the stomach to rise (become more acidic) it triggers the body's natural production of a base to neutralize it. When heartburn attacks, a bolus of a base such as a solution of sodium bicarbonate is ingested into the stomach and tends to neutralize the high acid content quickly, giving relief, and with the pH now being more normal it turns off the body's trigger to produce more base. The process usually ends there and in most people there is no 'rebound' effect.

But you're absolutely right that the increased sodium in the bicarb cocktail has a detrimental effect on many people's blood pressure as well as an increase in edema in the pleura, pericardium and lower extremities. I suffer from that condition and must remain aware of my sodium intake or I could find myself back in the hospital. One workaround that makers of antacids employ is to use calcium carbonate in their chewable antacids rather than a sodium salt. It has the same effect, but without the sodium to deal with. However, as we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch. Excess calcium can cause other problems in our bodies as well. The best remedy is to be careful about what one eats (or drinks, or smokes) and avoid the excess acidity in the first place.

The difference between drinking a bicarb solution to relieve heartburn, and using it to tenderize meat is that the marinating solution is ultimately rinsed off the meat, but remains in our system when take internally. It works well to tenderize meats because very little bicarb remains after rinsing, but once ingested, our body has to process all that sodium.

[chris]

I just got this from my Youtube channel baking soda tips

[Clipper]

"The difference between drinking a bicarb solution to relieve heartburn, and using it to tenderize meat is that the marinating solution is ultimately rinsed off the meat, but remains in our system when take internally. It works well to tenderize meats because very little bicarb remains after rinsing, but once ingested, our body has to process all that sodium."

That probably also explains why brining meats doesn't result in salty tasting meat after it is rinsed and cooked. Of course I normally brine for only a few hours or overnight. I imagine much more sodium would be absorbed if one left meat to brine for a longer period, such as in corning a brisket of beef or preparing a ham for smoking.

Probably the safest way for someone that has to be careful about sodium intake is to dry age their meats. I used to go to a steak house in Oklahoma City when I was TDY there, and their steaks were dry aged in a temperature controlled environment for an extended period of time. The steak could be cut with a fork and had no seasoning or chemical tenderizer used whatsoever. Low in sodium, but I made it somewhat higher in fat by ordering it smothered in mushrooms sauteed in butter. You paid for the dry aging and quality of the meat. A 16 ounce rib eye was over $20 and that was in the mid 80's. That was where I picked up the habit of putting a little real butter on a steak when it is served. I use salted butter, but one could use unsalted I suppose. A little butter and fresh cracked pepper is all I want on a good steak. No A-1 or other sauces for steak. If one wants to overload on salt, A-1 probably has the salinity of sea water, ha ha.