The genius of India is that its spicing can make a vegetarian dish
taste good. The idiocy of India is that a huge segment of the population turns up its righteous nose at onions and garlic.

I agree with both statements. Another cusine / country with a decent vegetarian culture and tasty foods is Ethiopia. Of course, both of them
also have carnivore items in their culture as well. To your knowledge
are there any other countries with the same breath of vegetarian dishes
as those two?

Where there's poor people, there's vegetarian food. Omnivores,
such as humans, are opportunistic eaters.

African cultures have a substantial vegetarian component,
which has been influenced considerably by Indian spices in
most places, especially toward the east and south.

Another question/comment for you: I was reading a label on those Cabot "seriously sharp" cheddar bites that we get (and that you might have had
when here at some time). One item that surprised me was the statement "naturally lactose free". Can that be true of cheese?

Depends on what you mean by lactose-free. If something contains
less than 0.5% of most things, the claim can legally be made that
it's free from them, even if that's not strictly true. Here, it's
a lie, and the Cabot creamery has for decades been one of the most
prominent promulgators of that lie. Throughout the '00s I tended
to avoid that brand for that reason.

Half a percent can be a lot. Nobody would say that apple and
cherry seeds are cyanide-free (in fact, one of the more amusing
scare headlines in the food magazines and blogs is along the
lines of "apple seeds can kill you!"), even though they contain
only 0.01 to 0.4% cyanogens. https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/ sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+3507

Title: North Carolina Chopped Bbq
1 1/2 lb Beef roast

Nah. Beef is not a food generally associated with North Carolina.

FROM: Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine
Apple's comments: I made this for supper tonight and it is GOOD! :)
Posted on GEnie Food & Wine RT Apr 22, 1993 by J.APPLEBURY
[AppleDebbie]
From the recipe files of Sylvia Steiger, GEnie THE.STEIGERS, CI$
71511,2253, GT Cookbook echo moderator at net/node 004/005 From:
Millern@redwood.Cc.Andrews.Edu (N
From: Greg Mayman Date: 10-05-00
Cooking

Interesting chain of provenance.

This belongs in the previous post, but it wouldn't fit there.

Bacon Ice Cream
Categories: celebrity, dessert, pork
Yield: 3 c

h - For the candied bacon
5 strips bacon
2 ts light brown sugar
h - For the ice cream custard
3 Tb salted butter
3/4 c (packed) brown sugar
2 3/4 c half-and-half
5 lg egg yolks
2 ts dark rum or whiskey
1/4 ts vanilla extract
1/4 ts ground cinnamon (opt)

To candy the bacon, preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a silicone
mat or aluminum foil, shiny side down. Sprinkle 1 1/2-2 ts of
brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon, depending on length.

Bake for 12-16 min. Midway during baking, flip the bacon strips
over and drag them through the dark, syrupy liquid that's
collected on the baking sheet. Continue to bake until as dark as
mahogany. Remove from oven and cool the strips on a wire rack.

Once crisp and cool, chop into little pieces, about the size of
grains of rice. (Bacon bits can be stored in an airtight
container and chilled for a day or so, or stored in the freezer
a few weeks ahead.)

To make the ice cream custard, melt the butter in a heavy,
medium-size saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and half of the
half-and-half. Pour the remaining half-and-half into a bowl
set in an ice bath and set a mesh strainer over the top.

In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks, then gradually
add some of the warm brown sugar mixture to them, whisking the
yolks as you pour. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over low to moderate heat, constantly stirring and scraping
the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens
enough to coat the spatula.

Strain the custard into the half-and-half, stirring over the ice
bath, until cool. Add liquor, vanilla, and cinnamon if using.

Refrigerate the mixture. Once thoroughly chilled, freeze in your
ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Add the bacon bits during the last moment of churning, or stir
them in when you remove the ice cream from the machine.

David Lebovitz
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