Photo Archives: Making Beef Jerky

I’m gonna start posting some photos from my archives in the time to come. For 3 – 4 years I’ve been taking photos of (almost!) literally every meal I had – be it home made or restaurant meals. This is a habit I’ve come to be grateful for, as I can easily go through my old photos whenever I need some inspiration. Also there are sooo many meals I’ve been pleased with but would have totally forgotten. Seeing the photos again sparks old neural paths and the recipe often comes back instantly.

I won’t always post the recipe in this series (as I don’t remember which measures I used and often never used measures in the first place), but I’ll usually include a description. If I care to. I apologize on beforehand for the photo quality, I used to take pictures only with my phone –  but you know how the absolute perfectionist never achieves anything. I have shiny new camera now, a Samsung NX300. Recommended if you want the best quality but isn’t really that much of a technical camera person!

So here goes: Beef jerky is the perfect paleo snack! I only did this once, and there are things I will probably do differently next time. Like getting a better oven, for instance. And work with the texture. The jerky became a little too dry and hard, but they tasted delicious! I flavored them with a spice mix of my own recipe, including salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, some dried herbs (thyme, oregano, parsley …) etc., finely ground for easy appliance.

The method is simply to cut your beef (lean beef works best, and grassfed gives a result rich in flavor) in thin slices of 1/2 cm or so, season with your spice mix or simply salt and pepper and bake in the oven for several hours at the lowest temperature. I think I let them stay overnight. If you have a dehydrator that would be even better – I don’t. Yet.

I will definitely make this again in the future, maybe we’re looking at a more refined recipe once I’ve done sufficient experimentation. See you soon! 🙂

Coffee, Butter and Bitcoin

My morning cup of coffee with grassfed butter in Amsterdam. This is such a luxury as there is not one single brand of grassfed butter in Norway (where I was born and still temporarily live). I guess I could find a way to mail order a box of Kerrygold, but places like amazon don’t ship edibles to Norway, and the customs system is a bureaucratic mess of high taxes … *le sigh*. Time to get out … anyway, I’m in Amsterdam for the bitcoin convention this weekend. Never heard of bitcoin? Ok, let me give you a quick introduction! 

Bitcoin allows you to pay with your smartphone instantly, with a few seconds delay, to anywhere on the globe completely without transaction fees. It is safer, faster and cheaper than anything like PayPal, Visa or Mastercard. Visa and Mastercard weren’t designed for the internet. Bitcoin is. Its security is based on cryptography rather than a third party like a bank or credit card company. Let’s not go into the detail, but you had to leave the fastest existing computer working practically eternally to guess the astoundingly large numbers protecting bitcoin.

If desired, bitcoin is anonymous. Bitcoin will make it possible to donate to charity so that 100% of the money will go to those who need it – because the donations happen without all the third parties who always need their share. Crowdfunding will be super easy. Sending money to loved ones in a distant country will be instant and free. WordPress (this web hosting service) actually accepts bitcoin as subscription payment. See bitcoin.org for more information (and a cool introduction video).

So back to the butter: it is both with unbearable delight and frustrated despair that I consume this golden, caffeinated brew. Imagine living in a dark cellar for most of your life – you know there is something called “the sun” up there, and that it is beautiful; yet you’ve never seen it. Then you’re let out for a few hours into dashing sunlight, but knowing it is only for a short time you appreciate it bittersweetly. That’s how I feel eating grassfed butter. See you guys!

Biðos: Traditional Lappish Reindeer Soup

When you’re on vacation in northern Norway (as I am right now), reindeer meat is an obvious must. It tastes like game and practically is: the animals eat grass during summer and a certain type of white lichen during winter, which they dig up from under the snow. The local stores even sell tiny packs of reindeer meat – salted, smoked and chopped, the perfect paleo snack! Flavors of the wild – of the mountain stretches and rivers, of wild herbs and berries, mushrooms and smoke from the shaman’s tent. 

The core recipe of this dish is reindeer meat, brown sauce made off the bone broth, and root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, rutabaga …). This had some chopped leek and lingonberries for garnish. We had it at this cozy little mountain inn where they are particularly known for it, along with crowberry juice.