The truth about “extenders” in the food we eat (2nd of 2 series). TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) What are these?

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TVP
(Textured Vegetable Protein)
(or sometimes called Textured Soya Protein)
My major premise (again & again): NOTHING IS WRONG WITH TVPs.
It contains 50-65% protein.
You are not aware of it.
Producers label their food products so flowery-nice that these “extenders” are left un-noticed.
Different “extenders” are used by manufacturers to cut down on costs of goods sold unto you:
1. Chicken MDM (Mechanically De-boned Meat) (explained in 1st Series)
2. TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein or Soya Protein) (below elaborated now)
There are other food “extenders” that you’re not aware of:
3. Bread & milk.
4. Modified Starches, different types of flour, rice & cereals.
5. Meat trimmings, internals & skins.Rendering the name “textured”, these are manufactured from soya beans,
converted into paste then extruded into different shapes, sizes, color,
protein content and hydration capacity (the capacity to absorb water).
Sold by the sacks of 25kilos, red, white, natural light brown or caramel color, 50-65% protein content,
best quality ones are from USA, Israel and Brazil.
Argentina, Turkey, India and China joined the industry as demand keeps on rising year after year.
Prices are based on protein content, absorption capacity & size.
The higher the protein & absorption rate, the higher amount you shell out.
Normal absorption capacity is 1 part TVP:3 parts water.From above rate you will note that a kilo of TVP, approximately P75.00/ or U$D1.70/,
when hydrated with 3 kilos of water (in seconds) will come out 4 kilos of “seemingly like ground meat”
…at that P75.00/kilo price. Great cost cutting.
98% or processed meats (canned or frozen-packed), here & worldwide, contain TVP.
Some are manufactured with little meat (pork, beef, chicken etc.) plus TVP as extender and some,
aside from TVP, in conjunction with such, still add Chicken MDM plus other “extenders”.How low, do you think, will the production cost be if this formulation (TVP + MDM + other extenders) is employed?Your favorite most vaunted burger patty, almost ALL,
repeat almost ALL types of sausages & longanizas, luncheon meats, meat & beef  loaves, embutidos, dimsums, dumplings, meat & beef balls, corned beef etc and etc and etc…TVP plays the major role.
TVP is as basic as Tylenol, or Tempra or Biogesic when you have fever or wish to ease a pain.Let’s disect the widely bragged item…corned beef.
Why do you think a “low-cost” 100-gram can of corned beef can be sold at below P14.00 (U$D0.31)?
A kilo of good quality CARA-beef (or India’s buffalo meat) demands P130.00/ (U$D2.95/). By just plain division: P130/1000grams (1000 grams to a kilo) = P0.13 X 100 grams (100 grams can) = P13.00
So how can you sell it at say P14/can? MIRACLE?
The manufacturer makes ONLY P1/can?
Where do they charge product cost, labor, utilities, can, label, marketing expenses?
How about the profit of the dealers or distributors?
AND WE ARE TALKING OF INDIA’S BUFFALO MEAT, YET.
NOT THE REAL CATTLE BEEF which is much higher in price.

Oh really? Don’t pull my crump-prone leg guys.

Further, what if the label & ad campaign claim is: “made from Angus beef”?
Does real Angus beef mean TOP (1st rated or the EMIRP…you have to read this backwards) or the CHOICE (2nd rated) cut?
THINK. THINK VERY DEEPLY. Even if they double the price
…I will be too stubborn…as I will NEVER believe it’s Angus.
Check this out:
* The “chicken” in the “sotanghon soup” you buy…that’s white TVP-strips not chicken.
* The “beef” in your comfort food cupped-noodle soup are hydrated caramel TVP-minced.
*The highly popularized canned corned beef now, bragging of pure beef, the one used is
 red (or caramel colored) TVP-powder.
And once way too large volume of TVPs is used,
how do they mask the soya aroma & taste of the end product?
Flavors, concentrates of food extracts, add-on spices/herbs/condiments/chemicals etc. come to use.
THINK.

YABU the royalty of “katsu”.

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Staff handed and explained the white & black sesame seeds that we had to pulverize
using the provided small ceramic mortar & wood pestle then pour in “that sauce” in my plate
which I had to taste first separately-to know what it’s a mix of.
Sniffed, tasted oohh it’s made of blah, blah, blah.
The beer is in stand-by for any eventuality like the piquant yellow mustard
that I believe was generously mixed with “wasabi”
(check the yellow thing below 2 o’clock of rice in bowl).
Whew, the heat went up to my head…but I loved it.
Pangs & I, whenever in the look-out for “real” food, never…as in never…will consider
any Japanese site. Why? We’re not fond of their dishes.
Another why? Here:
1. we manufacture high-end “Gyoza”, dimsum and dumpling thus supply some of them.
We see, smell, taste them day in-day out.
2. we do not go for raw meat like the different “sashimi” (do you call them so?)
3. had tried no less than 4 that served “RANCID katsus”
4. can’t control the temptation of eating a lot due to our ecstasy of using chopsticks.
But for heaven’s sake Cha, my daughter, imposed on us last Wednesday
that we dine at YABU-Glorietta 5 (Makati City) saying their “katsu” is the best.
Familiar name mention &  praises from friends, me anxious.
Eager to try if it will pass Pangs’ & my smell-taste-digest-smell-taste routine.
To scrutinize varieties, Pangs got Kurobuta Premium Set,
I had Chicken and Seafood Katsu Set,
Cha and fiance Anton ordered Katsu Curry Set.
My serving.
A-plenty, in seeming dis-array, but OMG never mind. It’s worth every space.
Finished my fave “miso soup” first then attacked the “never-ending” thinly sliced organic white cabbage.

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Took this shot to remind me of the “encounter”
Findings:
1. never tasted any rancidity in the food served
which means that the oil used could be for that day’s production only.
2. “panko” (Japanese breadcrumbs) is perfect. It matches the kind of oil utilized.
3. Japanese rice was perfect.
4. well, I concocted my own dipping sauce combi.
5. I particularly love the cabbage.
5. I don’t know but the overall taste of food seemed “very very clean”
6. STAFF? Utmost courtesy. Accommodating. Alert. Swift.
7. PRICE? Of course, a bit high than the 2-3 star Jap houses but
WELL WORTH THE BUCKS.
Don’t entertain second thoughts…go visit your nearest branch.
Check YABU’s website here...choose what you’ll order before hand.
Line is long. Save time.
YABU the royalty of katsu.

After 14+ years I returned…sniffed, critically tasted every bit, subconsciously compared to others…and WHOA started to like Fridays.

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More than 14 years back when I used to frequent Fridays at Glorietta 4
(in Makati City, Philippines) most nights a week as such was our meeting point
with my daughter, Cha, then working with a multinational firm across the street.
2-3 bottles of my fave SMB Pale plus finger food (buffalo wings mostly)
until she steps in then head home together.
Way too short, to the point of nil, of being spectacular
with ambiance, food, presentation and my “always-look-out”… staff attitude.
I was there for convenience. Nothing more.
Until last Sunday night when my feet felt so itchy to go out, have1 or 2 cold ones and eat.
Pangs & I landed at Trinoma (a mall corner of EDSA & North Avenue, Quezon City)
Choose. Walk. Choose.
When this young lady from mentioned Fridays greeted us so sweetly
which melted my heart, and that melt headed to my brain seemingly saying:
“go inside, sit down and let that cute lady scratch your itchy feet”.
Nyahahaha. We went in and ordered.
Caesar salad above is perfect.
Lightly dressed crunchy lettuce topped with some just rightly fried croutons.
For Pangs, was a bit garlicky. But OK. She’s not a fan of garlic anyway.
BTW, top-right is draft beer in 16oz. mug.

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Of course my Buffalo Wings.
Mine. Pangs did not like. Just tasted a piece.
A bit bland inside…lacks seasoned marination but overall taste is ok.
Not a BIG OK… “konti lang” (just a bit).

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Satisfying my addiction to meat, submitting to my carnivorous-ness that night,
still mine…their NEW
Hickory Smoked Pork Belly.
Not minding the  “normal” thick belly fat, SUPERB. GREAT. PERFECT.
Tenderness is #10. Think this was via “sous vide” style cooking.
You can bite in to the bone. That’s how tenderly “fall-off the bone” state it is.
Smokey-ness is just right. Not over powering.
For me, God-Damn GOOD.Again #10.
Sides: mashed potato is  a bit ok…”konti lang”, coleslaw…”konti lang”.
The dip shrunk my eyes close, pushed out my tongue and exclaimed: “BEH”.
Could had been created differently to match smokey-ness of pork.
IMO, thickened water with “muscovado” (unrefined brown sugar) + finely chopped white onion.
Raised my glucose level really high.
For FOOD (based on our order) instead of #10…due to diabetically-inducing strong sweetness of dip…
I will rate: #9
SERVICE: WOW. This is a PERFECT #10.
Everybody is
(not was…I know they are accustomed to such, trained to be so and must always be so)
courteous, sweet and accommodating.
Instantly, FRIDAYS is now 1 of our favorites.
We will be back, again and again.
(FRIDAYS is part of Bistro Group along with Italianni’s, Krazy Garlik, Fish & Co. Flapjacks  etc.)

Rancid chicken, pork belly, pork chop or “bangus”…would you notice? You’re a foodie. You must.

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Days of pounding questions again for applicants
wanting to be cooks, assistant cooks & kitchen helpers.
96% had previous kitchen hot experiences.
Can’t help but notice the absence of basic taste familiarities.
And so, I am literally dragged by circumstances to look back August 2013 and copy-paste my post of that day.

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 Of the so many I’ve interviewed for the different    stalls-special events positions needed, ONLY 2 or 3 know what “rancidity” is.
Sad, as many are graduates of cooking schools, culinary institutes, food technology, chemistry and HRM.

Aside from single or double fried pork belly, pork chops, “tilapia” or “bangus” (milk fish), chicken, shot above, is hereby presented as it is almost always the type of food “rancidity” could always be very evident
(the type that most value-meal food chains offer).

RANCID. Do use your frying oil, even to similar type of product, for about 3-5 times on certain day. Ref your used oil. Or keep well-covered in any place you wish for 2 days. Fry on it same type of product the 6th time. The “unusual smell” plus the “out of this world taste of your fried food” will explain RANCIDITY. To differentiate, fry similar item on a new oil. Smell and taste. Compare.

To explain further is to be too technical like: oil has boiling and smoking points. It boils upon reaching certain temp but still keeps its chemical properties until it has reached smoking point. Breaking up of these chem properties reacts with and affects taste of food. Smoking point is reached when oil is “overused” and/or being used on consistent high temp frying.
Most home-type frying oils, including EVOO for that matter, have low smoking point.
Heat your oil to 350 deg. F and eat rancid food in no time.

In short, the higher the smoking point of oil the better for even continuous high temp deep frying.
Try sourcing for palm oil or palm olein that has high smoking point.

Many fast food outlets and poorly managed restos do use their oil for 10-15 times, sometimes more.
Here, “rancid taste” is common.
I suggest that you be too critical the next time you order your fried chicken.
Smell first. Taste intently. No matter what type of presentation or concoction or “flare” it is offered
…if cooked in “rancid oil”, you will notice.

BORACAY (2nd of 2 posts)…modus of some hotels & the “irk-ies”.

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Whether you’re on a morning’s much needed fresh air intake
to replace the carbon-mono laden oxygen in our lungs
(vehicles’ emitted and/or secondary cigarettes’ smoke)

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…or on an afternoon serene rest by the beach front

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“killing time”
(what a “Pinoy” way of expressing ” to pass the time”)

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or honing your photography skills

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(Oh my. Hands of this old man are still controllably un-shaky
with this 15 meter upward handheld [up]
and this 10 meter [below] shots
with D300 70-300mm zoom)

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…or stroll peacefully eagerly awaiting the “coolest” sunset ever

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A minute WON’T  pass without you NOT saying “NO THANK YOU” to vendors of ALL types of wares. From sunglasses to “balut” (un-hatched boiled duck egg) to boiled corn to ice cream to rice cakes to island hopping tours to pearl necklaces to free dinner offers pirating you from your current hotel to theirs’ to  ALMOST EVERYTHING.              
WHEW!…and again… WHEW!
I see no wrong in that instance. BUT it’s ANNOYING. Authorities had managed to assemble thousands of former ambulant “masseurs”, in strategic locations, to be in tent-sheds with open-view massage beds where they wait for clientele to engage their services. This is PERFECT!
Why can’t they do that to these pestering “ants’-like vendors” plying every nook of the island. My own counting, during my wife’s & my short visit, revealed: there were 80% Koreans, 12% Americans & Caucasians, 3% Japanese & 5% Filipinos.
And the ratio is, 1 vendor : 10 tourists.
You could imagine that with your every 2-steps by the beach-one is to offer you “something”-where you will keep on saying NO THANK YOU as well.
Suggestion: stack them out in strategic sites like the “masseurs”.
SMOKERS: they don’t follow signs. All of them smokers. FYI, there are notices pasted everywhere & reminders even before your plane starts initial descent THAT SMOKING & EATING ARE PROHIBITED IN BEACH AREA.
                      WHEW, WHEW & WHEW. This broke my ecstasy for a nice vacation the most.

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Check that guy selling sunglasses.
He will pass by you 2-3 times in an hour.
How many of them kind will make you say “no thank you” in a minute.
Also, see if you can identify the vendors in this shot below.
More irritating are the convergence of “istambays”
(people who have nothing to do but assemble in a corner & do nothing, still)
then make FUN of anybody (tourists or locals)
for anything or something that they deem to make fun off.
Laughing loud, screaming jokes towards any “shortcoming” or “anything” of the passer(s) by
they feel happy doing so.

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OOPPPssss…was at 2nd floor of this joint…”REAL COFFEE”
upon suggestions of my kids for us to try their vaunted coffee concoction,
“calamansi muffin” and “Marc’s Sandwich”- plain heated loaf bread
wedged with tuna topped with abundant melted cheese and LTO
(lettuce, tomatoes & onion which I asked to be on separate plate for me to really dissect what’s in the filling).
And I had this:

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Hat’s off, I salute their “real coffee” recipe: a jigger of espresso added to freshly dripped one.
Plain. Simple. No added bottled flavor concentrates.
THE BEST COFFEE I’ve ever had
after testing over a hundred preps including those known worldwide & national brands.
Highly recommended.
But the sandwich is nothing new as canned tuna was just abundantly mixed with
CHEVITAL or KRAFT or MAGNOLIA quick melt cheese. Stuff unto loaf halves-toast and that’s it.
Had to sprinkle a lot of salt though.
“Calamansi muffin” is like a regular “kababayan” (a kind of local muffin)
which dough is poured with an “extract” or juice of “calamansi” (our local lemon).
Methinks it’s more of little juice extended by bottled flavor.
And I loved my fresh LTO.

Paging the Department of Trade & Industry: most bit high-end resorts and hotels in Boracay DO NOT EXTEND senior’s discount. Discovered this when still booking for our trip. One staff (over the phone) even irritably said: “if you will ask for senior’s discount, we will NOT extend to you the free breakfast. (FYI, under the law, citizens 60 & above are extended 20% discounts on medicines, single served meal, hotels, 20-30% or at times FREE at cinemas etc. & 5% for some basic needs’ groceries)

Which is why I ended up cancelling 3 bookings and took our billeted one which extended such discount, with free breakfast and dinner. What a bargain. But not fit to mention. Some services are bad, including the food. That’s the trade-off.

Catching my attention is this resort below. They present interesting line up of Korean dishes for buffet (well, 98% of their clients are of that nationality), live band music and middle of the ground dancing to your heart’s content in between your spoonful (or chopstick) take of food. WOW! So vibrant atmosphere.

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Will try next time even for just the vibrancy of ambiance.
But I have to bring my own food, under corkage fee, as I am not a fan of Korean dishes (pardon me).
OR
maybe just a quiet dinner, again, over my fave “beer” with Pangs at the hotel’s veranda.

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Ngee.
My face is really red after the 3rd bottle.
Love it.