I have already made obvious my love of slow cooking. Until now there were two reasons: taste and convenience. The faculty is now confirming this choice and adding a medical component. New studies on advanced glycation end products, AGEs in short, indicate that those compounds, which form when meat is seared at high temperature, the famous Maillard reaction, increase inflammation (i.e. risks of heart disease, artherosclerosis, diabetes and arthritis) in human bodies. Because we love this charred taste and smell, the food industry has added a lot of synthetic AGEs to their products. The usual suspects are the good guys in our fight against AGEs: we should eat more vegetables and fruit, use fresh products AND cook at slow temperature. In other words, favor boiling, steaming and poaching over grilling. My recipe of the week respects all this criteria and more. A pork rib roast gains flavor from an association with cumin and citrus fruit. A long simmering in the natural juices from both meat and fruit insures a not too sweet taste. Served with rice, it is a perfectly satisfactory dinner for four to be enjoyed without guilt.
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