I blogged the other day about my craving for Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.
Also, the other afternoon, I stopped at Fresh Market and picked up a dozen of their rotisserie chicken wings, which are like Buffalo wings, except that they're nekkid and not battered, and cheerily devoured them with a dab of Tabasco each, tearing off the skin and fat with horrid smacking noises.
And then last night, while running Bobbi on a drive-thru errand, I had the urge to stop by the local Arby's and get a French dip sammich to go, because I was craving that au jus.
If we accept that a craving means that our body is short some nutrient or another, I can only wonder what key ingredients I was missing... Grease, fat, and sodium?
There you go, dancing in the blood again...
ReplyDeleteIt's getting close to winter, you're body is telling you to pack on the fat to survive even though today's worst "hardship" is likely to be an electrical outage that'll be fixed in a couple of days tops.
Au jus is a basic nutrient, don't you know. They were going to name it Vitamin A but that was already taken. Vitamin AJ just didn't sound right, so they gave up and sought a government grant to study the effects of BBQ'd pulled pork on nutrition scientists. - Lyle
ReplyDeleteYour body is short on happiness.
ReplyDeletejf
Yes, taste.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm... Tasty, yummy, tastelessness! :)
ReplyDeleteumami
ReplyDeleteNJT,
ReplyDeleteHeh. Yup! Hadn't thought of that...
FYI, Arby's au jus is powder. I know this because I ordered one to go once, and the cashier was worried about me spilling it on the way home, so offered it "dry" - which I accepted. She told me to add water and microwave for 45 seconds, lol.
ReplyDeleteChanges nothing, but I think it's interesting nonetheless.
I kinda assumed it wasn't from fresh beef drippings. ;)
ReplyDelete(At home, we call it "bullion cubes"...)
You need some visits to Brigid's for some pictures of real food and some recipes to match. Arby's au jus? They've got a great big tea bag of cow skin in the back that they dip in a vat of salt water.
ReplyDeleteAnd you realize there is no actual food used in the preparation of Campbell's chicken noodle soup.
Now for chicken wings, get thee to a Hooter's. Consume with vast quantities of cold Heineken, since you can't get a Shiner probably.
It is very important to eat a balanced diet with something from all 5 food groups: salt, sugar, grease, caffeine and alcohol.
ReplyDeleteEd,
ReplyDeleteNot all of my odd cravings are for items from a five-star gourmet menu. Sometimes I even get a hankering for a Big Mac.
But I've never been so low as to crave a Shiner or a Heinekin. :p
What does it mean when you crave chinese?
ReplyDeleteNo, not chinese food.
WV: Unfoo. I often eat things that are unfoo dlike.
MSG? The Romans called it Garum.
ReplyDeleteI made asparagus soup, the secret ingredient was 37,500 rpm's provided by the Vitamix. It's a freaking insane device.
Ah... tabasco and capsaicin :-) and the AJ is not that great at Arbys... sigh
ReplyDeleteGlad you're feeling better, Tam.
ReplyDeleteKudos you're on the mend.
ReplyDeleteThough I must shake my fist.
You got my craving up and now I'm cooking some wings.
go get the new 'suicide special' at kfc (w/o the corn), they've even added bacon!
ReplyDeleteWhy can I not get that picture out of my head of the Far Side Cartoon where the Mama chicken is feeding a bowl of chicken soup to another chicken sick in bed with "don't worry, it's no one we know".
ReplyDeleteGlad you are feeling better.
When I have a cold, I always crave salt. Must be the additional liquids I'm drinking.
ReplyDeleteCan Arby's totally fsck-up a Ruben sandwich or what?
ReplyDeleteLet's rinse out all the sour from the sauerkraut! Let's remove any real rye flavor from the bread! Let's short them on the beef and forget to add the Swiss and hope no one notices!
When my ex-wife got that craving kind of way to her, it was more sure an indication than a rabbit test.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't go dancing did you?
Don't forget mayonnaise as an essential food group!
ReplyDeleteI hope the craving wasn't for the collagen, rich in the jus and the wings. [explores hidden meaning turning oneself into ballistic gelatin]
ReplyDeleteNPVIRR beat me to it- common denominator is collagen, found in chicken broth, bony cuts like wings where you're meant to gnaw a bit, and the jus.
ReplyDeleteIt's simple, extremely digestible protein, good for you when you're sick. It and the other things you get from eating bones and the broths and sauces made from bones are also fantastic for your joints and for healing connective tissue damage.
Buy some oxtails and root vegetables for Bobbie and look pathetic until she does something with them.
*Bobbi. Given how bent out of shape I get when people spell my name wrong...
ReplyDeleteOK, American english lesson:
ReplyDeleteNaked - ain't got no clothes on
Nekkid - aint' got no clothes on and yer up to sumtin'.
Robin,
ReplyDeleteI grew up in ATL; I was taught the difference by Lewis Grizzard hisself. And those wings were up to sumpin'. :)
I know the feeling exactly. Sometimes only very red meat will cure it too.
ReplyDeleteFor Brigid,
ReplyDeleteHere's your Far Side. I'd put it in comments when Tam was illin', but seeing as you mentioned it, here it is for you.
http://www.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/far-side-chicken-soup.gif
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Seriously, you may be craving protein, or a specific amino acid.
ReplyDeleteBasic Southern food groups: salt, grease and alcohol.
ReplyDeleteJD
My grandmother's family doctor once assured her that she should not stop my uncle John from trying to get ot the road and consume road tar (he'd done it twice before she consulted the doctor) because there was obviously some nutrient in the paving materials that his body was lacking, and that created the craving.
ReplyDeleteTo her credit, grandma never went back to that guy, and she told me that story about 45 years later.
DanH, you left out Fat and Chocolate!
ReplyDeleteCraving road tar! I recall a "Leave it to Beaver" episode where Beaver asks Wally if it's good for the teeth, so he says he can tell mom "it's good for the teeth" when she asks him what he's been eating.
Pica, which is the word for that craving indicates a mineral deficiency, which may or may not (probably not) be satisfied by eating the clay or tar. A multivitamin with minerals would be better.
Per P.J. O'Rourke:
ReplyDeleteAll real bachelor food is fried. If you roll the food around in flour before you fry it, you've got three of the four Unmarried Male Food Groups:
fat, grease, starch and sugar. You can get the sugar, too, if you have a Mai Tai with dinner.
Per some guy named Alex Levine:
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.