Food Intolerance Report: DAIRY

I don't believe it. I don't believe it because I cannot believe it at this point in time, that my gut won't tolerate what my heart wants to do: to make cheese and taste cheese and travel around the world talking with and taking pictures of and working beside cheesemakers. So I'm not thinking about it right now. I am, however, avoiding all dairy for two months, to give this a try; I've already paid for the test and the consultations with the naturopath, after all, and it would be a pity to let that go to waste.

This wasn't an allergy or sensitivity test; the results even said that I could eat wheat, which I'm pretty sure I can't, and as many eggs as I wanted, which I'm beginning to think would not be a good idea either. And besides the total ban on dairy of any kind, I was told that while I can eat grains and cane sugar, I need to not eat them within four hours of each other. That pretty much eliminates all baked goods, and the house-made jam I enjoy at Jam with a slice of gluten-free toast on Sundays, and even mayonnaise on a sandwich if it has cane sugar in it, which many things do. Oh, and high-fructose corn syrup is a no-no too, but brown rice syrup isn't, or agave, or maple syrup or honey. While this stricture will be tricky to comply with and involve reading labels more closely and not going out to eat, that's okay on several levels. I usually don't buy pre-made foods anyway, can deal with not using condiments for two months (or longer), don't need to buy GF sticky buns or scones at New Cascadia (though I hope they don't add sugar to their bread), and can handle unsweetened almond and soy milk with my oatmeal. I can even handle not eating cheese for a while. But since my dreams, my efforts, and my plans have all been based on a cheese-centric future, I will not think about anything past two months from now, when I'll see if this change in diet really leads to a change in my overall health.

I will be praying to the patron saint of cheese.

In the meanwhile, I can still cook things like peach-and-chile braised pork. It turned out rather well. Approximately 2-3/4 pounds of boneless pork shoulder that I further butterflied out to get as much surface area as possible, rubbed on both sides with about two tablespoons of a chipotle-guajillo blend I had on the spice rack, then spread with a jar of peach preserves with brandy.

I rolled up the pork around the jam and put it in the dutch oven, scraping the rest of the jam off the butcher paper and spreading it on top of the meat, then added about two tablespoons of rice vinegar to the pot. I covered the top of the pot with a layer of plastic wrap stretched tight to seal, then a layer of aluminum foil, and put the heavy lid on top, and cooked it at 250 degrees for five hours.

The low heat and the triple seal keep the juices all inside and the meat ends up falling-apart tender. The first time I did this I was worried that the plastic wrap would melt and fuse to the side of the pot, or drip down and burn in the oven, or both, but it does neither at this temperature, and it's very easy to peel away from the sides of the pot when the meat is done. Watch out for the escaping steam when you do this, though.

I took the pork out of the liquid and put it into a dish, covered it with the foil, and put it back in the oven (turned off) while the pan juices cooled a bit to let the fat rise to the surface. Once I'd skimmed off as much of the fat as I could, I put the pork back into the pot, shredded it, and strained the liquid back into it, mixing it all together to a juicy tender pulled-pork mess. Just sweet enough from the jam, just spicy enough from the chipotle, and just perfect for dinner last night and lunches this week.