TIL: Today I Learned

[Berzerker]

we have ways of making you talk, Mr Bond

https://us.yahoo.com/news/taking-certain-vitamins-during-breast-212802391.html

2 stories of interest

The first, taking certain vitamins during chemotherapy treatment is bad, anti-oxidants like b12 actually help cancer cells survive the treatment. I guess the goal is to make the body so sick - under as much oxidative stress as possible so more cancer cells die.

The 2nd, autism is linked to mutations in sperm and the older the father the greater chance.

 

[Hrothbern]

Today I learned about frission, where listening to music can cause your skin to tingle. (I think. I couldn't really understand the article.)

I love frission

I even restrict myself in listening to some areas of music to be able to get more frission when I do listen when in a mood that needs music to fully embrace that mood.
And then I get rid of anything that can distract and I binge

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Today I learned that there's at least a bunch of examples of asymmetrical animals.

 

[The_J]

Very interesting, never thought about this really.

 

[Kyriakos]

They still seem to be symmetrical, though.
When it is just one externally visible organ, it can bend to one side but imo that isn't really worth describing as asymmetric. It would be peculiar if it wasn't on the center (eg the whale's blow-out nostril or some species of prawn-like creature that has a third eye, still there the odd feature is in the center and not to one of the sides).

It is interesting that internal symmetry isn't that common - eg even not there in humans, with a number of internal organs being single and not in the center.

 

[Hrothbern]

TIL
Christmas gifts
after a small sip
that the whisky Monkey Shoulder got its name from the maltmen turning the barley by hand.who got hanging shoulders from that hard work

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've been watching nature documentaries today, and TIL that the reason the temperate rain forest in British Columbia is so lush is because of salmon. Bears catch them, drag them off into the woods to eat them, and leave the carcasses. The decaying carcasses provide nutrients to help the plants (especially the spruce trees) grow.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Today I learned that lutefisk can permanently corrode sterling silver.

 

[Hrothbern]

Today I learned that lutefisk can permanently corrode sterling silver.

yes
That could come from the H2S of lutefisk, that rotting product like rotten eggs

EDIT
if you have silver with a relief structure (art) you want the silver to tarnish to get deeper parts black and then you polish only the protruding relief

just put your silver in a close plastic bag with boiled egg, adding some acid mayo or mustard helps)

 

[Snerk]

yes
That could come from the H2S of lutefisk, that rotting product like rotten eggs

Are you sure? Lutefisk is not fermented or similar processes associated with rot. Those fish dishes exist too but they're a whole different kettle of fish (so to speak).

I'm figuring the corrosion is more due to the lye.

 

[Hrothbern]

Are you sure? Lutefisk is not fermented or similar processes associated with rot. Those fish dishes exist too but they're a whole different kettle of fish (so to speak).

I'm figuring the corrosion is more due to the lye.

According to this handbook on corroding: silver is not attacked by Sodium hydroxide at temperatures below 500 C
see the paragraph silver of the page you get from this link:
https://books.google.nl/books?id=KXwgAZJBWb0C&pg=RA1-PT715&lpg=RA1-PT715&dq=sodium+hydroxide+corrodes+silver&source=bl&ots=RhMYytAuZm&sig=ACfU3U2CE8ji2vZhf8U3rUrVxKzc0obvJA&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8kOetpdPmAhWKfMAKHTbIBhoQ6AEwDnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=sodium hydroxide corrodes silver&f=false

 

[Snerk]

According to this handbook on corroding: silver is not attacked by Sodium hydroxide at temperatures below 500 C
see the paragraph silver of the page you get from this link:
https://books.google.nl/books?id=KXwgAZJBWb0C&pg=RA1-PT715&lpg=RA1-PT715&dq=sodium+hydroxide+corrodes+silver&source=bl&ots=RhMYytAuZm&sig=ACfU3U2CE8ji2vZhf8U3rUrVxKzc0obvJA&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8kOetpdPmAhWKfMAKHTbIBhoQ6AEwDnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=sodium hydroxide corrodes silver&f=false

Also lye is toxic so there's not much left of it once lutefisk is ready to serve.

But where would the H2S come from in lutefisk?

 

[Hrothbern]

Also lye is toxic so there's not much left of it once lutefisk is ready to serve.

But where would the H2S come from in lutefisk?

From amino acids containing Sulphur. The same source as in eggs. IIRC Methionine the most important at least in eggs and relatively a lot of Taurine in fish

yeah you have to wash that lye out.
I guess I will like lutefisk, should try it.
I saw on that wiki link from you that that lye make part of the fishmeat more like jelly more of a creamy saucy character for that as such dry white fish meat.
(same trick in another way as what you do with beef steak getting the core to 50-60 C to make the collagen (that white tough stuff around muscle fibres-bundles) convert in gelatine like nature)

 

[Snerk]

From amino acids containing Sulphur. The same source as in eggs. IIRC Methionine the most important at least in eggs and relatively a lot of Taurine in fish

yeah you have to wash that lye out.
I guess I will like lutefisk, should try it.
I saw on that wiki link from you that that lye make part of the fishmeat more like jelly more of a creamy saucy character for that as such dry white fish meat.
(same trick in another way as what you do with beef steak getting the core to 50-60 C to make the collagen (that white tough stuff around muscle fibres-bundles) convert in gelatine like nature)

Yeah but the H2S is produced by bacterial breakdown of those amino acids. That process doesn't take place in the production of lutefisk. It also has a characteristic smell which is not present in lutefisk.

Lutefisk does not have particular pungent taste or smell. It's actually pretty bland which is why the condiments of the dish are so important. It's an acquired taste, but personally I love it. It's not a heavy dish so it's a great counter weight to the other traditional rich christmas dishes. But there's good lutefisk and less good lutefisk. If the stockfish has been too long in the lye and completely loses all of it's structure it's not so great.

 

[Hrothbern]

Yeah but the H2S is produced by bacterial breakdown of those amino acids. That process doesn't take place in the production of lutefisk. It also has a characteristic smell which is not present in lutefisk.

What I understand from your wiki link is that you make first stockfish and then treat that stockfish further into lutefisk instead of just soaking-rinsing it with fresh water and after cooking eat it.

Stockfish: remove intestines etc and dry it in the wind for a couple of months. You are in effect curing-fermenting the fishmeat with coldweather bacteria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockfish

 

[Birdjaguar]

Hmmm...fresh caught, pan fried trout sounds much better and easier.

 

[Snerk]

What I understand from your wiki link is that you make first stockfish and then treat that stockfish further into lutefisk instead of just soaking-rinsing it with fresh water and after cooking eat it.

Stockfish: remove intestines etc and dry it in the wind for a couple of months. You are in effect curing-fermenting the fishmeat with coldweather bacteria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockfish

That's really interesting, I didn't know there was any fermentation taking place during the drying of fish. Still, there's plenty of oxygen available so I still don't see why H2S would be produced.

Hmmm...fresh caught, pan fried trout sounds much better and easier.

I'm inclined to agree. But fresh trout does not store very well. Stockfish can keep for years which made it incredibly useful. So anything that could make some variety in the preparation of stockfish would have been very welcome indeed. Most norwegian traditional dishes are made from different forms of cured fish or meats as they needed something that would last the winter and not spoil.

 

[Birdjaguar]

That's really interesting, I didn't know there was any fermentation taking place during the drying of fish. Still, there's plenty of oxygen available so I still don't see why H2S would be produced.

I'm inclined to agree. But fresh trout does not store very well. Stockfish can keep for years which made it incredibly useful. So anything that could make some variety in the preparation of stockfish would have been very welcome indeed. Most norwegian traditional dishes are made from different forms of cured fish or meats as they needed something that would last the winter and not spoil.

That's so....995 AD.

 

[Takhisis]

The question naturally arises: what are non-traditional Norwegian dishes (i.e. innovations in cooking that do not merely consist of importing a foreign dish e.g. spaghetti alla bolognese)?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

TIL that fermented shark (Hákarl) is a national dish in Iceland.

The "reactions from outside Iceland" section on Wikipedia is a fun read.

Chef Anthony Bourdain described fermented shark as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he had ever eaten.[1]

Chef Gordon Ramsay challenged James May to sample three "delicacies" (Laotian snake whiskey, bull penis, and fermented shark) on The F Word; after eating fermented shark, Ramsay spat it out, but May was able to keep his down. May even offered to eat it again.[6]

On season two's Iceland episode of Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Andrew Zimmern described the smell as reminding him of "some of the most horrific things I've ever breathed in my life," but said it tasted much better than it smelled. He described the taste as "sweet, nutty and only faintly fishy." Nonetheless, he did note of fermented shark: "That's hardcore. That's serious food. You don't want to mess with that. That's not for beginners."

On the second episode of the YouTube web series Uncredited, adventurers Minas Maroudas and Louis Glynn talked of the consistency of the fermented shark, calling it "like cookie dough".

In one of season five's final episodes of Animal Planet's River Monsters, Biologist and Angler Jeremy Wade mentions that the flesh "smells of urine" that has "a really strong aftertaste, it really kicks in. It really kicks in at the back of the throat after you take the first bite." He further states that the meat was really unlike anything he's tried before; that it is like really strong cheese but with a definite fish element.

Archaeologist Neil Oliver tasted it in the BBC documentary Vikings as part of examining the Viking diet. He described it as reminiscent of "blue cheese but a hundred times stronger".

Chef Ainsley Harriott, during his series Ainsley Eats the Streets, was unable to handle the heavy ammonia taste and described it as "like chewing a urine-infested mattress".