'The Food Guys' Rap On Costco's $4.99 Rotisserie Chickens

Concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs) are often credited with being an efficient and cost-effective way of raising animals. "The Food Guys" disagree, pointing to hidden costs such as heavy antibiotic use, a staggering amount of waste produced by CAFOs, and poor treatment of the animals. "The Food Guys" delve into these issues in the first of their two-part series on CAFOs.

The Food Guys detail problems with antibiotic use at concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs), discuss ethical concerns over treatment of animals, and question the claim that CAFOs are more efficient or cost effective than smaller operations.

It's a new year, and The Food Guys are urging us to emulate the ancient Romans by cooking with beans. According to Jon Jackson, pulses and beans were so integrated into Romans' culture and cuisine that four prominent families got their names from one: Fabius (fava bean), Lentulus (lentil), Piso (pea), and Cicero (chickpea).

"They say that man cannot live by doughnuts alone, but I say: why not?"  - "Food Guy" Jon Jackson.

This week, The Food Guys sprinkle out bits of doughnut history and glaze them with doughnut-baking tips. It turns out that American-style doughnuts are actually Dutch, and they didn't always have a hole in the middle.

The Food Guys react to a March 2018 post published at the Serious Eats blog by cookbook writer Stella Parks (BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts) titled "All Abouty Dry Yeast: Instant, Active Dry, Fast-Acting and More." 

At the start of each new year, The Food Guys take the opportunity to remind us that stocks are liquid gold - the edible kind. Your portolio of discarded turnip tops and outer lettuce leaves grows in value when compounded with chopped celery, carrots, onions, lovage, celery root and leeks. Transfer it all to a stockpot of simmering water and in just an hour, you've brokered your vegetable scraps into a valuable home-cooked asset.

Food Guy, home baker and sugar-slasher Jon Jackson muses about why, when it comes to baking, so many recipes call for so much of the sweet stuff. "I wonder if there wasn't a little bit of mission creep when sugar began to get very inexpensive, after World War Two." Food Guy Greg Patent recommends reducing the sugar in any given recipe by 1/4. If the taste and texture don't suffer, then next time, reduce it by another 1/4.