COLUMN: Of all weeks

Of all weeks to talk about food. Thanksgiving and its traditions on tables and plates is Thursday.

One story we like to include are recalls. In the past we have ran the Associated Press stories when certain cars get recalled since the major American brands are for sale in Creston; Chrysler-Dodge, Ford and GM. (Chrysler and Dodge are under the Stellantis corporate name, but you get the point).

We also run the stories about food. If you remember earlier this fall McDonald’s had pulled the Quarter Pounder off its menu because of contaminated onions. Cases were found in Iowa. The Quarter Pounder eventually returned to effected McDonald’s locations.

Last week we had a story about recalled carrots because of E-coli contamination. I had purchased the exact brand and style of carrots in Creston two days before the story came out. I had saved the carrots for a favorite recipe planned for last week. I was grateful the store where I purchased them was aware of the recall and offered a refund.

I use the carrots as part of a beef roast recipe if you are looking for something new. I fill the bottom of a slow cooker with carrots and potatoes. I then put the roast on the vegetables. I take one package of dry beef stew seasoning, brown gravy and ranch dressing over the beef. I add an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and 4 oz of water. The three flavors and tomato sauce act like a seasoning and create a gravy while it cooks. Whatever your preferred beef roast is should be fine. I’ve used different ones.

But what if it’s too late to return recalled food?

Not long after the school year started, my family was enjoying a box of frozen “taquitos.” A combination of chicken and cheese in a crispy tortilla-like wrap were excellent using an air fryer. They looked like an oversized drinking straw. Over two weeks, the taquitos were all consumed. The box they came in was left in the cardboard recycling bin.

Then the week of Oct. 21, news broke about the recall of those taquitos because of fears of listeria. Symptoms of listeria are similar to the flu and can be severe. According to the Center for Disease Control, symptoms for listeria can take up to two weeks to be detected. After the story came out and I told the rest of the family. We all wondered. It had been two weeks since they were enjoyed and no one had symptoms. We figured we were safe.

It’s true to us, just because something is recalled does not mean every item is contaminated. There are ways to narrow down where and when the troubled item was made and know where it was shipped and sold. Those codes on food packaging have reasons. If you have noticed in some of our recall foods, certain packages are the ones questioned based on the codes on the packages.

I can imagine the massive amount of ingredients used to make the item isn’t consistent with what is contaminated. The listeria was found to be in the chicken. For example, the first ton of chicken used was fine; the second was contaminated. Our box included what was from the first ton. Or maybe there wasn’t enough listeria in our package to cause problems?

That reminds me of a story I heard many years ago. The date a car was manufactured can be determined through the VIN. The person said to avoid cars made on a Monday or Friday because auto worker employees’ attitudes either day; they dread Mondays or look more toward the weekend than work on a Friday and mistakes will be made. Sounds a bit far fetched to me.

With some family and friends coming over for Thanksgiving this week, we will supply the bird. It’s been frozen for a while and I left it in basement refrigerator this week to thaw. I’m not so worried about a bad bird as I am making sure it is completely thawed before cooking. I don’t want it to be like a convenience store burrito that goes from the freezer to the microwave; hot on the outside, but still frozen in the middle.

Most of our other menu items are low-risk. Ingredients for the side dishes are already cooked and safe. It’s just a matter of cooking it all together long enough to taste right. I applaud those families who serve prime rib on special occasions and not everyone wants it cooked the same. I respect the cooks who are asked for medium rare and they do it with success.

No matter what you serve Thursday, I hope it’s safe, done and done well.

Chances are we will get those taquitos again. They were really good.

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Pat Shipley will be a new column writer for us starting in December. With June Bower shifting her column content to senior citizen issues (a brilliant idea) I didn’t want our readers to think we no longer want someone with a Democrat/liberal (whatever you want to call it) perspective. Pat has written columns for us before and she was honored to take over what June had started.