Author Archives: themedicalgourmet

The Use of Food Terms in Medicine

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Who would have thought a significant link between food and doctors has existed for decades? Granted, food is an essential part of life, is partially responsible for shaping our day and is of course also clearly correlated with health. As food and it’s appearance seem to be something everyone knows about and can relate to, instead of challenging the brain with confusing latin names, the medical world has been kind enough to supply laypersons (and medics) with less technical, descriptive food related, terms. It is great for describing findings! If I told you a manifestation of Kawasaki’s disease and Scarlet Fever is an erythematous tongue with hyperplastic fungiform papillae your brain would probably process this: ?!*?!*?!*?!*?!*. If I told you that basically means the tongue looks like a strawberry, your brain could cope. In 1979 the British Medical Journal published a Review titled: Gastrology: the use of culinary terms in medicine (woopwoop research skills put to excellent use). I even found a blog solely dedicated to this! Anyways, here is a list of a few day brightening medical food terms:

  1. Cherry Red Epiglottis – occurs in epiglottitis, an infection of the small flap stopping your food from going down the wrong tube.
  2. Pancake Brain – radiologic description of alobar holoprosencephaly, where your forebrain does not separate into two halves at all during in-utero development.
  3. Salt and Pepper Retinopathy – when affected by the rubella virus, the back of your eye (retina) can show lots of small dark and light spots (like salt and pepper).
  4. Corkscrew Oesophagus – radiologists description of DES (diffuse oesophageal spasm), where the contractions of your oesophagus are uncoordinated and result in a pretty xray
  5. Apple-Peel Intestines – malformation of the intestine with either absence or narrowing of a segment, looks like apple peels
  6. Strawberry Tongue – Scarlet Fever or Kawasaki Syndrom
  7. Cherry Red Spot – seen on the Retina/back of the eye after occlusion of the supplying artery
  8. Peau D’orange – Manifestation of inflammatory breast cancer
  9. Fig Warts – Condylomata acuminata (HPV …. ewwwwww genital warts)
  10. Redcurrant Jelly – Stool of child with intussusception, when one part of bowel invaginates into another.. ouch
  11. Pea Soup – Appearance of stool when a patient suffers Typhoid Fever (an evil version of Salmonella)
  12. Rice Water – Appearance of stool when a patient has Cholera
  13. Honeycomb Lung – Lung fibrosis looks like honeycomb…. Yum!
  14. Maple Syrup Urine Disease – Genetic disorder affecting amino acids which makes the child’s urine sweet like maple syrup… but please don’t pour over your pancakes
  15. Chocolate Cysts – A manifestation of endometriosis (migrating of uterine lining cells) of the ovaries… cysts that oooze out chocolate (actually very old blood and debris)
  16. Port Wine Stains – Capillary Hemangioma, I’m sure you have all met someone in your life with a red birth mark
  17. Café au Lait – no this is not coffee, but Neurofibromatosis has spots which are coffee coloured!
  18. Nutmeg Liver – Congestive hepathopathy; can happen when your heart pumps less and blood collects in the liver
  19. Cauliflower Ear – never eating cauliflower again
  20. Bread and Butter Pericarditis – an infection of the sac enclosing your heart
  21. Sunflower Cataracts – Wilson’s disease (Copper Metabolism Issues)
  22. Coffee Bean Sign – a radiologists description of a twisted sigmoid (segment of the large intestine)
  23. Cottage Cheese Discharge – Thrush….nasty
  24. Apple core sign – when your colon’s lumen is compressed by a large colorectal carcinoma
  25. Omental Cake – Not from Hummingbirds sadly: Invasion of the omentum majus (fatty tissue within your abdomen) by a tumor, usually related to ovarian cancer
  26. Butter Stool – can happen when fat absorption/digestion becomes impaired through liver/pancreatic/gall diseases….your stool becomes greasy and fatty.

I’m sure you could all picture something under these terms. Today’s recipe is semi-related to the number 26: Butterzopf. It is a Swiss Sunday breakfast classic, made with lots and lots of butter. Lucky for you it doesn’t cause butter stools in the average healthy individual. Definitely a must try for your next Sunday family breakfast!

Butterzopf

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Bringing Out Your British Side

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Essential British Experiences:

  1. Afternoon tea – nothing beats fresh scones
  2. Sunday roast – but not on the same day as afternoon tea….that would make you vomit
  3. Spending a weekend in the country in wellies and barbour jackets
  4. Queueing half naked for a club in the middle of winter
  5. Horse riding
  6. For all you Londoners: Secret Cinema is a must!
  7. Clay pigeon shooting – be sure to rest the gun correctly on your shoulder, otherwise you may end up with painful bruises… not that I’m speaking from my own experience
  8. Sunday brunch – one of my favourite things about the brits – eggs benedict, royale, pancakes, bacon, sausages… you need to try them all!
  9. Stand up comedy
  10. Watch a musical – a must see for everyone: Book of Mormon
  11. Have a drink at Aqua Shard – the view is priceless
  12. Renting a barclays boris bike and trying to look all cool while removing it from the docking station as an attempt not to look like a tourist…. I clearly failed at this
  13. Running/walking for charity
  14. Up your drinking to british level for one week and see how your liver responds
  15. Watching a Premier League football game – if you’re lucky you might learn a new word or two if you’re sat next to intellectuals with a rather broad vocabulary of swear words…highly entertaining.
  16. Acting all upperclass and watching a horse-race, merely as an excuse to dress up in one of those fancy hats
  17. Watch the Oxford-Cambridge boat race
  18. Picnic on Primrose Hill with strawberries and Pimm’s
  19. Renting a pedalo in Hyde Park after having wandered around Kensington Gardens
  20. Hunting with horses and hounds
  21. Experiencing a tube strike…. London just wouldn’t be the same without one of these fun days
  22. I’m not even going to start on art, restaurant, bar and drinking experiences… the list would be miles long… but the above should keep nouveau brits busy for a while

This recipe ties in perfectly with the above as, in my eyes, it is an english classic. No dessert is simpler or better than a good old crumble with custard. It is hearty, warming and a perfect finish for any menu. Funnily enough, just as I served this crumble, my mother called me. I told her I had made crumble with custard for some guests….. I have never had anyone with so much food envy and excitement on the other side of the phone: she was ecstatic about the custard.  At least I now know what dessert I shall be making when she comes to visit ;-).

Apple Crumble with Cinnamon Custard

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Indian Butter Chicken

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Time for a savoury dish. And a random life story: So, this past Lent I felt I had to cleanse my body of all accumulated badness and decided to give up 3 of my favourite things: alcohol, Nutella and red bull. As these 3 unhealthy items are so easily replaced with worse, I found myself eating more sweets and cakes than usual…… so much for the “cleansing”. Next Lent I should probably omit sweet things in general….. although, that would probably trigger a depression…. lucky I can prescribe medication (ha, kidding, note to self: do not self medicate!). Anyways, having survived Lent physically and psychologically undamaged, a celebration was in order. A friend had given up meat, so we thought MeatLiquor was the perfect venue. Starting with a cocktail called “Game Over” (of which they actually only serve a maximum of two per customer due to ridiculous amounts of alcohol) at 6pm, I already feared the worst for my liver (and brain). 2 burgers and surprisingly buzz-free from the oh so promising “game over” later, we decided to return to a more cost-effective drink: wine. One glass turned into two turned into lets go drink a bottle at yours turned into falling asleep before midnight and waking up the next day with a sudden epiphany of why I gave up alcohol in the first place.

Lucky for me, indian is the one cuisine I thoroughly enjoy without a glass of wine. It just doesn’t match. A cold beer, possibly, but fortunately for me and my Lent endeavours, I don’t like beer. With a craving for indian food and living too far away from any decent indian restaurants which don’t require 45 mins queueing, I decided to make an all time indian favourite – butter chicken – from scratch. Naturally I asked an indian friend if this recipe was somewhat legitimate before buying a zillion ingredients. She approved. I cooked. We (she) generously adjusted the spice levels. Then ate. Verdict: YUM.


Indian Butter Chicken

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Race for Life – Donations Welcome!!

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Craziness and possible over-ambition struck: I decided to sign up for Race for Life on the 11th June!!! I am running this race to help raise lots and lots of money for one of the most important fields of medical research – cancer. Liposarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, hit my family 17 years ago and decided to relapse a few times – the most recent episode of disease being the worst with metastases. Sadly, treatment options for late stages of this (and other types of) cancer are scarce – a lot more research is needed!

So please click on the following link: http://www.justgiving.com/themedicalgourmet and donate as little or as much as you want in aid of Cancer Research UK – every penny is a step closer to finding possible cures!

As for this cake – it is the final cake baked for the birthday celebrations (YAY 5/5; I made it!) – a traditional Swiss style carrot cake with a Kirsch icing. I made a gluten free version to cater for everyone’s needs by simply substituting the flour with gluten free flour – it was actually one of the most successful and praised cakes of the event! Definitely worth baking again 🙂

Swiss Rübli Torte ala Betty Bossi

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Number 4/5

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Today’s post is a tad more medical; I could not let this recent news simply slip away without informing you. Rumour has it that polio (poliomyelitis – a highly contagious potentially permanently paralysing virus transmitted through contaminated food/water) is making a comeback after having been almost eradicated for the past 25 years (with a 99% decrease in case numbers since 1988). Prevention through surveillance and multiple vaccinations (live oral polio vaccine or inactivated poliovirus vaccine) are the only way to fight this virus, as no cure is available, and has proven to be successful in eradicating the disease until recently. With newly reported infections in 10 countries (previously only Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan were classified as endemic), the WHO declared it a public health emergency earlier this week. So, I urge you to check your vaccinations and those of your children (or children in your surroundings)!!!, especially if you are travelling to a known polio-infected country – inform yourself and update your vaccinations as soon as possible, not only for your own protection but also in aid of the global eradication efforts!

Anyways… moving from the serious medical world to the world of baking: I present you with yet another cake baked for the March birthday celebrations. This is also an old family recipe created by none other than Martha, my previously mentioned grandmothers former housekeeper. It is a traditional yeast Gugelhupf with raisins. As a child I used to always pick the raisins out before indulging in this cake…. I could hit myself for that, a Gugelhupf without raisins is only half as good. So if you don’t like raisins in cake, don’t even try baking this one. And the rumour of these yeast cakes being dry is a lie, if you have only had dry Gugelhupf so far, your choice of bakery must be revised ;-).

Martha’s Gugelhupf

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Nutella Cheesecake Deconstruction

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After having finished all 10 seasons of Friends I needed something new to watch….. what better foodie-suited brainless TV-show is there than MasterChef? I was up-to-date with the new season within just over a week….. waiting for a new episode to be aired is AWFUL!!! I WANT TO SEE MORE AMAZING FOOD AND KITCHEN DRAMA.

Anyways, regarding my cheesecake. I have never really been a fan of cheesecake or plain cream cheese icing until a couple weeks back, when I ordered a baked peanut butter cheesecake at a local pub (my reasoning behind this daring order: anything with peanut butter must be good and it was the only thing on the dessert menu I had never before made myself). It was amazing! So I thought to myself, it must taste even more amazing with Nutella. After a rather disappointing attempt of trying to bake a Nutella cheesecake, MasterChef inspiration struck: How about a no-bake cheesecake with an almost 1:1 Nutella : cream cheese ratio? And why not deconstruct it to lighten the whole dish up, make it look all fancy and pretend one day I could be on MasterChef? Using Nigella Lawson’s recipe as guidance, this is what I came up with. OMG it has taken cheesecake to a new level for me. No-bake and deconstruction is the way to go. Everyone loved it.

It also made me think whether or not to try the recipe with peanut butter instead…… I shall keep you updated.

Deconstructed Nutella Cheesecake

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Pancakes Galore

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So, I thought I would celebrate the start of this new blog with a break from all the cake recipes previously posted on 1234cook! (although 2 birthday cakes are still in the pipeline) and decided to go for the all time breakfast/brunch favourite: Pancakes. What better way to start or end a weekend with fluffy american pancakes drizzled with maple syrup, cinnamon sugar and berries? A simple but extremely satisfying treat. Being me, I thought making pancakes for a group of friends wouldn’t be too much trouble….. however, 50 pancakes later, I decided maybe these fluffy treats should be reserved for smaller gatherings :-P. Nonetheless, the breakfast was a delicious success. Definitely a crowd pleaser!

Fluffy Pancakes

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Number 3/5

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With spring finally having arrived, spending time outside seems to have won priority over slaving away in the kitchen. But here is a recipe which is definitely a keeper. After having played around with multiple banana loaf recipes resulting in quite a few failures (somehow loaf cakes and myself are not friends, they either don’t rise, don’t have enough banana flavour, or I undercook them with the fear of having dry cake, subsequently breaking them upon removal from the tin), I finally managed to create a loaf which not only rose adequately but was also moist, perfectly bananaey and scrumptious :-). This one was also baked for the previously mentioned birthday festivities. It can be made up to a day in advance and turns out best if one uses overripe bananas for the ultimate banana flavour.

Banana Pecan Loaf

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Number 2/5

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Following the previous post, I present you with cake number 2 of 5 baked for the birthday festivities. A true must for both chocolate and amaretti lovers. Amaretti are possibly my favourite biscuits, they should be yours too. And don’t get me started on Amaretto, the tastiest liquor ever created. Those sours are dangerous. Remind me again why I decided to give up alcohol for Lent? At least there are only 22 days left and Fortnum’s Easter sponge pudding (honey, amaretto & almond sponge pudding with a soft chocolate centre….nom) waiting at the end of it. Not to forget the amaretto butter topping, Easter dessert wouldn’t be half as good without it.

Enough about Amaretto. This cake, like the Linzer, is best after having rested in a cool place (e.g. cellar) for a day or two. Perfect if you have a lot of baking or cooking planned!

Chocolate Amaretti Loaf Cake

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adapted from Wildeisen

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Martha’s Linzer Torte

Posted in Cake / Cupcakes, Dessert by

Birthdays are funny things. The hype around celebrating them seems to come in two phases. The first one starts with birth and lasts probably until 25. At 25, after having (hopefully) graduated and joined the real working world, every reminder of age is given the evil eye and subconsciously creates internal stress: career-wise, relationships, friendships, financially, where to go in life, aaaahhhh….! Recently I saw a 15 page CV….. how am I ever going to fill so many pages in the next few years? Too much to do and so little time. Also, if you’re female, mid twenties-thirties and single, I’m sure you can relate to this dialogue from When Harry Met Sally:

Sally: AND, I’m gonna be forty.
Harry: When?
Sally: Someday
Harry: In eight years.
Sally: But it’s there. It’s just sitting there, like some big dead end. And it’s not the same for men.

The second phase of celebratory hypes starts round about retirement age, 60 years, and lasts for the rest of your life (YAY some celebrations at the end of the 40 year working tunnel). Last week we celebrated a very special birthday within the family. Planning for the 3 day weekend (apparently the older one gets, the longer one wants to celebrate, one day isn’t enough) had begun months before. The closer we came, the only thing on the birthday boy’s mind was the party. The excitement was comparable to that of a 4 year old eating chocolate cake for the first time. Being 23, I didn’t quite understand how one could be sooooo excited about getting older, but I guess the older one gets the more appreciative one becomes of age and life (oooooo words of wisdom…. :-P). Let me get back to you about that when I turn 60.

With a guest list close to 50 and a Sunday morning plan of coffee, tea and cakes, no more needed to be said. I successfully took on my first cake marathon and baked 5. Luckily some cakes, like the one below, are best baked 2 days in advance. This made life a little easier, however with the additional skiing, small-talking and remaining birthday madness, sleep deprivation was to be expected.

Finally, about this first cake: my mother grew up with a nanny/maid called “Martha”. She joined the family when my mother was born and stayed for 50 years. Martha was like a grandmother to me. She could also bake like a goddess; her cakes were divine. The Linzer Torte (swiss style, not Austrian and overly spiced) is one of her recipes. Deciphering her jumbled handwriting and trying to follow her thoughts wasn’t the easiest, but definitely worth it. Sadly she passed away a few years ago, but she is always remembered when one of us decides to whip up a cake for a special occasion. The Linzer has become somewhat of a family tradition. With its special almond paste filling and generous layer of jam, it’s always a winner.

Martha’s Linzer Torte

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