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A well cooked meal and wine - my greatest joys in life. Simple, romantic and fulfilling. Add butter. Add cream. A beautiful pan sauce from a well timed redu

• asimpletune 10y ago
  Soylent is like birth control for food: it lets you choose whether food is going to be for pleasure or for sustenance. I eat it often because it's healthy, quick, and I actually enjoy it. That said, I also very much enjoy food with family and friends. They're too completely different things though, but previously we had to use the same tools for both needs.
  • nemo44x 10y ago
    Isn't this why we invented the "sandwich"?
    • isaacn 10y ago
      +1. I could eat a sandwich every day for every meal. I don't, but I certainly could.
      • nemo44x 10y ago
        A focus on fat in the morning, then vinegar in the afternoon and finally umami in the evening would serve me well. All between 2 pieces of appropriate bread.
    • deleted 10y ago
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    • BigJono 10y ago
      I believe the point is that a sandwich doesn't have the macronutrient ratio most people want and a full range of micronutrients so people don't have to be worried about missing anything important if they decide to eat sandwiches for 2/3rds of their meals.
      • nemo44x 10y ago
        Isn't this why we invented the "multivitamin"?
        • bsder 10y ago
          Research is increasingly pointing out that vitamin supplements don't work for certain nutrients.
          • nemo44x 10y ago
            Isn't Soylent equivalent to a supplement in essence? It's a base diffused with certain nutrients. Why is this different than a sandwich and a vitamin in terms of nutrition? Or even more, how is it different from a vitamin?
        • dimino 10y ago
          In a word? No.
    • asimpletune 10y ago
      Yes
• ojkelly 10y ago
  As someone with a herb allergy, I cook basically every single meal I eat. It gets old quickly. Take away is almost a non option bar the maccas cheeseburger. Soylent is one of the most freeing things for me. It means I don't need to worry about my next meal, and I can just gulp down an tasty drink. Sure I love a well cooked steak, but sometimes you need a break from cooking.
  • sanswork 10y ago
    Guessing you're in Australia by the maccas. Which Soylent do you drink? I've tried multiple flavours of a few local ones and they all universally taste like liquid sawdust.
    • ojkelly 10y ago
      1.4 and 1.5 but I've switched to aussielent and 2.0 because they're so much nicer. 2.0 is really expensive to get here in Aus though.
• mbenjaminsmith 10y ago
  "Deconstructed essence of cuisine"? I couldn't agree more. Food is one of the most accessible luxuries. The most expensive meals, with fine wine, cost less than most business class tickets (to wherever). On the other hand, a soft cooked egg on a piece of toasted bread after a workout can be just as delicious and costs pennies, available to all. Next they're going to tell us they've found a way to eliminate that pesky sexual reproduction that's been plaguing us...
  • nemo44x 10y ago
    I agree so much! Many chefs, when asked what they love most the answer is simple. It's almost always some form of an egg. Great food doesn't have to be expensive or with win or be complex. In fact, very often the best things are simple and fast. We live in an era where these things are readily available and they're really easy to make and to be delicious thanks to an abundance of spices and endless styles of fats. I enjoy so much an egg fried in a small amount of butter until the edges are crispy on a piece of rye toast. A slice of tomato with a dash of ground pepper on top. Total cost: 50 cents tops? Total time: 4 minutes? Dishes: A non-stick pan that takes 10 seconds to clean? It has never been more accessible or easy to not only cook but discover how to cook thanks to global shipping and the Internet than today. And we are left with a slurry of questionable nutrients as the future? OK fine - but I refuse.
    • kaishiro 10y ago
      Well I accept :) Give me the Matrix's gruel tomorrow and I'm sold for life.
    • ceterum_censeo 10y ago
      For me, an omelette roulée. Quick, fun to make, doesn't need much cleanup, and infinite versatility.
  • joesb 10y ago
    But what if they introduce the way to make our sexual reproduction activity not causing pregancy? What if they made something you wear over your penis, or a pill that the woman take, so that sexual reproduction activity doesn't comes with all its consequence? Oh! The horror!
• deleted 10y ago
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• pen2l 10y ago
  > A beautiful pan sauce from a well timed reduction. Well timed reduction? Sorry, don't know what that means, please explain?
  • nemo44x 10y ago
    Sure. One of the hardest things when reducing a sauce is to not stop to soon and to not go too far. If you stop too soon you can use a roux or more crudely use flour or starch to thicken the sauce. If you go to far you end up with a glaze. You could add stock or water to thin, however. A well timed reduction, in my opinion, you end up with a sauce that is "nappe". But the trick is knowing when you're there. An interesting thing about reducing a liquid is that as it reduces further it reduces faster as there is less liquid but the same amount of heat. So there is the critical moment where you go "just far enough" and your sauce is perfect. Too far and you have a glaze or a burned sauce. Not far enough and and the flavors are not blended and concentrated. I've found in cooking that stopping just before you think something is done is a good heuristic. IT keeps cooking for a bit longer. Timing this can be hard has there is a small window between not reduced enough and too much. It goes fast near the end. A classic "happens slowly, then all at once".
    • pen2l 10y ago
      Thanks for expanding. I wonder what kind of sauce you're thinking of when you write all of this... some sort of alfredo sauce for pasta? And Indian curry kind of sauce? Some gravy-like sauce you put on your turkey or chicken? Could you maybe link to a youtube recipe tutorial of some sort which you feel demonstrates this "reduction" to your approval?
      • nemo44x 10y ago
        No, way more simple! But closest to a "gravy-like sauce". But you have a lot of room for improvisation once you master the basic technique. One of the beauties of classical French cooking is that it is simple. It is based on this premise of simplicity. One of the easiest things to learn is a "pan sauce". After that you might learn to make the 5 mother sauces which are super simple too. What this means is you cook the meat, generally on high heat, in a pan with a fat such as oil and/or butter and when it is done you remove the meat and put it aside. The pan will have crisply bits on the bottom. In French, this is known as "fond". This is good stuff! After you remove the meat and reduce the heat and you put in a "mirexpox" which is usually some onions or shallots, some diced carrots and some fine diced celery. But really, whatever you want! You're using less heat so they just slowly brown for about 4 minutes or so. This is called "sweating". Now the magic happens. You crank the heat back up and "deglaze" by adding wine, vinegar, water or whatever. What happens is all the bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan come off. You use a flat edged wooden spoon to help scrape them off and they come off easily. This is where a ton of flavor lives. You keep the heat on high and let your wine or whatever reduce a bit. It cleans your pan too. Then you add some meat stock - chicken, beef, veal, etc. Stir everything around a bit and let it reduce. It should boil and steam. Over time the water evaporates and you get to a point where you have a thick sauce that isn't too thick but not watery. In some cases you could add a roux (flour and butter mixture) to thicken. Add some herbs like thyme if that sounds good. When it's at the right thickness you take off the heat and pour through a strainer and add some butter and stir to thicken. Discard the parts you used to help flavor the sauce like the carrots, onions, etc. Or keep them if you like them! Up to your taste! Now you pour over your meat and whatever else. It's pure flavor and dead simple. And this is but one technique you can play on many ways. You want a link? Google "pan sauce" and dive in. It is the easiest way to make a basic meal into a gourmet meal I think. Steak, pork, chicken or whatever.
• dahart 10y ago
  > I don't judge anyone for making food and drink a footnote in their life. I believe you that you're trying not to be judgemental, but FWIW, your statement equating eating soylent to making food and drink a footnote in life sounds at least presumptuous if not judgemental. I love cooked meals too, but I can easily see the value in a quick, controlled meal with a proper balance of macros, it's not a stretch to understand at all. If you can't understand trading any experience for convenience, then do I assume you cook 3 meals a day and never eat fast food? Running a startup, I'm jealous if you have time for that, I simply don't. I cook once in a while, but no way every meal. (And I hope you're not drinking wine with every meal you eat, morning noon and night! ;) ) I can extra understand people controlling for calories by having a soylent or something like it for lunch. Controlling for calories is really hard to do, and products like soylent help with self-control on multiple levels by making it easy to measure macros, as well as having a meal with no peer pressure to overeat or snarf on fries or beer. If you're controlling for calories or for macros, the lack of a butter cream reduction wine dinner texture experience for lunch is a distinct advantage that leaves room in the budget to splurge on a well cooked dinner in the evenings or weekends.
  • timv 10y ago
    [ I'm not the parent poster ] > * your statement equating eating soylent to making food and drink a footnote in life sounds at least presumptuous if not judgemental.* But that was a core part Rob Rhinehart's original proposition. I totally get that it's not why or how everyone consumes Soylent, but these were the words used to introduce it to the world: In my own life I resented the time, money, and effort the purchase, preparation, consumption, and clean-up of food was consuming I used to spend about 2 hours per day on food. ... Now I spend about 5 minutes in the evening preparing for the next day, and every meal takes a few seconds. Food can be art, comfort, science, celebration, romance, or a reason to meet with friends. Most of the time it’s just a hassle, though. The food is eating us. I don’t know how to change peoples’ behavior, but now that I’ve discovered Soylent, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been, have more freedom with my time and money, and never have to worry about the stuff. http://robrhinehart.com/?p=298 http://robrhinehart.com/?p=298 I don't see how equating statements like "I resented the time", "it's just a hassle" and "never have to worry about the stuff" with "a footnote in life" can be called presumptuous.
• LordHumungous 10y ago
  > I don't judge anyone for making food and drink a footnote in their life. I certainly do. Yes I'm a snob.
• webscaleizfun 10y ago
  Now, your gonna probably call me crazy, but take a bottle of cheap wine and throw it in the blender before ya drink it, failing that, a mixmaster works too. Completely changes the complexion of the wine when you do this, generally makes it quite a bit better.
  • nemo44x 10y ago
    It sounds crazy, yes. I imagine you're exposing it to a ton of oxygen very rapidly. Not just letting the wine breath but hyper ventilating it! I suppose you could pour it in a carafe and shake it as well. But trying a blender sounds like fun!
• ajmurmann 10y ago
  I love a good meal and often plan my holidays and trips around them. However, lunch at work I an office park makes it hard to get good prepared food. It's also expensive. I love cooking, but I also love other things like programming and ceramics, so my time is limited. Soylent strikes a nice balance between nutrition and convenience for occasions where I don't have time and/or don't want to spend the money. I would not otherwise eat z Chicken McNugget but probably a at best mediocre sandwich or cereal.