*passes QV a length of (unused) bog roll*
And CBC is dead right there. Make sure the bones are removed.
Also dangerous (indeed quite capable of being lethal) to dogs are chocolate (the xanthines such as theobromine and caffeine are toxic), various sweets with artificial sweeteners (xylitol in particular, the polyol 'sugar alcohol' such as is found in much chewing gum, 'smint' and other mints, all sorts of other candies especially sugar free ones is likely to prove fatal to dogs unless very rapidly treated post ingestion, don't ever wait for symptoms to show themselves if its even suspected a dog has consumed something with xylitol in there. Not sure about other sugar alcohols, doesn't take much at all to kill a dog. And raisins, the toxic principle in this case is unknown however and it does not affect 100% of dogs, but raisins, grapes and other grape products. it id possible although uncertain currently, that a mycotoxin (a toxic principle of fungal origin from something growing on or within the grapes) is possibly responsible.
Xylitol is especially dangerous to dogs however. A small dog could be dead in half an hour. Symptoms are ataxia, seizure, and an extremely rapid onset of severe hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar), if the dog survives or is treated rapidly, and especially with forms of xylitol-containing product that would act to slowly release the polyol in-vivo as the surrounding is digested such as chewing gums, it can act as a delayed but sustained release, and if the dog doesn't drop dead rapidly, liver failure can then present as more delayed sequelae. Not impossible that its also toxic to cats. But however, this is less than likely that they would in the first instance, consume the product/s containing it, the reason for this being, that felidae are almost completely unable to taste sweetness, dogs can and will go for sweet food, but felines, being obligate carnivores have no reason to, and as a result, have either never evolved, or have lost the capacity to detect sweet tastes somewhere along their evolutionary path. I do not know which of the two is the case, but in this case it does not particularly matter. Although IF ingested, better to rush the cat (and certainly a dog, or chances are it will be dead within the hour, mainly due to a massive insulin release and resulting hypoglycaemic shock.)
Ironic, in a way, considering diabetics often use it as a non-absorbable or poorly bioavailable sugar substitute so as to have better control of blood glucose levels. Late onset fulminant liver failure (just as for example, the death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides does to people [and dogs for that matter, although in this case the toxicity is due to amatoxins, toxic cyclopeptides based on an indolic core, which inhibit hepatic RNA polymerase type II and thus block synthesis of proteins required for maintainance of liver cells), and just like with death cap poisoning in humans, dogs may also if they survive the hypoglycaemic shock due to the massive insulin release (it would be treated with IV continual infusions of glucose along with bolus initial IV doses of glucose) suffer a blood dyscrasia, mostly presenting as a coagulopathy (it fucks up blood clotting) in addition to and most likely partially at least, due to, the damage done to the liver)
http://www.iol.co.za/news/xylitol-could-kill-sugarbirds---and-pets-1847533(bit of bird trivia here-bird species are unable to feel the burn from chili pepper, because the avian isoform of the TRPV1 receptor (Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid type I receptor) which is responsible for sensing heat, whilst it exists in birds, the isoform of the receptor is different, and it either does not bind, or if it does (I confess I am uncertain whether it binds but fails to produce a response, or whether the avian TRPV1r isoform simply won't bind the capsaicinoid type ligands at all. It is thought potentially an evolutionary adaptation, since birds lack teeth and as such cannot chew up the seeds and destroy them and if eating chilli fruit then shit the seeds out the other end and thus spread the chili plants far and wide, as opposed to a human or other mammal, with grinding molars, likely to result, in the absence of a chemical defense triggering avoidance [although ironically the plant is all the more successful for trying to give us the bum rush, crude pun intended there most certainly:autism: since evolution didn't exactly plan for us humans actually enjoying the very defensive irritant intended to stop us eating the chili seeds in all manner of tasty spicy hot chow. I know I do. I lurve my chilli con carne, with the unique blend of herbs and spices that I use to flavour it*)
*a mixture of birds eye chilli peppers, tiny little pointy ones that pack quite a belter in terms of heat, black pepper, szechuan pepper, an odd, non-hot but rather novel spice, not peppery as such, but rather it has a cooling, camphoraceous and locally anaesthetizing effect if the seed cases are dried and chewed, or whizzed up in the spice grinder with the rest of the recipe to fine powder and added to food. Also Piper cubeba, another member of the pepper family, just a little of this, a few cubeb seeds are added, stalks broken off and tossed out, these too are not hot, but have a camphor-like taste, slightly astringent, camphor, cooling and somewhat bitter, along with sea salt, some of the two mushrooms Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria, familiar home of fairytale gnomes in childrens books. Psychoactive in larger amounts if given a long, slow gentle heat drying to cure them and decarboxylate the otherwise toxic ibotenic acid, an excitotoxin acting on NMDA glutamate receptors as an orthosteric agonist) to muscimol, which instead of being toxic, is a rather unusual GABAa agonist, same receptor the benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics like valium go for, as do barbiturates, propofol, chlormethiazole, certain neuroactive steroids such as pregnAnolone (pregnEnolone iirc is a neurosteroid site antagonist) and loreclezole, as well as the latter sharing a binding site with valerian root/root extract, or some of its active constituents. In the fly agaric though, muscimol binds the orthosteric site, that of GABA itself, our main inhibitory CNS neurotransmitter sine qua non. Orthosteric GABAa agonists are quite rare, not anywere near as many are known as are allosteric positive modulators like the benzos and barbs, almost all do not bind the GABA recognition site at all, and as such this makes muscimol a competitive GABAa agonist, and gives it the property of inducing a sedating, hypnotic and in larger quantities, dissociating hallucinogenic-intoxicant effect, also a fairly powerful oneirogen if used rightly.)
In chili con carne ala Lestat though, there isn't a huge quantity added, its put in as a spice, which is a favourite use of it for me, I harvest as much as I can every year in the hope of bagging enough dried mushrooms for seeing me through until the next growing season. The traces of ibotenic acid, when cured are small, and instead of being damaging, they stimulate the receptors in taste buds on our tongues that sense the quality of meaty-ness, or umami as the oriental peoples often term it in their cuisine (the sensation of tasting savouryness not the mushroom, which goes by the name 'ibo tengu take, or ibo-tengutake, in japanese. Don't know if its used for cooking with though. Came up with that all on my own
), these also bind glutamate, as do NMDA receptors, and the traces of ibotenic acid in effect, work like MSG does, and turn the likes of steaks, casseroles, sausages and sauces for meat, especially beef and lamb, good'n'proper honest red MEEAAdroolAATTTT:autism: that were going to be good to start with, into something truly delectable.
Also added is the dried cap and stems, powdered, of Chalciporus piperatus, the peppery boletus, which has a unique kind of fire and heat all of its own, that is quite different either from black or chilli pepper, handily, its a parasite on fly agarics, found growing close by the latter when it grows under its most common mycorrhizal associate tree species, the silver birch, so one can often pick both components of my special steak and chili spice from within feet to a meter or two of each other, both quite frequent here in the UK, although I find less of the bolete than I do fly agaric.
Also, a few cardamom pods, opened, the seeds scraped out and added to the spice mill, or bashed up first in a mortar and pestle, since they are quite oily, as is cubeb, and ESPECIALLY the main other ingredient, pink pepper, from Schinus trees, a type of sumac, which have a warming although not fiery, slightly camphoraceous and distinctly sweet, aromatic taste. These too are pounded in a mortar first before being thrown in with the others in a spice grinder. A pinch of powdered garlic is added, and before use, the portion allotted to the recipe is bruised up with some pulped garlic, a clove or two per big pot of chili (sufficient to feed two people two to three bowls each) and onion extract, juiced and filtered, or an hydroethanolic alcohol extract of fried onions added, the little alcohol to extract the volatile sulfur compounds within the allium family, boils off during cooking completely. and two or three bay leaves are added, as well as plenty fresh halved and quartered big juicy shiitake mushrooms, that have been quickly fried in butter and browned a little, sprinkled with a bit more sea salt, some oyster mushrooms are fried in butter closer to serving time, since these would go soft and watery easily if cooked long and slow in a stewing type way. Beef mince and chunky big lumps of good grade frying steak or braising steak are thrown in, with tomato sauce, which has first been run through a blender to pulverise it and render the texture acceptable, maybe a little H2O if there is insufficient liquid in the tomato fraction, and in addition a little blob of garlic paste and a generous big long worm of sun dried tomato paste squeezed in, and stirred in. The bay leaves being removed beforehand. and perhaps, IF, I am able to find some, some Polygonum hydropiper, or in a pinch, its relative, P.bistorta, water pepper and the less fiery bistort, respectively, a british plant of marshlands and near clean, fast flowing river water in boggy, wet areas on the river banks or very close to them)
I can't buy that though and have to go out and forage for it myself, as is needful to obtain the two key special ingredients, the fly agaric, and the peppery boletes. Fly agaric MUST be heat-cured before use, the stems are to be cut off and dumped for they have little, although some, of culinary value. The good parts are the cap tissue with the gills pref. scraped off with a spoon or sliced away surgically with a scalpel blade, this is because the gills have a large H2O content and if left there on the caps tend to sweat a lot during the curing process, which is undesirable. To cure, place caps, upside down (the side that formerly bore the gills if these are removed as do I facing upwards, to help contain sweated out juices), the oven is lit and held at the lowest possible gas flame it will permit to burn, and the fly agarics are gently heat dried overnight on foil lined trays, basting them with any mushroom juice that sweats out, for this from the cap does so, and is packed with flavour; and the oven door is wedged open a crack by jamming a couple of pencils in the gap to prevent the hinges totally closing and thus allow an outlet for the moisture as the caps slowly cure. Overnight should do it, and the resulting dried, cured fly agaric mushrooms are laden with potential for the adventurous meat-loving and I bet, tofu-loving cook, as well as both many many medicinal uses, as a psychotropic intoxicant in larger quantities than are used in cooking and brewed into a hot and sweetened sweetish but very mushroomy and savoury flavoured tea, which has an overpoweringly umami, savoury, meat-ness-ey and mushroomy scent that is overwhelmingly potent in the way a cup of such an infusion brewing with just below boiling water will fill the entire kitchen up with a forceful, although pleasant, sweetish-meaty aroma, and will ward off the iciest of cold, at least, it will prevent discomfort due to cold weather, can be used as an adaptogen of sorts, a dream and sleep inducer, although it won't prevent physical damage due to actual hypothermia, it boosts endurance something quite astonishing, as well as calming frazzled nervous tension.
Can also be eaten as a mushroom, by first parboiling twice in water thoroughly, taking the young, firm caps for this, preferably a few inches across and not entirely fully expanded yet, but flattened mostly out, and boiling them in a pan full of salted water, then throwing out this water, and adding fresh water with just a little bit of salt, boiling again thoroughly, the water again thrown away and when this is done, briefly rinsed with boiling water and then cooked and added to one's dish in the manner of the chef's choice according to taste. Epileptics should avoid this manner of consumption, and avoid its use as an intoxicant altogether, as should those with heart conditions, particularly bradycardic types (slowing of heart rate) due to traces of the peripherally selective muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist toxin muscarine, the name coming from 'Musca' the latin word meaning 'fly', since in times past the cap was mashed in sugared milk and left out where flies would access it, and a compound in the cap attracts them by scent, the muscimol intoxicates them as well as the cholinergic neurotoxin muscarine, which is present only in this mushroom in miniscule quantities, which are harmless levels, but was discovered in the species. And this would, like slugs and beer traps cause the flies to be attracted to the scent of the fungus, to feed, become paralyzed and stunned, then drowned as they fall in. Hence also the name fly agaric, or fly Amanita.
That can be my bitch...this year I found very few peppery boletes, I only have enough left to partially fill one small spice jar with dried sliced cap pieces. Although I have plenty of fly agaric cured , dried and stored in bags and tupperware containers to see me through the winter and to last me through the year until they fruit again this years early and late spring and autumn seasons respectively.
Wish I'd found more peppery bolete. Or better, wish I could purchase it SOMEWHERE. But it has to be taken from the wilds, and although not in the least threatened, a common little fungus, I simply was unable to find sufficient for as many meals as I would like to eat it in.
And my other bitch-when my old man does chilli con carnage (as I call his, although its edible enough, it just is WRONG, not to have fly agaric and peppery boletus in it. Hence, he makes carnage of it since he doesn't put it in when he cooks the dish. I do. And if his back is turned I sneak it in and he doesn't complain at the flavour, although he has no idea the mushrooms are present.) I couldn't get to the xmas beef curry pot in time to slyly slip in a couple of dessert spoons full of my pre-prepared spice blend above, all ready mixed and powdered, minus of course the fresh garlic and onion.
And HE adds WHOLE pieces of chopped up onion! I despise the texture of vegetables and will eat of them not. Onions are particularly foul, not in that case in taste, but in texture, I just LOATHE having to pick out pieces of fuckin' onion in it. That, and its just not a proper chilli without fly agaric and Chalciporus piperatus nestling within, all ready and awaiting the arrival of a human stomach to fill and palate to service.
