From biscuits to small meals

A while back I had a bit of an “aha!” moment regarding biscuits that sorta works for me, and I thought I’d share as my starting point.

See, you’ll see a number of recipes that tell you to knead the dough 10-12 times – just enough to barely start the gluten – then you roll it (which also works the gluten a bit) or pat it (not so much) out and cut it. Then you gather the scraps, bring them together, and make a few more – and these are a bit tougher. And yet I realized that nobody every doesn’t eat the tougher biscuits.

I knead the dough a bit less – 8 to 10 times. Then I diverge. I pinch off equal sized chunks, form them into somewhat smooth balls, and flatten on a floured board. The balling and pressing works the dough a bit just like rolling, but the reduced kneading compensates a bit.

Now where this has come into play is almost a divergence. See, I’ve been working with cooking for one or two. As anyone who’s had to do so to any decent extent knows, anybody who tells you to “just cut down the recipe” hasn’t got a clue. Biscuits is an example. I made a half batch off a recipe for 10 biscuits. I got two clean biscuits, one almost clean, and two more from the scraps. It was a pain, frankly. I tried it again the next day, but as I was mixing got the “aha!”. I wound up with four very nice biscuits, and a lot less mess and frustration.

While the technique was picked up for small meal cooking, it will work for larger as well. I know this – I did it when we had some company and it worked just fine.

I may be kicking out some other things I’ve encountered while working on small meals – techniques, and places to avoid having either a ton of leftovers (meals or ingredients) or waste. Both are, of course, the normal frustration in such cooking for most people these days. Hopefully I’ll have a solution or two for you down the road.

The mic from earlier

I’ve been doing more research on the advanced mic. I keep thinking it’s already been done, but can’t find it. (yet – not the first time if I do that the obvious has eluded me for a while.)

The process is fairly widely known. Two mics, one pointed at the “good” noise, one away from it, and one of several techniques are then used to clean the ‘bad’ noise. And yes, there is more than one technique.

Thing is, most of them use external processors. Further, the times I see it for a headset, it’s people thinking of hearing it, not sending.

I think an “adequate” system can be built into a headset/mic that has two mics. This is particularly true given the output doesn’t need to be immediate; delays are fine. Now if the mic doubles for voice comms, especially voice synced with video, it might be a different story — dunno how much delay will be required. But I think a fairly small ROM, processor, and RAM chipset would do very well indeed.

At which point the real question is probably power. Recharging or replacing the battery every hour or less is bad. Doing so after 8 or more hours is good. Between is… it probably depends on the user, but longer is better. hmmm…. USB power cord? Two devices – from the computer and from a AC wall converter? Simplicity rules – it’s to be an APPLIANCE, not one more thing to mess with.

A bit on my companion idea

A while back I tossed off what I considered my perfect traveling computer – a netbook/reader killer (or more accurately next gen merging). While on the road to various interviews (still no success, but a couple of maybes) I’ve been thinking about it a lot. In the process I’ve had to think of why, and then there’s spill-off devices (inventions?). Bear with me, I’m going to put it in black and white.

I think the killer app for the next gen exists. I also think it costs way too much. However, I SUSPECT the reason for the latter is the low sales rate means price is necessary to cover expenses. I’m speaking of Nuance’s Dragon Speaking Naturally Professional (DSNP). Now Nuance offers a couple of less expensive and powerful versions, the more powerful of which is a quarter the cost of DNSP. The thing is…

DNSP is as close as you’re going to find today to software that lets you run your computer by voice. Yes, it has to be M$ Windows – there’s not enough sales for other operating systems (yet?). But you can do just about all commands in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Oddly, you can do more in Thunderbird than Outlook, and more in Firefox than Internet Explorer. In addition a lot of general operation can be done by voice (move cursor, click, “open filename”, “close filename”). Finally, you can make custom voice commands (basically voice tagged macros – keyboard, mouse, VBS). Oh, wait – and Pro is a bit more accurate out of the box as it also includes several dialects (mostly regional) pre-loaded for understanding.

Between touch (stylus) and voice, the keyboard can be almost unnecessary — and a virtual keyboard on a screen can fill the vast majority of those needs.

Yes, my “ideal box” is two facing touch screens that are hinged so they close together. Add a 3d motion sensor to detect up so the screens orient themselves for the user — so when ‘reading a book’ the screens are side by side with a narrow edge up (which up? whichever you’re holding up) and when laptopping it the screens are above each other with up toward a broad edge.

One more bit and I’ll go to the secondary inventions I see needed – heck, I suspect they’d sell anyway but it’d be small market without this box jumpstarting the need. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I’m almost fine with wifi, bluetooth, and a USB port (maybe two) and a power port being the cap on connections. I think it also needs a 10/100/1000 network interface, but that’s not the big deal. No, the big deal is a SDHC (or maybe SDXC) reader. This is the removable media for the box. The magic number for SDHC is 8GB. SDXC’s magic number is 48GB. Why?

Because a double-layer DVD is 8GB, and a blu-ray disc is 48GB.

Extra equipment time. First, and obviously implied, is a device (and maybe software) that allows a DVD to be imaged to a SDHC. The software already exists, it just needs to see the SDHC device as a drive. There are a couple of solutions which are not mutually exclusive. Solution one is a small SDHC box reader with a USB cord. Many of today’s digital cameras almost qualify here. Still, a small device the size of many of today’s USB flash devices would be worth making.

The second device for the same purpose would look a lot like a portable CD player. Pop the DVD in the top and close it, slide in the SDHC, and press the button. Machine formats the SDHC, images the DVD, and copies the image to the SDHC.

Are there copyright issues? Maybe. I’m not sure there are if you’re copying for your own use – it’s a gray area. You’re allowed to make copies of electronic media for backup, you’re allowed to move your software from one device you own to another device you own provided you don’t keep or sell the old one, and this transfer can be from one media to another (cassette to floppy, once upon a time). It’s definitely a legal team issue. Still…, well, let’s move on to the other device.

This one returns to the DNSP, the keystone product. One of the problems of use is background noise. I have… I have an idea which may or may not be done already for an ambient noise canceling microphone. It is actually two microphones. One is set in a parabolic receiver and is pointed at the primary noise source – the voice. The other is hemispheric (or close to it) and points directly away from the voice. The trick is a processor that uses the second mike to generate a reverse mask and applies it to what comes from the first mike. Yes, some of the voice will get canceled but most will still dominate. Because of the processor(s) needs, the mike will need a short memory loop before it sends the final as output.

If it works – and on paper it should – you get a microphone that lets you voice operate your computer while you’re commuting or sitting in a bar or… you get the idea.

Oh, I just realized I didn’t point out the serious power here. If the companion (my name for the netbook/reader) is closed without turning off, you should be able to still run low-power bluetooth (dedicated to the microphone) in a “record only” mode. Thus it becomes an always ready dictaphone into which you make notes, reminders, read business cards and other contacts, and even dictate letters. When the companion is opened, DNS activates and transcribes the dictation. If you’ve set up voice cues with that custom voice command section, you can have it ready to insert contacts in your address book and tasks to your task list and events to your calendar — either automatically or on your review and approval. (I recommend the latter.)

I’ve got more details on what my ‘idea’ is, but these are the truly different – and what, I think, would make this a game-taker in this field.

Red Eye sandwiches.

TaMara’s been gushing about her new cast iron skillet. Since I wrote quite a diatribe on cast iron not so long ago, I’ll not bend the ear again. Instead I’ll pass along a recipe for which I use my cast iron.

Maybe you’ve heard of Red Eye Gravy. Maybe you saw mention from Alton Brown on one of his episodes. I’m here to tell you that there is more than one red eye gravy, and the one he makes is, well, it’s not the one I grew up with – though he grew up Southern and I grew up in Kansas with a southern Grandmother. His is sawmill gravy using coffee as the liquid. Mine…

We’re going to make this in one cast iron skillet for cooking, but you’ll need a couple of dishes to finish before eating. The first thing you’re going to do is bake biscuits. Whether you’re making from scratch or popping a tube, when you’re using the cast iron skillet you pre-heat the oven but put the biscuits in a cold skillet. Bake the normal time.

When the biscuits come out, pop them into something to keep them warm. Me, I like to have a towel that I’ve warmed laying in a bowl. Put in the biscuits, fold the towel over the top, get back to cooking.

Put the skillet on a burner that’s medium hot. Add enough oil or shortening (or if we’re going to do this right, lard) that when melted it covers the bottom of the pan with between 1/16 and 1/8 inch of liquid fat. Now fry up a slice or four of country ham.

Ummm… Country ham is ham that’s been preserved. It may have been salt cured, maybe sugar cured. It was probably (but not certainly) smoked. When you get ready to cook it up you need to scrub off the outside layer, then soak it for several hours to rehydrate – and it wouldn’t hurt to change the water a time or two while you’re at it. The ham’s still going to be, well, a bit dryer. It’s also probably given you a LOT of meat, only some of which got eaten the first time round. Anyway, cut off some slices and fry them up – a couple of minutes on each side so they’re lightly browned. Put them aside and cover so they stay warm.

It’s time to make the gravy. Now the truth is that there are a lot of variations of red eye gravy, most of which come from two stories of why it’s named that. Most truckers will say it’s called red eye because it keeps you up all night from the caffeine. Most truckers are used to the sawmill red eye gravy. If I’m confusing you, I mean a gravy made by adding some flour to the fat left, then adding hot liquid and stirring till that thickens. Cream gravy, sausage gravy, and a bunch of other gravies are made that way. It makes a lot of sense. Thing is, there’s another story.

Pour the fat off into a bowl. Pour twice as much coffee as you have fat into the skillet. Deglaze over heat (that means rub with your spoon so the meaty bits left on your pan come loose into the liquid), and then let reduce to half. (That means simmer to boil till half the coffee is gone.) Now pour all that into the bowl with the fat. When you look down into the bowl, you get a reddish black center surrounded by a reddish white/clear liquid – a red eye. But we’re not done yet. Yes, you could just use this as a gravy and pour it over everything, but there’s a better way.

Cut your ham into pieces about the size of the biscuits. Break the biscuits in half, and dip the newly opened sides into the red eye gravy. Put in the ham slice, and close the sandwich.

Now these are delicious fresh. Thing is, they’re also delicious re-heated even though the biscuits aren’t quite as fresh. In fact, it’s a great “put a platter on the table” dish for a bunch of folk who are headed to work and want snack on the road or in the early morning. Or pack a couple or four into a napkin (or a lunch box). Because it’s not a sawmill, it doesn’t turn into glue as it sits. It’s just a rich sauce flavoring a ham and biscuit sandwich.

And all the cooking was in one skillet. A towel for the biscuits, a plate with a lid for the ham, a bowl for the gravy, a plate for the finished sandwiches that everyone eats in their hands, not on a plate. The idea that I can start my day off with a total of four dishes – well, six or seven counting utensils – beats the heck out of egg covered plates and skillets plus… yeah.

Give it a try. I think you’ll like it.

[LATE EDIT. One alternate I do when I'm short of time or feeling lazy is to only use as much coffee as I had fat. I'll just pour it into the pan while the grease is still there, deglaze, and at that point pull it off and dip the biscuits directly from the pan. Just a bit of time and effort gets saved that way.]

A bit of a commercial break

I like free, but some free isn’t worth it.

See, there are a lot of places that will give you free or significant discount stuff on your birthday – usually restaurants. I used to use a bunch of them. Over the years I’ve cut back – not because I didn’t like the free, but because I was disappointed with the places themselves. There are two, however, that… I’m not disappointed with them, and in fact think they deserve a little recognition.

First, there’s Provino’s. Provino’s is a small chain – ten places scattered from Atlanta to Chattanooga. The food has consistently been very good. It’s not a 5-star epicurean delight though I’d have zero hesitation in 3-star and could argue for 4. I have NO hesitation recommending it to anyone who wants Italian dishes. The quality of both the food and the service has never been less than, well, a perfect place for an enjoyable evening. The birthday deal is a substantial discount – enough to make about half the menu’s entrees – free on your birthday. Website here, and the discount (since prices are shown on the menu you can go through) is $12.95.

Second, there’s Moe’s. Now, Moe’s is not Great Food. It’s fancy fast food, to be honest. Yet I consistently expect food I enjoy, and I’ve never had bad service. (Service is a big deal with me, ok? I worked restaurants, and know that more people come back for ok food and great service than great food and ok service — and bad service guarantees no return REGARDLESS of the quality of the food.) The reason Moe’s is getting notice this time is the service. See, somehow my wife’s registration for the free entree (any entree but the fajita free) got turned off. We figured this out when my coupon came and hers didn’t – just a couple of days prior to the birthday itself.

Now, similar things have happened with other places, and the almost universal response has been: “well, re-register. It’s too late for this year’s coupon but at least she’ll get our specials during the year and get NEXT year’s coupon.” Moe’s re-registered her and made certain a coupon hit her email with no fuss, no effort, no snide comments, no “are you sure”, no “You know we’re making an exception” comments, just DONE. Fixed. We had a problem, whoops, not a problem.

There was a tale running around years ago about Rolls Royces that exemplifies this and how uncommon it is. The punchline, after an almost absurd level of effort to get the vehicle repaired, goes, “Sir, Rolls Royces do NOT break down.” As near as I can tell at this point, Moe’s does NOT do bad customer service. Oh – website here.

I’m sure there are exceptions – I don’t go to all Provino’s or Moe’s, after all. But in my experience these two places consistently provide decent to excellent food and outstanding service, and I wanted to mention that to you all.

Cuts

Years ago (almost 30, now) I was a business administration major in college. In one of my classes we played with a computerized business model, where we competed to become the most profitable. I saw there something I thought an absurdity that has over the years turned out… no, let me do it this way.

One way to get bigger short-term profits in the game was to cut workers; either reducing their wages, or completely fire them. For that little period of time there’s a HUGE boost in profits as inventory sales don’t cycle back to labor. It’s pretty obvious, of course, that the step AFTER that is closed doors and zero profit (well, other than by sales of capital).

Or so you would think. But there were classmates who took the illusion created by short-term gains. Oh, nobody cut all the way, but “we’re overstaffed” was a common statement. Oddly (yeah, that’s sarcasm) they couldn’t understand why over time those of us who DIDN’T cut were bigger and generating more profits; even when our profit margins were smaller.

There are a host of cliches about this lesson from all the ages. A favorite for me in this case is: Don’t bind the mouth of your kine as they thresh the grain. I discovered a lot of people don’t understand that at all. Kine in this case is cattle, and they’re dragging a threshing mill across the harvested grain. Grain is food – GOOD food – and they will eat it as they walk. The admonishment is basically “Let them eat all they want while they work.”

Surprise – if you let them eat into the short-term profits you get more out of them. You get more because they’re content. You get more because they’re physically able to work harder for longer.

We’ve become a nation that as a whole binds the mouths of our kine. Every penny is released grudgingly, only when forced. And then employers complain that employees are not loyal and cut corners and, well, you get the idea.

They always seem amazed at the success of companies like Costco and Ben and Jerry’s, which insist that their workers should be taken care of above the minimum.

We’ve become a nation that as a whole binds the mouths of our kine. We eat our seed corn and bind the mouths, refusing to make major investments in education and infrastructure and anything else that doesn’t give immediate benefit “to me”. Fighting every penny of tax because it’s going to some “undeserving sod”. There’s actually some underlying cause here – most of those fighting for their pennies are doing so because their mouths have been bound.

Sooner or later one of three things happen when you bind the mouths of your kine – when you cut and cut and cut to the bone while YOU keep all the fat and lean. First, you go out of business. Other businesses (and nations) surpass you because their kine do better. Second, your kine go mad. They know what they need (in your eyes want), they know where it is, and they insist on getting it. Since “where it is” is in YOUR hands and on YOUR table, you get trampled. Yes, at the national level it’s called a revolution. Third, you realize these are the only two outcomes – though you may put it off for a while – and unbind the mouths.

And yet the constant word is “cuts”. When will they learn that what’s being cut is, in the long run, their own throats?

COBRA and unemployment

There’s a push to extend COBRA assistance for the unemployed. That’s good, I guess. It’s just…

OK, here’s the deal from my perspective. I hit the cap on unemployment benefits in Georgia ($330 per week) If it’d not been capped I’d have gotten about $500 per week, which tells you what kind of salary I was making. My COBRA would have cost $950 per month. With assistance I’d “only” have had to pay a bit over $600 per month. I’ve got a house I’m hoping to keep — add another $550 per month for that. (And seriously, where are you going to rent a place for that little, though I still have utilities and maintenance.) So COBRA and rent would between them leave me between $150 and $200 per month which I would have to spread between minor things to include groceries and utilities and gas for the car as I head for interviews and… Yeah.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my insurance for which this magnificent COBRA benefit would apply would still require my copays and deductibles.

COBRA just isn’t that good in my opinion, and even the assistance doesn’t help. Great idea, but too much resistance to the idea that those who need help need HELP.

Oh – yes, that’s below the federal poverty level. It’s also almost three times what Georgia places as a cap on Medicaid. Over $400 per month is too much income to get Medicaid as an adult in Georgia.

Isn’t it cute isn’t, from the inside

My wife and I have the same birthday, though the actual dates are just a few years apart. It rapidly approaches, and I’m again confronted with people who discover this fact and exclaim something to the effect of, “Isn’t that cute?”

No. No, it is not. Not from the inside. You see, I cannot throw a surprise party for her or a party for her bringing just her friends or anything of that sort without sidelong glances wondering if they should be bringing me something as well. I cannot make it HER day at all – it’s another “our” day. We get plenty of special “our” days between holidays and anniversary and that sort of thing. Everyone should have (in my opinion) a day that is THEIRS.

And I get no brownie points for remembering her birthday. In fact… for me, a birthday isn’t that big a deal. For her, it is a reason for celebration. So though I don’t forget it, for the first couple of years (till it got through my thick head how stupid I was being) I really didn’t do much for her or myself. Not so much forgotten as “so what”. I’d have been better to have actually forgotten. This was worse – knew and (from her point of view) DID NOT CARE. That is NOT cute. (Oh, I did stuff, but it wasn’t anything close to special.)

There are souls out there who get this from similar experience without having shared birthdays. In particular, those who have birthdays on certain holidays. Christmas (eve or day) and New Years Day come to mind as particular examples, but I’ve heard comments from those born on Halloween and Independence day to know they’re not alone.

There are those who get it intuitively, as well. But usually people have to have it explained – and an unfortunate majority don’t get it. “But, it’s NEAT that you two have the same birthday.” If you encounter other souls who are in this, you can get some idea of how long they’ve been together by whether they agree or look somewhat pained at the remark. Because it doesn’t take long for “cute” to become “not”.

If you think it’s “cute”, take a moment to think of it from the other side. It might still be cute, but maybe…

Oh – Candlemas, and I’ll be 50.

chocolate covered coffee beans

The recipe is easy.

4 ounces couverture, melted and tempered.
4 ounces roasted coffee beans.

Add beans to couverture, stir till completely mixed. Spoon out individually onto cooling slab to let harden. When cooled, store in cool dry container (just like any other chocolate covered whatever candy).

The devil, and the fun, is in the details.

To my taste, chocolate covered coffee beans come very close to being food of the gods. It becomes worth doing it RIGHT. (Oh – the fact it’ll give you a caffeine buzz that puts energy drinks in the pale is secondary.)

Doing it right starts with that funny ingredient couverture. Couverture is chocolate (and a Rolls Royce is a car.) It’s chocolate liquor to which additional cocoa butter has been added, after which sugar (and optionally milk) has been added. Backing up a step, cocoa liquor is what you get when you grind down cocoa beans. It must be at least 54% cocoa solids, and of that the butter must be 32-39%. Note that’s not 32-39% of the whole but of the solids.

Rich. Oh, dear… rich. THIS is good chocolate. You’re going to have to look around to find it, and don’t be shocked if you see it at US$20 or more per pound.

Coffee beans. I’ve discussed beans before, but in this case you don’t have to roast them yourself. However, do yourself a favor and find the right bean for you. Again, the darker the roast the more, well, dark the flavor AND the less caffeine. If you prefer milk chocolate look for light roasts. If dark, go for the stuff that borders being burned. However, there’s nothing wrong with counter-mixing these with a light bean in dark chocolate (and vice versa).

Tempering chocolate. Most of you have probably melted a chocolate bar, and then when it solidified saw it was no longer crisp and shiny. Instead it was kind of soft and dull, melting and rubbing off on everything. Tempering is what gives it the crisp, shiny, and (apparently) slightly more resistant to melting effect. It’s a major pain to get right, but when you do it’s why YOUR candy is popular.

Before I get into it, note that there is a shortcut used even by some pros – use adulterated chocolate. The most common is to include paraffin. Yep, wax. We’re not going there. This food of the gods needs done right, or not at all. So, how to temper.

I like the seed method so that’s all you’re getting. You are going to need your melting container and either a double boiler or a microwave. The problem with the microwave is that you could burn it. The problem of the double boiler is that you could get a little steam drifting in and so have the chocolate seize (and though you can do things about that, you can never temper it again.) The answer to both is careful watching, and a GOOD instant read thermometer.

Break up and reserve 1/4 of the chocolate – not to exceed 2 ounces if you’re making larger batches. Heat the rest till it exceeds 105F. Remove from the main heat and stir in the reserved chocolate. Keep stirring till the temperature drops to tempered range. For dark chocolate that’s ~90F (32C), for milk it’s 88F (31C), and if you’re using white chocolate it’s 82F (28C). (For my taste, white doesn’t work here. But I’m giving the temp anyway.) You now have about 2 degrees F (1C) of working range, and have two options. First, work fast. Second, careful application of heat to hold at that temperature till you’re ready to work.

My personal method is to use a hot pad and work… not quite so fast, but fast enough. Now the average hotpad is too hot. But if I put a towel over it and leave it on for 5 to 10 minutes, the towel will be not quite as hot, and will insulate the chocolate. I can move my bowl of chocolate to the towel that’s on the pad. I can’t leave it there for more than 10 minutes or it’ll break the temper, but I CAN work without having to race.

So I’ve got the bowl on the pad. I add my coffee beans (which were room temperature) and stir. This would notionally cool my chocolate and start hardening it, which is why I like the pad keeping my heat. Still, I’m on a clock.

Once they’re thoroughly mixed, I want to spoon out individual beans (covered, of course) and drop them on a cooling block. Pros usually use marble slabs. I put silicone sheets over my ceramic countertop. I used to use wax paper, and it’ll work too.

Now picking out the individual beans with a spoon takes time – enough time that the mass in the bowl may solidify (or too much heat may come from the hot pad, etc). That’s why I only make 8 ounces at a time – 4 each of chocolate and beans. I can beat the clock easily. Besides, that’s still a LOT of beans.

They’ll harden and be all shiny sometime between half and a whole hour – feel free to speed it up with some time in a freezer if you wish. Then just keep them where ever you’d keep chocolates.

A piece of advice when eating these – don’t eat a lot. As I said at the beginning they WILL give you a lot of caffeine.

Obviously the technique will work for chocolate covered, well, anything. Use couverture for the stuff you want RICH, and lesser chocolate when that isn’t as important. That said, I’ll mention something I make once in a very rare occasion: chocolate covered macerated dried fruit.

Chocolate covered is obvious. Dried fruit is raisins or dried blueberries or cherries or, well, you get the idea. Macerating is soaking in alcohol. Dried cherries soaked in a fruit brandy and then covered in chocolate is one example that is absolutely shocking to a lot of people. As another example, I once provided a “finish” to a wine and cheese party by using raisins soaked in wine – both from the same type of grape. (Merlot grapes as it happens.)

But it’s still the coffee beans that top my list.

Bodyfat

I was all set to write a different article on this subject when I ran across a study – and that study went and upset my convictions. Yes, I can change my mind when given contradicting evidence.

Let me do bottom line first. BMI sucks as a mortality risk indicator, but bodymass and bodyfat proportions are GOOD indicators. BMI is both, and itself has no way to tell the respective proportions. On with the show.

Now, I’m still going to say that doctor’s reliance on the BMI is excessive. Here’s the deal (and the start point of the original). Arguments that reduced fat increases longevity runs into a crapload of studies that show mortality is u-shaped on the BMI charts. That is, when age of death is tracked against BMI, the people in the middle live longer than those with high or low numbers. Oddly, the peak is on the edge of – and even slightly above – the first danger line for obesity. Anyway, I started doing some research to pull this together. I was going to note (among other things) that while longevity to fasting studies have shown a correlation in some animals it’s not been all, and further that “WHY” is still unknown. Hypotheses keep getting kicked out, and then demonstrated wrong. (Don’t you love science when it is done right? We know it happens, we don’t know why. Let’s find out by trying and failing, and if we find something that’s sorta right let’s test it some more.)

Yeah, all that. Then I ran across this study. You don’t have to read it if you don’t want – I’m going to summarize it here.

A bunch of 60 year old Swedish males, all born in 1913, had a lot of statistical information taken that happened to include bodyfat. For several years after, concluding 22 years later, there were follow ups. For the most part, during their lives they kept approximately the same health standards – smokers still smoked, bodyfats were about the same, etc. The study excluded individuals who’d died from accidents (car wrecks, that sort of thing) and did some correlations. As shown by study after study, BMI to mortality was still U-shaped. Enter the kicker.

Fatfree mass to height^2 is an ascending curve. Bodyfat (alone) mass to height^2 is a descending curve. In this case, higher correlates to decreased mortality.

The less bodyfat you have, the more likely you are to live a long time. The more muscle mass you have, the more likely you are to live a long time. They are curves, not lines. Let’s take muscle mass for an example. There’s a ’sharp break’ (my paraphrase) in this curve at around 16 kg/m2. That is, below that number and the chances of dying increased A LOT. Above that line wasn’t flat, mind you, but its increase was a lot flatter.

For what it’s worth, the bodyfat curve is a lot smoother; in the study it’s said to approach linearity (but that doesn’t square with the shape of the curve for increasing BMI, so I’m suspicious).

Oh – and while this study was only about mortality, I’m aware of others that show other health problems accruing to people who let their bodyfat get too low. In other words I’m suspicious of the “linearity rate” of the study in regard to risk:bodyfat.

Still: don’t use BMI for your fitness determinations. Use actual bodyfat measures. And strive to keep that bodyfat down.