"strip" news and stories

I don't usually see kangaroo-excuse me, australus- in my meat section, but, if through some stroke of luck (or a dare) you're faced with an opportunity to cook some, Australian chef Benjamin Christie has some tips. Basically, it sounds like you can treat cuts of kangaroo strip loin and fillet like you would other similar cuts of red meat or game. Christie says that those cuts should be pan fried and never cooked past medium rare. Kangaroo is apparently pretty lean. The longer a cut ages, the gamier it will get, he says. Also, if you're working with ground 'roo, soy sauce is a better choice than salt, as it will dry the meat out less. A version of larb, the spicy Thai salad, sounds tasty.

If you're concerned about caffeine in your diet, help may be on the way in the form of a dipstick-style caffeine test strip. Chemists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say that the product would be the first of its kind, according to a story on FoodNavigator. The test strips would be treated with an antibody, cloned from one found in llama blood, that changes color when it comes in contact with caffeine. The strips wouldn't tell how much caffeine a drink had, only whether or not it was present. The llama blood antibody was apparently chosen because it worked well at high temperatures.