Cooking Strategies for Tasty, Healthy Meat

There is perhaps no food more satisfying than a good cut of meat properly cooked. I love to see that satisfaction on the faces of my Philadelphia food truck and catering customers when they eat a Jerry’s Kitchen cheesesteak, or one of our chicken sandwiches. My customers’ pleasure inspires me to find new ways to thrill and excite them.

No matter how good any cut of meats may be, the proper cooking technique is essential for bringing out its full flavor. It is also worth keeping in mind that there are healthy and less healthy ways to cook meat. Here are some of the healthier cooking methods—which will also bring out the flavor of your meat.

Grilling

While many of us may associate grilling with an outdoor barbecue or smoker, there are techniques for grilling indoors as well, like grill-tops and grill pans. Broadly speaking, grilling can apply to cooking methods which apply heat from underneath, giving food crispier edges. As all of us know, you can never go wrong with grilling, which brings out the flavor of almost any food.

You may be happy to learn that grilled meats have less fat, because as they cook, the fat drips off. This is a big help if you are working to lower calorie intake, manage weight, and minimize the consumption of bad cholesterol.

Another big advantage to grilling is this method can get the most nutritional content from your food, as well as taste. With grilling, cooking time is shorter, which means less moisture and vitamins escapes in the process. That means better nutritional value from such foods and grilled vegetables.

Roasting

Any meat can be roasted. Since roasting has a drying effect on food, you may want to use meat with a little extra fat. Also, to ensure moister meat by keeping the juices in, consider using a marinade of some kind, and cover the meat at some or all points of the cooking process. Dry rubs are also a good strategy for seasoning roasting meat and can be combined with a sauce.

Even when using meat with extra fat, roasting is still a healthy cooking method, as it does not require any additional oil, which is what can create long-term health issues.

Stewing and Poaching

Both methods involve slow-cooking meat in liquid, although with different objectives. Stewing invites you to combine all ingredients into a sauce (or what will become a sauce), and is usually served with the final product. This slow-cooking method can accommodate most meats and vegetables, and many other things as well. Lean cuts of meat work well with stew, and minimize fat intake.

Most of us associate poaching with eggs, but this method can also be used for poultry and fish. Poaching may be one of the healthiest methods for cooking, since it involves adding very little to food. This simple technique asks that you cover food in water, which is brought to simmer, and left at that heat until food is ready. Flavor can be introduced by adding broth, vegetables, or something else into the water.

Enjoy your meat and cook it right!

Source

Everyday Health
Fit Day