Monday 30 April 2012

Foods that Make you Fat: Battered or Breaded Fish and Chicken




Scotland is notorius for battering and deep frying just about anything you can think of.  Chippys around Paisley sell deep fried pizza and macaroni and cheese pie.  And it's really true what they say about the Mars bars.  Everyone knows these things are unhealthy and fattening.

In contrast, few people think that way about the battered or breaded fish fingers, fish fillets, chicken burgers and chicken nuggets they buy from the supermarket frozen food section.  They're packaged to look healthy with labels highlighting 'omega 3' or 'made with 100% chicken breast'.  But let's take a closer look. 

Most people would serve Birdseye 100% Fillet Fish Fingers in Crispy Batter as the protein element of a meal.  But in terms of macronutrients, they're closer to bread and butter.  According to the nutritional information 100 grams of fish fingers contains 21.7 grams of carbohydrate, 14.5 grams of fat and only 9.3 grams of protein.

Compare that to 100 grams of Atlantic Pollock which contains zero carbohydrate, a single gram of fat and 25 grams of protein.  It's not surprising that 100 grams of fish fingers have 264 kcal whereas the real fish has 118. 

The serving size given on the packet is three fish fingers (84 grams), but you'd have to eat seven of them to get as much protein as an 84 gram fish fillet.  That's 513 calories versus 100 calories!   Even if you fry your Pollock fillet in a tablespoon (15g) of butter it only comes to 202 calories.

So why buy fish fingers?


  • Convenience?  You can simply wrap a fish fillet in foil with some butter and bake it in the same time it takes to oven bake the frozen fish fingers.
  • Price?  A quick online price check reveals that Sainsbury's sells a 300g pack of Pollock fillets for £1.50.  That makes them 50p per 100g.  Tesco's price for Birds Eye Fish Fingers in Crispy Batter (224g)  is £1.45.  That makes them 65p per 100g.  Keep in mind that they only contain 49% fish so you're mainly paying for flour and oil.
  • Taste and texture?  Well, I have to admit, it's nice to bite into a crispy coating, but fish fingers are pretty bland.  That's why people cover them in ketchup or mayonnaise.  When you cook fish from scratch you can add all sorts of herbs and spices to enhance the flavour.

I could go through other frozen breaded and battered products and do a similar comparison with fresh meat and fish, but you get the idea.  If you eat these products on a regular basis and you want to lose weight, try making the switch to unprocessed alternatives cooked from scratch. 

The Humble Onion



Onions have to be the ultimate peasant food.  They're very cheap and incredibly versatile.  A basic ingredient in soups. stews and curries, onions can also be added to stir-frys, pizza, pasta sauce and gravy.  They can even work well raw in salads and garnishes. 

This week I bought a bargain bag of onions at 80p for two kilograms.  I don't intend to let any go to waste.   According to traditional accounts, onions that were braided together and hung from the rafters would last all winter.  For some reason the ones I get from the supermarket only last about two weeks in the fridge.  Who knows how long they've already been stored or in what conditions.



I'll use about one kilo fresh and freeze the other.  I make a lot of dishes that call for two chopped onions, so I'll chop them and sauté them just as I would for a curry or pasta sauce.  I fill lidded plastic take-away containers with two prepared onions each and store in the freezer.  When my kilo of fresh onions has run out, I'll defrost them as required.



Onion Nutrition


A medium onion contains 14% of your GDA of vitamin C and is high in soluble fibre. Compounds in onions (and garlic) convert a phytochemical called allicin when the bulb is sliced.  Allicin has so many health benefits that people take it in supplement form. 

  •  It is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic and helps to fight off many kind of infections.
  • It can lower blood pressure and help to prevent the formation of blood clots, reducing the risk for heart disease and stoke. 
  • It can lower levels of LDL 'bad' cholesterol and raise levels of HDL 'good' cholesterol.
  • It acts as an antioxidant to protect cells from damage by free radicals, reducing the risk of cancer.

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Friday 27 April 2012

The Joy of Frozen Veg


Health conscious readers may have noticed that in my recipe for American Style Barbequed Pork with Beans and Rice, I used frozen sliced mixed peppers, as opposed to fresh peppers.  This is because fresh peppers are ridiculously expensive these days, a standard sized 140 gram pepper is usually around 75p  at my supermarket.  The frozen ones are reasonably priced at £1 for a 500 gram bag.  Keep in mind that frozen sliced peppers don't have any seeds to discard and are easy to use straight out of the packet.  That makes them even better value.  But do they taste as good and are they just as nutritious?

Taste

I suggest you answer this question for yourself.  Try making the same stew, curry or stir-fry with fresh and frozen peppers and see if you notice a difference.  If you do, is it great enough to warrant paying three times as much for fresh as frozen?

I generally don't eat frozen vegetables on their own as a side dish.  The texture can be rubbery, especially when it comes to broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.  But I barely notice a difference between fresh and frozen when the veg is chopped or pureed and added to dishes like quiche, casseroles or soups.

Nutrition


If you compared frozen vegetables to ones you pick from your own garden and eat right away, the garden veg will probably retain more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  But generally, people chose between fresh and frozen vegetables available at the supermarket.  Supermarket vegetables are rarely 'fresh'.  They often don't arrive on the produce shelves until nine days after being picked, and they can sit there for around four days before their sell-by date.

The nutritional value of vegetables begins to deteriorate as soon as they are harvested.  Fresh vegetables continue to lose nutrients while they are being sorted, packaged, transported and displayed.  Freezing vegetables immediately after harvest preserves them so that no further deterioration takes place.

Part of the freezing process involves blanching in steam or boiling water.  This is done to deactivate enzymes which could cause vegetables to lose flavour, colour and texture.  Blanching also cleans the vegetables and destroys microorganisms.  The only downside of this heating process is that is can reduce amounts of vitamin C, folate and thiamine.  However, the same thing happens when you cook fresh veg at home.

So, unless you are going to pick vegetables out of the ground and put them straight into your mouth, you won't get the full nutritional value.  If you are going to buy veg them from the supermarket and cook it, frozen will probably contain higher levels of nutrients than 'fresh'.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Why the Poor are Fatter than the Rich

When I was around ten years old, my mother had a friend who was an obese hippie.   I asked my mother how someone poor could be so fat.  She told me that all the cheapest food, like macaroni and cheese or hot dogs is fattening.

My mother was right.  An review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the relationship between obesity and diet quality, dietary energy density, and energy costs.  Among other things, they concluded that

  • Obesity rates are highest in population groups with the highest poverty rates.
  • There is an inverse relationship between calories per kilogram and cost per kilogram such that foods composed of refined grains, added sugars, or fats may represent the lowest-cost option to the consumer.
So how do you avoid becoming fat, unhealthy and prone to diabetes if you have a limited food budget?   If you have just £1 to spend on dinner, you can always buy some sort of processed ready meal.  It's not so easy to put together a healthy £1 dinner made with fresh ingredients.  It is possible though. With smart planning, shopping and cooking you can make something 'cheap as chips' that is far more nutritious. 

American Style Barbequed Pork with Beans and Rice

Here's something else you can do with cheap pork (see the previous post).



Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: four (depending on appetite)
Cost per serving: 95p

This is what it cost me, based on purchasing ingredients at the lowest price I could find.  This includes supermarket offers on produce and branded items as well as supermarket value-priced brands.


 Ingredients

  • 400 grams cold slow cooked pork leg or shoulder
  • Reserved juices from pork roast
  • 200 grams (a mugful) uncooked long grain rice
  • 150 grams frozen sliced mixed peppers or two sliced fresh peppers
  • 1 tin baked beans in tomato sauce
  • 2 medium brown onions
  • 125 grams (or so) barbeque sauce of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
  • 1 pork stock cube
  • 2 teaspoons cider vinegar (or more if you like tangy flavours)
  • 3 cloves chopped garlic or 1 heaping teaspoon garlic puree
  • black pepper to taste
  • hot chilli pepper to taste (a teaspoon is mild, a tablespoon is quite hot)


Put a large pan of water on the back burner, bring to the boil and add the rice, reduce the heat and simmer for around ten minutes.  Put a grain of rice on your thumb and stab it with your index fingernail.  If it breaks instantly, it's done.  Put the rice in a strainer, rinse with cold water and set aside.

 While the rice is cooking, chop the onions.  You can use a food processor if you have one.  I like to puree one onion and coarsely chop the other, but any size or texture will work, it's down to your preference.

Put the onions and garlic in a large saucepan and add enough pork stock to cover them.  Bring to a boil and stir in the stock cube.  Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. 



Stir in the barbeque sauce, ketchup, vinegar and black pepper.  Add a teaspoon of hot chilli powder.  Taste.  If you want a hotter sauce, add more in half teaspoon increments until you reach your desired level of spice.  If you're making this to share, keep other people's tastes in mind.

Add the pork, pulling apart any large chunks.  Don't worry about fatty pieces, they'll melt into yumminess.  Stir to coat in sauce and continue to simmer.  Add the peppers and beans.  When you're sure the frozen peppers have defrosted, stir in the rice.  Serve in bowls like chilli.



If you don't have a family of four or two big starving men to feed, save the leftovers in a microwavable container to heat and eat the following day

How to Handle a Big Cheap Hunk of Pork

Pork joints, particularly shoulder and leg, frequently go on special offer for around £3 a kilogram or less.  Check out the one I just bought for £2.66 a kilo. 

That is a big cheap hunk of meat!   If I had a crowd to serve, I could simply roast it and serve with gravy and vegetables.  But there's just two of us to feed and it's going to last all week and feature in a variety of meals.


The first step is to cook it.   My pack says to cook for 35 minutes per 450g plus 30 minutes at 190 C.  If you do this, I advise you to first seal the meat in a hob on the frying pan to help retain the juices.  Also, let it rest for 20 minutes or so before slicing.

I'm going to ignore the instructions and use my slow-cooker.  This method makes pork shoulder come out so tender it simply falls apart when you stick a fork in it.  If you want neat slices of roast, use the oven method.



Slow cookers are great for inexpensive cuts of meat that need to be tenderized.  You can just put in the ingredients for a stew in the morning and it will be ready in the evening.  You can get a basic slow cooker for about £15, or try advertising on a free-cycling group to see if anyone has a used one taking up space.


With this hunk of pork, I'm not going to add any flavours to the pot because I'll be using the cooked meat  in differently flavoured dishes.  I just pour about an inch of hot water into the cooker, plop in the meat and cover it.  I leave it on high heat for about an hour to get things going, then switch to low and leave it to slow roast overnight. 



The next day, I take out the pork and transfer it to a cutting board to cool.  I then slice off the crackling (which I'll crisp up later).  I pull apart the joint, removing any gristly or rubbery pieces of fat.  I chop up the meat into bite-sized pieces and store in a lidded container for later use.  The unwanted fat goes outside for the neighbourhood fox.



I pour the juices from the bottom of the slow cooker into a separate container.  This is essentially pork stock and can be used to add flavour and smooth texture to sauces.  It will gelatinize when refrigerated, but quickly melt when added to a hot pan. 



Ideas for using cold roast pork shoulder

  • American pulled pork sandwich
Reheat with juices and barbeque sauce.  Serve on a buttered bap with caramelized onions. 

  • Poor man's crispy, aromatic duck
Stir fry with juices, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and Chinese five spice powder.  Serve on Chinese pancakes with hoi sin sauce and sliced cucumber or spring onions.  

  • Use instead of minced beef to liven up chilli con carne or bolognaise.

About this blog


This blog is about good food where 'good' can mean both tasty and nutritious.  It's about cheap food because that's what I can afford.  I know from experience that people on limited budgets, with limited kitchen equipment can still cook wholesome, satisfying meals.  I intend to share cooking methods and recipes.
 
 
You'll get some weight loss tips along the way as well.  I was once obese, but dropped five stone simply by learning what foods to avoid.  I've kept to a healthy weight for five years now, so it must be working. 
 
 
I read a lot about health and nutrition, so I'll occasionally post on the topic and also critique food scare stories as they appear in the news.

By the way, this is a UK blog with UK food prices, but much of the information will be relevant to readers elsewhere.

I welcome questions and suggestions.