Lowfat Cooking Pointers

you guys help me out so much I feel that I owe you all something, I have a lot of knowledge in so her goes, can't thank you guys enough for all the info, action, kingmerc, badstone and a few others on here thank you.

So how do I make food taste good and be good for me. I know boneless skinless chicken breast is the most boring flavorless cut of meat out there but its great for our lifting needs. Pork nowadays is bred much leaner as long as you have the right cuts, pork tenderloin and hte loin are fairly lean, chicken thighs re great with all the fat trimmed off as well as the skin. unfortunately fat is waht makes good beef good beef and if I remeber correctly king your down in missouri or somewhere so you know how good beef is, down in the heartland.


So anyways taking lowfat cuts of meat and making them delicious isn't that time consuming or difficult. Marinades are your friend, marinades should always consist of an acid to start to denature the protein or tenderize it, lemon juice, orange juice, lime juice, wine, beer, vinegar all these things work great, some have worthless alories, but if you marinate your steak tips in some guinness, chopped onions, beef broth, and some A1 or barbecue sauce how many calories are you really getting from that beer.

Great marinade for steak tips as well as this one a package of hidden valley ranch and barbecue sauce, I know I did 4 years of culinary school but some htigns re easy and they work. THe golfers at my country club love these on the lunch menu, they go over an arugula salad with fried shallots maytag blue cheese, and a stone ground mustard vinaigrette, but the beef taste great trust me.

Also mustard dijon, or stone ground or whole grain has tons of flavor, chicken breats in a couple juiced oranges, couple limes and lemons with some dijon mustard. start with maybe 1/2 a jar of grey poupon in a bowl, then add all your citrus juices, and whisk in add some fresh cilantro or basil whatever fresh herb you like, thyme, rosemary works, maybe not dill oregano or marjoram works great, throw in your chicken breasts let marinate overnight and grill the next day. THE GRILL IS YOUR FRIEND anything that goes in a pan needs some kind of fat, but the grill it just oges right on the grates. Just make sure your grill is hot, very hot, also always season your meat with salt and pepper first and spray it liberally with non stick cooking spray, i.e. pam and you can achieve the perfect sear without any oil or butter.

I know theres niloc and his protein pancakes, scrap that, use the great recipes, Ithink king povided and make smoothies out of your protein powder its for drinking not cooking

also you know those vinegared peppers in the grocery store that liquid is a great marinade for pork chops or chicken. Use that with some dijon mustard and maybe some chicken broth, and some fresh lemon juice, whisk that up in a bowl pour over your chops let sit overnight, then grill. now if you want a sauce you could reserve some of that marinade before it goes on the chops and put aside the next day bring to a boil, and a great thickener with out having to use fat is wondra, I know its starch but its so little you sue, use it according to the cannister and you have a great sauce, lowfat.

SALAD DRESSINGS, use lowfat yogurt, red wine vinegar and peel and grate some cucmbers on a box grater add salt pepper fresh lemon juice, and maybe some dill or mint, which ever you prefer, great cucumber vinaigrette

Hidden valley ranch packet with nonfat yogurt and nonfat sour cream, or nonfat mayonnaise

It helps if you put the yogurt into a strainer lined with cheesecloth to remove some of the excess water, just makes it more substance like, but you dont have too

Also marinate pork chops in buttermilk, butermilk is an acid and is fat free, thats what everyone does with great fried chicken

any fat free salad dressing makes a grat marinade, marinades should be strongly acidic to the taste they do have to permeate the protein, and the meat will never soak up to much flavor, unless using soy sauce or something very salty, soy sauce draws out the moisture in the meat, so only marinate a few hours.

Also pork chops in apple cider with apple cider vinegar fresh squeezed orange juice, maybe tarragon or rosemary and some mustard great marinade

fresh herbs are huge in lowfat cooking, not the dried ones, theres a time and a place for them, but it takes a lot of cooking to really bring out the flavor of dried herbs. once you learn what fresh ones go with what, your good.

Seafood is tough on the grill it has to be smoking hot or it sticks, I live in Boston so we have the best seafood in the country, grilled lobsters brushed with a combination or reduced champagne, honey, chicken broth and lemon juice wonderful. Also honey is a great additive in a marinade its a natural sugar not refined bs, and the sugar in it will caramelize in your food on the grill ina fancy term called the maillard reaction. But sugars caremlize and brown and give your meat a nice crust and color as well as texture.

Shit you can par boil potatoes until they are fork tender dont over cook them they are gonna get marinaded and then back on the grill, and the lemon juice or acid in your marinade breaks down straches just like proteins. but par boil them let them cool, slice them in maybe 1/4 rounds marinade them in some fat free italian dressing for 3 hours then spray with pam and cook over a smoking hot grill, get some nice marks on them and toss in a little reserved vinaigrette and some fresh chopped parsley, do that with those nice vinagerred pork chops or citrus chicken, maybe with some grilled asparagus, and you've got chicks taking their clothes off before dessert trust me

Originally Posted by chefbrady12

Great marinade for steak tips as well as this one a package of hidden valley ranch and barbecue sauce, I know I did 4 years of culinary school but some htigns re easy and they work. THe golfers at my country club love these on the lunch menu, they go over an arugula salad with fried shallots maytag blue cheese, and a stone ground mustard vinaigrette, but the beef taste great trust me.

Man this makes my taste buds tingle! What exactly is the name & location of this country club?

Thanks Chef I cook alot. I will put this to good use.

Chef, you're a godsend...I'm gonna go out today and buy some of these products to marinate my meats with...

How about giving us some of your favourite recipes?

yeah they are nice things to use, just remeber cooking is all technique once you can make one cream soup you can make them all, they are all amde the same way just different ingredients, maybe cream of broccoli has cheddar and maybe some sherry, shen an asparagus soup might have pureed potatoes, white iwne, leeks, celery etc... but you still make them the same way

just do htings by taste, unless your making breads or pastries you can play around with the recipes. Pulled pork is great you can get a great bbq rub at the store or online. then sear off the pork shoulder on the grill or a very hot pan, put it in the crockpot with a can of tomatoes whole, maybe 2 a ber some chopped onions and garlic and let it go until you can shred it like 4 or 5 hours later

I'd rather first show you guys that cooking is easy and notice the techniques are all the same, aalmost all marinades, are basically vinaigrettes or dressings, with the exception of the hidden valley ranch and bbq steaks tips, and ones like that

i just got up having a coffee, I'm gonna work out for a few hours then I'll find some decent lowfat recipes for you guys