500 Low Sodium Recipes (54 page)

Brown

A quick sautéing, pan/oven broiling, or grilling done either at the beginning or end of meal preparation, often to enhance flavor, texture, or eye appeal.

Brush

Using a pastry brush, to coat a food such as meat or bread with melted butter, glaze, or other liquid.

Chop

To cut into irregular pieces.

Coat

To evenly cover food with flour, crumbs, or a batter.

Combine

To blend two or more ingredients into a single mixture.

Core

To remove the inedible center of fruits such as pineapples.

Cream

To beat butter or margarine, with or without sugar, until light and fluffy. This process traps in air bubbles, later used to create height in cookies and cakes.

Cut In

To work margarine or butter into dry ingredients.

Dash

A measure approximately equal to 1/16 teaspoon.

Deep-Fry

To completely submerge the food in hot oil. A quick way to cook some food and, as a result, this method often seems to seal in the flavors of food better than any other technique.

Dice

To cut into cubes.

Direct Heat

Heat waves radiate from a source and travel directly to the item being heated with no conductor between them. Examples are grilling, broiling, and toasting.

Dough

Used primarily for cookies and breads. Dough is a mixture of shortening, flour, liquid, and other ingredients that maintains its shape when placed on a flat surface, although it will change shape once baked through the leavening process.

Dredge

To coat lightly and evenly with sugar or flour.

Dumpling

A batter or soft dough formed into small mounds that are then steamed, poached, or simmered.

Dust

To sprinkle food lightly with spices, sugar, or flour for a light coating.

Fold

To cut and mix lightly with a spoon to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.

Fritter

Sweet or savory foods coated or mixed into batter, then deep-fried.

Fry

To cook food in hot oil, usually until a crisp brown crust forms.

Glaze

A liquid that gives an item a shiny surface. Examples are fruit jams that have been heated or chocolate that has been thinned.

Grease

To coat a pan or skillet with a thin layer of oil.

Grill

To cook over the heat source (traditionally over wood coals) in the open air.

Grind

To mechanically cut a food into small pieces.

Hull

To remove the leafy parts of soft fruits such as strawberries or blackberries.

Knead

To work dough with the heels of your hands in a pressing and folding motion until it becomes smooth and elastic.

Marinate

To combine food with aromatic ingredients to add flavor.

Mince

To chop food into tiny irregular pieces.

Mix

To beat or stir two or more foods together until they are thoroughly combined.

Panfry

To cook in a hot pan with a small amount of hot oil, butter, or other fat, turning the food over once or twice.

Poach

Simmering in a liquid.

Pot Roast

A large piece of meat, usually browned in fat, cooked in a covered pan.

Puree

Food that has been mashed or sieved.

Reduce

To cook liquids down so that some of the water they contain evaporates.

Roast

To cook uncovered in the oven.

Sauté

To cook with a small amount of hot oil, butter, or other fat, tossing the food around over high heat.

Sear

To brown a food quickly on all sides using high heat to seal in the juices.

Shred

To cut into fine strips.

Simmer

To cook slowly in a liquid over low heat.

Skim

To remove the surface layer (of impurities, scum, or fat) from liquids such as stocks and jams while cooking. This is usually done with a flat slotted spoon.

Smoke

To expose foods to wood smoke to enhance their flavor and help preserve and/or evenly cook them.

Steam

To cook in steam by suspending foods over boiling water in a steamer or covered pot.

Stew

To cook food in liquid for a long time until tender, usually in a covered pot.

Stir

To mix ingredients with a utensil.

Stir-fry

To cook quickly over high heat with a small amount of oil by constantly stirring. This technique often employs a wok.

Toss

To mix ingredients lightly by lifting and dropping them using two utensils.

Whip

To beat an item to incorporate air, augment volume, and add substance.

Zest

The thin, brightly colored outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. It contains volatile oils, used as a flavoring.

First of all, a quick refresher on measurements.

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon

2 tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce

4 tablespoons = 2 fluid ounces = ¼ cup

5
⅓
tablespoons =

16 teaspoons =
⅓
cup

8 tablespoons = 4 fluid ounces = ½ cup

16 tablespoons = 8 fluid ounces = 1 cup

2 cups = 1 pint

4 cups = 2 pints = 1 quart

16 cups = 8 pints = 4 quarts = 1 gallon

Metric Conversions

One of the questions that my newsletter readers have raised is whether I could also publish recipes with metric measurements. This would certainly be a good idea, since most of the world uses the metric system. Unfortunately, the software I use doesn’t have a way to automatically convert from US to metric measurements. There are some measurements that I can give you an easy conversion for, such as Fahrenheit to Celsius oven temperatures. Other things are not so easy. The information below is intended to be helpful to those readers who use the metric system of weights and measurements.

Measurements of Liquid Volume

The following measurements are approximate, but close enough for most, if not all, of the recipes in this book.

1 quart = 1 liter

1 cup = 250 milliliters

¾ cup = 200 milliliters

½ cup = 125 milliliters

⅓
cup = 105 milliliters

¼ cup = 60 milliliters

1 fluid ounce = 30 milliliters

1 tablespoon = 15 milliliters

1 teaspoon = 5 milliliters

Measurements of Weight

Much of the world measures dry ingredients by weight, rather than volume, as is done in the United States. There is no easy conversion for this, as each item is different. However, the following conversions may be useful.

1 ounce = 28.4 grams

1 pound = 454 grams (about half a kilo)

Oven Temperatures

Finally, we come to one that is relatively straightforward, the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion.

100°F = 38°C

150°F = 66°C

200°F = 95°C

225°F = 110°C

250°F = 120°C

275°F = 140°C

300°F = 150°C

325°F = 170°C

350°F = 180°C

375°F = 190°C

400°F = 200°C

425°F = 220°C

450°F = 230°C

475°F = 240°C

500°F = 250°C

The following are some of the tools that I use in cooking. Some are used very often and some very seldom, but all help make things a little easier or quicker. Why are some things here and others not? No reason except that I consider most of these a little less standard than a stove, oven, grill, and mixer.

Blender

Okay, so everyone has a blender. And it’s a handy little tool for blending and pureeing things. I don’t really think I need to say any more about that.

Bread Machine

One of the biggest single changes that you can make to reduce your sodium intake is to make your own bread. Most commercial bread has well over 100 mg per slice. Many rolls and specialty breads are in the 300 to 400 mg range. A bread machine can reduce the amount of effort required to make your own bread to a manageable level. It takes at most 10 minutes to load it and turn it on. You can even set it on a timer to have your house filled with the aroma of fresh bread when you come home. And you have the satisfaction of knowing that great taste of warm bread is accompanied by a single-digit sodium count.

Canning Kettle

If you are planning on making batches of things like pickles and salsa in volume so you don’t have to go through the process every couple of weeks, then you are going to need a way to preserve things. Most items can be frozen, of course, if that is your preference. But some things just seem to me to work better in jars. What you need is a kettle big enough to make sure the jars can be covered by water when being processed in a boiling water bath. There are also racks to sit the jars in and special tongs to make lifting them in and out of the water easier. I’ve used a porcelain-covered kettle for a lot of years, and it also doubled as a stockpot before I got the one described on page 494. It’s better for canning than for soup because the relatively thin walls allow the water to heat faster (and the soup to burn).

Deep Fryer

Shhh … don’t tell those people who think I’m being good about my fat intake about this. I don’t use it nearly as often as I used to, but it still occupies a place of honor in the appliance garage in the corner of the kitchen counter. It’s a Fry Daddy, big enough to cook a batch of fries or fish for 3 to 4 people at a time.

Food Processor

I’m a real latecomer to the food processor world. It always seemed like a nice thing to have, but something I could easily do without. We bought one to help shred meat and other things for my wife’s mother, who was having some difficulty swallowing large chunks of food. I use it now all the time to grind bread into crumbs or chop the peppers and onions that seem to go into at least three meals a week. It’s a low-end model that doesn’t have the power to grind meat and some of the heavier tasks, but I’ve discovered it’s a real time-saver for a number of things.

Contact Grill

The George Foreman models are the most popular example of this item. My son’s girlfriend gave me this for Christmas a few years ago.
(And he didn’t have the good sense to hang on to her … but that’s a different story.) I use it at least once a week, sometimes more. When we built our house we included a Jenn-Air cooktop with a built-in grill, and for years that was used regularly. It still is for some things … I much prefer the way it does burgers or steak when it’s too cold to grill them outside, but it’s difficult to clean and doesn’t do nearly as nice a job as the Foreman at things like grilled veggies and fish.

Grinder

MANY years ago we bought an Oster Kitchen Center. It was one of those all-in-one things that included a stand mixer, blender (the one we still use), food chopper, and a grinder attachment. The grinder was never a big deal that got any use … until I started experimenting with sausage recipes when I went on the low sodium diet. Since then I’ve discovered that grinding your own meat can save you both money and fat. Buying a beef or pork roast on sale, trimming it of most fat, and grinding it yourself can give you hamburger or sausage meat that is well over 90 percent lean and still less expensive than the fattier stuff that you buy at the store. So now the grinder gets fairly regular use.

Hand Chopper

My daughter got this gem at a Wal-Mart in North Carolina while she was in school there. It was from one of those guys with the podium and the auctioneer’s delivery and the extra free gifts if you buy it within the next 10 minutes. Neither of us has ever seen one like it since. The food processor has taken over some of its work, but it still does a great job chopping things like onions as fine as you could want without liquefying them.

Pasta Maker

I bought this toy after seeing it on a Sunday morning TV infomercial. It’s a genuine Ronco/Popiel “As Seen On TV” special, but try not to hold that against it. Unlike the pasta cutters that merely slice rolled dough into flat noodles, this one mixes the whole mess then extrudes it through dies with various-shaped holes in them. The recipes say you can use any kind of flour, but I’ve found that buying the semolina flour that is traditionally used for pasta gives you dough that’s easier to work with, as well as better texture and flavor. The characterization of it as a “toy” is pretty accurate. There aren’t really any nutritional advantages over store-bought pasta. If you buy the semolina, the cost is probably about the same as some of the more expensive imported pasta. But it’s fun to play with, makes a great conversation piece, and the pasta tastes good.

Salad Shooter

We seem to end up with a lot of these gadgets, don’t we? This is another one that’s been around for a while, but it’s still my favorite implement for shredding potatoes for hash browns or cabbage for coleslaw.

Sausage Stuffer

This is really an addition to the Kitchen Center grinder. I found it at an online appliance repair site. It is really just a series of different-size tubes that fit on the end of the grinder to stuff your ground meat into casings. I do this occasionally to make link sausage, but most of the time I just make patties or bulk sausage.