In the Kitchen with Sidra: Broiling Basic

A quick cooking trick for giving foods a delicious charred, caramelized taste without having to use much fat: Broil it. Similar to grilling, broiling involves applying direct heat to food. (For this reason, it's key to keep a close eye on your food so you don't burn it.)

You can put lean cuts of meat, fish and poultry as well as vegetables, under the broiler. I find that thinly sliced vegetables, medium to thin slices of red meat, fillets of fish and individual pieces of chicken—as opposed to a whole chicken—are ideal for this method of cooking. (Fatty cuts of meat cooked under the broiler will splatter, making a big mess in the oven and leaving your kitchen very smoky.)  When broiling, be sure to leave your oven door slightly ajar—this will keep the thermostat from going too high and will prevent the broiler flame from cutting off.

Before broiling, set your oven to broil and preheat your pan. (If you're cooking meat or poultry, be sure to use a two-piece broiling pan, which allows the fat to drip off your food while cooking. For vegetables or fish, a regular sheet pan will work.) Once the pan is hot, remove from oven and place your food in the pan quickly, while it's still hot. This will give you better results because the food will sear immediately when it touches the hot pan, sealing in moisture and flavor. Turn the food over or stir smaller pieces about midway through the cooking process.

For red meat and poultry, use a thermometer to make sure your meat is finished cooking. And remember that even after you remove meat from the oven, it will continue to cook for at least a few minutes. Below is a rough guide to broiling times, which you can use as a starting place. Specific cooking times will be greatly affected by the thickness and density of the food you're cooking, the distance between your oven rack and the broiler and the intensity of your broiler.

Broiling Times
• Beef (1¼-inch-thick cut or thinner) — 1½ to 4 minutes per side
• Chicken breast — 3 to 5 minutes per side
• Fish fillet — 1 to 3 minutes per side  
• Vegetables — 1 to 5 minutes per side

Meats that Make the Grade

While cruising the options at the beef counter, do you ever wonder what "grade" of beef is better for your waistline? The USDA grades beef according to the amount of marbling (aka fat) in the cut. While there are actually eight grades of beef, consumers will only see the following three in grocery stores:

Prime: Abundant marbling
Choice: Moderate marbling
Select: Slight marbling

Choice and select grades not only have less fat and fewer calories than prime, but they're also less expensive. Buy choice or select grades of beef, rather than prime, as often as possible.

Safe Grilling Strategies

It's officially barbecue season, and the familiar smoky smell of neighbors' dinners has been wafting into my window—a reminder of the joys and perils of grilling your food. While grilling is an incredibly lean way to cook, it does have a dark side. Cooking food over a high, open flame can produce carcinogens, or cancer-causing substances. Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are caused by a chemical reaction that occurs when muscle meat is combined with intense heat. (They're not just found in barbecued meats. Pan-frying, electric grilling or broiling can also produce HCAs.) And polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are found inbarbecue smoke. So, anything that makes the grill smokier—like fat thatdrips from the food and hits the coals or flame—produces even more PAHs. Then, the chemical-laden smoke gets absorbed by your food. Unfortunately, these are equal-opportunity chemicals, affecting meats,veggies and bread.

Before you hang up your spatula, there are a few ways you can safeguard yourself and still have your grilled chicken, burgers and other summer favorites. Use these tips to minimize your risks:

• Marinate. Using a marinade made from grainy mustard, vinegar, lemon, lime, olive oil, garlic, salt and brown sugar, scientists from Lawrence Livermore Labs in Livermore, California, got rid of 95 percent of HCAs in poultry. They're still not sure how it works; it may have to do with the marinade cooling down the meat. Any oil-and-vinegar marinade should be protective.

• Flip regularly. Another study from Livermore Labs found that turning burgers every minute reduced HCA formation by up to 99 percent compared to burgers that were flipped every five minutes.

• Microwave. Zapping meat to a half-cooked state before grilling removes some of the substances that react to heat and greatly reduces the chances of creating HCAs.

• Cook on the cooler part of the grill. Move food to the edge of the grill or to a spot where food won't drip directly on the heat source. If your propane or gas grill has a "dual burner," turn one burner off and cook on the other side.

• Buy lower fat meats, chicken and fish. Reduce the amount of fat that drips onto the grill, and you'll reduce the amount of PAH that's created. You can also opt for plant-basedfoods, such as vegetables or tofu, which are lower in fat than meats.

• Regulate temperature. The heat should be high enough to cook food thoroughly, but low enough to prevent charring.

• Douse. Use a squirt bottle to douse flames that get too high.

• Avoid mesquite. Burning this wood generates lots of PAHs. Instead, use oak or hickory.

• Steam vegetables in advance. That way, they spend less time on the grill and have less of a chance to absorb smoke.

For more healthy-eating advice, check out TheBestLife.com.

Start Summer off on the Right Foot

Celebrating Memorial Day with a barbecue or day at the beach? Use these Best Life tips to stay on track:

Slim down BBQ standards.
Making a few healthy swaps can save you hundreds of calories. For example, if you throw a four-ounce burger made with 90-percent lean ground beef on the grill instead of a regular burger, you'll cut 50 calories. Opt for a squirt of lime instead of three pats of butter on your corn on the cob to trim 150 calories.

Use your grill for good.
For a lighter side or dessert, choose a grilled veggie or fruit dish. Try sweet peppers, onions, fennel, peaches, apples and more. Grilled fruit and veggies are often more flavorful than fresh or boiled versions.

Get active outdoors.
Instead of sitting and chatting with friends or family, get moving. Toss a Frisbee with family for an hour to burn 155 calories. Or round up some friends for a game of touch football; play for an hour and torch as many 670 calories.

For more great weight-loss tips, check out TheBestLife.com.

Meat 101

 

Check out five commonly asked questions about meat and the straight answers you need to know to make the healthiest buys at your grocery store.

Why are there no Nutrition Facts labels on fresh beef, poultry or seafood?
When the nutrition labeling law went into effect in the early 1990s, fresh meat, poultry, and seafood were given a pass because of industry opposition to government regulation. But obviously, consumers need nutrition labels to make informed decisions, and Congress is now considering legislation that would require nutrition labels on all raw meat and poultry products. In the meantime, ask your grocer or butcher—many supermarkets post nutrition information on posters or in brochures in the store.

Is the color of meat the best indication of its freshness?
No. Because the color of fresh meat is highly unstable, it can change simply because of exposure to oxygen during packaging and/or exposure to store lighting while on display. If you're concerned about the freshness of your meat, check for an off odor or a sticky, slimy texture. If the meat has developed these characteristics, it is probably spoiled and should not be used.  

What percentage of "lean ground beef" is really lean?
Lots of people who purchase "80 percent lean" ground beef think they are choosing wisely. But the truth is, 80 percent lean ground beef is not so lean. That's because 20 percent of that meat is still fat. For the leanest pick, look for ground beef that is at least 92 percent lean. Also keep in mind that ground poultry can have as much fat as ground beef because it often includes dark meat and skin. Opt for ground breast meat or low-fat ground chicken or turkey instead.  

What does it mean if your meat is "enhanced?"
Enhanced meat has been injected with or soaked in a salt solution or broth to keep it moist and improve its flavor. While this might sound like a good pick, most enhanced chicken is two to three times higher in sodium than non-enhanced cluckers, and enhanced pork is up to five times higher. Too much sodium in the diet can cause high blood pressure, which increases your risk for heart disease. So how can you tell if the meat you're putting in your cart is enhanced? Check the ingredient list for sodium or salt, and check the product label for statements, such as "self-basting" or "percent solution" or "broth," all terms that indicate that salt may have been added. And keep in mind that raw meat contains some naturally occurring sodium. For example, an ounce of chicken contains about 20 milligrams (mg) of naturally occurring sodium, so a four-ounce breast starts out with
80 mg of sodium before it's injected.

For more healthy-eating advice, check out TheBestLife.com.