You Can Go Greaseless Too with Waterless Stainless Steel Cookware

While our bodies need a certain amount of fat in our diets, most of us get much more than we should.  It is important to note that not all fats are bad fats.  In fact, fat is an essential part of our diet.  However, we don't need very much and most of us include much more in our diets than we actually need.  Unfortunately eliminating bad fat is not always as easy as one would think.  True we can avoid the obvious bad fat by cutting back on fried and greasy foods, but bad fat often hides in many of our food products. The American Heat Association recommends that individuals limit their intake of saturated fat to 10 ' 20 grams per day depending on one degree of health risk.  Following are several recommendations to reduce the unhealthy saturated and trans fats in your diet.

• Think fruits and vegetables.  With the exception of avocados and olives, fruits and vegetables have zero fat.  In addition to the many vitamins found in fruits, they also are a great source of healthy complex carbohydrates and fiber.
• Increase your intake of fiber.  Whole-wheat, corn, oats, rice, split peas, beans (pinto, navy, red, black), and barley are all excellent sources of fiber.
• Never use any solid shortening.  The fats in solid shortening are hydrogenated, which means they contain both trans-fatty acids and saturated fat.  Use liquid oil.  While all liquid vegetables oils contain some saturated fat, some have more than others.  The two oils most recommended are olive oil and canola oil.  Canola oil should be used for the limited frying that you do and olive oil is best suited for vinaigrette salad dressings and as a dip for breads.
• Eat fish twice a week.  Fish contains omega-3 oil that seems to prevent platelet cells from getting sticky, cutting down the tendency for blood clots to form.
• Increase the skinless chicken and turkey servings per week.    At the same time, reduce the amount of red meat consumed on a weekly basis.

Reducing the amount of fat or cooking oils in cooking can help you to reduce calories and help you lower cholesterol levels, both key factors in maintaining a healthy heart. Cooking with waterless cookware allows us the option of cooking waterless and greaseless.

 How to Cook Meats the Greaseless Way

All meats and poultry contain juices, most of it being water. However, meats and poultry also contain some fat. When cooking with waterless, greaseless cookware, trim all the visible fat from the meat before cooking. Then you can pan broil the meat without adding fats or oils to the pan.

Preheat your pan at medium or medium-high heat.  After approximately 3 minutes, test the surface with a few water droplets.  If the droplets dance across the surface, the pan is hot enough to brown the meat and seal in juices.

When you are browning the meat, it will stick initially.   Do not cover the pan until the meat loosens (this usually takes about 5 minutes). To prevent any grease from splattering, you can cover partially, leaving the cover slightly ajar.   When the meat loosens, turn it to brown on the other side.   At this point, cover the pan, leaving the vent open.

Continue cooking according to your recipe.   Normally, cooking time is about 5 to 10 minutes for steaks, chops, cutlets, or boneless chicken.   If you have thicker cuts of beef or poultry with bones, that time could be longer.

Why Cook Greaseless?

Unfortunately, oven broiling and roasting can dry out and shrink your meat. Oven broiling subjects meat to extremely high temperatures with only a few inches of air. The high temperatures involved in broiling sometimes results in the meat being cooked through before the outside surface is actually browned.  Oven broiling should be limited to relatively think and tender cuts of meat like chops, steaks, fish, or pieces of poultry. 

While all of us love cooking outside on the barbecue, barbecue grilling deposits harmful hydrocarbons on meat.  When grilling, the very high temperatures at the meat's surface are ideal for a caramelized (browning) reaction.  Caramelizing is the process of bringing the natural salts and sugars of the meat to the surface for a crisp outer surface. This is what gives a grilled steak that fantastic taste.  However, the high temperatures can also burn the fat. The liquefied fat drops on the hot surface can create smoke and potentially carcinogenic hydrocarbons.  If this is deposited on the meat, this can be dangerous to your health.

There are many advantages to cooking using the waterless, greaseless method of cooking.  Foods will cook faster, at lower temperatures and in their own natural juices.  Not only is the food better for you, but the taste is unparalleled.  While you will certainly enjoy the unique flavor of foods cooked in their natural juices, the most important benefit of waterless cookware is its nutritional value.  Consider the purchase of waterless cookware an investment in your family's health.   If you have more questions about