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Reduced Fat 'Steak and Potatoes' Dinner
By
Donald A. Miller, Ph.D.
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For some health commentators,
"steak and potatoes" symbolizes bad diet
practices.
The steak is usually from feed-lot fattened cattle, with
cuts that have a thick layer of fat along one edge, and
marbled fat distributed through the red meat. Such
marbling makes the meat tender and flavorful for present
tastes.
Whereas several ounces of meat per day suffices for
health, we tend to equate large servings with prosperity,
so 8 to 16 ounce steaks are typical, especially in
restaurants.
Range fed beef without fattening, or wild meats such as
consumed by our hunter ancestors, are not popular today,
but would be better for our health.
The potato, a healthful low fat high protein food, is
often served with added fat. Baked potatoes can be
smothered in butter, sour cream, or cheese. Mashed
potatoes can be fortified with butter, margarine, milk,
and salt. Too bad.
Often, the "steak and potatoes macho guy" goes
easy on low fat preparations of vegetables, salads,
fruits, like the knights of bygone days. Knights
considered vegetables to be foods only for farmers and
other peasants. For them, meat and alcoholic beverages
with some bread and cheese were the preferred fare. Pork
was eaten more than beef.
So what can the average person do who depends on grocery
stores for food? Seldom will non fattened four legged
meats be found there.
For meals prepared from ground meats, one can select 90 to
95 percent lean. As I have described elsewhere, one can
also replace a fourth to a half of the meat with extra
firm soy tofu, mashed with a fork, depending on the dish.
For steaks, one can select leaner cuts, such as round
steak. Broiling such cuts can make rather dry results, so
cooking in covered skillet, perhaps with some tomatoes or
tomato sauce, should be considered. Look in ethnic
cookbooks. Avoid barbecue or steak sauces which are high
in sugar, fructose, or oils.
Here's a trick I find useful. Combine 4 to 8 ounces of
lean ground beef with diced or dried garlic (not garlic
salt), some green herbs (e.g., Italian Seasoning), and one
to two teaspoons of real soy sauce or a sugar free steak
sauce. Shape the mix into a patty or steak shape. The
result can be fried or broiled. Portions can be wrapped in
plastic film for freezing, later to be thawed in
refrigerator, or at room temperature, or gently in a
microwave oven.
What about the poor potato? Here are several ways to
prepare with little or no fat added.
Baked Potato: use unsweetened yogurt for the topping.
Mashed Potato: instead of butter or margarine, make a very
concentrated solution of powdered skim milk in water. Add
cautiously, to avoid making potato soup.
Steamed: sliced potato, perhaps with carrots, can be
cooked in a pressure cooker, a steam cooker, or microwaved
in a covered dish. For the latter, mixing potato and
carrot slices will help keep the potato slices from
sticking together. Try microwaving from 3 to 7 minutes or
so, to not over cook, and to allow adding little or no
water.
Other than the soy sauce, a reduced salt version of one of
the better Japanese brands, I seldom add any salt to my
foods. People who perform physical labor, especially out
of doors, could need more salt and water than I do.
Remember that most prepared foods already contain salt and
sodium based preservatives.
Keep a few nutritional concepts in mind, and experiment. I
would like to hear of food inventions by my readers.
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