salt shakers |
For ages now, we have been depriving ourselves of the adequate joy of eating. Our kitchens have been like somebody using the same type of perfume for long, people get to be aware of his presence without seeing him. I have been to places where I get the same consistency, taste and aroma of food over and over again. I am not blaming anybody, I am only hinging on the fact that some steps and processes taken in the kitchen are not just bad but also depriving us of the nutrients, taste and aroma of the food we ought to enjoy.
I have tasted a particular kind of food but cooked by different people, using different techniques. While I just pray to finish some meal in time, I virtually cried joyfully from the exquisite burst of flavours dancing around my taste buds (yes, food can do that do). Here are the mistakes done on a daily basis in our kitchen that is bad.
1.
OVERCOOKED FOODS: These has been a big threat to the nutrients in our food for ages. I have heard people say cooking food for a long time will increase it shelf life. This is a big misconception, as there are foods that are allowed to be cooked for a long time but not stew, eggs, rice, pasta and other food that stand the risk of nutrients depletion when over cooked. On average, the highest time to boil an egg is 10 minutes, rice in a boiling water, 15-20 minutes, paste 10- 12 minutes and more.
2.
HEAT INTENSITY: Another big mistake that we make is in the heat regulation in our kitchen. Food naturally have a reactions when in contact with heat. Egg, meat and other protein food coagulate and becomes strong when heated up. Rice, potatoes and other carb foods becomes soft when heated up. Now the problem is knowing the amount of heat needed to get food cooked. The truth is food will surely get cooked when the heat is slow or high but the reaction of the food to heat matters. Some food create a taste and flavour expulsion when exposed to high heat while others will only do the same thing when the heat is low. When cooking meats, do it with low heat. High heat makes the protein in the meat to coagulate sharply, close the spores in the meat, thereby creating no room for the herbs, spices and other condiments to penetrate the meat.
In another manner, fry your food in hot oil, to prevent the food from getting soaked in oil, thereby making it oily (like the ones you see in some puff puff).
3.
WHEN TO ADD SALT: This is a dilemma which should be treated on it own, but lets just have a clue here. Even with the fact that salt is essential in the kitchen it can disrupt our cooking if not properly used. Always season meat and fish hours before cooking. This will give it time to penetrate the meat and fish before cooking. Salt drys out the water in food, so it is recommended that you add salt to your soup few minutes before you finish cooking.
4.
QUANTITY OF SALT TO ADD: One of the challenges faced in the kitchen today is the challenge of the quantity of salt to add, How much salt should be added to rice? Is there a fixed quantity of salt to add to measured product? How do I reduce the salt content in my food? These and many more questions is still left unanswered and people still get salt phobic in the kitchen. Let me answer most of these questions with this approach. The use of salt in cooking is based mostly on forethought and foresight. Except you are following a recipe or a ratio, salt should be added almost before the food finish cooking. And do not forget that the daily recommended intake of salt for an average man is 2300- 2800 mg per day, which is like 2 teaspoon per day. Excess salt has accounted for high blood pressure, stroke and other down sides to our health. Some food substance like seasoning cubes, already contains salt, so watch the salt you are adding to your food. Before adding salt to your food all these should be considered and that will give you a good insight on how to add salt. A quick tip: add potatoes to soups, stew and other foods to reduce salt in the food.
5.
USE OF EXCESS BAD OIL: The campaign for good oil for good health is not strong in Nigeria. That is why you can still see oils that turns solid at room temperature in the market today. This oil is bad for the our health and in your food, it spoils the flavour and reduce the joy of eating. The use of vegetable oil like canola, groundnut, sunflower and olive oil is the best. People then worsen the case by adding so much oil to the stew that you see as much as 5 cm of oil above the sauce or stew. You then see people demanding for extra oil added to their pasta, rice and so on. Try to reduce fat anywhere and anytime possible.
6.
UNNECESSARY WASHING OF FOOD: Okay, I don't want to judge or complain, you are just try to leave a healthy life(I get it), but why wash or even rinse pasta (spaghetti especially) before cooking. It makes no sense. It does not totally remove the starch anyway. When your have a kitchen that is clean and tidy, then you don't need to wash onions before slicing, pasta before cooking, even chicken when not roughly handled. Do not get me wrong, there are food we need to wash because of the nature of it. we wash rice because we cook it and because rice in the market are exposed. We need not wash spaghetti because we are boiling it. Do not peel your onions excessively. Research have shown that the outer layers contains minerals that is good for our health, and these mineral reduces as you dig in.
7.
EXCESSIVE USE OF MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE: MSG as it fondly called has been a debate that as raise so much debate in the past and presently. MSG is an addictive added to food item to enhance taste. MSG is adequately much in many Nigeria food products, like the seasonings in noodles, seasoning cubes, instant noodles and lots more.Many industries try to disguise it from general public by putting it code number E621, instead. It is much more in the white grainy seasoning powder that lurks around the cupboards in our kitchens. MSG indeed enhances taste and makes our soups taste meatier. But on the other hand, there are some side effects of MSG to our health. If you notice, you tend to use the toilet more often when you eat food cooked with so much seasoning cubes or the white grainy powder. That is because MSG causes diabetes, adrenal gland malfunction, seizures, high blood pressure, excessive weight gain, stroke and other health problems. Try as much as possible to eliminate MSG in you diet.
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