Category - Food

I reckon that Salt Awareness Week ran concurrently with Clueless Week, with participants in the latter generating publicity for the former. While reading a shock-horror story about salt in crumpets, I discovered this MSN news feed on the subject and, as a chemist, immediately realised that those responsible for Salt Awareness Week – some idiots claiming to be ‘doctors’ at treated.com – haven’t got a clue.

As an aside, I bought some of the usual Christmas provisions from Asda this week. One item was a Gala Pie which, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a bit like a pork pie with a hard boiled egg in the middle. I had a slice of it today and I can only describe the taste as something akin to eating cardboard wrapped around raw tofu. In other words, flavourless – and this is purely a result of it having no salt in it.

I’ve written about salt many times before (use the site’s search field to find posts), pointing out that there is no conclusive evidence that salt is bad for you unless you eat a bucket of it a day (and a bucket of spring water would also probably kill you). In most cases, my point has been that taking salt out of food renders it flavourless, since salt is a flavour enhancer.

Current ‘wisdom’ says that you should not eat more than 6g of salt a day (around one teaspoon). Since salt is a chemical compound of sodium and chlorine, and it is the sodium which is the alleged problem, 6g of salt is equivalent to about 2.4g of sodium. But what these ‘experts’ fail to clarify or delve into is that many natural foods contain sodium in the first place. A 100g portion of virtually any fish contains at least a fifth of your daily recommended daily sodium intake (RDA). A similar portion of any cheese contains between a fifth and more than a half of your RDA. Almost any unprocessed food item contains sodium in measurable amounts, so you’re going to get sodium whether you like it or not.

Without getting into the minefield of whether 6g of salt applies just to added salt or all sodium from any source, let’s get back to that Salt Awareness thing. They had identified the top 20 ‘saltiest snacks’ and expressed the results ‘per 100g. Thus, Peperami was no. 2 on the list as having 4.1g of salt. The problem is that a single Peperami only weighs 25g, and that ‘shocking’ figure assumes that you eat four of them.

They also dissed Space Raiders Pickled Onion snacks, at no. 3,  for having 3.3g of salt. Except that a single 22g pack of these only contains about 0.6g of salt. You can see how misleading this is.

At no. 14 was Babybel, those little cheese circles you can buy, with 1.8g of salt. A single Babybel weighs 22g, and so contains  only 0.4g of salt.

At no. 16 there was the obligatory slur on Heinz’s Tomato Ketchup, also with 1.8g of salt. But a typical serving of ketchup is about the same weight as a Babybel, so again only contains 0.4g of salt.

And my favourite one is Dairylea Cheese Triangles, with 1.7g of salt. A single triangle weighs 17.5g, so you’d have to eat almost the whole pack to be anywhere near 1.7g.

Then there is Hellman’s Mayonnaise, with 1.6g of salt. Except that depending on how you use it, a single serving of Hellman’s can be as little as 10g – or less than 0.2g of salt.

The fact that there are people who are so stupid as to eat ten Peperamis or half a bottle of ketchup in a single sitting is irrelevant. The fact remains that the figures provided are purposely misleading about a subject which no one understands.

On the surface of it, this story from Cosmopolitan (no, I don’t read it – this was an MSN aggregate feed) had me all “ooh! I must try that”. But then I did a quick, mental reality check.

In the real world, potatoes usually have ‘eyes’ and other bits you don’t want. If they are anything other than straight out of the ground, they develop various dark patches which extend several millimetres deep into the flesh. Store-bought ones may have gashes which go deeper still. And however hard you try to stop them, they WILL start to sprout – especially in warmer weather. Some will have odd, natural, and very deep creases – almost as if two potatoes have fused together, but retained their individual identities.

I gave up peeling potatoes using a knife many years ago. My favoured way of peeling spuds is to use a peeler like this one (this is the OXO Good Grips Peeler, but I have used others over the years).

It also peels carrots, swedes, and pretty much anything else with a skin. The best part is that if you have an ‘eye’ or other blemish, you just give it a few more scrapes and take it down until the unwanted feature has been pared away. You can peel enough potatoes for four people in just a few minutes, and you NEVER cut yourself (unless you’re stupid).

The potatoes – well, I should say ‘potato’, since there is only one featured – used in the demonstration video are absolutely perfect. Nothing like those you’d want to peel at home.

This ‘new’ method involves cutting a slit in the skin, then placing the potato in boiling water. It effectively cooks the flesh next to the skin, which therefore goes soft, and the skin then appears to come off just like sliding off a glove. I might give it a try next time I get a chance, but in all honesty I think my peeler is probably much less bother.

Incidentally, if you buy potatoes in bulk like I do – whole sacks of Maris Pipers – they stay fresh MUCH longer if you transfer them to a proper Hessian (Burlap in America) potato sack. Store the sack in a cool dark place.

I covered dry roasted peanuts in that last article, noting how expensive they can be. Cashews have always been a hundred times worse – with peanuts, at least you get a few handfuls. A typical bag of cashews is likely to contain less than 20 nuts and cost at least twice the price of the peanuts!

You can buy raw cashews for as little as £1.15 per 100g if you buy 1kg bags, and all you need after that is salt (use sea salt because it has no additives).

In a saucepan, place ½ tbsp salt and about 100-150 mls of water. Bring to the boil and let the salt dissolve. Then add 500g of raw cashews. Stir to make sure that all the cashews are coated with the salt water and keep stirring carefully until the water is absorbed/evaporates. Remove from the heat and turn out on to baking parchment laid in a baking tray.

Place in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 4, 180°C, 350°F) for exactly 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, use a spatula to turn the cashews, or simply tip them into the baking tray. Don’t exceed 20 minutes, as they burn easily.

Take the tray out of the oven and allow the nuts to cool to room temperature. Store in airtight containers or bags. They will – or should, if you didn’t over-cook them – look like those in the photo above.

If you think they’re too salty, use half the amount of salt next time. And if you just want to roast them, do everything outlined above but without the bit where you add salt!

I recently started hankering after dry roasted peanuts as a result of buying a packet for snacking purposes one sunny afternoon. The immediate and most obvious drawback to this ever becoming a regular snack item was the price – nearly £2 for small bag (roasted cashews are even more expensive – more on that in this article). Even the most heavily discounted KP nuts (the best ones) work out at nearly 70p per 100g.

That got me going on one of my make-your-own projects, and this recipe is what I came up with.

You can buy raw, blanched, skinless peanuts for well under £5 per kg (that’s less than 50p per 100g). All you need after that is a jar of Marmite (from any large grocery store), onion powder (also from most large grocers in small jars, or in various pack sizes online), garlic powder (ditto), honey, and sea salt (no additives, so don’t use table salt).

All you need to do is place the following in a saucepan (with a lid available):

• ½ tbsp salt
• ½ tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tbsp Marmite
• ½ tbsp honey
• 4-6 tbsp (approx) water

Gently bring it to the boil while stirring continuously using a small whisk to break up any lumps, then simmer while still stirring for a minute or so. Remove from the heat, add 500g of raw peanuts, and put the lid on the saucepan. Toss the nuts until they’re all completely coated with the sticky brown syrup (invert the pan several times to make sure).

Turn out the coated nuts on to baking parchment laid inside a baking tray of some sort and spread them out into a single layer. Roast gently in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 4, 180°C, 350°F) for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the nuts using a spatula, or simply tip them off the parchment on to the baking tray. They will over-cook extremely easily, so stick to exactly 20 minutes (maybe even less if you have a fan-assisted oven).

Take the tray out of the oven and allow the nuts to cool to room temperature. Store in airtight containers or bags. They will – or should, if you didn’t over-cook them – look like those in the photo above.

If you think they’re too salty when you taste them, next time try using half the amount of salt (Marmite is already salty, of course).

Are dry roasted peanuts healthy?

If raw peanuts are classed as “healthy”, the only thing in this recipe that makes them any less so is the sodium (salt) content. You have to face the fact that for many things to taste good, you need salt to act as a flavour enhancer.

Having said that, the amount of salt in an entire batch of these nuts is less than the recommended maximum daily amount of around 2.5g. So unless you scoffed 500g all in one go there would be no issue – and quite honestly, unless you have high blood pressure, exceeding 2.5g now and again isn’t going to hurt you. I’m not saying you should, just that you’re not going to die on the spot if you do.

I get quite a few hits on this exact search term. I’ve said in my own recipes that you can’t make a decent curry (or Chinese, for that matter) without oil and salt – so if you’re looking for a low-calorie, low-sodium meal without either of those you’re going to have to get used to it tasting a fair bit different to one that’s made the proper way if you start leaving these ingredients out.

Oil (or fat) has a number of functions depending on what it is that you’re cooking. Simple pan frying, for example, uses oil as a lubricant and you can get away with – say – frying an egg without oil (or with the tiniest amount) if you use a good non-stick pan. It will taste slightly different, but passable. Bacon and sausages contain their own fat and so the cooked taste isn’t affected as much if you “dry” fry them (though they might be a bit dry).

When deep-frying, though – and I’ll get to the curry question later – it is the fact that oil boils at a high temperature which is the really important factor. Consider making chips (or French fries). Your potatoes are cut up and ready to go. If you drop them in boiling water (which boils at 100°C), 10 minutes or so later you simply end up with boiled potatoes – still edible, but nothing like chips or fries. However, oils like Sunflower and Rapeseed Oil (Canola) can be heated to close to 200°C, which is almost at their smoke point. The smoke point is when the oil begins to (obviously) smoke and alter its chemical structure (i.e. to break down), and this influences the taste of whatever it is you’re cooking. It’s also why you can’t use the same oil too many times, as it degrades and begins to taste bad (it can also become toxic, as unsaturated fats break down into saturated ones and other chemicals are produced).

When you drop your chipped potatoes into the hot oil, the water in them starts to boil and escape as steam – this is why the pan appears to “boil”, even though it is just very hot. However, the high oil temperature also seals the outside of the chips so that the steam can’t easily escape, and this has the effect of cooking them from within. It also keeps them moist. Furthermore, the high temperature  caramelises (or browns) the outside, and this gives the tasty golden brown colour you associate with chips and fries.

To cook chips or fries properly at home, the best technique is to double fry them – first, at about 140°C for about 5-6 minutes until the chips are nearly cooked (just before they start to brown – squeeze one to make sure it’s not hard), then remove them and heat the oil to about 180-190°C and fry them again until they are golden and crisp. A deep-fat fryer is best for this process so you can control the temperature more easily, but a pan and thermometer will work. Alternatively, instead of the first frying step, you can place the chips in boiling water for 6 minutes, drain them, plunge in cold water, drain, and then fry them at 180-190°C.

If you try to cook chips at a single temperature they either turn out soggy (lower temperatures) or burn on the outside but remain undercooked inside (higher temperatures).

But what has all this got to do with the curry question? Well, with curry, high temperatures are vital in order to develop the correct flavours. Curry is not supposed to be a boiled dish, and the only way to get the high temperature for the cooking process is with oil. If you just heat the dry pan and then add water-based ingredients like onions and tomatoes they will cook at around 100°C (and stick easily). Oil helps with lubrication and cooks them at close to 200°C – which is very different, and contributes dramatically to the all-important curry taste.

Furthermore, the essential oils in the spices which give the dish its flavour are soluble in the oil, but not always in water. So as well as allowing the “cooked” taste of the spices to develop, the oil allows those flavours to become properly dispersed for when they land on your tongue. I’m sure I once read that oil-based flavours interact with your taste buds differently to water-based ones, but it is certainly a fact that the mouth feel of oil alone has a very specific effect on your brain. A wet, water-based curry doesn’t feel right when compared with an oil-based one like you get from the takeaway.

Remember that you can drain off excess oil from a curry quite easily, and in any case you don’t have to eat it if it’s formed a pool on your plate. All you do is allow the curry to stand for a few minutes until the oil begins to separate, and either pour it off or use a large spoon to ladle it out (push the spoon down gently and collect the oil as it runs into the bowl). However, remember that curry is supposed to have oil in it, so leave some in.

How can I eliminate oil in my curry?

If you mean not use any at all, you cannot. An oil-free curry it isn’t a curry anymore, just something you might try to call “a curry”. The high temperature you can heat oil to, and the simple fact it is an oil in the first place, is what makes a curry taste the way it does. Watery curry doesn’t taste right, doesn’t look right, and doesn’t smell right.

Too much oil can simply be poured or spooned off, as I explained above.