Dining Portions

As I approach the “senior” era of my life I can reflect on the evolution of food over many decades.

According to Canada’s Food Guide, based on best estimates, a volume is determined so the body is optimally maintained for all the elements of sustenance at a minimum. This has everything to do with your health and by proxy your weight depending on your daily activity.

When I go out to eat (and it is only when away from home), I seek out fine dining, basic elements and proper portions.

I want to explore the idea of portions and talk about that in this post. Later we will explore alternatives for dietary restrictions or preferences in subsequent posts.

The categories are broken down into three sets in terms of size and four food groups:

Children,  Adult,  Senior                                           Grain, Vegetables/Fruits, Dairy, Protein
We’ve all heard about the term BMI – Body Mass Index
Calculation of your weight divided by height X 703= BMI
In nutritional circles we use the BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 662 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age in year )This  calculation tells you the amount of energy in KCalories your body uses at normally.
Sample a 58 year old female who is 5’7″  uses 1456 Calories/Day. And depending on activity levels can use from Estimated Activity Low (300 more), Light(500), Moderate(750), High(1000), Very High(1250) There are a lot of good tools and apps you can use on the web to achieve your personal goals.

All dietary plans count calories but some equate the representations in points. If you think about it your diet has become your way of life and if eating an increased amount over the years and decreasing your activity levels could add a few pounds a month, several a year and over 10 years it can add up. By the time you realize the change happening the job seems overwhelming to reverse the process.

I like to offer that when you do the work to shed any unwanted weight just shed it (don’t lose it) because when you lose it might regret it when you find it again.

Now about those portions for Children, Adults and Seniors. Using the BMR calculation changes slightly with age and gender to a degree.

Take A&W as a sample, but most fast food restaurants have the nutritional facts.

Baby burger = 240 Cal and 430mg of sodium w/Cheese add 50Cal and 230mg sodium
Teenburger =  490 Cal and 1010mg of sodium
Uncleburger = 590 Cal and 860MG of sodium w/Cheese/Bacon add 150Cal and 270mg sodium
Mamaburger = 400Cal and 710mg of sodium w/Cheese add 50Cal and 230mg sodium
Papaburger = 580 Cal and 890mg sodium w/Cheese add 50Cal and 230mg sodium

Regular fries = 340 Cal and 550mg sodium
Regular Rootbeer = 170 Cal and 40mg sodium

The sample subject up above has a mama meal 960 Cal and  1350mg of sodium.
I am not picking on A&W because when I am busy and haven’t eaten the go to meal may be A&W once every few months just out of convenience and the branding from a young age.  The calories don’t seem as bad as the clearly large amount of sodium present.

Keeping foods in the most natural state keeps the sodium to a healthy amount, but anything that has been processed and reprocessed adds more and more sodium. A short rule of thumb is this, if the sodium number is higher than the calorie count it is not as healthy for you.

An example is the Chubby Chicken Caesar Salad at 510 Calories and 1500mg of sodium. Yikes!
Ok last one, Poutine at 600 Calories and 1800mg of sodium. But of course it is the sodium that keeps you coming back. Everything in moderation.

Have a burger and water, skip the fries and you will still be able to have a proper meal at home that won’t be bad for your health.

While the portions did change with the calories the sodium was a bigger problem.

Food doesn’t have to be bland either to be tasty. Use non sodium based spices. Marinade meats with liquid smoke, pepper(black, red, cayenne), vinegar(white or balsamic) or lemon juice, oils(olive or other infused with spices). Combine spices with fresh vegetables mince to make a rub. You can spice up the vegetables in the same manner as well to roast.  And finally the starch whether potatoes, rice, pasta or couscous you can add small berries or cut up dates, add currents, almonds/nuts or watercress to add crunch and little tasty bits that will be sure to please.

Bon Appetite!

Shopping Fresh too

When it comes to your personal kitchen supplies, it is no surprise that I like one grocer over another for the consistency in quality and supply.  The traditional format of grocer have all the fresh veggies and fruit, meats and dairy and baking on the perimeter of the store. The new format is creating that perimeter in a store within a store. My local Sobeys has one traditional format and a new format. I enjoy the new format because it allows me to load up on fresh first and often I have a number of meals to think about the ingredients I will need.

With one day left in July, I look forward to the next month and what seasonal fruit is available.
Fruits
Cherries – first 3 weeks of July
Strawberries and Raspberries – late June to late July
Plums – last week of July – Mid August
Apricots – Mid July – Mid August
Peaches –  starts with semi freestone Mid July, freestone Early August to Mid August and Clingstone in late August.
Nectarines have a long season from Late July through to September
Grapes both eating and wine making from Mid August through to the end of September
Apples – from
Pears depending on the variety from Mid August to the first cold snap
Tomatoes – Field, Roma and Beefstake varieties while savoury are in the fruit group.
When we were young we made an annual trip to a local farm to get bushel baskets of tomatoes and peaches for canning. We boiled water and bathes the tomatoes and peaches to peel off the skins for canning and stuffed the prepared 1 quart jars and filled to cover the fruit with clear water. Once sealed they went into the water bath canner and boiled away several minutes depending your local altitude directly affects the time to boil(from 5 minutes at sea level to 15 minutes at 8000ft). It was a lot of work, but the reward through winter was well worth it to get a mouthful of flavour. I remember names like Ball and Kerr jars  and you could interchange glass lids or snap lids.

These are the foundations that create ideas for dishes for you, for family and for the people you serve at your job as a cook.  We often change the form of many foods but the more we keep food to its’ natural state provides the best color, nutrition and flavour.

Whether you feed young or aging, feel the fresh, hear the crunch, enjoy the flavour.

Shopping Fresh

Last weekend I went out to discover the produce and fruit stands from Vineland to Welland in Ontario, Canada. When buying fresh I like to see the sizes of containers being offered are smaller since most of the products are ready to use and not as green as you might see in the local grocers. I was told peaches were a bit late this year in Ontario but they were certainly good and rich in flavour along with the apricots, cherries and plums I found.  Oh an the tomatoes that I could smell all the way across the fruit stand!  Don’t squeeze it, just smell it, you know that smell… yes that’s the epitome of fresh.

Through eight or nine weeks in summer going to farmers markets for an outing and to stock up on the weekly is a fresh experience indeed!

Of course meals are never complete without fresh bread and so I called around to a few bakeries to enjoy taste testing offers and add a baguette and multi-grain along with a few guilty pleasures for a dessert.

Bon appetite!

The Perfect Burger!

What balances the perfect burger?  First of all don’t over spice the hamburger. Hamburger has a very distinct flavour. A small amount of seasoning is all that is required just enough to salivate but not too much. Don’t change the star of The Perfect Burger, compliment it.  The burger should be cooked perfectly, not overcooked and not undercooked! Have you ever watched a cook press down on a burger when grilling?  It is the first mistake to make when grilling any protein, JUST DON’T press it. Those juices are the golden component to any protein. If you don’t know how to do a pressure test then use your thermometer (in Canada the threshold is between 160 – 170 degrees). Always be food safe.

Fresh ingredients are crucial!  The garden variety burger will have fresh leaf lettuce, slices of tomato, onion, shavings of cheddar or mozzarella cheese and a very fresh and soft bun. if you toast the bun or set it on the grill for marking, do not burn it!

Condiment toppings could be mustard or pickle relish, maybe a Sriracha or Chipotle mayo for a bit of heat, or maybe a signature mayo. Are you hungry yet? If so, the recipe will be successful.

When I look through a menu when eating out, I look for the description of the burgers, and often it is my go-to entrée.  I like a good burger without the gimmicks. Now I am hungry…

Menu Writing

Menu writing normally comes with a need to make changes as a result of availability of different products or the costs of the same. Other reasons to create new menus is for a new restaurant opening or even a restaurant changing genres or ownership(often is not mutually exclusive).

I had the opportunity to prepare a new menu and recipes for an Asian-Mediterranean Cuisine. The focus of time of day was lunch and patrons as students.

This genre is gaining momentum in the industry and brings a wide variety of food selections from Soup to Mains, Vegan and Gluten Free choices. I enjoyed the variety of spices I chose to work with because while the protein cuts can be the same the spices are what sets the cultures apart.  On the Asian choices we have soups, sandwiches, rice bowls from China, Thailand, Mongolia and Korea and interestingly enough we were able to bring soups, sandwiches, and tasty main dishes from Greece, Italy and this leave plenty of additions to come in the future. Obviously Menus are living and changing month to month, but planning is the key to success, sourcing your sustainable supply of ingredients.

The Weekly Buffet

Recently I was asked to create a menu for a restaurant and the creative eagerness always seizes my mind in the same way it is hard to put a good book down until it is finished. The intensity and excitement of the owners fills me with motivation.

With the many years I have worked in many different restaurants and certainly as a foodie (a given for any chef) I have enjoyed many different flavours.  The striking similarity has been the same proteins in various cuts and the striking differences is spicing the same proteins.

Every culture have comfort foods that stem from one’s childhood and for most it was what was available in that time. How many tables have you sat down with the family and heard the elders rave about how delicious this or that was. Nutritionally, because of wartime eras, the food was not balanced and along with certain foods, certain cultures, certain health issues also were revealed.

This past weekend my buffet for Mothers Day Brunch included Bread Pudding which has been in most cultures to use up that stale loaf of bread by adding spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, cream, eggs and any fruit (normally raisins) but options include canned cherries, cranberries and a lovely smattering of butter and brown sugar and of course syrup and cream as toppings. Delicious yes, and loaded with sugar and fats and brought the best compliments.

The main Lunch proteins were Chicken Schnitzel (which is a coated tenderized chicken breast spiced with black pepper, thyme, parsley, lemon juice and minced garlic) and Maple Glazed Salmon (skinned fillets with a glaze using syrup, brown sugar, soy sauce and grainy mustard). Our signature seasonal roasted vegetables medley(green and yellow zucchini, red and green sweet peppers, sweet onion wedges and some times carrots) drizzled with olive oil and spiced with thyme, marjoram, balsamic vinegar, pepper, salt, garlic).

On the breakfast side we had thick sliced bacon, home cut roasted potatoes and Traditional French Toast.

We also had granola, plain and honey cinnamon yogurt and a brimming fruit salad with melons and mangoes.

Every week we change up the buffets to make the patrons return again and again.

Always looking for good people with new ideas!

Currently I am working a golf course in the Niagara Region. As the season begins we ramp up service for the year. This year with a late start and other variables including starting the hiring cycle of this year’s kitchen staff the juggling begins. Most employees do not have the luxury of a two or three month break in earnings so we see new faces mostly as last year’s team have moved onto more permanent work.

Is this an innovation waiting for a solution to fill in the down time? Because financial obligations don’t take time off do they?

Could we fill in the down time to help organizations such as meals on wheels to shore up the holiday blitz without upsetting the normal routines?  Perhaps finding sponsors to supply the substance, I am fairly sure most kitchen help would be available to give the time.

Or perhaps we fill in the winter with nutritionally balanced meals for those who are on their own and find it difficult to cook for one or two.  How about being a grocery shopper for the elderly still living in their own homes and cooking a meal on site for a nominal fee.

There is so much talent out there let’s find a solution for the plethora of  kitchen help during the seasonal shut down at the end of this season! Do what you can, because you can and are able.

Nutrition doesn’t have to be bland.

As we learn to cook in through our careers, we combine ingredients to create dishes. Then we combine dishes to create meals and mostly the meals become very decadent as we may not recognize the nutritional values or the be aware of balance.

As a grad of Canadian Nutritional Management Course through CHA and member of  CSNM my mind is constantly thinking about the ingredients (right down to the salt) and what constitutes a balance of nutrition, taste and recommended guidelines the Canada’s Food Guide.

Now that I have learned, it’s like I can’t go back to just cooking.  It’s a good thing and great for everyone who sits at my table, wherever I am.