Category: Ingredients

Well, the name certainly sounds like it came from Switzerland! But no, the name comes from the process used to tenderize the steak by pounding or rolling it, which is called swissing. The meat – a tough cut, typically round or chuck steak–is then floured and pan fried followed by simmering in a tomato/onion sauce until tender.

Additional reading: Recipe for Swiss steak

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Not so fast! Numerous studies have shown that getting your omega-3 fatty acid intake from a supplement does not have the same health benefits as getting them from real food, which generally means seafood. In fact, some studies have shown that omega-3 supplements have precisely zero cardiovascular or cognitive benefits. This seems counter-intuitive, so what gives? The details are not all worked out yet, but some possible reasons for this discrepancy are:

• Nutritional supplements are not regulated in the US, so there is no guarantee that those fish oil capsules you bought actually contain what the label says they do.
• The additional nutrients you get when eating fish may interact synergistically with the omega-3 fatty acids to provide health benefits. These additional nutrients are of course lacking when you take supplements.
• The omega-3 fatty acids in supplements have been processed and seems to be absorbed by your body less efficiently that those directly from seafood.

What about vegetarians/vegans and those allergic to seafood? Fortunately, there are good plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids, for example flax seed (and flax seed oil), chia seeds, walnuts, and soybeans.

Additional reading: Click Here

It’s unfortunately true that rice contains more inorganic arsenic, which is highly toxic, than other grains. This is simply in the nature of rice, to concentrate whatever little bits of arsenic are present in the soil and water. It is a tiny, tiny amount, perhaps 50-100 ppb (parts per billion), and presents no known health risk. But the arsenic is in the rice, not on the surface, so rinsing will do little or no good.

It is still a good idea to rinse rice before cooking in most situations to remove excess surface starch, which would make the cooked rice gummy.

Should you worry about arsenic in rice? Generally, no because the amount of arsenic in rice is very low and not considered to be a health risk. But if you are a fretter, you can minimize your arsenic exposure from rice:

• Be aware that brown rice has on average 50% more arsenic than white rice.
• Cook rice like you cook pasta, in lots of water (6 parts water to 1 part rice). Drain when tender and return to the empty pan and cover for 5-10 minutes. This removes as much as half the arsenic.
• Focus on basmati rice, white or brown, which tends to have less arsenic than other varieties.

If you eat a lot of rice and are a bit worried, consider adding other grains to your diet to replace some of the rice. For example, quinoa, barley, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, polenta, bulgur, and farro.

Well, sorta but not really! To be precise, Clementines are a type of Mandarin orange. In other words, all Clementines are Mandarins but not all Mandarins are Clementines. Does it matter? There are some differences between the two:

• Mandarins are slightly larger and often have a lot of seeds (pips), whereas Clementines have a few or no seeds.
• Mandarins are very aromatic and sometimes have a bit of tartness, whereas Clementines are less aromatic and sweeter.
• Clementines have a thicker skin and are easier to peel.

Mandarin oranges have been cultivated in China and elsewhere for thousands of years. Clementines are the result of a natural hybridization (a cross between two species) between a sweet orange (Citrus × sinensis) and a Mediterranean willowleaf mandarin (Citrus × deliciosa). This was discovered in the late 19th century in Misserghin, Algeria by Brother Clément Rodier, a French missionary monk who worked at an orphanage in the region. In 1892, he noticed an uncultivated citrus tree near the orphanage garden. His interest piqued, Brother Clément made grafts from this tree, thus cultivating the first Clementines. The fruit is, of course, named after him. Note that Clementines are often marketed as “Cuties” or “Sweeties.” 

As a point of interest, tangerines are also a type of Mandarin orange. According to the Citrus Variety Collection of the University of California, there are 167 different hybrids and varieties of Mandarins.

My Mom used to tell me this to encourage me to eat my spinach…which I hated! But dear old Mom was wrong. Spinach indeed contains a lot of iron, but almost all of the iron is in a form that your body cannot use, and it just passes right through you. Popeye was a fraud it seems!

Dietary iron comes in two forms. Heme iron, which is found only in animal products—meat, poultry, and seafood. Then there is non-heme iron which is found in many plants. Your body readily absorbs heme iron and can use it for making red blood cells and other needs. Non-heme iron, in contrast, is very poorly absorbed so the body cannot use it. To make things worse, spinach contains a lot of oxalic acid, which further inhibits iron absorption. So sorry Mom, I am not going to eat the spinach!

Because heme iron is found only in animal flesh, vegetarians/vegans often suffer from iron deficiency anemia. With careful diet planning and/or supplements this can be avoided.

Many cooks like to sauté mushrooms, usually in a bit of butter or oil, until they are a bit brown. This improves the flavor and texture. And most people add the salt (if they are using it) right at the start of cooking. Turns out that this is not a good idea! Adding salt at the end of gives better results.

Here’s why. Adding salt at the start can draw liquid out of the ‘shrooms, and this liquid will inhibit browning. So, add that NaCl right at the end of cooking. You’ll thank me!

Many people hard-cook eggs by putting them in already-boiling water. The temperature shock, it is claimed, causes the shell to expand quickly and crack, with stringy egg white leaking out. But while this seems to make sense, it is not true.

First of all, an expanding shell in not likely to crack–a shrinking shell is. In this case, an egg might crack when it is done cooking and is transferred from the boiling water to the cold. Of course, by this time, cracks do not matter.

iI one saw Julia Child, on her show, demonstrate this. She took a bunch of raw eggs from an ice water bath directly into boiling water, and not one of them cracked. Pretty convincing!

So, why do some eggs crack? It seems to be two things. Some eggs already have invisible cracks in them from rough handling during production and shipping. These will indeed open up in hot water and release egg white. Also, rapidly boiling water will bounce the eggs around and cause new cracks. Thus, if you must boil eggs, use gently simmering water.

But the best way to cook “hard-boiled” eggs is, in my and many other cooks’ opinions, steaming. Please refer to this post.

Soy contains compounds called isoflavones, which mimic some effects of estrogen. Isoflavones were found to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells in animals, hence the origins of this myth.

But there is no similar effect in humans, and in fact soy products may actually have protective effects regarding breast cancer. Plus, they are excellent sources of certain nutrients including protein and minerals. So, you can munch tofu, tempeh, miso etc. without concern.

It is believed by many that only animal-based foods contain all nine essential amino acids–the amino acids that humans cannot synthesize and must be obtained in the diet.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and having all of them is essential to good health. But the fact is that all nine essentials are found in plants, just not all of them together in one food. So, eating a varied diet of plants – nuts, grains, beans, and so on – will give you all you need.