POTATO CHIPS CAN BE HEALTHY

Potato Chips Can Be Healthy

 

With all the recent talk about a "sin tax" on sugary sodas, I’m surprised no one is talking about slapping a tariff on deep-fried foods -- yes, they are tasty as anything, but they’re also really terrible for your health. I spoke recently with one of our favorite nutritionists, Jane Kirby, RD, author of several cookbooks as well as books on nutrition and weight loss. Our conversation veered in the direction of admittedly delicious foods that you can’t, in good conscience, enjoy very often -- and she offered some great advice on how to prepare foods so that they can achieve that seductive deep-fried crunch while still retaining some measure of being "good for you," too. You will want to try her cooking methods, but first...

 

Why Not Fried Foods?

 

Nutritionists caution against eating fried foods for two reasons, says Kirby. For starters, frying adds lots of calories to food (fat has nine calories per gram compared with just four per gram for protein or carbs), but the second reason is more disturbing -- it is impossible to fry foods without having at least some oxidation in the oil, which creates those nasty free radicals that contribute to cardiac disease and other health problems.

 

It’s actually quite fascinating what happens to food when you fry it. When you cook food in hot oil, the heat transforms the food’s internal moisture into steam, which cooks the food inside and pushes steam against the surface. This is supposed to block the oil from seeping in -- but it is a difficult feat to pull off, because it requires a very particular oil temperature, just below the oil's smoking point. Cooler will slow down moisture conversion giving the oil plenty of time to soak in... if hotter, you risk taking the oil to its smoking point, the temperature at which it oxidizes. The first result is bad for you, while the second result is... bad for you.

 

Better Ways to Get That Crunch

 

Happily, there are ways to lessen the problems inherent in frying. Let’s start with sautéing, thought by many to be a healthier way to cook. It is, but only when done the right way. Unfortunately, the usual way people "sauté" is to pour oil in a pan, heat it up and plop in the food, giving it an occasional stir. This is in fact frying and not sautéing, Kirby says. She explains that sauté literally means "jump," a skill television chefs demonstrate when they continuously shake a pan to tumble the food within. Mastering this skill lets you achieve that crispy crust with less oil -- agitating the food brings its entire surface into contact with the hot oil for brief periods but not long enough that it soaks in. If you haven’t honed this skill, try just stirring the food quickly and continuously over fairly high heat (don't let it reach the smoking point) until it is done.

 

For dishes that use onions and garlic, Kirby suggests "sweating" them first in a mere shimmer of oil. Here’s how: Place chopped onions and garlic into a pan with a half-teaspoon of oil, cover and cook slowly on a low heat to release the moisture. Once you’ve done that you can add vegetables and protein and, if you want, a bit more oil. Turn up the heat to cook rapidly as you stir. You can add flavor by pouring a small amount of olive oil over the food just before serving.

 

Least Harmful Ways to Fry

 

Should you opt to pan- or deep-fry food, here are the ways to protect it from becoming loaded with unhealthy fat and calories...

• Use an oil with a high smoking point. This is one type of cooking for which virgin (not extra virgin) olive oil is preferable, since extra virgin olive oil is more fragile and has a much lower smoking point (320 degrees, compared with 420 degrees). Other good choices: Palm oil has a high smoking point (about 425 degrees), as do corn oil (about 450 degrees), walnut and canola oils (about 400 degrees). All these are healthful choices in small amounts.

• Food must be at room temperature before cooking -- chilled food lowers the temperature of the oil too much.

• Don’t overcrowd the pan -- this, too, lowers the temperature of the oil.

• Don’t use fat in your batter -- batter with fat in it attracts more fat to it, says Kirby. Instead, dip food in egg whites... then flour... then water, fat-free milk or flattened beer rather than whole eggs and whole milk. Seasoned bread crumbs, following a quick egg dip, also make a nice, fat-free batter, good for coating chicken breasts and fish fillets.

• Never reuse oil -- once it has been heated it has oxidized and should be tossed.

Crispy-Like-Fried

 

For almost fat-free foods that are crispy-like-fried, turn to your oven. First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees (on bake) for vegetables. Cut food into small pieces and coat lightly with oil or batter, then spread on a cooking sheet and pop into your oven.

 

For chicken breasts and fish fillets, preheat to 375 degrees, then dip into seasoned, fine bread crumbs... then milk... and back into the crumbs for another coating. Bake fish about 10 minutes and chicken about 15. The coating combines with the oven’s heat to turn out food that is crispy, browned and delicious.

 

And here’s a tasty -- and healthier -- way to enjoy potato chips: Slice potatoes thinly and evenly, then spritz lightly with olive oil (you can buy olive oil spray cans from Amazon.com for about $20)... and place on a flat pan in one layer. Bake the potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. (If they’re thickly sliced, they’ll need to be turned midway.) Kirby’s insider tip -- refrigerate potatoes overnight before you cook them (usually a huge no-no for potatoes) to convert their starch to sugar. This will make them even crispier when oven-fried. Sweet potatoes are also excellent prepared this way (no need to refrigerate the raw sweet potatoes).

 

Who needs to fry?

Source(s):

Jane Kirby, RD, CD, CCP, author of several cookbooks and books on nutrition and weight loss... former program director of Vtrim, an on-line weight-loss program at the University of Vermont... and founder of Vermont Grain Mills (organic whole grains), Charlotte, Vermont, www.vermontgrainmills.com.