Recipe for Beer Roasted Pork

Pork is one of the leanest of all meats. Sometimes people wrongly assume that all pork is high in fat and thus incompatible with healthy eating. However, it is a fact that lean pork is lower in fat than beef or lamb and is not much fattier than skinless chicken – a 100 g serving of lean roast leg of pork contains 7 per cent fat. Pork is an excellent source of B vitamins, especially vitamin B 12. It is also a good source of zinc and it contains iron.

Pork is a very versatile meat and the leg, whole or deboned, is suitable for either oven- or pot-roasted. Leg of pork generally has a bland taste, which can be enhanced by various ingredients added during cooking, of which beer is one of it. Pork which is roasted in beer, and served with applesauce makes a mouth-watering dinner dish.

Here is a tasty recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork leg (ask the butcher to score the pork)
• 25 ml (1 Tbsp.) olive oil
• 38 ml (2 Tbsp.) sunflower oil
• 1 onion stuck with 2 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 ml freshly ground black pepper
• 2 ml salt
• 7 ml thyme
• 250 ml (1 cup) flat beer
• 6 carrots cut into 5 cm lengths
• 12 small white onions, peeled
• 2 small turnips, quartered

Preparation

Rub the pork leg with olive oil. Heat the sunflower oil in a heavy-based saucepan (with lid and oven-proof) large enough to hold the roast. When hot, sear all sides of the roast. 

When well- colored, add the onion, bay leaf, pepper, salt, thyme and the beer. Bring to the boil and simmer covered on top of the stove or in a 150⁰C oven for 2 hours. 

Test the meat, and if it is becoming tender, add the remaining vegetables. Cook for about 1 hour more, until the vegetables are tender. Remove meat to a carving board and keep it warm.

Skim off the fat from the sauce and taste for seasoning. Carve meat into thin slices and serve.

Here is a bonus – serve the pork with an apple sauce:

Ingredients

• 2 large cooking apples
• A knob of butter
• Castor sugar to sweeten

Preparation

1. Wash the apples and cut them into small pieces without removing the skin or core.
2. Cook it in just enough water to prevent it from sticking to the pan.
3. Sieve the apple and sweeten it with the castor sugar.
4. Stir in the butter and serve the applesauce in a small sauce-boat.

Enjoy with rice, baked potatoes, and a tossed salad. Do not forget the wine!

Love, 

Engela

What are healthy fats?

Fat is an essential part of a person’s diet, necessary to the health of people and a principal source of energy for the body. 

Dietary fats supply the fatty acids necessary for many of the body’s chemical activities, including growth in children, and provide the membrane linings of cells. Fats carry the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fats lend flavour, texture and aroma to food, and they satisfy hunger.

Fat is not bad for the body. Moderate amounts of body fat, 18-24 per cent for women and 15-18 per cent for men is consistent with good health. Stored fats regulate body temperature, provide a protective cushion for organs and assist with hormone production and regulation.

The fat people consume come from many sources, both visible and invisible. Visible fats are ingredients such as sunflower oil or olive oil. Invisible fats are an integral part of foods, including the fat found in meat, nuts, fish or cheese. 

All fats consist of two types of fatty acids, which are distinguished by their chemical structure and the relative amount of hydrogen they contain. Saturated fats are loaded with all the hydrogen they can take whereas unsaturated fats contain less than the maximum amount of hydrogen. Unsaturated fats can further be divided into two categories, namely monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.

 Fats naturally found in in foods are made of mixtures of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Fats containing mainly saturated fatty acids are found in animal foods such as beef or lamb, butter and other dairy products. These are not healthy fats.

Healthy fats are fats containing polyunsaturated fatty acids and include sunflower, cottonseed and maize oils. Exceptions here are poultry and fish oils, which come from animal sources but are high in unsaturated fat whilst coconut oil, a vegetable oil, high in saturated fatty acids is despite being a liquid. Nuts, olives and avocados are the major sources of monounsaturated fatty acids, and are also healthy.

The dietary role of fats is not simple. Although a moderate amount of fat is needed for everyone’s diet, many people go overboard. Eating too much fat, and unhealthy fat for this matter, is normally linked to two big health problems; obesity and cardiovascular disease. 

Essential fatty acids as needed by the body are polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly linoleic acids but it is these fats that are mostly neglected.

Studies have indicated that diets high in polyunsaturated fat lower the blood cholesterol level compared to diets containing large amounts of saturated fats.

The body’s fat intake can be regulated by cutting down on visible fats, shunning fried foods and choosing lean forms of meat and fat-free or low-fat dairy products.

Love and health,

Engela

How to Make Curried Green Beans

Ingredients

·         1 kg green beans cut

·         500 g onions, peeled and chopped

·         ¼ cup sugar

·         1 tbsp. curry powder

·         ½ tsp. turmeric

·         1 tsp. dry mustard

·         1½ tsp. salt

·         2 whole cloves garlic

·         1 cup white grape vinegar

·         1 tbsp. corn flour

Preparation

 

1. Cook the beans in boiling water until they are tender but crisp. Drain.

2. Cook the onions in boiling water until tender. Drain.

3. Combine the beans and onions; add the remaining ingredients, except the corn flour. Bring to boil.

4. Thicken with the corn flour.

5. Serve cold. Keep well refrigerated.

Makes 12 servings.

Love,

Engela

What You Should Know About Avoiding Food Poisoning

According to statistics of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) there are annually about 76 million cases of reported food poisoning in the USA of which 5 million cases are fatal. 

No one is excluded from food poisoning. Therefore, prevention is better than cure. The keys are good hygiene, proper cooking temperatures for animal protein and the basic rule “keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold”:

1. Keep your kitchen or food preparation area, utensils, surfaces and your hands clean.  Hands should be washed in warm soapy water for about 20 seconds before preparing food. Then, after handling food, especially raw meat, hands should be thoroughly washed again.

2. Be especially careful when canning food. Follow the instructions carefully to avoid botulism, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning. (Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum, which occurs in soil – National Institute of Health)

3. Thaw frozen meats – especially minced meat – in the refrigerator and cook it as soon as it have defrosted.

4. Although many people like to eat rare meat, be careful. Cooking meat only to rare may not kill the bacteria that can cause illness.

5. Poultry must be cooked until there is no red in the joints and juices run clear when it is pricked. 

6. Cook fish so that it flakes with a fork, and it looks firm and opaque, not shiny.

7. It is advisable not to prepare or serve steak tartare or other raw meat dishes. (Steak tartare is a meat dish made from finely chopped or minced raw beef. Tartare can also be made by thinly slicing a high grade of meat such as strip steak, marinating it in wine or other spirits, spicing it to taste, and then chilling it – Wikipedia.) These are among the type of foods most likely to cause food poisoning. Mincing equipment may harbour contaminants, and minced meat offers micro-organisms on which to multiply.

8. When dining out especially be careful of rare or undercooked hamburgers. 

9. Never depend on the sniff test to determine whether food is off. Meat that has been contaminated with E.coli bacteria, a major cause of food poisoning, does not necessarily smell bad. (E. coli is short for Escherichia coli -- a bacterium (germ) that causes severe cramps and diarrhoea. E. coli is a leading cause of bloody diarrhoea. The symptoms are worse in children and older people, and especially in people who have another illness. E. coli infection is more common during the summer months and in northern states – Family Doctor.Org).

10. Do not eat raw fin fish or shell fish if you have an immune disorder or are on chemotherapy. Although most fish you buy has been commercially frozen and thawed, freezing does not kill bacteria. It only kills most parasites.

Keep safe,

Engela

How to Make Brandied Cherries

Legend has it that George Washington as a boy cut down a cherry tree. When his father saw the tree, he was angry. "George," he said. "Did you do that?" 

"Yes, Father," he said, “I cannot tell a lie." George Washington's father was proud of George for telling the truth.

The cherry is a stone fruit related to the plum. There are three types of cherry – sweet and sour; both used in cooking and preserves; and decorative cherries, grown for their flowers.

Cherry trees flourish in regions with cold climates. The tree can reach about six meters at maturity. Its fruit is borne in clusters on long stalks.

This is a recipe for an easy-to-make cherry preserve: 

Ingredients

·         500g ripe sweet cherries

·         150g caster sugar

·         Liqueur brandy (enough to cover the cherries in a jar)

·         Vanilla pod (Vanilla pods contain the seeds from the vanilla orchid plant.)

·         Cinnamon stick

Preparation

1.       Wash the cherries and dry gently

2.       Place into clean sterilized jar and add the caster sugar, vanilla pod and cinnamon stick.

3.       Seal tightly and leave to steep for 5-6 weeks.

Enjoy neat or over ice cream.

Love

Engela