Sunday, January 3, 2010

Rotisserie Cooking Creates Healthy, Delicious Dishes

By Stephen Daniels

Healthy eating doesn't mean you must have a salad for every meal. Conversely, high fat is not a requirement for deliciousness. Rotisserie cooking creates tender, juicy meat and flavorful vegetables that have been slow cooked to perfection... without the potentially dangerous consequences of grilling or the extra fat and calories from frying.

Most people know that deep frying can have cholesterol-raising and artery-clogging side effects, but what could make grilling unhealthy? Grilling is certainly lower fat than frying; however, recent studies showed that particles called benz pyrenes found in charred food might lead to cancer. In other words, if you prefer your steak or hotdogs to be charbroiled black, take heed. Those charred black bits could contain carcinogens.

Using lighter fluid and some charcoal additives to help start the fire could be a health hazard in grilling as well. Overuse could make these unhealthy chemicals end up in the meal. Grease dripping down into grills can also cause dangerous flare-ups that burn food (or even the cook).

Rotisserie cooked food avoids all of these issues. When meat is cooked on a rotisserie, the fat and drippings from the meat baste the meat, while the excess is caught in a pan on the bottom of the rotisserie unit. The result is delicious, moist meat with less fat than other cooking methods. (You can also opt to make a delicious sauce or gravy out of the pan drippings if the fat isn't a concern.)

Chicken, turkeys and Cornish hens, as well as various beef, pork and even lamb roasts, are not difficult to prepare on the rotisserie. However, kitchen product innovations can allow you to cook a much wider variety of foods than you might expect using this delightful method. Rotisserie baskets can be used to cook store bought or freshly caught fish to add more variety to your meals.

Fruits and vegetables can be easily skewered on a rotisserie as well. They can be cooked alone or in a combination with meats as a part of delectable kabobs. Peppers and onions are only the beginning of the many healthful, scrumptious vegetables that can be cooked in a rotisserie oven. Even vegetables that don't skewer well, such as Brussels sprouts, are not difficult to cook in rotisserie baskets.

Conventional rotisserie ovens are designed to cook turkeys and other large roasts. By necessity, they take up quite a bit of space. However, this is not the only option. Counter-top rotisseries enable single people and small families to enjoy the benefits of this wonderful cooking method, while taking up very little space in your kitchen. These smaller models are more energy efficient, and more affordable, than conventional size rotisseries, but it is important to recognize that most of them can't accommodate the larger roasts that their bigger cousins handle.

If you or your loved ones feel that the majority of healthy cooking methods are flavorless and boring, a rotisserie could very well be the ideal solution. No matter if you are cooking for twenty people or just one, rotisserie cooking will assist you in preparing delicious, healthy foods.

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