Cookware and Cooking Techniques

In the summer of 2011 I was introduced to a company promoting healthy cooking call Cooking 4 Life. They are authorized distributors of a high-end cooking ‘system’. When I went to a friend's house for a dinner-show is when I learned of what they promote. I invested in their ‘system’ because what I learned about other cookware and my heart condition I knew their cookware with have long-tern benefits for me. I am not promoting their cookware but if you live in the United States or Canada I would encourage you to find a distributor near you and request a dinner-show. The cookware is called Saladmaster™. As I said they are high-end cookware but I am certain you be entertained.

The point here is they use stainless steel. There are other brand that sell 100% stainless steel which are priced a bit lower and I would encourage you invest in stainless steel cookware. Most restaurants cook with aluminum or non-stick also known as Teflon. Both products are not good for you. For aluminum I would encourage you to go to Amazon and purchase a book called, Toxic Metal Syndrome. The doctors that are authors of the book have spent decades studying metals the body ingests and there is sobering evidence that too much aluminum in your body is at least a primary catalyst for Alzheimer’s. Teflon is made with polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE. Most of the European countries have banned it and at least 4 or 5 countries in South America have banned as well as Canada. The U.S. is planning on it but no clear date as to when. A simple test was conducted in one home where cooked with Teflon cookware at high temperatures and there was a canary in the other room. The house had all the windows closed and no air conditioning. The canary died from the gas given off from the cookware.

A reason to purchase stainless steel, Europe has banned microwaves and converted their stoves to induction tops. Induction stoves create a magnetic field and heats food quickly and much more safely. Since the stove top of an induction stove creates a magnetic field cookware must have steel or stainless steel into to create the field. The U.S. is seriously considering following Europe’s lead. I purchased a single induction stove top and I have cooked a 15-lb turkey in a pot on that stove in 2 hours at 300°F. The first time I did this I was taking the turkey out of the pot and it fell apart and I was baptized in turkey broth. Also I used 1/2 cup of water. I am aware that you can buy induction stove tops in many appliance stores today. Electricity is cut by almost 25% but just moving to induction.

So I encourage you to have someone else cook a dinner for from a Saladmaster distributor and be entertained. I will not give away all their things they do at a dinner show but it is well worth the free meal. Yes they are there to sell their product but you do not have to buy. I did as a personal choice. As I mentioned there are many other less expensive stainless steel cookware on the market. So shop around.

I wanted to talk a bit about cooking technique because you desire to eat healthy plus be full from every meal. This means you must pay attention to over cooking your food. The first section you heard my belief on cookware. I again must stress this. You will absolutely taste the difference. When I gave my daughter some stainless steel cookware she gave me a call after a couple of weeks and told be she was throwing away the teflon. She noticed and my grandchildren noticed a change in flavor.

Next when cooking with any cookware please, please try not to boil food even though recipes say to do that. According to the Mayo Clinic any food cooked above 183°F the nutritional value declines. Their studies show that broccoli cooked to 183-185° retains 95% of it nutritional value. When you boil which is 212° broccoli's nutritional value drops to below 50%. When steamed, which is 240° it retains only 25%. Finally microwaving, which starts at 400° broccoli retains less than 5%. Therefore if you want the highest nutritional value cook. You will discover that when you cook with stainless steal at medium heat it takes only 1-2 minutes more before water begins to boil and yet if you place a thermometer in the pan the water is usually 185°. The benefit to you is you get the most nutritional value of food, you fill up more quickly and therefore eat less.

I can cook a 15-lb turkey in one of Saladmaster's™ pots (not an oven) and it literally falls off the bone in 2 hours. Also I only put 1/2 cup of water in the pot. Stainless steel retains heat for a longer time than other cookware there you can use less gas or electricity in which to cook. After 1 year of using my cookware my gas and electric bill dropped by 25%. In the winter my gas and electric bill almost never goes above $100 and I live in an average size house. On the average my monthly bill is about $80.