A little background - I just had my annual physical, and my doctor told me that my cholesterol level was climbing again (I’m already taking Lipitor) and my weight is climbing along with it. He wants to see me again - actually, he wants to see ten pounds less of me - in six months, and he wants to see my cholesterol back down by then. As a result, we’ve started a “more fruits and vegetables, less junk, less red meat” campaign in our household.
Tonight I made spaghetti and tried substituting ground turkey breast for ground hamburger in the sauce. Wotta disaster - I was told that you can “brown” ground turkey breast, but all it did in my pan was turn into white shreds. Heading it up some more turned it into dry white shreds. In desperation I add a little Worcestershire sauce to it, but that just turned it into smelly dry white shreds. It didn’t taste all that bad, but spaghetti sauce with little chunks of white meat in it looks just awful IMHO (also in my daughters’ NSHO). Yuck-o!!!
So, how do you make ground turkey breast look like hamburger?
If you mean, how can you make ground turkey look the same as ground beef, you can’t. The turkey was done when it turned to white shreds in your pan (think of the color of turkey breast while it’s still on the bird).
IMHO, ground turkey is sort of blah, and will never flavor your spaghetti sauce as well as beef can. It’s okay to use for texture in something like chili, because the spices you add to chili will make up for the turkey’s blandness. Turkey burgers themselves can have almost as much fat as a beef burger, depending on how you prepare them, and they will always look brown on the outside, whitish on the inside.
If I were you, I’d stick to making chicken breasts (lots of yummy recipes out there for variety) and try a little more fish. For your spaghetti sauce an other dishes where substitutes just won’t do, how about using extra-lean beef and just cutting back on the amount you put in?
I had a cholesterol problem a few years ago but I knew I had been bad. I ate butter by the stick and was doing fast food way too much. All I did was cut out the Cholesterol Castle lunches & switch to Fabio margarine.
I have always drained my ground beef, and never considered that a significant source of fat or cholesterol. I would stick to ground beef in my pasta sauce if I were you (unless your cholesteroln is dangerously high), and in fact I have moved up to chopping a tube of spicy breafast sausage up & browning into my pasta sauce as if it were ground beef, and it doesn’t seem to have made any difference in my numbers. Whatever you use, drain it well & maybe even press it with paper towels.
Chicken & fish are my preferred meats, if you have a warehouse membership you can get huge packages of boneless & skinless chicken breast for as low as $1.49 per pound- cheaper than ground chuck.
Try to shift the balance of your meal to veggies & rice, that way a little meat goes a long way. And if you pick the right veggies, that will help your cholesterol problem even more. I think beans & rice are the winners here.
Stay active & don’t eat within three hours of bedimte. Need to snack after dinner? Keep some carrot or celery sticks in the fridge (and NO you can’t dip them in peanut butter). If you take in a lot of sugar (sodas, coffee) you need to burn it off before it goes into storage.
Stay hydrated- drink lots of dihydrogen monoxide.
This is a short list of things that worked for me. Cooking is one of my hobbies & I can usually come up with tasty alternatives of normally bad-for-you dishes, let me know what you want to de-cholesterolify and I’ll see if I have a healthier version.
We cheat the other guys & pass the savings along to you!
I have always found that it is better to eat foods that fit naturally into whatever eating plan I am following at the moment. Trying to use “lower-fat” or “lower sugar” substitutes frequently results in an unsatisfactory meal.
Go for the extra-lean ground beef and/or cut back your beef consumption. Also, a warning–read the labels on ground chicken and turkey carefully. Some versions have as much or more fat in them as beef. This is because they sometimes grind the fatty skin in.
Some books say to brown your hamburg and drain it, then rinse it in hot water. I put my hamburg in a pot and when it starts to brown add a cup of water per pound so it sort of “steams”. When it turns gray, it’s done. I drain it in a colander. No difference in taste, just less grease. Speaking of icky looking, I’ve experimented with tofu but haven’t had much luck in disguising it in anything. Tofu is supposed to pick up any flavor, but in anything other than Chinese/Japanese dishes, it looks like a weird white jelly. Which is what it is.
You might try using turkey Italian sausage in your sketti. My husband and I love Italian sausage made from pork but are trying to watch our collective weight, and the turkey stuff makes a pretty good substitute.
“There are more things you don’t know than there are things that I do know. I despair of the imbalance.” – Dr. Morgenes, The Dragonbone Chair
Well, I have a dish that I make sometimes called Spicy Chicken Spaghetti. Basically, just get some boneless, skinless chicken breasts, saute them with some garlic, onions, green peppers, soy sauce and a splash of Tabasco. When the breasts are done, grind (I use the food processor set to “shred”) the chicken up. It will be ugly but just add it to your regular spaghetti sauce. It won’t be in chunks like ground beef but it does add a little texture and a nice, slightly spicy flavor.
I have a hobby. I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it.
Suggest you use the 23% fat ground beef, since it has the best taste, but when it is cooked, drain it with paper towels, you might also run water over it, and blot it dry of course.
That is supposed to cut the fat to less than 10%.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. Our family decision was to go back to using ground beef in the spaghetti sauce, but to use less of it (and I’ll make sure that I drain it). And I’ll try the other alternatives you all mentioned as well.
The cholesterol level isn’t too bad, but the direction it’s headed is (it had climbed to 250 before the Lipitor, dropped to 175 immediately aftrwards, and has since climbed back above the 200 level). Same thing with the weight (5’ 9", 173lbs, but the weight is slowly climbing and too much of that weight is in the gut). And while my heart seems to be in great shape currently, my family history in terms of heart problems is pathetic - I believe I’m the first male in my family to reach 50 without having a heart attack. Besides, I’m cursed with having a healthy, skinny doctor
uh, who cares what it looks like? I use ground turkey instead of ground beef all the time. including spaghetti. When it’s in spaghetti sauce, it all looks the same to me anyway.
I don’t notice a difference in taste, either. I’m not health nut, but i find greasy ground beef rather gross-looking. I suppose you could try food coloring if you insist on having it brown.
Here’s my tried and true method, to which GirlBySea will attest.
I assume you are not on a sodium restricted diet.
First, take two tablespoons of a low cholesterol non-flavored vegetable oil (Don’t use olive oil, for example. Safflower is good. In a pinch, Wesson will do.) and the pan in which you will be browning your ground turkey/chicken.
Crush half a cube of beef boullion into the oil THEN gently heat the oil. You may have to tilt the pan to gather the oil in a pool to dissolve most of the boullion.
Once dissolved, increase heat, add more oil (depending on how much turkey/chicken you’re browning) and fry away!!
If the meat is mottled, you may add a few teaspons of water during the frying process. Be careful not to add too much, as you will end up steaming the meat and not frying it.
Not only will this method add the color you desire to your ground turkey/chicken, it will impart to it a beef flavor, albiet slight.
Bon appetite!
“Though I hate 'em, I’ll defend to my death your right to use smilies.”
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My personal opinion is that you need a new recipe for spaghetti sauce
I was raised on a farm and my family always had half a cow in the freezer. Since moving away so many years ago I have ALWYAS substitued ground chicken/turkey for spaghetti, lasagna, etc. Between the garlic and the onions and the tomato (spag.) and the cheese (lasagna) you should not be able to taste the difference.
Meatballs are another story…I recommend using groud pork
For your spaghetti sauce? Make vegetarian, with beans. Ground turkey? pththth.
More constructively, there is a good cookbook called ‘High Flavour Low Fat Cooking’ by Steven Raichlen, published by Camden House. The recipes not only tell how much fat and cholesterol are in each, but the stuff I’ve made from it has been perfectly OK.
Also, look for vegetarian cookbooks by Anna Thomas. Published by Penguin, I think. Recipes are good, explanations of food science sensible (My first souffle was a recipe from her first book, it worked, and I don’t think I’ve ever had one fail since). The big bonus of her books is that she doesn’t treat vegetarian food like fake meat based food. No nut cutlets ets.
Each time I contemplate low fat/vegetarian cooking, I remember the Garfield cartoon where he says something to the effect that he knows he’s on a diet when he gets an irresistable urge to make a highball out of bacon grease.
I have the same problem as you Will. Best diet is low fat high carb diet. It will drop those pounds and everything else pretty fast. No red meat, eat beans for protein, chicken and fish if you need meat. Eat lots of fruits and veggies. “Graze” every two hours. In other words have carrots, celery, fruit on hand and snack as you need to. The bad ‘fat’ is the saturated fat. If you keep your grams of saturated fat below 4 grams a day you won’t have any problems, you don’t count calories or regular fat grams, just the saturated fat grams. I took off 13 pounds in two weeks without any hunger.
I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
There is no one “best” diet. Different people have different needs, problems, and body chemistries. Some do very well on low-fat/high carb, and others do well on a lower-carb regimen. (Now don’t start any arguments with me about Atkins. I think he’s a fruitcake too. I mean he’s a nut. he would never be a fruitcake 'cause it’s too high in carbs.)
Here’s a tip for you, Golf (it will also make the turkey taste more “beefy”)…
add a capful or two of “Kitchen Bouquet” when you’re browning your turkey (you may want to dilute it in a little water to help it cover all of the meat). This browning agent contains caramel color and will definitely help you to sucker people into thinking you used ground beef. A much better choice than worcestershire sauce if all you want to accomplish is to add a brown color.
