Screw nutritionists!

Cafe Society
1

“Nice” little article on the best and worst proteins to be grilling this summer. My only response is “Fuck nutritionists!” I’d sooner bugger a hedgehog than follow their advice.

#1 on their list - grilled salmon. Just…no. In 65 years on this planet I haven’t once had salmon in any form that didn’t make me immediate hurl. Let the bears have it all - it will never enter my house or my mouth.

#2 - The worst tasting part of a chicken. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are a reason to commit seppuku, not a grilling option.

#3 - Lean beef burgers. Why? Fat is flavor. Make them out of 90/10 and you might as well be eating a hockey puck.

#4 - Finally, the good part of a chicken. Thighs have all the flavor, and being on the bone makes them satisfying to eat as well.

#5 & #6 - Turkey and fake meat. Fuck that! Turkey is a bird that shouldn’t even be served at Thanksgiving and if you are going to eschew meat, then fucking well do it! Fake meat is a moral, ethical and taste bud cop-out.

#7 - Dogs and brats. A long, bland, loveless life is to be preferred to a shorter, richer one? Says who? I’ll take the nutritional Achilles’ Choice any day of the week.

2

With the notable exception of the noble and fucking delicious salmon I have to agree with you. And if there’s one thing that living a keto-friendly carb restricted life has taught me it’s that fat is our friend. The only reason fat became a boogieman was that the sugar industry had more bucks to spend to bribe the Dept of Agriculture into fucking over the food pyramid.

Chicken breast especially has gotten absolutely nasty. Along with being disgustingly oversized and Sahara level dry the actual taste has gotten more–I dunno, meaty? But in a bad way, like meat that’s juuuuuust about to turn green and shiny. It’s fucking nauseating and I just can’t anymore with that shit. Thighs or fuck off, that’s my motto!

3

I like chicken breasts. But I usually cook them with the skin and bone still there. And in the rare cases where I just use the meat, I add lots of butter.

They aren’t great to grill, though. You have to cook them more gently to keep them moist and tasty.

I agree that burgers need fat, or there’s no point. And steaks and chops – what happened to those? Or whole chicken parts?

4

You lost me when you decried salmon. A versatile, fatty fish, readily available both fresh and farm-raised, which can be prepared in a huge number of ways.

Chicken breast is simply a protein-delivery system. Lean burgers - bleh, almost the same as eating turkey burgers (though a whole or split turkey breast on the grill is wonderful, especially when compared against it’s smaller cousin). Chicken thighs are also very, very versatile and a staple around here.

5

I noticed that too. Brined pork chops, steaks of all sorts, chicken drumsticks, fish of all sorts (except salmon!!)…lots of stuff they ignored. Which makes for good, healthy arguing! :stuck_out_tongue:

6

Never tried that. In general, I’m not a fan of turkey, and I cook a large one once a year on Thanksgiving, because you gotta have a roast turkey on Thanksgiving. Once I bought a smaller one, butchered it into “meal for 2” size pieces, froze most of it, and we ate our way through it. It was… okay. But chicken is SO much tastier.

(I buy pastured chickens, which taste a lot better than feedlot chickens, although they can be tough.)

7

1- Sorry, I’m withthe Salmon Love Team, but the grill is not the place for salmon unless you’re very careful. Many times have a seen a quality piece of salmon reduced to a partial burned, partially raw mass of shreds due to a combination of skin based flareups, stickage, and finally a deflated defeat at the hands of an insufficiently prepared chef. Yes their are options, including planking, or foil or parchment paper, but let’s stick to traditional grilling.

2- Boneless skinless chicken works fine, BUT you want to stay away from the giant mega pack chicken breasts which, I grant you, look and taste subpar at best. The advantage is that with a mild, neutral flavor, you can bring out your chef cred by adding the flavors you want in an awesome brine or marinade. Soak that mild meat overnight in Tecate (or better beer, but I don’t bother) with fresh lime, roasted green chile, salt and cilantro, and you have a feast that is greater than the sum of its parts.

3 - lean beef burgers - Agreed. 80/20 is my go to choice here, and frozen preformed patties are the work of evil.

4 - Thighs are good as is, but I normally get boneless, skinless (because that’s more common in my store) and soak them for a few hours in a good greek style yogurt mixed with lemon juice and Penzy’s Tandoor spice. Grill and you have heaven. The thigh meat stands up to the stronger flavors.

5 & 6 - Meh, I don’t think Turkey burgers are my thing, but some people like the flavor. As for Fake meat, I think that the various veggie burgers that don’t try to taste like meat are great for people who like my wife, who don’t enjoy the taste of meat (Trader Joe’s Marsala or Cowboy Quinoa are her choice), but don’t see the point in fake meat that tries to emulate real meat.

7 - Sorry, I don’t believe in grilled sausage, if I’m doing sausage, it goes on a skillet for a low slow cook with a dark beer or stout before touching the grill just long enough to add a bit of color and crispness.

However, let’s remember, they are talking about what nutritionists advise for summer grilling foods. The criteria wasn’t taste, so I’m not surprised all of us are taking issue with it. But we are comparing apples to oranges. Which reminds me, grilled Red Bell Peppers and Anaheim Peppers are awesome with anything on this list. And grilled corn with a chipolte lime butter roasted in it’s own husk is never wrong.

8

First off, it’s HuffPo. Second, it’s advice from “nutritionists”. That is not a good combo. In most U.S. states, “nutritionist” isn’t a regulated or licensed profession - literally anyone can call themselves a “nutritionist” and offer dietary advice.

If a respectable outlet offered advice from dietitians, I might consider it.

9

Agreed. But it’s Monday, I’m bored and fighting over food preferences is reasonably harmless, as well as cathartic.

10

What about ribs? I did ribs on the grill last weekend.

And I’m prepping to grill some chicken wings later today. They’re marinating in some spiedie sauce right now.

11

I agree with your list with the exception of salmon. This summer I also tried the dreaded liver and onions. Now it’s not something I would ever eat regularly but you know what? Every now and again it’s actually not bad!

12

They aren’t great to grill, though. You have to cook them more gently to keep them moist and tasty.

The opposite, in fact. If you’re cooking them on the stovetop - low heat for a long time and they will be acceptable. If you have the luxury of a grill, blast them with as much heat as you can make, cooking through as quickly as possible, and they will actually be great.

13

Silenus, I generally agree with you on pretty much everything but Pacific salmon cedar planked with a marinade of juniper berries, walnut oil, maple syrup and a healthy dash grainy mustard, S & P is simply Food of the Gods territory. That article is basically crap, though.
Burgers need some fat, and they don’t even mention alternatives like elk or bison which are super tasty!
No chops, or steaks? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

14

heh look up "eat this not that " you’ll have rage fuel for years and years … those guys in the articles are peasants compared to those “experts”

Just to go the food and health section on the msn homepage and you’ll see those bastards with list like " the 70 most popular colas ranked by toxicity" or "the worst 95 things you can eat while out " about 5 days out of 7 for example
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/15-beloved-restaurant-menu-items-that-are-quietly-disappearing/ss-BB16HbZa?li=BBnba9O&ocid=SK2DDHP#image=1

Now it sounds on until they give the reasons why there glad there going away,

15

I’m guilty of butchering a number of fish on the grill, but thru the process I have learned how to grill fish to perfection. I can handle fatty fish like salmon; swordfish or tuna steaks; and local fish like porgy, summer flounder, bluefish, sea bass, etc. I learned mostly with porgies and hake because I can usually catch an abundance of them so I don’t feel too bad about ruining a few.

16

My (chef’s) hat is off to you @D_Odds. I mangled a few pieces of Salmon and almost couldn’t live with the guilt. Especially since some of it was hand caught by my father-in-law in Alaska. So you are one of the blessed few that can make it work. :slight_smile: Well, it’s not like there’s a shortage of other great foods you can cook on the grill if you don’t have the skillz, so I will leave the trial and error to those braver than I.

17

I love salmon, but if the OP doesn’t like it, I understand. I bake it “naked” and love it. I sometimes even eat the skin if it isn’t too tough; if it is, I cut it up and give it to my cats.

Moderation is always the key!

18

Oh man, I live for Copper River line caught salmon and I’ll drive up the Columbia Gorge to score fresh caught salmon and steelhead from First Nations fishers. I have a big cast iron skillet with grill ridges that is absolutely perfect for salmon, I can get it incandescent, wipe it down with a smidge of olive oil then gently place the salmon on the grill to sear with perfect control over the heat. In a second skillet I melt butter and olive oil together then add finely chopped red, orange and yellow bell pepper, shallots, garlic, onion, scallions, basil flowers, dill, pepper, ginger and a squeeze of lemon or lime and cook it all gently into a nice relish. Bed of rice, nice piece salmon on the rice then cover the salmon with the relish. Heaven on a summer night.

19

Yeah, where are the steaks and the chops??!? Stupid list.

And I will be another to say grilled salmon is a thing of beauty when done right. Here’s another recent thread with some cooking and grilling ideas, including one of my own:
https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-fish-specifically-salmon/

20

Yeah, salmon is weirdly out-of-place at the top of that list, since it’s a nice fatty meat that has a lot of flavor.