Chefmanship™ Academy

Healthy Dishes Chef Robin Ho Wai Kwong, Singapore “As people travel, they are becoming more aware of what they will eat, how their food is cooked, how it is dealt with, and how germs spread. People want to know how food is coming in and being grown.” What’s Inside This Module? Introduction Why Health? Introducing Healthier Menus 8 Ways to Healthier Cooking Create “Just Right” Portions Offer Less Salt Use Healthier Fats Offer Less Sugar What’s Inside This Module? Add More Fruits & Veggies Limit Calories Making Healthy Soups, Sauces, & Gravies Making Healthy Desserts Guilt-Free Cooking Methods Promote Healthy Choice Menus Recap & Summary Diners are concerned about their health, and yet they don’t have time to cook. Why Health? Food is more than just about taste • While taste still ranks high among reasons for food preference, nutrition is gaining more attention. • Increased awareness about wellness and how diet affects people’s health and even life spans, have caused people to seriously consider the nutritional content of the food they eat. Operators’ Responsibility • To educate our diners on the value of good nutrition. • To provide our diners with healthy menu options. • To effectively show that nutritious food can be equally exciting and flavorful. Introducing Healthier Menus Chef Dhillon Ng, Malaysia “Vegetarian options are requested more. It is about eating healthy. The market is becoming more knowledgeable.” Chefs and foodservice professionals play an important role in the health and nourishment of their customers. 1. Identify customers’ needs and wants. 2. Develop 5. Educate action plans diners to to address become customers’ more health needs and conscious. How To Introduce wants. Healthy Menus 4. Train 3. Prepare/ kitchen oversee staff on preparation healthy of healthy cooking. meals. “While it is ultimately up to individuals to make good, healthful food choices for themselves and their families, it is vital to our nation’s public health that the foodservice industry accelerate current efforts to expand healthy menu choices.” Principles of Healthy Menu, www.ciaprochef.com 8 Ways to Healthier Cooking 1. Provide “Just Right” Portions 8. Make 2. Offer Healthy Less Salt Desserts 7. Make Healthy Healthy 3. Use Soups, Cooking Healthier Sauces, & Fats Gravies Ways 6. Limit 4. Offer Calories Less Sugar 5. Add More Fruits & Veggies 1. Provide “Just Right” Portions • Too much of anything is not good. • Big portions encourage over eating. • Promote “eating moderately.” Tip As a guide, the MyPlate health model says about half of a diner’s plate should be fruits and vegetables, a quarter is carbohydrates, and another quarter is protein. 2. Offer Less Salt Salt is Essential to Life… … but an excess can be harmful. Salt is vital in the nutritional and physiological processes of human bodies. An excess blocks water absorption which leads to constipation, toxin accumulation, and dehydration. • Limit addition of salt during cooking. • Use herbs and spices to add robust flavor and reduce need for salt. 2. Offer Less Salt • Be careful with products high in salt: soy sauce, anchovies, olives, capers, pickles, cheese, ham, bacon, processed meats, and fish. • Season with citrus and vinegar instead of adding further salt. 2. Offer Less Salt • Avoid tendency to over season Tip Soy sauce and fish sauce are with salt. When possible, allow among favorite Asian guests to add their own salt, ingredients that are high in sodium. Opt to use low- based on their taste. sodium soy sauce. For fish • Remember that convenience sauce, try adding hoisin or miso in low-sodium soy sauce. products are often already cooking.stackexchange.com seasoned, and may not need further salting. 3. Use Healthier Fats Understand Healthy Oils • Use less saturated fat (butter and lard) and hydrogenated fats (margarine and shortening.) • Use oils in liquid form, when possible. • Vegetable oils have no cholesterol and are low in saturated fat. • Offer dishes that are cooked in liquids instead of oil. 3. Use Healthier Fats Understand Healthy Oils • Explore use of oils like safflower, sunflower, corn, peanut and sesame to add flavor. • Replace bland salad oils with intensely flavored nut oil or olive oil. • Replace 25% of oil in recipe with slightly thickened stock. 3. Use Healthier Fats Understand Healthy Oils • Use pureed fruits and vegetable, and extracts from liquor to compensate for loss of buttery flavor. • Use non fat substitutes, such as skimmed milk (0% fat) in place of whole milk (4% fat). 3. Use Healthier Fats Reduce Fat from Ingredients • Use lean meats, such as tenderloin, beef eye of round, beef flank steak, beef sirloin steak, pork loin chop, turkey breast. • Brush lean meats with little oil during cooking to prevent drying out. 3. Use Healthier Fats Reduce Fat from Ingredients • Remove visible fat and fatty skin before cooking. For chicken, select white meat instead of legs and thighs. • Use egg substitutes (egg whites with small amount of vegetable oil) to replace egg yolk. 3. Use Healthier Fats Reduce Fat from Ingredients • Use low fat dressings. • Use light coconut milk instead of coconut milk or creamed coconut. 3. Use Healthier Fats Use Low Fat Preparation Techniques Tip • Use non-stick pan to reduce oil. Explore other deep frying • In deep fat frying, pre-prepare the methods such as using an Oil Free AirFryer * or a high food to minimize fat absorption smoke point olive oil. (such as pre-baking). *www.philips.co.uk 3. Use Healthier Fats Examples of Lowering Fat Content in Recipes Substitute egg noodles with wheat noodles. Substitute yogurt with fat-free yogurt. Substitute meats with tofu in stir-fried dishes. Substitute ground beef with ground sirloin. 4. Offer Less Sugar • Replace refined sugar with fruit Tip juices, purees or dried fruits. Look into using natural sugar substitutes like the herb • Avoid adding sugar, syrup, or Stevia. This is widely used in honey to dishes. Japan and can grow in Southeast Asian countries. • Use 100% fruit juices or fruit purees instead of adding sugar. www.morita-kagaku-kogyo.co.jp 4. Offer Less Sugar • Offer fruit based desserts. • Add a ready made fruit coulis to keep dishes fresh and healthy. Chef Haikal Johari, Thailand “There are more and more organic restaurants and shops in Bangkok. People want to take care of their bodies. They look for 100% organic products.” 5. Add More Fruits & Veggies • Maximize and continue to explore use of fruits and vegetables on the menu. • Use fresh, local and seasonal produce. • Add herbs and spices to vegetables to enhance flavor. 5. Add More Fruits & Veggies Tip • Offer fruits and vegetables as side Southeast Asian diners enjoy dishes. their local fruits and vegetables. Famous fruits • Offer more fruit based desserts are bananas, jackfruit, longan, lychee, and durian. like fruit salads or yogurts with Favorite vegetables are taro fruit. root, radish, lemon grass, leeks, and cabbage. 6. Limit Calories • Observe moderate portions, especially for dishes rich in carbohydrates, proteins and fats/oils. • Reduce sugar and fat content of dishes prepared. 7. Make Healthy Soups, Sauces, & Gravies • Use reduction stock (made of Tip Soups are traditionally vegetables, meat, poultry or fish, prepared in East Asian summered until 1/3 in volume) cultures, and are based on broths rather than milk or with fat skimmed off. cream. Corn or sweet • Use skimmed stock. potatoes are used as thickeners. Opt for local • Make a sauce with pan drippings, soups like Tom Yum, Laksa, or Chinese Chicken Soup in wine, broth, or stock. your menu. 7. Make Healthy Soups, Sauces, & Gravies • Use pureed vegetables for thickening soups. • Dilute cream-based sauces, dips and dressings with broth, fruit juice or skim milk. • Use slurry (thickener made of mixture of water/stock and starch) instead of roux (equal amounts of fat and flour). 7. Make Healthy Soups, Sauces, & Gravies • Use vegetable juice as sauce. • Use skim milk and trans fat-free margarine for sauce. • Replace gravy with fruit coulis (a thick pureed sauce), salsas, and chutneys. 8. Make Healthy Desserts • Use fruit based desserts, such as Tip stewed fruit with fat free yogurt. Fruit based desserts you may consider are Indonesia’s • Use sweet fruit or raisins to flavor Bananas with Cinnamon cakes and biscuits. Coconut Sauce or Thailand’s Bananas & Lychees in Sweet • Garnish desserts with fresh fruit Coconut Milk. and mint leaves for color and appeal. 7. 8. Make Healthy Desserts Make Healthy Soups, Sauces, & Gravies • Use toasted whole grain bread crumbs as healthy topping. • Use low fat- and fat-free cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, yogurt, or cream cheese whenever possible. Key Takeout Eating healthy does not mean completely turning one’s back from everyday dishes. It is a matter of substituting unhealthy ingredients and eating in right portions. Showing this in your menu will further entice your diners to try your healthy dishes. Guilt-Free Cooking Methods Bake: Food is directly placed in a baking dish and cooked in the oven. Barbecue: Food is cooked on a grate over indirect heat. Braise: Slow and flavourful method of cooking tough meats with fruits, vegetables, and stock. Broil: Food is cooked over a perforated pan, with a catch pan with high direct heat from above. Dish Examples • Bake: Ikan Bandeng (Baked Fish) • Barbecue: BBQ Sambal Stingray • Braise: Pork Humba (Braised Pork Belly) • Broil: Broiled Lobster Tail Dry Saute: A non-stick pan with little or no fat used on high heat. Grill: Food is cooked on a grate over direct or indirect heat. Oven-fry: Breaded food baked or broiled at high heat. Pan Steam: Food is cooked in a pan on the range or in a microwave dish with a small amount of boiling liquid. Dish Examples • Dry-saute: Dry Sauteed Mushrooms • Grill: Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce • Oven-fry: Oven French Fries • Pan Steam: Pan Steamed Bok Choy with Soy Sauce and Ginger Poach: Food is gently cooked in liquid just below a simmer.

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