The grill?

jumpguy

I know that grilling meats is obviously better than frying them, but how much of a difference does it make? Just had 4 grilled sausages and 2 grilled rashers. I know sausages are full of saturated fat but they are a good source of protein and the grill SEEMS to remove alot of fat. Can anyone shed some light on this, just how much can the grill do for fatty foods?

Huggles

Sausages are full of fat and salt.

Due to the skins on sausages we have here, I imagine a lot of the fatty content is kept inside. I'd avoid like the plague tbh.

Edit: Meant to ask your goals? Lose weight? Lower cholesterol? Reduce BF?

jumpguy wrote: »

I know that grilling meats is obviously better than frying them, but how much of a difference does it make? Just had 4 grilled sausages and 2 grilled rashers. I know sausages are full of saturated fat but they are a good source of protein and the grill SEEMS to remove alot of fat. Can anyone shed some light on this, just how much can the grill do for fatty foods?

jumpguy

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, goals are to eat healthier and try to have a more balanced diet. I have the exercise but I reckon I don't have the diet. Over the last week or so I've been trying to improve it, especially protein intake, eating loads of eggs, trying to cut out junk food. I get plenty of exercise (jogging most days, rugby training once a week so far, will probably increase later) but I want to lose more dead-weight fat and gain muscle. I poke plenty of holes in the sausages to try and get as much of it out (before cooking).

What about rashers aswell?

Huggles

Personally I would stay away from the rashers and sausages for above reasons, fat and salt. Opting instead for chicken, eggs, fish

jumpguy wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, goals are to eat healthier and try to have a more balanced diet. I have the exercise but I reckon I don't have the diet. Over the last week or so I've been trying to improve it, especially protein intake, eating loads of eggs, trying to cut out junk food. I get plenty of exercise (jogging most days, rugby training once a week so far, will probably increase later) but I want to lose more dead-weight fat and gain muscle. I poke plenty of holes in the sausages to try and get as much of it out (before cooking).

What about rashers aswell?

EileenG

Saturated fat is not a bad thing, but sausages are full of junk. I had a holiday job in a factory that made award-winning ones, and it was scary. They are full of fat, rusk, salt, MSG or other flavourings, and some pink to add enough colour to make them look like meat.

Go for salmon, or steak or chops or other fresh fish or meat. Grilling is fine, but frying can be good too. I have a non-stick pan with a heavy glass lid. One drop of olive oil, a moderate eat and you can cook just about anything without burning and without trouble. You can even chuck in a lot of vegetables to cook at the same time.

corkcomp

IMO it makes no sense to fry something if the same piece of meat can be grilled (unless you are not watching calories - and most people do need to watch to some extent) .. As mentioned, sausages are not great, and I would prefer to have a tin of sugar free baked beans which would probably have as much protein as some sausages!

eclectichoney

Instead of rashers you could go for bacon medallions (like rashers but with the fatty tail part cut off - sorry don't know the technical term!) I much prefer them and I think they aren't too unhealthy apart from the salt!

rubadub

corkcomp wrote: »

IMO it makes no sense to fry something if the same piece of meat can be grilled

I just dry fry mine in a nonstick saucepan so all the fat falls out like it would on a grill, you can pat it with kitchen towel to get more fat out if you are really that worried.

eclectichoney wrote: »

Instead of rashers you could go for bacon medallions (like rashers but with the fatty tail part cut off - sorry don't know the technical term!) I much prefer them and I think they aren't too unhealthy apart from the salt!

Tesco do "Healthy living" rashers which have all the fat trimmed off, but are still LOADED with salt :mad:

EileenG

corkcomp wrote: »

IMO it makes no sense to fry something if the same piece of meat can be grilled (unless you are not watching calories - and most people do need to watch to some extent) .. As mentioned, sausages are not great, and I would prefer to have a tin of sugar free baked beans which would probably have as much protein as some sausages!

There is some debate about the health risks of grilling, where the meat is more exposed to direct heat and likely to get burned. No definitive answers, but I wouldn't assume that grilling was always the best option. If you have a good non-stick pan, you don't need lots of extra fat.

corkcomp

EileenG wrote: »

There is some debate about the health risks of grilling, where the meat is more exposed to direct heat and likely to get burned. No definitive answers, but I wouldn't assume that grilling was always the best option. If you have a good non-stick pan, you don't need lots of extra fat.

there is also "some" - well quite a lot of debate about the health risks of frying ... People totally mis-understood the point I was making .. i.e. if you are going to have 150g of steak, then it will probably have less carlories if grilled and unless you are not watching calorie intake I cant see any reason to fry it?

El_Dangeroso

I know in the rational part of my brain sausages are really crap food.. but I looooove sausages, I spent a whole year in Australia thinking about eating 5 packets of them when I got home I missed them so much..

I get the gluten free organic ones in the hope that they're not as bad, they really are my guilty pleasure.:D

corkcomp

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

I know in the rational part of my brain sausages are really crap food.. but I looooove sausages, I spent a whole year in Australia thinking about eating 5 packets of them when I got home I missed them so much..

I get the gluten free organic ones in the hope that they're not as bad, they really are my guilty pleasure.:D

I used to have sausages nearly every day until a guy I know did his internship in a food manufacturing establishment ... like Eileen mentioned in an earlier post, some of the stories I heard about what goes into the sausages were enough to turn me off them .. I NEVER eat sausages now, no matter how hungry i am !!! As a slight aside, mechanically processed meat is VERY BAD FOR YOU .. it contains everything from skin, hair, bone, hooves etc .. not trying to be gross but its true!!

El_Dangeroso

corkcomp wrote: »

I used to have sausages nearly every day until a guy I know did his internship in a food manufacturing establishment ... like Eileen mentioned in an earlier post, some of the stories I heard about what goes into the sausages were enough to turn me off them .. I NEVER eat sausages now, no matter how hungry i am !!! As a slight aside, mechanically processed meat is VERY BAD FOR YOU .. it contains everything from skin, hair, bone, hooves etc .. not trying to be gross but its true!!

Ya see, I don't have problem with eating skin and otherwise disgusting sounding internal organ bits, worst thing about hoof is that you probably can't digest it. People traditionally ate every bit of the animal, much less wasteful.

Unless it's chemically treated in some way? Would they have to label that?

What I'm worried about is the other non-meat and fat ingredients:

Clonikilty GF sausages

Pork - ok, you'd expect this

Water - ok probably going to evaporate when you cook

Pork Fat - I know others might disagree but fine with my nutritional plan

Soya Protein - Genetically Modified and messes with your thyroid as well as inhibiting the absorption of minerals

Potato Starch - I guess not so bad, probably not so good?

Salt - not an issue for me personally

Dextrose - another word for sugar

Permitted Preservative E221 - why not tell us the name of it? Probably because Sodium Sulphite sounds a little bit too chemically plus according to the internets: In combination with alcohol it increases the symptoms of a hangover. :eek: No more late night battered sausages for me then lol!

Spice Extracts

Antioxidant E301 - once again not named probably for marketing reasons - Sodium ascorbate

Flavourings - What flavourings?

Colour E120 - Colour? Why?? What colour were they in the first place?

Can anyone tell me where I can get sausages that don't contain all the above crap? I'm depressed now

corkcomp

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Ya see, I don't have problem with eating skin and otherwise disgusting sounding internal organ bits, worst thing about hoof is that you probably can't digest it. People traditionally ate every bit of the animal, much less wasteful.

Unless it's chemically treated in some way? Would they have to label that?

What I'm worried about is the other non-meat and fat ingredients:

Clonikilty GF sausages

Pork - ok, you'd expect this

Water - ok probably going to evaporate when you cook

Pork Fat - I know others might disagree but fine with my nutritional plan

Soya Protein - Genetically Modified and messes with your thyroid as well as inhibiting the absorption of minerals

Potato Starch - I guess not so bad, probably not so good?

Salt - not an issue for me personally

Dextrose - another word for sugar

Permitted Preservative E221 - why not tell us the name of it? Probably because Sodium Sulphite sounds a little bit too chemically plus according to the internets: In combination with alcohol it increases the symptoms of a hangover. :eek: No more late night battered sausages for me then lol!

Spice Extracts

Antioxidant E301 - once again not named probably for marketing reasons - Sodium ascorbate

Flavourings - What flavourings?

Colour E120 - Colour? Why?? What colour were they in the first place?

Can anyone tell me where I can get sausages that don't contain all the above crap? I'm depressed now

TBH ive never read the full ingredients list but it doesnt make for good reading! One well known brand i looked at before said 61% pork content so that was enough info for me - I mean WTF is the other 40% !!!

jumpguy

Okay, so reduce the sausages anyway. Tonight I had 4 rashers (grilled) as opposed to sausages. I like abit of meat atleast once a day in my diet for the fats and the added protein.

rubadub

EileenG wrote: »

I have a non-stick pan with a heavy glass lid. One drop of olive oil, a moderate eat and you can cook just about anything without burning and without trouble.

EileenG wrote: »

There is some debate about the health risks of grilling, where the meat is more exposed to direct heat and likely to get burned.

Frying in saucepans has a few advantages, the oil does not spatter out onto the hob, and the lid as mentioned is great, it can steam the food in its own moisture boiling off. Today I cooked a massive burger with lean mince, no need for oil, I put the lid on and the juices came out after it had browned a while. It is very energy efficient too, cooks quicker and comes out juicier. I sometimes add a tablespoon of water to chicken which is almost done frying, it also steams it to cook it through and keeps it moist, yet still comes out nicely fried and not looking or tasting boiled.

corkcomp wrote: »

. it contains everything from skin, hair, bone, hooves etc .. not trying to be gross but its true!!

The offal etc also does not bother me much, except the price of it! you can usually get pork chops for the same price per kg as most branded sausages. I would love to have a go making sausages, just liquidising up chops and adding spices, nice to see what goes in.

You can buy all the stuff here http://www.sausagemaking.org/

An alternative to salty rashers is getting a pork steak and cutting off medallions & frying them. I love pork steak fried in breadcrumbs.

EileenG

I'm not bothered about the offal and off-cuts, I'd rather they were eaten than thrown out, and I eat a fair bit of offal anyway. It's the other stuff I worry about.

If you have a local butcher, you can usually get him to make sausages for you, using your list of ingredients: meat, herbs, spices, maybe a pinch of salt.