Choosing Fish For Your Food

We continue our lessons on the complete proteins. And in today's  lesson, we want to talk about fish. One of the components we cannot let go in our meals.

Do you know that fish is an important ingredient for healthy living? Let  us look at some points to consider when buying fish and what to do once we bring the fish home.

Point to consider when buying frozen fish        

Fresh shell fish

• The fish should be completely frozen.
• Look for the seal whether it is vacuum sealed or flash frozen and always opt for any of these.
• Frozen shell fish should be completely frozen. 

Now we want to look at that of fresh fish purchases

• The flesh should be firm to touch that is the flesh should bounce back when pressed.

  

  Fresh scaly fish

• The gills should be bright red.
• The eyes should be clear with no redness
• Scaly fish should be completely covered with scales. 
• Shell fish should be lively and frisky.
• The shells on shell fish should tightly close without cracks
• Smoked fish should look glossy with a fresh smoky aroma.

I believe we have learnt a lot today we will continue on our discussions on proteins as we consider what to do to maintain the quality of our fish for that sumptuous fish meal you planned. Thank you for joining me please send me your comments i will love to read from you.

Purchasing, Storage and Preparation of Meat

Meat is our next source of protein we will like to consider. We want to look at factors to look out for when buying either fresh meat or frozen meat and how to prepare it for cooking.

Fresh Beef cuts

Meat is a term used to classify all mammals that are slaughtered and used for food and this includes mutton, beef, lamb, etc.

Whenever we are purchasing meat we have to lookout for the following factors to ensure we are buying fresh meat.                         

• Make sure that the meat has been properly covered and refrigerated without freezer burns (grey-brown spots on the meat).

• Ensure that you buy meat from a shop that has a high turnover to guarantee freshness of the meat.
•  There should be no signs of deterioration such as a foul smell.
• All meat should have their natural colors without any off colour. 

Meat should be the last item that should be purchased on the marketing list and kept separately from other food items like fruits and vegetables.

Immediately refrigerate or freeze it upon arrival if you are not ready to use immediately, if it is to be stored it should be put in a freezer to avoid increase in temperature that will lead to microbial growth and should be properly wrapped in either a freezer bag or cling films.

   Make sure that the portions are properly wrapped otherwise "freezer burn" could develop. Freezer burn appears as grey-brown spots on the meat that is caused by air reaching the surface of the poultry meat.

How to prepare a frozen meat for cooking

Thawed Chicken Meat that are frozen should be kept in the refrigerator for two three days or in a microwave and allowed to thaw. It should never be left under room temperature to thaw.  The meat should be cleaned and washed separately from other food items to avoid contamination.  Any pieces of meat containing freezer burn should be cut away either before or after cooking. If a lot of freezer burn is present, the meat could turn out to be very dry and tasteless when cooked. Thank you for joining me on this post. In my next discussion we want to look at the nutrient contents in meat.

Health Benefits of Meat

I know you are having a great time following me on my posts concerning tips on our Food Ingredients. This week we want to consider the health value in consuming the various types of meat.

Most people prefer to go vegan due to the increasing alarm on meat consumption but they forget that meat contains all the amino acids their body requires to function properly. We should also bear in mind that despite the health benefits it should be consume in moderation. The following outlines the reason for eating meat.

Assorted meat

Grilled Chicken

HEALTH BENEFITS OF CONSUMING MEAT

• Meat is a rich source of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein.
• Meat  contain mineral such as zinc, vitamin B 12, selenium, phosphorus, niacin, vitamin B6, choline, riboflavin and iron. Iron helps in the formation of red blood cells transports oxygen to different parts of your body whiles selenium breaks down the fat and chemicals in the body.
• Meat contain vitamins such as vitamin A, B, D and K. these helps in good vision, and also promote good mental health. 
• The fat content of meat can vary widely depending on the type of meat; farm reared animals has      more fat than wild animals like venison.
•    Eating meat also helps maintain the health of your skin.

This ends our discussions on our complete source of protein. In my next post, we will consider our proteins from plant sources and you will learn that for a complete protein to be achieved, different sources should be eaten together. Let continue as we learn more. Please let me read from you.

Sources of Proteins and Factors to Consider When Buying Fish

It is great to have you once again; for this month we will consider the sources of proteins, what to look out for when buying any protein source and their health benefits in our food.

Today we want to look at the various sources of proteins and the factors to consider when buying fish.

 

Many sources of proteins exists and can be added to our meals. Protein comes in two major forms that are either from plants sources or animal sources. Proteins from plant sources are called incomplete protein and that of animals are complete protein. Plant protein are said to be incomplete because they may lack one or more essential amino acid to complement this, two or more plant proteins are to be taken together (e.g. corn with beans or corn with groundnut). Proteins from animal sources are said to be complete because all the essential amino acids that are needed by the body can be found in one particular meat at a time e.g. beef, mutton, fish etc.

For our discussion today we want to talk about our protein source coming from fish. Fish can be classified into white fish (contains less than 1% fat), oily fish (contains less than 25% fat) and shell fish ( mollusc and crustaceans).

Now let look at what it takes to choose fish either in the fresh state or the frozen state.

 Points to consider when purchasing fresh fish for food

Types of Fish

• The store where the fish is purchased should not produce any off odours.
• Fresh fish should have bright, clear eyes without any dullness.
• The fish should appear clean without any dullness or discoloured patches.
• A fresh fish should have no pungent smell.
• The gills should possess a bright red colour. When the colour faded, the fish is old.
• The flesh of the fish should be firm to touch and resilient so that when it is pressed the indention should disappears.
• Buy only at the finest fish markets in order to have it really fresh.
• Shell fish are usually purchased live e.g. crabs lobsters etc or the shell closing tighter when touched.
• Frozen fish should be completely frozen without the flesh of the fish broken.

I know you have really enjoyed this discussion and be making sure your fish is fresh all the time as you match it with the above factors.In my next post we will discuss the storage and the health benefit of adding fish to our meals. Please send me comments on this post i will like to hear from you.