The New Complete Book of Food

(Kiana) #1
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keep one cutting board exclusively for raw meat, fish, or poultry, and a second one for every-
thing else. Don’t forget to wash your hands.


What Happens When You Cook This Food


Heat changes the structure of proteins. It denatures protein molecules—they break apart into
smaller fragments, change shape, or clump together. All these changes force moisture out of
protein tissues. The longer you cook variety meats, the more moisture they will lose. The
meat’s pigments, also denatured by the heat, combine with oxygen and turn brown—the
natural color of cooked meat.
As the meat cooks, its fats oxidize. Oxidized fats, whether formed in cooking or when
the cooked meat is stored in the refrigerator, give cooked meat a characteristic warmed-over
flavor the next day. Stewing and storing heart or kidneys under a blanket of antioxidants—
catsup or a gravy made of tomatoes, peppers and other vitamin C–rich vegetables—reduces
the oxidation of fats and the intensity of warmed-over flavor.
All variety meats must be cooked thoroughly.


How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food


Freezing. When meat is frozen, the water inside its cells freezes into sharp ice crystals that
puncture cell membranes so that water (and B vitamins) leak out of the cells when the meat
is thawed. Frozen heart, kidneys, and tripe are drier when thawed than they would have
been fresh. They may also be lower in B vitamins. Freezing may also cause freezer burn, dry
spots left when moisture evaporates from the surface of the meat. Waxed freezer paper is
designed specifically to hold the moisture in frozen meat.


Medical Uses and/or Benefits


As a source of heme iron. Because the body stores excess iron in the heart, kidneys, and other
organs, variety meats are an excellent source of heme iron.


Adverse Effects Associated with This Food


Increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Like other foods from animals, variety meats are a
significant source of cholesterol and saturated fats, which increase the amount of cholesterol
circulating in your blood and raise your risk of heart disease. To reduce the risk of heart
disease, the National Cholesterol Education Project recommends following the Step I and
Step II diets.
The Step I diet provides no more than 30 percent of total daily calories from fat, no
more than 10 percent of total daily calories from saturated fat, and no more than 300 mg
of cholesterol per day. It is designed for healthy people whose cholesterol is in the range of
200–239 mg/dL.


Variety Meats
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