168 Part II: Now You’re Cooking! Healthy and Hearty Dishes
✓ Sirloin steaks: The sirloin section is behind the loin section and in
some areas of the country is referred to as the hip area. Sirloin steaks
are fairly large but thin, and the meat isn’t as tender as the short-loin
cuts, but they have great flavor. Because these cuts require a little more
chewing, they’re best for those who have been on a regular diet for at
least six months and have tolerated short-loin steak. This cut is great for
stews and roast.
✓ Flank steak: The flank steak is located on the underside belly area,
directly below the short loin and sirloin. Steaks from this area have a
rich, beefy flavor but must be sliced thin and against the grain to keep
the texture of meat from being chewy.
We do not recommended flank steak, because it’s too stringy and chewy
to be digested well.
Pork is high in saturated fat, so we recommend that you look for leaner cuts.
The best choices for pork cuts are pork tenderloin and pork loin. Other cuts,
such as the butt and shoulder, are tender but much higher in fat.
Cooking Phenomenal Ground-Beef Dishes
Who hasn’t started with a pound of ground beef and made a meal for six or
more people? Few other high-protein foods have the versatility and low price
of ground beef. From stews to burgers, ground meats can be the complement
to the dish or the center of attention. We use ground beef in the recipes in
this section, but you can substitute ground venison, bison, or turkey.
Ground beef comes from different cuts of meat that determine the fat content
and price of the beef. Not all types of ground meat work for all recipes. If
you’re making a ground-meat dish that has other ingredients in it to help
keep it moist, you can use a leaner ground beef, one with 5 to 10 percent fat.
If you’re making burgers, use a ground beef with more fat, 15 to 20 percent,
because the fat keeps the meat moist. Grilling extra-lean beef patties gives
you a dry, tough burger.
Whether you choose extra-lean or regular ground beef, it all contains about
equal amounts of iron, vitamin B12, niacin, and protein. Regular ground beef
has more calories than lean ground beef because it has more fat. A 3-ounce
serving of broiled 95 percent lean ground beef has 140 calories and 5 grams
of fat, versus a 3-ounce broiled serving of 80 percent lean ground beef with
210 calories and 14 grams of fat.
Because ground meat is exposed to more bacteria during processing, it
doesn’t keep as long as a solid piece of meat. You can refrigerate it for up to
two days or keep it in the freezer for three months.
