Sunday, January 3, 2010

Healthy, Delicious Dishes with Rotisserie Cooking

By Stephen Daniels

Healthy eating doesn't mean you must have a salad for every meal. Conversely, high fat is not a requirement for deliciousness. Rotisserie cooking creates tender, juicy meat and flavorful vegetables that have been slow cooked to perfection... without the potentially dangerous consequences of grilling or the extra fat and calories from frying.

Most people are aware of the cholesterol-raising and artery-clogging side effects of deep-frying. However, grilling is generally seen as a healthy way to cook. While this method of food preparation is certainly lower fat than frying, recent studies showed that particles called benz pyrenes found in charred food might lead to cancer. In other words, if you like your steak or hotdogs charbroiled black, beware. Carcinogens could very well be hidden in those crusty black bits.

Using lighter fluid and some charcoal additives to help start the fire could be a health hazard in grilling as well. Overuse could make these unhealthy chemicals end up in the meal. Grease dripping down into grills can also cause dangerous flare-ups that burn food (or even the cook).

Rotisserie cooked food avoids all of these issues. When meat is cooked on a rotisserie, the fat and drippings from the meat baste the meat, while the excess is caught in a pan on the bottom of the rotisserie unit. The result is delicious, moist meat with less fat than other cooking methods. (You can also opt to make a delicious sauce or gravy out of the pan drippings if the fat isn't a concern.)

Chicken, turkeys and Cornish hens, as well as various beef, pork and even lamb roasts, are easy to prepare on the rotisserie. However, innovations in kitchen products can allow you to cook almost anything using this delightful method. Fish, whether store bought or freshly caught, can be placed inside rotisserie baskets to further add to the variety of your meals.

Vegetables and fruits can also easily be skewered on a rotisserie. You can choose to cook them alone or along with meats as a part of delectable kabobs. Peppers and onions are only the beginning of the many healthful, scrumptious vegetables that can be prepared with a rotisserie oven. Even Brussels sprouts and other vegetables that don't skewer well, can be placed in rotisserie baskets for easy cooking.

Conventional rotisserie ovens are designed to cook turkeys and other large roasts. By necessity, they take up quite a bit of space. However, this is not the only option. Counter-top rotisseries enable single people and small families to enjoy the benefits of this wonderful cooking method, while taking up very little space in your kitchen. These smaller models are more energy efficient, and more affordable, than conventional size rotisseries, but it is important to recognize that most of them can't accommodate the larger roasts that their bigger cousins handle.

If healthy cooking methods don't appeal to you or your loved ones because they seem flavorless or boring, you might want to look into getting a rotisserie. Whether you are preparing a meal for twenty people or just one, rotisserie cooking can help you cook delicious, healthy foods easily.

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