"iron" news and stories

Steak salad. Photo: Jennifer Iserloh

OK, I'll admit, I'm a fan of the HBO series "True Blood," but not for the reason most fans like it -- the sexy drama, gorgeous vampires and loads of gore. Watching it is a real break from cooking -- the mental and physical side. After all, you can't cook for a vampire!

I was recently thinking back to an episode when Bill Compton had his first bite with Sookie, cautioning her to take an extra dose of B vitamins. Well, I think that's good advice for all of us, because B vitamins -- especially B-12 -- support the production of red blood cells and prevent anemia.

If you're vegetarian or happen to have type 2 diabetes, you're probably not getting enough, but there's good news: You can get it from yogurt and milk, about four servings a day to get good levels of B12. If you are carnivorous like our friend Bill Compton, then your best sources are calf's liver, snapper, venison, scallops and shrimp -- or even a piece of beef tenderloin, one of my favorite cuts of beef -- and it's even low in fat.

With the economy on the fritz, many people are working twice as hard to make up for colleagues lost in layoffs. It can be hard to pick up the slack and still have energy at the end of the day -- or even working weekends.

In the food business, I'm used to long hours, but I have come up with some ways to fight fatigue when I just don't have time for exercise or R&R is nowhere in sight. Making simple changes to your eating habits can have a huge effect on your energy level throughout the day, which can help you work faster and more efficiently.

After the jump get Jennifer's tips for fighting fatigue while eating deliciously.

Every time we turn around it seems that there is some expert or some study telling us that another food is "bad" for us. And given a little more time, there will be another person saying that the food is, in fact, "good." Red meat -- a category that includes beef, pork and lamb -- has been subject to this time and again and it is getting difficult to keep track of all the things that it can -- and cannot -- do. Fortunately, an Independent columnist neatly summarized the benefits and risks of eating red meat.

Benefits

• High in zinc, which is important for a healthy immune system.
• Contains more iron than most foods, and it is more easily used by the body than iron from other sources
• Also a good source of other vitamins and minerals, including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium and b vitamins.
• Excellent source of complete proteins
• A high-protein diet based on lean red meat has been shown to help weight loss

Risks

• An increased risk of bowel cancer was found for people who ate more than two servings of red meat per week.
• The Mediterranean diet, which is low in red meat, has been shown to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Excessive amounts of red meat can lead to a higher risk of osteoporosis due to an acid byproduct from digesting very large amounts of protein.
• Eating red meat every day can double the risk of Arthritis
• Red meat is high in saturated fat and cholesterol
• A recent study found that rating more than one serving of red meat per day can double the risk of breast cancer, especially in young women.

Source

There are a lot of cooks that will tell you all you really need is some good nonstick cookware in your kitchen. There are an equal number who will tell you that all you need is a cast iron pan. Cast iron heats evenly, quickly and lasts nearly forever. The pans can go from the stovetop right into the oven and, once it is seasoned, the pan should be fairly stick-resistant, too. They're all-purpose pans, to say the least. Cast Iron Cooking is a book that is dedicated to the cookware, with fifty recipes that will all be at their peak when prepared in cast iron.

Frankly, this book is a great resource for people who regularly use cast iron, or want to use it more, since so many current cookbooks call for nonstick pans and confusion can occasionally arise over what is the best cookware to use. The book starts out with some basic introductions to those unfamiliar with the material, including a section explaining how they can be used for open-flame cooking outdoors. The recipes range from main dishes to desserts, and once you develop a relationship with your pan, dutch oven, etc., you'll find yourself using it for a lot more.

Source

Fast Food News recently pointed out an interesting little article on the ways fast food companies produce their "grilled" chicken. The piece, which ran in Fast Company, details the process of how chicken breasts are flavored en masse in a "tumble marinator" before being cooked by jets of hot air and then sent under the hot branding wheels of machines like the CM-40 II Charmarker to get that fresh off the grill look (right). Then they're frozen and shipped. A Burger King chicken breast has over 30 ingredients and Panera's grilled chicken is flavored with beef extract, according to Fast Company. Coincidentally, Fast Food news had another funny post about using meat as a condiment.