# Comfort/winter foods with lean meat?



## Zwiefel (Dec 19, 2014)

I recently moved in with friends and am grappling with new parameters for the kitchen. it's the time of year for pot roasts, chili, mac-n-cheese, etc. However, my host needs a diet low in saturated fats and salt if he is to avoid another "cardiac event."

I'm not terribly familiar with lean meat in general, but it seems esp difficult for these kinds of dishes as IME lean meats need short cooking times at high temps. 

Anybody dealt with this before? Have any ideas?

I'm in the DFW area, so I can source some game (not sure yet what)--which is new for me-- and have access to amazing quality seafood flown in fresh daily...if that helps.


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## chefcomesback (Dec 19, 2014)

I have substituted ground Turkey for beef, have been cooking my bolognaise and chili with it with good results , it may be an alternative you can consider


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## Zwiefel (Dec 19, 2014)

chefcomesback said:


> I have substituted ground Turkey for beef, have been cooking my bolognaise and chili with it with good results , it may be an alternative you can consider



Other than cost, why wouldn't I just ground/chipped/cubed Tenderloin? (I avoid ground meat whenever possible...unless I grind it myself.)


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## chefcomesback (Dec 19, 2014)

For me I am trying to eat less red meat , that's the reason


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## bear1889 (Dec 19, 2014)

Ground elk venison, buffalo, goat, and/or bison same texture as beef very low in cholesterol and sat fats.

Now everybody loves breakfast sausage but the morning star brand frozen patties are pretty good with eggs.


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## Mucho Bocho (Dec 19, 2014)

London broil/ top round or eye roast. 

Marinated steaks seared fast
Eye round sliced thin stuffed with duxelles

Eye round cut thicker, pounded, stuffed with Parma, green apple and some crumb, tie. Brown in casserole pan, move. In pan make simple tomato sauce, return to pan, parchment cover, cook oven 350 for 40 min


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## Mrmnms (Dec 19, 2014)

When I think of comfort/winter food, I tend to think of slow braises and pot roasts. I chill them after cooking and remove the fat before reheating the next day. We lived off venison stews and soups with barley for a couple winters up in northern Vermont. Most people we served thought it was local beef. Who were we to spoil it for them.


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## JeffG (Dec 20, 2014)

I am by no means a chef as I am just a home cook who really enjoys it. With that said, venison makes great chili! Also, like Mrmnms states a slow cook of roasts makes the fat very easy to skim off the day after cooking and the flavors meld together (tastes better) the next day anyways :hungry:

I also do sub ground turkey a lot but packaged is very high in sodium or at least the options I have available are so if you can grind your own lean cuts that is probably better when "cardiac" issues are a concern

Jeff


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## Salty dog (Dec 20, 2014)

I'll second eye of round.


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## mhpr262 (Dec 20, 2014)

You might try goulash, that works best with the leanest and toughest (but also most flavourful) cuts. Or Tafelspitz, a famous Austrian dish made from beef. I'm sure there are recipes on English language reicep sites.

I happen to have one goulash recipe on my computer:

Viennese Goulash

1kg beef (or pork, venison, lamb - whatever you want)
1kg onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. caraway
1 tbsp. marjoram
4 tbsp. paprika powder 
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. tomato paste
stock
butter / oil
salt
pepper

Cut meat into large cubes cubes (like, one cube=two bites). Sear cubes in a hot skillet or your pot.
Dice the onions as finely as possible. Roast them to a dark brown color, but don't let them get burned.
Add caraway, marjoram, paprika powder, tomato paste, vinegar and the garlic (either diced or pureed, however you like).

Stir it, let the tomato paste and paprika unfold their full taste. Add browned, diced meat and stock until everything is just covered (you can add more later, if needed).

Let it simmer for at least 1h, 2-3h are preferred to get the meat really tender.

Serve just the goulash, or with some rice, white bread or some bread dumplings.


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## CoqaVin (Dec 20, 2014)

Wild boar


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## Zwiefel (Dec 20, 2014)

Salty dog said:


> I'll second eye of round.





Mucho Bocho said:


> London broil/ top round or eye roast.
> 
> Marinated steaks seared fast
> Eye round sliced thin stuffed with duxelles
> ...




Just to be clear...you guys are just saying that this is a flavorful lean cut, not that it's good for braises, right?


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## Zwiefel (Dec 20, 2014)

CoqaVin said:


> Wild boar



Yeah, maybe David has some ideas! 


this is one of the things I'm going to check for in the local markets that have game...as well as my circle of family/friends.


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## Lucretia (Dec 20, 2014)

Sounds like someone needs some chicken chili...


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## Zwiefel (Dec 20, 2014)

Lucretia said:


> Sounds like someone needs some chicken chili...



 now you're just spoiling!


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## Vesteroid (Dec 20, 2014)

I know I sit on the outside of chefdom....but if low salt and low fat are your concerns, why it focus on veggie and starch based meals rather than protien based meals. I have shifted my focust to having protien as a side dish rather than the main course over the last several years with good result.

I still eat meat, and fish, but I eat much better cuts and less of them. 4 oz of premium grade fish, or lean beef is enough to make my meals very pleading with veggie and starch main courses.


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## Zwiefel (Dec 20, 2014)

Vesteroid said:


> I know I sit on the outside of chefdom....but if low salt and low fat are your concerns, why it focus on veggie and starch based meals rather than protien based meals. I have shifted my focust to having protien as a side dish rather than the main course over the last several years with good result.
> 
> I still eat meat, and fish, but I eat much better cuts and less of them. 4 oz of premium grade fish, or lean beef is enough to make my meals very pleading with veggie and starch main courses.



I'm 100% down with that.....my friend is a bit more traditional, I'm afraid. :/


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## akirapuff (Jan 15, 2015)

any kind of soup or a braise and skim off all the fat on top


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## boomchakabowwow (Jan 15, 2015)

i'm a bow hunter. luckily, my freezer is full of venison right now. my wife and i are going thru it surprisingly fast. but not all venison is created equal. my deer was lean, and taken off of a mountain side in the Sierras..the one my friend took out of texas? was about 4x fattier!! i made a stew and was blown away how much fat there was. so, at the farmer's market, i took a look at an elk heart. it had a lot of fat. my elk's heart, from an animal running free in Idaho..had zero fat around the organ. the fat elk was a domestically raised meat elk.

just saying..your mileage may vary.

if i was buying a meat that i felt was lean. one word..goat. you can get it at mexican markets. very very lean. it is my go-to curry meat.


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## Zwiefel (Jan 15, 2015)

boomchakabowwow said:


> i'm a bow hunter. luckily, my freezer is full of venison right now. my wife and i are going thru it surprisingly fast. but not all venison is created equal. my deer was lean, and taken off of a mountain side in the Sierras..the one my friend took out of texas? was about 4x fattier!! i made a stew and was blown away how much fat there was. so, at the farmer's market, i took a look at an elk heart. it had a lot of fat. my elk's heart, from an animal running free in Idaho..had zero fat around the organ. the fat elk was a domestically raised meat elk.
> 
> just saying..your mileage may vary.
> 
> if i was buying a meat that i felt was lean. one word..goat. you can get it at mexican markets. very very lean. it is my go-to curry meat.



I don't have the experience with game to have seen that first hand...but once I started paying attention to salmon I saw it there. I just can't stand farmed salmon anymore, just way too fatty for me. So, yeah...seeing is believing, eh?

How are you prepping your venison?


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## CoqaVin (Jan 15, 2015)

farmed salmon is so different IMHO, super oily


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## Zwiefel (Jan 15, 2015)

CoqaVin said:


> farmed salmon is so different IMHO, super oily



Yup. downright greasy. Upsets my stomach a bit.


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