Measuring Up: The Key to Cooking Healthy

I measure everything. Whenever I am on television or giving a talk, I stress the importance of careful measurement as the easiest method of cooking and eating healthy. It is also an important part of simply cooking great food. I once had a chef friend tell me he thought it was easy for bad chefs to hide their sins with lots of fat and salt. He said, “You can make bad food taste better with more butter or salt, but it’s better to simply make great food with the right amount of ingredients.”

For instance, I like to use butter in recipes. It is a great flavor enhancer and perfect for giving sauces the right texture. Most of the time, you don’t need a lot; measuring with a teaspoon is key.

Olive oil is another fat that’s a healthy choice and makes a great substitute for other, unhealthy fats. That said, all oils and fats are calorie-dense. One tsp. of oil contains about 45 calories and 5g of fat.

Chefs on television slosh the stuff into pans with abandon, adding calories without adding much to the flavor or texture of their dishes. Use a measuring spoon for your fats, including olive oil, butter, spreads and canola oil. This is key to helping control the amount of fat and calories in a particular dish.

Salt is another ingredient I am careful to measure. I find that many recipes are way too salty, and it’s easy to cut back by simply measuring carefully. One tsp. of salt has about 2,300mg of sodium. As a rule of thumb, 1/4 tsp. works pretty well for a recipe that serves two people. When I am designing recipes, I use this as my starting point and reduce if there’s an ingredient that contains more salt, such as parmesan cheese or soy sauce.

I used to have trouble figuring out how to deal with less than 1/8 tsp. of salt. I feel that I can pretty reliably gauge 1/8 tsp. by using half of my 1/4 tsp. measure. This is all well and good, but sometimes it’s good to be able to sprinkle 1/16 tsp. on top of a tuna filet or over a flank steak I am getting ready to sear.

This is where a salt mill comes in. I know that my salt grinder dispenses 1/8 tsp. with 10 cranks of the grinder (1/6 tsp. with five turns). You’ll need to experiment a bit with your own by grinding salt onto a sheet of wax paper. Fold the wax paper first, then open it up so that it will be easy to pour the salt into a teaspoon. (This works great for black pepper, too.)

I use measuring cups for all other ingredients, such as milk, chicken stock, flour, rice and oatmeal. Much of this has to do with getting the flavor of the recipe just right. It’s important, because rounding on the top of a measuring cup can add as much as 20 percent in volume. With a cup of brown rice, that can add 30 calories per serving. It’s pretty easy to have such inaccurate measures add calorie creep into your diet.

Finally,I believe that a scale is key. Most every cooking school teaches chefs to use scales for everything from flour to fish to fruit. It is the most accurate way to cook, and the best way to make sure you are eating the number of calories you should be. While most recipes for the home kitchen are written using cups and measuring spoons, learning to weigh pasta, meat, fish, chicken, potatoes, vegetables and other calorie-dense foods can really help keep you on track.

Timothy S. Harlan, M.D., a.k.a. Dr. Gourmet
Drgourmet.com