susan (02/15/83)
Thanks for the suggestions regarding salt-free cooking. Two cookbooks have been suggested to me via electronic mail: The American Heart Assoc. Cookbook Craig Claiborne's Gourmet Diet I was a little disappointed with the Claiborne book, since most of the recipes were for meat and poultry, and I already never use salt in cooking either. We like to use an assortment of spices, instead. So that book told me nothing new. I've still to find the American Heart Assoc. Cookbook. Many stores are indeed carrying larger numbers of salt-free products. Shop-Rite Blue Label cans generally indicate salt or sugar free products. The canned tomato puree is good; I use it often in my favorite tomato soup recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook, my most prized cookbook (second only to the four-holed binder containing recipes from net.cooks, of course!!). I have put together a salt-free blender mayonnaise which I find tastes better than mayo from the jar, and is very easy to make. Simply combine: 1 egg 1/4 cup vinegar (I use red wine vinegar) 1/4 cup oil 1 tsp of Coleman's mustard powder in a blender, and blend on low speed. When the mixture settles down, remove the cover and add about another 3/4 cup of oil without turning off the blender. When the mixture gets nice and thick, and the oil is just about gone, turn the blender off, otherwise over blending may make the mixture loose (I'm not sure why, though.) Keep in mind that home-made mayo does not last as long as bottled, so don't make a lot, and use it up quickly. With the mayo, I've adapted a Pierre Franey 60-Minute Gourmet recipe for broiled filet. I thought I'd mention it for the person who requested fish recipes. The amazing thing about this recipe is it's so easy, tastes so good, and looks so nice, it makes a great company dish. Anyway, all you do is spoon the mayo on the filets, and bake for about 5-10 minutes, until done. It's not necessary to turn the filets over. The mayo gives the fish a very attractive crust, and a very pleasant flavor. My mom tried the same recipe with regular mayo, and told me she found it too salty, despite the fact that she and my dad are not on salt free diets of any kind. Keep this in mind if you're going to try this out. Another couple of sodium related pieces of info: Lots of products we eat have sodium, which is bad for folks with higher than normal blood pressure. Unfortunately, most marketed baked goods have baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and baking powder, which contains baking soda. I still haven't found substitutes for these items which are considered safe. Stella D'Oro makes low sodium cookies, but we think they taste kind of chalky. A brand called Estee's (I think) also makes low sodium, low sugar products, but they too, don't compare with the real thing. I was appalled by how expensive the Featherweight brand of dietetic products were, simply because they didn't put salt into their stuff. I just can't see buying a 6oz can of tuna for twice the already high price of a regular 7oz can of tuna, just because they didn't include salt. Please continue to post other information on sodium free products. I think it's important to all of us. Susan Eisen mhtsa!susan