Is there a way to make SOUL FOOD healthy...?!
Is there a way to make SOUL FOOD healthy...?
We don't eat southern style soul food except during the holidays but it used to be an every sunday thing in my grandmothers house when I was a young girl. I learned all the essentials of making a down home southern meal BUT i know it's not good for you. I would like to make our traditional sunday meal but with less fat (no ham hocks), less salt or salt substitute etc. I am making chicken, collard greens, baked mac & cheese, pigeon peas & rice, jalapeno corn bread and a lemon cake. This is for next sunday. If anyone has recipes that are healthier than the traditional way, please respond with your recipe(s). This question is for everyone, it doesn't matter if you're southern or not. Thanks!
Additional Details2 days ago
ROBERTO-Thanks for the history lesson but it's not the type of food we prepare that makes it SOUL FOOD, it's the seasons that go into it. I doubt italians make baked mac and cheese the same way that southerners make it. I'm sure it's good just the same. I'm sure that the same spices that go into preparing soulthern fried chicken is not the same preparation that goes into scottish fried chicken and that's why it's called SOUL FOOD! My ancestors prepared the fried chicken and barbq ribs and collards and corn bread (which by the way is southern-mexicans added jalapenos to make it mexican?) and who said anything about african americans. Are whites or hispanics not living in the south as well. I know plenty of whites who can prepare southern food just as good as if not better than blacks. Why did you have to make it a black and white thing?
Answers: 2 days ago
ROBERTO-Thanks for the history lesson but it's not the type of food we prepare that makes it SOUL FOOD, it's the seasons that go into it. I doubt italians make baked mac and cheese the same way that southerners make it. I'm sure it's good just the same. I'm sure that the same spices that go into preparing soulthern fried chicken is not the same preparation that goes into scottish fried chicken and that's why it's called SOUL FOOD! My ancestors prepared the fried chicken and barbq ribs and collards and corn bread (which by the way is southern-mexicans added jalapenos to make it mexican?) and who said anything about african americans. Are whites or hispanics not living in the south as well. I know plenty of whites who can prepare southern food just as good as if not better than blacks. Why did you have to make it a black and white thing? All righty then, Roberto B. But, after all that, you still did not answer her question!!
**Bake your chicken, instead of frying.
**Use turkey in your recipe instead of pork
**Never use butter in your mac & cheese. The cheese have the oils that you need for your recipe. As far as I know, you can't make it "heathy" and it still taste right. I'm an old man now and I would damn sure rather die sooner rather than hungry. BTW, my great-grandma lived 98 years eating the real thing,and my Grandpa is 93 and still ticking, so I'm not sure about all this health stuff, anyway. A lot of it is in your genetic makeup. Soul Food? No such thing. If you want to call it that, its up to you, but name some soul food dishes. What? Fried chicken? Nope, that was created by the Scottish Americans in the south and there slave cooks cooked it for them by request of the slave owners. The slaves were allowed to keep chickens so now they eat alot of fried chicken. Did you say baked mac? Uh, hello? Italian American. Also, jalapeno cornbread (also known as Mexican Cornbread) is Mexican American from the South, not soul food. You said lemon cake, uh ok if you say so (European derived). Then that leaves with 2 actual dishes that ARE from the slaves; hoppin John, and Greens. I think that you need more then 2 dishes to have a cuisine. Oh, I forgot watermelon, so that makes 3 (Blacks I was stating that as a fact, not racism, which I KNOW that is what you are thinking). What else do you consider soul food? Barbecue? That was first done by Caribbean indians and the methods were taught to the Spanish, which brought the cooking technique to its possesions in North America, like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana long ago. It then caught on in the American South and regions developed its own sauces for the meat. Barbecue comes from the Taino indian word Barbecoa, which is the word in spanish also. The foods in the south are taken from bits of all its early immigrants and made into one. Saying soul food is like saying there is food made by Whites in the south such as a "Southern White cuisine", which you don't see. There is just Southern food, not black or white food. Whites in the south created way more of the Southern dishes of today than blacks, but you don't see them trying to lay claim to a cuisine by race. That is ridiculous. Whites just consider their food to be southern not "White". Leave it to blacks to classify by race. Most of all southern food bears hallmarks of White and Black, so the food should just be considered southern. Because alot of what you think of as soul food was created by White southerners and was shown to blacks, and vice versa. So you are really asking is SOUTHERN FOOD healthy. Sea salt instead of salt, turkey necks instead of ham hocks, if you are making your corn bread from scratch, avoid using lard, if you are going to use the packages, use Martha White instead of Jiffy, those are just some minor changes that you can make. With the cake, if you can substitute splenda for sugar. This answer is going to sound funny, since I'm a Jewish woman from Chicago. However, my husband's family is from TN, and since he's the cook in the house, i do get to eat food like that. Since I don't keep kosher, I do like some of those dishes. I know I'm not familiar with the traditional recipes, but I hope I can help a bit.
Try to oven-bake the chicken instead of frying it. It's not the same thing, but it's healthier, and if you have an older chicken with thicker fattier skin you can skip the eggs (some people dredge it in eggs, some don't).
Don't use butter or cream in the mac and cheese- use skim milk and a just bit of butter or butter flavoring, and add some corn starch to thicken the sauce.
I've had cornbread made with buttermilk that didn't call for lard or any fat in the recipe, and it tasted really good and not tangy at all. I'm sure you can find the recipe online.
You can use Splenda instead of sugar.
Of course, if you only treat yourself once a week, and nobody in your family is diabetic or has serious health problems, you can just splurge and eat the real deal and just go for a really long walk later to burn it off. hi, don't listen to roberto. he's done lost it. you can use smoked turkey in some of the dishes and use a heart healthy oil/margarine. although, it's the original ing. that make it soooooo darn good. i'd leave the recipes alone and go with smaller servings. i wish i was there, i'd be one haapy camper. would you please share recipes for chicken, greens and cake?
thanks use no oil or butter in the vegetables, but add more spice.
no butter in the mac, and kosher salt in the veggies. sounds delicious. i get mad when people cry racism over such nonsense.
greens are very healthy, just remember no oil and go light on the salt. the bread and cake wouldnt be good otherwise, sorry.
correction; soul food is simply southern foods such as these. whites cook soul food too. heck, so do asians an middle easters, ive ate at their restaurants and soul food is soul food, regardless who cooks it. smh at roberto. Hey ROBERTO - Calm down, now, buddy! Just put the keyboard down slowly and nobody will get hurt. I don't have substitute recipes for you, but just a couple of tips about ham hocks.
Some supermarkets now carry smoked turkey parts as a substitute for ham hocks (wings, legs or backs). The legs work best. You'll often find them near the ham hocks.
Another tip is to make a stock out of ham hocks ahead of time and put it in the fridge. Once it's cold, you can easily remove the fat that solidifies on the top. Now use the stock to cook the veggies. You still get lots of the flavor (but not all of it, 'cuz pork fat tastes good!). You can add a bit of leaner ham to whatever you are cooking to up the flavor a bit more.