WHAT’S COOKING?
I’ll be upfront and honest, if you’re a foodie who loves to cook… this blog isn’t for you.
The people I am talking to here are the folk who prior to working on their health journey were mostly eating out of drive thru bags and boxes from their cabinets & freezers. The people who are doing their best to make keto work with resources like KetoConnect’s great fast food guides (Click here to see them!) or the natural hunt for the best bundles burger. And even the people who are relying on meal prep services for their weekly haul and would like to save some money.
There’s nothing innately wrong with those choices but I think we do know that preparing meals at home can provide benefits that eating out just simply cannot. They include:
Better use of budget
Complete awareness of ingredients & preparation methods
Greater focus on less processed foods
Access to a greater variety of food options
I know the solution isn’t just to tell someone who is intimidated by the kitchen to just get started cooking and instead want to share ten techniques and kitchen skills that are useful for the keto home cook! I’ll be sharing my thoughts on each point and helpful links for you to learn more or put the skill into practice.
Mise en place
This French term literally means “everything in its place” and is one of the core concepts that is taught at a culinary school. It means to have all of the ingredients measured and set, all tools including pots and pans laid out before you start cooking. It helps you ensure you’re not missing anything and you hit all the steps in a recipe. It sounds super basic, and it is for good reasons. Read this article for more about how it helps and why it is important.
Basic knife skills
Are diced and minced the same thing? Should you use a serrated knife to cut your steak? What on earth is a knife’s tang? There’s more to using a knife than “sharp metal cut now!” Understanding how to properly sharpen a knife, which knife to use for which tasks, and what all the different basic cuts you can make with a knife are helpful and eye opening bits of knowledge that will help you feel more comfortable when you whip out your cutting board. Here’s a fantastic overview for you to dive into if you want to arm yourself for kitchen battle!
Handling food safely
Ketogenic cooking is often going to include the handling of raw proteins and vegetables at the same time. Having a solid base of understanding of how to avoid cross contamination and keep you and your family safe is important. Having separate cutting boards, knowing what to wash and where, and the importance of washing your hands a lot all come in to play here. Click to read more simple steps to keeping your food safe!
Breakdown a chicken
We’re building on your knife skills with this suggestion but also helping your wallet! Whole chickens (or any bird really!) can be an economical food choice and sure they can be great roasted whole but that is not always the most convenient option. And different parts of the chicken cook at different rates. Learning how to turn a whole chicken into two breasts, two drumsticks, two thighs and two wings can be a game changer. And you can take it a step further and debone the parts too! You’ll end up with some scraps after but I have an idea for those too coming up soon. For now, click here to dive into mastering your clucker with help from legendary chef Jaques Pepin!
Meat temperature matters
First and foremost the temperature of cooked meat matters for safety and this page will give you safe temps for most meats you will probably cook. I separated this point for another reason… temperature has so much to do with a meats taste and texture. Getting a chuck roast to the proper temp for the right amount of time and you have mouth watering beef. Under cook or over cook it and the story changes. Raw chicken breast can make you sick, over cooked chicken breast can hurt your jaw trying to choke it down. With steak, personal preference joins in the discussion but the temperature your steak hits will determine the texture you get. Having a good thermometer, like one from Meater, is a great starting point. Knowing the temps you’re hitting will help you learn more about meat. Like the fact that straight forward pan searing can be one of the most difficult cooking methods to the temp right, but there are other techniques and tools that can help. I wholeheartedly recommend using a reverse sear method like the one here to get a perfect steak and a sous vide bath to achieve incredibly juicy and moist chicken.
Eggs aren’t just one note
One of the biggest complaints I hear from keto folk is that they are sick and tired of eggs. And yes, if you are only cooking them one or two ways (hi there scrambled and hard boiled!) this can happen. Also, you may not be cooking them right! So I want to encourage to break out of your egg mold and try a few different ideas like Gordon Ramsey’s Scrambled Eggs, easy meal prep Egg Muffins and a perfect soft boiled egg that is awesome on it’s own or great in a recipe like Coach Jon’s Keto Ramen. (Even if he says use hard boiled egg! Haha!)
Become a sauce boss!
One of the things we learn when we become an expert label reader is just how much sugar and other filler garbage can be piled into prepared sauces and condiments. Or they’re made with oils that we may want to avoid. Sauces can be intimidating because a few missteps and your blender mayo becomes clumpy egg oil, or worse. But like all things in cooking, there are folk who have tread this path before you and provide step by step guides to success. This link contains plenty of ideas for you to bump up the flavor in your kitchen!
Use all the scraps
Whether it is the leftover pieces of a chicken you butchered, bones from a steak, or the clippings from vegetables you have perfectly diced, do not throw them away. Set up gallon freezer bags for each and stockpile your scraps. Then, turn them into incredibly flavorful and healthy bone broth! Bone broth has fantastic benefits but can be very expensive if you get a good one. Making your own can be very satisfying, and a great addition to many meals with tons of collagen/protein and few calories. Don’t be intimidated, follow this guide and get simmering!
Master your salad bowl
Volume and diversity can be big sticking points when it comes to the keto diet and one easy way to handle both at the same time is becoming a master at making salads. A salad can be so much more than just lettuce and tomatoes in a bowl with some grilled chicken on top. When you expand your horizons and start trying new vegetables, and properly cutting them up (see that knife skill guide) you can craft containers of prepped ingredients you can mix and match throughout a week to ensure success. One big trend right now even is turning your favorite sandwich into a salad! Pretty much every green vegetable and leafy green you can think of is going to keep your carbs low and be a great way to pump up that volume. Many bottled salad dressings are far from ideal so the challenge here is also finding a way to dress the salad with something tasty that goes beyond just oil and vinegar. Here’s a link to a salad dressing master class with 8 different ideas to get you started.
Roast vegetables for flavor and texture
And yes, we’re sticking in veggie town for the last tip today! If you’re someone who is still hesitant to really dive into the world of vegetables of that can make your meals more satisfying because you’ve been put off the steamed or boiled versions in your past, never fear! Roasting most vegetables will take their taste and texture to places you did not know were possible. Even frozen bags of vegetables can benefit from that oven time! I fell in love with mashed cauliflower the day I thought “what happens if I roast it first?” and this recipe was born. Here’s a great guide to giving your vegetables a crispy makeover!
At the end of the day these are starting places but a solid foundation to encourage you to get in the kitchen and literally make some magic happen! You may end up surprising yourself. I do however have one big bonus tip, and simply put it’s follow the recipe the first time you make a dish or try something new. Following a recipe to a T will give you a base to build from and get creative with but will ensure you get that technique down.
Focusing on making most of your own food will open doors when it comes to your experience on the ketogenic diet. It is a fantastic way to tackle the feelings of monotony that can set in when we’re getting used to a new way of eating. And yes, if you want to see how your body responds to food choices and specific ingredients there is no better way to conduct that experiment!
So get yourself a good knife, a thermometer, some tongs and a whisk… and get cooking! Heck, try some of our recipes if you need a simple whole food keto starting point!
