Spice Rubs and Marinades

Spice Rubs and Marinades

What are rubs, brines and marinades and how are they used?

Answer: Spice rubs, marinades and brines are some of my favourite cooking practices using everyday. It’s the opportunity where any cook can be creative in manipulating the texture,

tenderness and most importantly, flavour of meat. They can also help transform tougher cuts of meat into a melt-in-your-mouth meal, plus they are easy to make.

So, let’s start with brines and marinades. Basic brine is a saltwater solution, usually 3% salt to water weight (the brine should taste like sea water).

Its sole purpose is to help retain moisture in a product. It also helps evenly distribute your other seasonings, so that your meat has a consistent flavour throughout. You can add flavours to your brine like maple syrup, honey, crushed garlic or herbs as well. For example, I make a brine for pork chops using salt, half water-half apple juice, some crushed garlic and chopped rosemary. I let the chops sit in the brine for no longer than 12 hours with amazing results. Brines are best applied when using poultry, pork and fish (only brine fish for a maximum of 30 minutes).

A marinade is similar in the sense that most marinades contain salt, but also boast an acidic component, which helps break down meat proteins, making for tender meats. These acidic bases can be a mixture of lemon and oil, red wine and herbs, or tomato juice.

In some cases, the use of bacteria found in yogurt and buttermilk, like in tandoori chicken, is used to tenderize as well, giving a unique flavour to your product. Marinating a breast of chicken in buttermilk with herbs and a little bit of cider vinegar, a day before grilling -delicious.

Spice rubs are completely different. Most commonly used for BBQ, a rub is all about intense flavour. Use a good rub for cuts like pork shoulder, back ribs and brisket. These cuts tenderize due to the collagen in meat breaking down over long cooking periods, so this allows

the meat to absorb those wonderful spice combinations. As for what goes into a good rub, there are thousands of great spice combinations. If you are not interested in making your own, the Silk Road Spice Merchant in Inglewood has some great pre-made spice rubs.

Don’t hesitate to look up recipes for brines, marinades and rubs, becoming

confident in how these techniques are used will raise the bar in your protein cookery.

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8 ways to go natural

Find an heir

Popcorn shouldn’t need to be smothered in butter to taste good, heirloom popcorn

enthusiasts say.

Companies cultivating the centuries-old plant using organic, sustainable farming practices are popping up nationwide, and proponents say their popcorn is more flavorful and easier to digest than commercial varieties. Plus, keeping heirloom plants in circulation helps preserve genetic diversity in our food supply.

 You’re good enough, and smart enough ...

If you suffer from chronic stress, here are three good reasons to carve some

me-time into your day: A brief selfaffirmation can relieve acute stress,

increase your creativity and even make solving problems easier, suggest researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. Students who participated in the study were asked

to rank their values—such as artistic or athletic ability, or relationships with family members— in order of importance. Researchers noted improved problem-solving

in the stressed students who wrote about their most important values compared to the control group who wrote about ones they considered much less important.

Spread your wings

Help the nonprofit On Wings Of Care in its mission to track and rescue wildlife and domestic animals in need, provide rehabilitation services and help preserve the ecosystem with aerial, sea and ground missions with a tax-deductible donation.

Request a window seat

Workers in offices with windows get more and better sleep at night, are more physically active and have a higher quality of life than those in windowless workplaces, a Northwestern University study found. “Office hours occur at a time of

day where light exposure has a strong impact,” says study co-author Ivy N. Cheung, a

doctoral candidate in the interdepartmental neuroscience program at Northwestern

University in Chicago. “Therefore, lighting in the office has effects beyond the workplace.” Try to get outside for a walk or eat outdoors during your workday, Cheung says. “Morning light is most important for regulating circadian rhythms,”

she adds.

Face facts

 Need an ego boost? Log on to Facebook and check out your own profile.

A University of Wisconsin at Madison study recently found that subjects exhibited an increase in self-esteem after perusing their own profiles for five minutes—but longer than that reduced motivation to perform cognitive tasks well. The study authors think that seeing idealized Facebook versions of ourselves might make us rest on our laurels a bit and not feel as obligated to pursue goals that could increase our self-worth.

Take a healing vacation

Give your getaway a healthy makeover with a retreat at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Fla. Their oneto three-week Life Transformation

Program offers instruction by renowned health experts Brian Clement, Ph.D., L.N.C., and Anna Maria Clement, Ph.D., L.N.C., in raw vegan cooking, detoxing, meditation,

yoga and emotional healing. Even better, all this learning happens in a serene, tropical setting. Pricing and accommodations vary, and financing is available.

Make an impact

For each bag of GMO-free maple oat, blueberry honey and vanilla almond granola sold, Impact Foods and partner World Food Program USA provide a meal for

kids in impoverished nations.

Tap your animal instincts

Animal Flow at Equinox 02 fitness clubs combines a series of fluid movements that mix

elements of parkour, break dancing, gymnastics, running and circus arts. The result? The primal movements target hard-to-work muscles so you see results quickly.

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Why Water?

Why Water?

Considering that the human body is made up of approximately two thirds water, it comes as no surprise to learn that drinking plenty of H20 every day is important. In fact, if you are feeling thirsty, hungry or fatigued then it’s possible that you are already dehydrated.  So how much water should you drink per day? There is no exact calculation for this; however, the Why Fitness experts suggest 2-3 litres per day. A little extra if you are training, in air conditioning, or during the warmer months.

There are many benefits to getting your quota of H2O and here are our top

five:

Glowing Skin: Water plumps up our skin tissue, is a natural moisturiser and improves skin elasticity.

Weight Loss: A natural detox for your body as it flushes out toxins and other by-products.

Energy and Vitality: H2O regulates your body temperature and fuels your muscle.

Aids Digestion: Plenty of water and fibre will assist with constipation. Regular bowel movements aid in digestion which allows for your metabolism to function optimally.

Boost Your Immune System: Give your liver a boost and start your day with filtered water with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. It’s like a daily detox for your body.

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Why Heart Rate Monitors?

Why Heart Rate Monitors?

For the average weekend warrior, a heart rate monitor (or HRM) often ends

up as a sporty fashion accessory, an expensive stop watch, or calorie counter. Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, there are other ways in which this training tool can help assist you with progressing your fitness.

So what is your maximum heart rate?

There are many ways in which this can be determined; however, as a very basic guide, simply subtract your age from 220. For example, if you are 40 years of age, 220 – 40

= 180. Therefore your maximum heart rate is 180 beats per minute.

Here are two ways you can maximise your training using a heart rate monitor.

Tempo Training: Using running as an example, you may decide to run at a pace that keeps your heart rate at 75-80% of your maximum heart rate.

 Using the above example would be 75-80% of 180bpm. This would equate to between 135 and 144 beats per minute. Therefore you could set your HRM to beep if your heart

rate goes above or below this.

Interval Training: Still with running as our example, run at your absolute maximum pace for 30 seconds, set your HRM to a ‘recovered’ heart rate. For example your breathing and body is recovered enough that you are ready to complete another 30 second interval. This might be 100 beats per minute. Your HRM would beep once

your heart rate went below this.

 That ‘beep’ is your indicator to start your next 30 second maximum pace interval.

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