Tag: recognize

Recognize the preservatives you don't want to eat at first sight – Italian Cuisine

Widely used in industrial food, preservatives, but also other types of additives, can be hazardous to health. Here's what to watch out for

L'label of a food is its identity card. Reading it allows us to acquire a lot of information on a specific product and thus guide our purchasing choices. We also know, however, that it is not always easy to interpret a label between names of incomprehensible ingredients and the haste we have when we make the expense. This is why it is useful to be prepared when we go to the supermarket and to know already what we would not like to read on the label of what we buy.

A little clarity

The first advice is to not stop at claim of the product or image on the package, but to check if these correspond to the actual content of the product. The image of a hen scratching the grass on one pack of eggs it does not necessarily indicate that those eggs come from hens on the ground: to verify it, it is necessary to read the code on the shell.

Then pay attention to product name which can sometimes create confusion in an inattentive consumer: for example there is a difference between strawberry juice and strawberry-flavored drink: in the first case we know that there is certainly a part of the fruit in the drink, in the second it will have been probably used a flavor, artificial or natural, strawberry.

Finally, one information to always keep in mind is that on a label the ingredients are indicated in decreasing order of quantity: the first on the list is more abundant than the second and so on.

What we find on a label

The indications that must appear on the label are regulated by the EU Regulation 1169/2011 which obliges to specify, among other things, such as vegetable oil or fat it is used in industrial food, the allergen list and the nutritional table with the quantities of salt, sugarsaturated fats that are contained in that food.

In the list of ingredients on the product label we also find the indication of additives that have been used in that food. They can be reported with the letter E followed by a number or with them scientific denomination.

Food additives, whether natural or artificial, have several functions: there are i colorants, marked with the numbers from E100 to E199, i preservatives indicated with in numbers from E200 to E299, antioxidants and acidity correctors (from E300 to E399), the thickeners, stabilizers and emulsifiers (from E400 to E499), acidity regulators and anti-caking agents (from E500 to E599), flavor enhancers (from E600 to E699), other various additives including sweeteners (from E900 to E999).

Additives are not harmful in themselves, but they can become harmful if they undergo chemical transformations or if ingested in high doses, so much so that for many of them EFSA (the European Food Safety Agency) has identified some maximum daily quantities not to be overcome. For this reason it is always better to base the diet on fresh products such as fruit and vegetables and to limit the processed and industrial ones also rich in salts, sugars and fat.

The most risky preservatives

Among the preservatives, WHO has classified as probably carcinogenic, because associated with an increased risk of tumors in the stomach and esophagus, potassium nitrite (E249) and sodium nitrite (E250), sodium nitrate (E251) and potassium nitrate (E252). They are often present, for example, in meat, sausages and cured meats to avoid the formation of bacteria, to preserve them better, but also to maintain their lively color. In themselves they are not carcinogenic, but undergoing some chemical transformations (such as cooking) they convert into N-nitrosamines, compounds that are instead considered carcinogenic. If you want to be on the safe side, know that in Dop products the production disciplinary prohibits using them. You can also be more relaxed when nitrite and nitrate are used in combination with some antioxidants, such as vitamin C (E300) and its derivatives, sodium ascorbate (E301) and potassium ascorbate (E303), which inhibit the formation of nitrosamines.

Attention also to sodium benzoate (E211), which can be present, for example, in fruit-based drinks, which in contact with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can produce benzene, a carcinogenic compound. L'sulfur dioxide (E220) instead it could cause allergic reactions in predisposed subjects.

Dyes and children

According to EU Regulation 1169/2011 if a food or drink contains one or more of these six dyes, sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), carmoisine yellow (E122), allura red (E129), tartrazine yellow (E102), Ponceau red (E124), the label must bear the words "may adversely affect the activity and attention of children". An epidemiological study carried out in England by the University of Southampton related, in fact, the consumption of foods containing these dyes with disturbances in the sphere of activity and attention in children. The research has not yet had enough confirmations or denials, but the European standard was established in precautionary measure.

The dyes to watch out for are then caramel E150D (used in soft drinks and candies, for example) which contains 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) considered potentially carcinogenic, and lAluminum E173 that if it accumulates in quantity in the body, it can be neurotoxic and harmful for those suffering from kidney diseases.

Are sweeteners and flavor enhancers safe?

The sweeteners they are used as a substitute for sugar because they have fewer calories, but some likeaspartame (E951) and sucralose (E955) they are the subject of controversial studies, some linking them to health risks, others acquitting them.
As for the flavor enhancers we report that EFSA has defined a maximum daily dose of 30 mg per kilo of body weight for sodium glutamate (E621), often used to cover food defects: therefore you need to pay some attention to how many foods that contain it we take in a day.

Watch out for phosphates

THE phosphates they are found in various types of additives such as emulsifiers, thickeners, anti-caking agents, and in various types of products, from drinks to ice cream, from baked goods to cheeses, from ready meals and canned soups. They can inhibit the absorption of calcium and if in a single product they are not harmful, thecocktail effect. Recently, EFSA calculated that additives contribute 6 to 30% of the total intake of phosphates through the diet, identified an acceptable daily dose for these substances and indicated the risk that this new dose could be exceeded more easily by minors and adolescents.

Do all the great chefs in our kitchen recognize them? – Italian Cuisine

Do you recognize them? Many have passed through our kitchens over the years: talented young people who are now stars of gastronomy. Here is a terrific menu of memories

In September 1952 one is set up kitchen in Editorial, where all the recipes that will appear in the newspaper are made. This will be the unique prerogative of the magazine that will have great success in the years of the economic boom, continuing to be the mirror of the evolution of Italian society.

From that moment on they followed each other lots of cooks, which from young kitchen enthusiasts have become great chefs, among these: Antonino Cannavacciuolo, Gennaro Esposito, Mauro Uliassi, Heinz Beck, Moreno Cedroni, Niko Romito, Norbert Niederkofler, Davide Oldani, Pino Cuttaia, Enrico Crippa, Pietro Leemann, Isa Mazzocchi, Luigi Pomata, Massimo Spigaroli, Giovanni Traversoni, Sergio Barzetti and the longest-lived of all Walter Pedrazzi, who has worked with us for over thirty years, but does not hear them: profound knowledge of cooking techniques, he is a tireless experimenter and researcher of novelties.

To enrich the great family of Italian cuisine there are then the chefs of the Scuola della Cucina Italiana, among them Davide Brovelli, son of art, even great-grandchild, because his family has been working in the restaurant business for 180 years. He prefers the ingredients of Lake Maggiore, where he lives, which he transforms with a refined style. And the chef Giovanni Rota, technical, precise and reflective mind, professor and creator of gastronomic events. And then there is ours Joëlle Nederlants, who has been in charge of Italian cuisine since 1997, indeed the soul of our editorial kitchen and the right hand of guest chefs, has the task of making the life of the chefs easier by collaborating in the preliminary operations of preparation of the raw material. A chocolate specialist, he studies new and traditional pastries and reinvents them in his desserts.

It all starts with the ingredients, the chefs define the menu for the number being worked with director and editors, and our Joëlle Nederlants deals directly with purchases, as well as all the organizational processes in the kitchen. In the middle of the kitchen a long marble top which becomes a place of experimentation and research. The recipes are precise, tested in our kitchen-laboratory, where every day the chefs prepare with imagination, skill, a careful eye to the seasons and sustainability, new and genuine dishes.

Always in the kitchen, next to the chefs, careful editor it follows all the steps and annotates them meticulously, without missing a single detail, so that the reader finds all the elements for the perfect success of the recipe. The dishes are then tasted, to verify that ingredients and doses satisfy the expectations of palate and taste. After a meticulous work of styling, lights and shadows the recipes are photographed and from the pose hall they pass into the hands of our graphic designers who lay out the magazine combining the various services in the best possible way.

How to recognize fresh fish: 10 clues – Italian Cuisine

Notwithstanding that there are now high quality frozen and frozen products on the market, the freshness at the table remains an added value for taste and well-being. Here then is how to distinguish it from defrosted products

Fresh is one thing, frozen or frozen is another. For goodness sake, a good fish is a good fish, but the difference can be seen and felt. Here then that, at the time of purchase, to understand if the fish is fresh, it is enough to observe a simple handbook that we will explain to you shortly.

The cold chain

First, however, we need to better understand how the cold chain is made in the case of fish. The deterioration action performed by the microorganisms deaths stop below -13 ° C, but resumes once the fish has been thawed: an excellent frozen or frozen product is therefore the one in which the process begins immediately, better on board large vessels than in land-based plants. And that the cold chain does not suffer interruptions.

A question of speed

There difference between frozen and frozen fish is in the rapidity with which the temperature is broken down: more slow with products frozen, very rapid with those frozen foods, with the temperature also falling to -80 ° C. With such a sudden drop the fish keeps intact most of its properties, especially from a nutritional point of view. Slow freezing, on the other hand, determines the formation of large ice crystals that, after thawing, determine aalteration of product quality and a lost of part of the nutrients, especially of the protein.

The icing

An indicator of the quality of frozen or frozen fish products is the icing, that is the patina of ice that covers the surface: it is obtained with the simple application of drinking water (for sprinkling, nebulization or immersion) for better repair them from dehydration and oxidation at low temperatures.

Because you can't refreeze

Good. But when a fish is defrosted, some differences are noticed, especially in terms of taste: is the case, for example, of the blue fish, definitely the most delicate and difficult category to keep at low temperatures due to the quantity of fat (good) it contains. Here is the decalogue to understand if you are buying fresh fish, or are rubbing it with a defrosted one. A difference not insignificant, given that defrosted fish cannot be refrozen in the house: this is because, as in all foods, freezing does not kill all bacteria, many of which merely lower their vital functions and to resume multiplication once thawing has begun. Freezing is instead fundamental for the raw fish. Or rather, thedejection: must remain at -20 ° C for at least 24 hours.

1 – Seasonality and supply chain short

To recognize fresh fish from a defrosted one, it is therefore necessary to check that the catch we are buying is Seasonal, and with a short chain: Italian fish, therefore, or at least of the Mediterranean. Also to be considered is the fact that, from August to October, our seas are subjected to bands of a period of biological shutdown.

2 – The smell

Second, the most classic of the clues: the smell. Fresh fish "tastes like sea", has a faint, salty odor, in which we can also recognize the seaweed marine: nothing to do with the most acrid odor tending to the thawed fish acid.

3 – The eye

Third clue, the eye: bright, vivid and swollen, not sunken and shrunken.

4 – The skin

Then the skin and scales must be shiny, bright and taut, rich in transparent mucus. In defrosted fish, in general, it is more opaque and tends to flake more easily.

5 – The gills

Another element to consider, the gills: in fresh fish they are well closed and, opening them, we notice a color intense red or rosé. They are also rich in mucus transparent. Otherwise, after freezing, they remain raised and turn to a pale yellow-pink color.

6 – The body

Sixth element, the body stiffness: a fresh fish presents the natural rigor mortis that lasts for at least 6-7 hours. The thawed fish is instead soft, flaccid.

7 – The belly

Seventh element, the belly. Elastic, spotless, compact. Significantly different compared to the swollen and flabby meat of defrosted fish.

8 – Meats

Eighth element – at this point verifiable only after purchase – is the appearance of the meat. In fresh fish they must be bright, firm and elastic, and after being subjected to finger pressure they must immediately return to their original position.

9 – The spine

Similarly, the spine must be clear, colorless and resistant, difficult to break; moreover it must be very close to the meat. In defrosted fish it is reddish and breaks easily.

10 – The innards

Last element, the innards smooth, clean and shiny. IS not overly smelly as in thawed fish.