Is Frying Inherently Evil?

[tGunslinger]

If I make some fried dishes that consist only of healthy ingredients, frying doesn't suddenly the finished dish into an unhealthy meal does it?

An example dish:

1.25 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
~1.5 lbs lean chicken breast, cut into strips
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for frying)
Jack Daniels (optional, for special occasions only )

Rotissiere Seasoning
Poultry Seasoning
Chili Powder
Salt (a dash)
Pepper
Garlic Powder (a touch)
--Seasonings all to taste, unless noted

Evenly mix dry ingredients together. Dip a strip of chicken into a mixture of Jack's and Olive Oil, then bread the now-sticky strip of chicken into the flour mix. Drop chicken into a frying pan and fry it with olive oil until golden brown.


This dish has a lot of carbs and fats together, Dr. Berardi would red-light it, so this one might be best in moderation. But would other, lower-carb, dishes that are fried in olive oil (or other healthy oils) be bad as well?

[RacerBill]

I don't think I'd say frying is "inherently evil" but it's usually inherently caloric. No matter what you fry, there will be added oil.

And I hate to get too technical, but it depends on what you mean by the word "fry." To some that can mean:
1) Saute -- heat up a tablespoon or two of oil in a skillet, add chicken or whatever and cook it on both sides. Usually this is for a flat piece of meat, like a chicket breast cutlet. You can usually go low-carb this way, if you skip dusting the meat with bread crumbs or flour.
2) Pan fry -- heat up an inch or so of oil in a skillet, then add food. This is typically used for fried chicken, with whole chicken parts on the bone. Most pan-fry recipes require breading or batter to keep the meat from soaking up too much oil.
3) Deep fry -- heat up a buttload of oil, and food is cooked completely submerged in oil, like French fries, chicken fingers, or other fast food. This is the one that most people counting calories will try to avoid at all costs. It's a huge hassle to do this at home. Anything cooked this way will be greasy.

Hope that helps. What kind of recipes are you thinking about besides chicken breasts? The one you give could be sauteed in a nonstick pan with a spritz of Pam, and you could leave out the flour and just use the spice rub.

[tGunslinger]

By your descriptions, that chicken would be a mix between saute and pan frying. More than a tbsp, but not nearly a full inch of oil.

A recipe I make much more often is salmon patties.

1 large can of salmon
2 small cans salmon
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 egg whites
Spices to taste

Mix it all up, form into patties, and saute (by your definitions) it until brown.

But If I can fit in the high calorie count into my diet, and only use healthy ingredients, it shouldn't be diet-wrecking?

Thanks,

David

[RacerBill]

If you're strictly counting calories and not trying to achieve a certain macro balance, then it's probably okay. But you mentioned John Berardi's principles, and he prefers dividing meals into protein+carb or protein+fat. Your salmon patty recipe combines all three, so that wouldn't make the cut. But all you'd have to do is eliminate the flour to make it protein+fat. They won't brown as nicely or have a crunchy crust, but they'll certainly cook up okay.