About Textures
Another way The Gourmet-O-Matic tm moves meals from the ordinary to the extraordinary is by controlling textures.The Gourmet-O-Matic tm addresses three basic food textures:
Crunchy
Chewy
Creamy
There are other textures to food, however, we will not deal with them here. As an example, sauces can be thickened. This is different from creamy. Since we will not deal with different sauce preparations at The Gourmet-O-Matic tm, the textural issue of their "thickness" is not a consideration.
There are sauce recipes and strategies contained in The FitnessMed tm Guide To Healthy Eating.
The Gourmet-O-Matic tm considers three basic ways to control the texture of food:
Preparation technique before cooking - e.g., marinating which tends to make foods more tender (as does hammering) and less chewy (or tough, if you will)
Cooking Method - e.g., slow-cooking will usually result in a "softer" outcome than searing, for example, which tends to lend a "crust" to food
Ingredients - e.g., adding sour cream to a dressing will make it creamier, adding nuts atop a protein will add crunch, adding dried fruit to a salad will make it chewier
The Gourmet-O-Matic tm focuses primarily on the use of ingredients to control the texture of foods.
For other techniques that affect the texture of food, see The FitnessMed tm Guide To Healthy Eating.
The FitnessMed tm Guide To Healthy Eating explains different cooking methods, standard serving sizes for side dishes and entrees and how to calculate your caloric needs based on your current and desired weights.
The strategies used by The Gourmet-O-Matic tm can be found in Dr. Applebaum's meal strategy guide, The FitnessMed tm Guide To Healthy Eating. That book contains recipes for over 1 trillion (yes, with a "T") meal combinations.
All of Dr. Applebaum's books can be found here.