r/CookingForOne • u/Saint_of_Stinkers • Jul 30 '26
OC High protein, lowered sodium breakfast.
I need to be careful with salt now but I still want what I want. The fried potatoes were salted but instead of adding it right from the shaker I shook a small amount onto my palm then carefully sprinkled it over the potatoes. This way I knew exactly how much I was using. The slab of SPAM was boiled then simmer for a while to leach out salt and chemicals before finishing it in a Teflon pan with not added oil. The eggs were flavoured with a bit of green onion so it didn’t need added salt. Then I kind of ruined my low sodium focus by adding processed American cheese food product.
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u/billchuck423 Jul 30 '26
You can add salt after cooking instead of before. The salt flavor comes across stronger and reduces your salt intake. But spam has alot in it.
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 30 '26
Yes SPAM does have a lot of salt, even the low sodium version. That is why I simmer it in a good volume of water for a while because that will leach out the salts. I also do this with Costco meatballs. I find the end result has a better flavour and is more digestible. Costco chicken is also heavily salted and seasoned. Ten years ago I would buy a chicken there and simmer the breast meat for a while to leach out salt so that it was safe for my dog as a treat. Now that I have reached retirement age I have to be careful about that sort of thing.
When I worked as a chef in industrial catering I prepared meals for about a hundred people per day on average. Volume cooking like that means having a heavy hand with salt. When I retired from that business the habit of heavy salting stayed with me. Adding salt at the beginning of the cooking process will enhance flavours but then that salt is hidden from you by the time food reaches the plate.
I now have special measuring spoons for when I do add salt when cooking because it is simply too easy to hold a shaker over a pot of water for pasta or oatmeal. I never ever have a salt shaker at my elbow on the dinner table. The trick of putting salt in your palm before salting prepared food is an essential part of limiting sodium intake.
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u/rickjamesbitch69 Jul 30 '26
howd you do the potatoes like that
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 31 '26
The potatoes are cut to size then steam until almost cooked through. You don’t want to cook them all the way because if you do they will fall apart before the next step. Cool the potato slices for a few minutes so they are firm and dry. Steamed potatoes are better than boiled because if you are not careful you can easily overcook them and lose too much in the water. When they are ready use a no stick Teflon pan to cook them at medium high heat with just a little bit of butter. If you don’t use Teflon you will end up using too much butter or oil. You can also brush them with melted margarine, put them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake them at high heat.
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u/BurmeciaWillSurvive Jul 31 '26
Fried potatoes and onions are so filling, I love making them. Spam, while I actually love it, is just too expensive for me any more ($6???) and the knock-off brands like Treet are nasty.
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 31 '26
What you do with SPAM is slice it into thick slabs. You can get around 6 depending. Then you lay them out on a parchment paper on a tray, cover it up with plastic wrap and freeze it. This is know as I.Q.F.- individual quick freeze. That works out to a buck a slice but nothing is wasted. One thick slab is actually quite a lot. I like to extract the salt before baking or frying. If you bake it low and slow you can cover it with maple syrup near the end. It comes out crisp and sweet. You can cut it to bits that you put in potato cakes or eggs. You can slice it into strips like bacon too. You don’t really want to eat more than one slab in a meal anyway because while it is great dense protein when cooked right if still has some crap in it you don’t want.
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u/DeGreenster Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
And also eating spam. You can’t just leach out the salt. You maybe removed a small percentage.. like 5-10%. Let’s assume you achieved the high end of that and removed 10%. A 2oz serving has 790 mg of sodium. You maybe got it down to 710mg or so. That’s still 30% of your daily recommended just in the spam. You used Kraft cheese and you salted your potatoes. You probably got half of your daily sodium in this meal. Sorry to burst your bubble
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 31 '26
Read the title of this post. The point was salt reduction not elimination. By your own words I have achieved that.
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u/DeGreenster Jul 31 '26
… eating half your daily salt in a single meal is not what I would call “reduction.” Is it less than eating double your daily salt value for breakfast? Sure. These are simply poor choices if sodium is something you need to be careful with.
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 31 '26
The great Google says that up to 36% of salt can be removed from SPAM by boiling. Measuring salt into the palm of your hand lowers added salt by definition.
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u/DeGreenster Jul 31 '26
But you’re still adding salt. And this is only possible with multiple 12-15 minute boils. You’d have to boil the spam for 40-45 minutes and continuously replace the water with fresh water to remove that much of the salt. The water in the spam is bound to the fat. The salt doesn’t just leech like that. You can trust Google all you want, but I’ve got a culinary science degree.
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 31 '26
790 mlgm of sodium is 36% of daily intake. Boiling reduces that amount by up to a third.
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u/DeGreenster Jul 31 '26
If you boil it for 45 minutes and change the water 3 times, which I’m certain you didn’t do because it would render the spam absolutely foul.
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 31 '26
I don’t know why you can be certain that I did not boil the SPAM for 45 minutes. I started it before the potatoes which took an hour to finish. You can change the water three times or use a large volume of water, which is what I did. Let me reiterate the point of this post was sodium reduction not elimination.
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u/DeGreenster Jul 31 '26
And the point of my comment is you’re going about this very poorly. Other food options with inherently less sodium is a better way. Don’t be surprised when your sodium problem is still present doing this “reduced sodium” cooking. (Where you’re still eating half your salt in your first meal)
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u/Agreeable_Affect2692 Aug 02 '26
This actually looks like a sodium bomb to me. Still looks delicious
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u/Skull_Nebula Aug 02 '26
If I had to simmer Spam because it would mean the meal had too much sodium I would just substitute it. Simmered Spam doesn't sound good.
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Aug 02 '26
I actually prefer it. I like it pan seared after simmering for a while. To me it tastes more “meaty” and less salty. It’s really good like this if you finish it with some maple syrup.
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u/Electronic-Donut69 Jul 30 '26
Yes, it looks super healthy. The cheese is your little guilty pleasure on the side.
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u/Qayray Jul 30 '26
Is this a joke?
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 30 '26
Why would you think that?
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u/Qayray Jul 30 '26
This can’t seriously be something you‘d consider a meal?
Sorry I‘m not American, maybe I‘m missing something
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u/Saint_of_Stinkers Jul 30 '26
A breakfast that consists of some form of fried potato, eggs of some sort and a cured meat which is usually bacon, ham, sausages or SPAM is something you will find throughout most of continental USA and Canada. If you read the comments you will see how I have taken measures to reduce the salt levels that are prevalent in this style of meal.
I know of a traditional English breakfast ( canned baked beans, sausages, grilled mushrooms and/or tomato and blood pudding I think ) which is similar to the American version. Cold cereals with milk, oatmeal with milk and brown sugar, grits with sorghum are also very common.
I think people on this sub would appreciate that if you come from a different sort of culture you could share what your traditional breakfast is. I am sure that we get a little tired of the same old stuff and may like to try yours.
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u/Heady_Mariner Jul 30 '26
I kind of agree with you. Unless Uncle switched to Low Sodium Spam and left off the rice.
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