Eat Out Eat Well

food for fun and thought

Double Down: KFC Not Blackjack

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KFC’s One-Of-A-Kind Bunless Sandwich

D-Day:  April 12th, the premier day for KFC’s Double Down one-of-a-kind sandwich.  What is it?  A bunless sandwich made of two boneless white meat chicken filets stacked around two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese, and Colonel’s Sauce (mayonnaise based). As KFC says in its promo:  “this product is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun!”

Double Down, Two Ways

There are two versions of the Double Down: Original Recipe® or Grilled. According to KFC’s nutritional information:

Sandwich Calories Fat (g) Sodium (mg)
KFC Original Recipe® Double Down 540 32 1380
KFC Grilled Double Down 460 23 1430

Is This Accurate Nutritional Information?

Aside from raising the hair on the back of the necks of  health conscious eaters, the accuracy of the caloric listed count is being disputed. KFC says that the Double Down has 1,380 milligrams of salt and ten grams of saturated fat — already 60 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, of the U.S. government’s recommended daily allowance. An analysis done by the Vancouver Sun estimates that the sandwich logs in at 1,228 calories and more than an entire day’s worth of the recommended allowance for fat, cholesterol, sodium, and protein. It is, what Kelly Brownell, director at Yale University’s Rudd Center For Food Policy And Obesity, calls a salt bomb. Men’s Health Food and Nutrition editor and co-author of “Eat This, Not That: Best and Worst Foods in America, says that “independent labs are estimating that it has around 1,200 calories and over 50 fat grams, based on what’s in the other KFC sandwiches.”

What Does This Nutritional Gamble Cost?

The Double Down costs $5 or $6.99 as a meal deal with fries and a soda.  In a marketing move — maybe to show community commitment, KFC says that all the buns that would have been used if Double Down was not bunless will be donated to help feed America’s homeless.  It is interesting that KFC, previously called Kentucky Fried Chicken, trying for a healthier image, changed their official name to KFC, taking out the prominent “fried” and offering grilled choices. What, then, is this fatty and salty menu item?

SocialDieter Tip:

Double down is high in fat, a good deal of it saturated, and a pillar of salt.  It may also be a caloric nightmare depending on which analysis is accurate.  It certainly is a cardiologist’s nightmare.  Who knows what additives there are in the preformed chicken filets, the processed cheese, bacon, and sauce?  There are other healthier options on the menu at KFC:

Grillled chicken:  190 cal, 6g fat, 1.5g sat fat, 550mg sodium

Tender Roast Sandwich (no sauce):  300 cal, 4g fat, 1.5g sat fat, 660mg sodium

Tender Roast (with sauce):  410 cal, 15g fat, 3g sat fat, 790mg sodium

Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad (without dressing and croutons):  200 cal, 6g fat, 3g sat fat, 570mg sodium

KFC Creamy Parmesan Caesar dressing (1 pkg):  260 cal, 26g fat, 5g sat fat, 540mg sodium

Parmesan Garlic Croutons (1 pouch):  70 cal, 3g fat, 0g sat fat, 140mg sodium

The Goat

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Katsikaki:  Kid Goat

It all started last fall on a trip to Washington DC. I had dinner at Komi, a fabulous Greek/Mediterranean restaurant.  The highlight (or one of the highlights, there were many) was katstikaki, Greek for a kid goat.  I have had goat before, but this preparation was memorable.

Fast forward 5 months.  I paid a visit to a butcher in New York City to order lamb for Easter dinner. This particular butcher only sources from the Northeast.  “No lamb,” I was told – “Easter is early and the local lambs are not ready – but we are stocking goat for six weeks through Easter.”

I’ve never prepared goat before, but was up for the challenge.  However, animal lover that I am, I had to dissociate the image of the animal from the meat.  Goat would be fine as long as it did not bear any resemblance to the animals at the nature center or the ones I’ve seen perched on the sides of cliffs.

I placed my order for two legs of goat (they’re small), which I later had to increase to three – everyone I invited was so intrigued by the thought of goat, they agreed to come.  I even tried for four legs, but ended up with a tripod – the supply was exhausted!

Goat: the most widely consumed meat in the world

Goat is a staple of Mexican, Indian, Greek, Southern Italian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, and other cuisines. Baby goat, also called cabrito or capretto, is low in fat and cholesterol.  It is similar to venison in its flavor and texture, but it isn’t gamey.  Kid goat meat is tender and delicate like young lamb and is similarly prepared. Mature goat meat is tougher and more strongly flavored. Goat meat (also called Chevon), can be stewed, baked, braised, grilled, roasted, and barbequed.  Some cultures roast the goat on a spit or in a pit.

Goat Nutrition

Goat is nutritionally superior to beef or chicken, with a low fat content. Since goat is a red meat, it contains iron and B vitamins.

According to the USDA:

3 oz. cooked (Roasted) Calories Fat

(Gr.)

 Saturated Fat

(Gr.)

 Protein

(Mg.)
Goat 122 2.58 .79 23
Beef 245 16 6.8 23
Pork 310 24 8.7 21
Lamb 235 16 7.3 22
Chicken 120 3.5 1.1 21

Cooking Our Goat

How to cook our three legs of goat prompted much family discussion.  One son suggested roasting the goat on a spit in the front yard, another suggested digging a pit in the back yard, the third, wisely, suggested braising it, indoors, in a large pot.  I was on a quest for goat info. I googled and talked.  I asked a couple of chef acquaintances.  I went to primary sources:  a couple of Greek mamas who own diners and cook lots of goat.

Bottom Line

You can cook goat, especially baby goat, much like lamb.  When it came down to the wire, we ended up making goat stew – two different ways. We browned cubed goat, along with onion, garlic (lots), carrots, and celery.  With a house full of people crowding the kitchen and eating constantly, we did the prep work and browning the night before and the stewing the next day.  Because we couldn’t decide on our preferred flavorings, we made two stews – one with red wine and tomato paste, the other with white wine and lemon.  We also made liberal use of oregano.  We served the stew(s) with orzo, asparagus, and sautéed kale.

No Leftovers

Everyone – from an eighteen month old to an 85 year old – ate goat – both kinds.  No clear favorite for red wine/tomato stew vs. white wine/lemon stew.  A great meal, flavorful, satisfying, and quite nutritious.  Room for dessert.

Your Sandwich Wonderizer

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How many calories are in your sandwich?  What’s its nutritional value?

Here’s a chance to have some fun and learn about what you chow down.

Wonder Bread, America’s first sliced bread (1925), and the inspiration for the phrase the  “best thing since sliced bread,” is close to ninety years old.

Build Your Own Sandwich

Wonder Bread’s website (complete with the same red, yellow, and blue balloons as on the package  (except they float on the website) has a Wonder-izer Sandwich Builder option that allows you to build your own sandwich.  You can add just about anything (not socks or dog food, but edible human stuff).  You choose your preferred type of bread, meat, cheese, condiments, fruit, and veggies.  You can even add coleslaw, chips, fig bars, pecans, and even candy corn or chocolate chips (and more).

This is not an endorsement of Wonder Bread. It is a recommendation for some sandwich fun and for a learning experience about the caloric and nutritional content of sandwiches.

When I was a kid Wonder Bread was the be all and end all.  Supermarket bread choices were not quite as extensive as they are now.  Wonder bread was the kind of soft squishy white bread that you balled up in your fist to make a dough ball.  I also remember lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that you could really squish in the middle.

On the Wonder Bread site, there are more than 20 types of Wonder Bread choices now – including several varieties of light, whole grain, and whole wheat, along with the nutritional information for each.  It is described as “still the soft, delicious and nutritious bread your family has always loved.”

A Fun Learning Tool

The Wonder-izer is fun, with great graphics.  As you add each item to your sandwich the top slice of bread pops up to add the colorful layer of food of your choice (grapes and chocolate chips are even options).  However, aside from fun, it’s a great learning tool to give you an idea of just how many calories and nutrients are in that sandwich that you order from the corner deli or make in your own kitchen.  You can certainly use the information and apply it to many “sandwich situations.”  It’s also a great – and fun — learning tool for kids.  Check it out.  Wonder-izer Sandwich Builder.

Did the Fat Calories in Cooking Spray Really Take a Hike?

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Are All Cooking Sprays Created Equal?

I’m staring at five different kinds of cooking spray:  Butter flavor, Olive Oil, Canola Oil, Baking, and Professional for high heat cooking.    All say they are for non-stick cooking or baking.  Some say they are for fat-free cooking and baking.

The nutrition facts for all five say that the serving size is about 1/3 of a second, the equivalent of 0.25 grams.  The ingredient labels all list an oil (canola, olive, soybean, or vegetable) as their first ingredient. All have an emulsifier, usually soy lecithin, and a propellant.  Some have other flavorings and the baking spray has wheat flour.

Nutrition stats for cooking sprays:

Listed calorie count for a serving (a 1/3 second spray): 0

Total Fat:  0

Time for a Reality Check

Okay.  So how can something with oil as the main listed ingredient have zero calories and zero fat?  In the US, any product that has less than 5 grams of fat per serving lists the fat content rounded to the nearest 0.5 g. If the product contains less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, the listed fat content is rounded to 0 grams. If a product contains 0.45 grams of fat per serving and the package has 10 servings, the label would show 0 grams of fat even though the entire package actually contains a total of 4.5 grams of fat.

All of the cooking sprays that I checked call a 1/3 second spray a serving size – that’s the equivalent of .25 grams of fat.  Because the serving size, as created by the manufacturers, is under half a gram, the nutrition facts can be listed as 0 grams of fat and 0 calories.  Feel duped?

0.25 grams of fat is the equivalent of 2.25 calories (fat has 9 calories per gram), not a huge number.  However, how many of you use cooking spray for 1/3 of a second?  Can you even coat a small frying pan with a 1/3 second spray?

How Many Calories?

Most of us spritz for at least three to six times as long – many of us for probably longer.  A one second spray has about 7 calories, 2 seconds has about 14 and and 1.5 grams of fat.  Again, not huge numbers, but 2 seconds is still awfully short.  My guess is that a lot of sprays are a bit longer.

SocialDieter Tip:

Remember that nonstick cooking spray is not calorie free. Be careful of drenching your pans and skillets.  As you’re spritzing, count the seconds.  If the length and number of your spritzes crank up the calorie count, either cut back on the spray or consider using a small amount of oil on a paper towel to coat your pan. Using one teaspoon of olive oil adds 4.5 grams of fat and 40 calories and you will be avoiding the additives and propellant in the cooking spray.

Chocolate Hearts . . .

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During the week before Valentine’s Day, about 1.1 billion boxed chocolates, that’s about 58 million pounds of chocolate candy, will be sold in the United States.

A pound of milk chocolate contains 2300 calories, 140 grams of fat, 270 grams of carbohydrates, and 31 grams of protein. Although a lot has been reported about the heart healthy benefits of chocolate, especially dark chocolate, it is important to remember that it is still a high calorie, high fat treat.

But, a treat is something that is associated with pleasure, and on Valentine’s Day, often with love.  To celebrate the occasion perhaps it’s just fine to enjoy a piece or two.