We have developed many quick and gourmet dishes and snack Carnot recipes that will be added to this section over next few weeks. We also will provide videos that show how to make fundamental fast healthy, portion control food using Vitamix, Sous Vide, en Papillote, AirFry the latest techno-gourmet as well as "Julia certified French"……
We also provide a Recipe Template Google Spreadsheet. - Creative cooking should be fun and easy. I can remake anything from A Carnot Recipe based on one of these spreadsheets, plus it is best way to record a recipe. Key is you have to develop some common sense about cooking and not be afraid to make a mistake - it is only way to learn. I generally do not trust a recipe until I have made it at least 20 or more times and tested limits.
Simple Glossary
SV = Sous Vide -need vacuum system and water circulator
EP = En Papillote - Parchment paper often same as Sous Vide
AF = AirFry - Need an Air Fryer
ST = Saute
OV = Convection Oven
PF = Pan Fry in light oil
BR = Broil at 450 to 500F
This is a good example of a Carnot Recipe - it is Asian Ginger Tomato Sauce - goes well with white fish (Cod, Haddock)
Why Cook with Simple Ingredients And Skip Pre-Packaged Meals ?
Fact is it is very difficult to accurately estimate your daily caloric input with nutritional information on prepared or packaged foods or complex ingredients. Many independent studies have shown that when you do figure out what the labels actually say they are still often off by 30-50% (see Diet Science for references). Tufts did a study of restaurant menus that provide caloric information, and discovered 30% were off by more than two times (2x) the reported values.
The USDA regulations (see FDA Label Regs) requires that manufactures place nutritional labels on any product sold at the retail level over a specific number of units sold per year. However, no one checks the accuracy of those labels or numbers and most manufactures play games. In most cases the values are calculated from the recipe, not actually measured. They pay special labs to do the calculation from the ingredients list. But the portion control and serving size and final disclosed numbers becomes a marketing decision, not science decision. The manufactures may optionally submit data to the USDA and the may be placed in the data base, but no one is obligated to review the data. Good example if the serving size leaves you with a caloric intake below 5 calories, the USDA regulations say it is OK to use zero calories on label. Some Olive Oil spays are under that 5 calorie threshold per serving, but most are at 5-10 calories per spray. With a Cal-Index of 6.0, 5 calories is only 0.84 grams /spray. But I can assure you all Olive Oil sprays in the US say zero calories. Canada apparently does not have that rule and the label varies from 4-10 calories per spray, they all claim a serving is a single spray.
Finally, it much easier to calculate total calories from the weight and Cal-Index of raw ingredients over a full cooked dish. It is always safe to assume that nothing is lost from mixing or cooking when using Sous Vide, and it is a safe assumption with all other cooking methods. We cover these details in Diet Science. Many complexities enter into picture like Dietary Induced Thermogenesis with cooked foods, but they do not end up mattering with Carnot. Look up Potato in the USDA database - and you will see about a dozen options depending how they are cooked, and the potato variety - very confusing. However, if you weigh a potato before you cook it, and use the Cal-Index for Raw, add that weight in the Menu you are Calorically Safe no matter how you cook it. That represents the worst case caloric number based on Thermodynamics and Physics.
The biggest problem for me with nutritional labels on packaged goods is serving size manipulation. For example, all pasta says serving size is ½ cup - that is about 53g a tiny handful of pasta and 210-300 calories. Most people eat 2-4 of those servings in a meal and get 500-1,000 calories just from the pasta noodles. The problem is as an "eater" I have to figure all of that out to manage my intake, and portion control, and the manufactures knows that - so they call every thing "low calorie" or "diet low fat" on front and do that by making the serving complex or tiny, and want the eater to maximize intake. I addition, they add many things to packaged goods to make them taste better, last longer that I may not want to eat. I filed a brief for USDA re labels (see USDA Brief).
To Carnise and Cook Gourmet - The Carnot Culinary School
I will introduce you the Carnot Culinary School, and show you how easy it is to take a great recipe, remove a few ingredients, add a few simple ingredients, minimize portions of extra ingredients, minimize total calories from olive oil and butter, but still have great tasting cuisine and cook it in few minutes, even after hard day at work. Thats what we call Carnise.
How many times have you seen a celebrity chef, take a bottle of Olive Oil, pour 1-2 tablespoons it into a pan add tablespoon of butter to sauté a few onions and celery - to make a mirepoix as a soup base ? One tablespoon (14g, Cal-Index 8.5) of Olive Oil is 119 calories, and 1 tablespoon of butter (14g, Cal-Index 7.2) is 102 calories. Thats a total of 340 calories, or 28% of my calorie budget for a 1,200 calorie diet day. I will show you how to make a mirepoix as a soup or frittata base in a few minutes using 3g of Olive Oil, and 4 grams of Ghee (clarified butter, Cal-Index 9.0) using a mixture of salt and baking soda (Sauté Salt) for a total of 61 calories and guarantee your mirepoix will taste better than the celebrity chef's 280 calorie mirepoix. Many other examples will follow. However, I concluded the only way I can follow Rule 2 - I have to be sure I know what I am eating is to use unprocessed unrefined, simple ingredients, that have established nutritional profiles, that I purchased and I cook from scratch. Second big important message; what you will cook will usually taste better than the original recipe, and third message is non of this is time consuming or difficult.
Again, after a year of practice, I now enjoy cooking and cook when I feel like it, and spend under 5 minutes a day on Joule, The Daily Log. I am a decent cook, a Carnot Cook and can Carnize just about anything. I expect to do that for the rest of my life. I can cook dinner in 10 minutes, or sometimes I might spend 2 hours cooking, but it is my choice and I do enjoy it.
You need two things to get started in the Carnot Culinary Academy - you will need good kitchen scales set to weigh in grams. In the beginning do your best to not eat anything without a weight check or weight guess, and make sure you know the food's Cal-Index before you put it in your mouth. After awhile you will get good at looking at this. Can look at Endive and be able to say that's 100g, and 16 calories, or a bowl of soup and estimate it is 300g, and 150 calories (most soups end up with Cal-Index of 0.5-0.6 ). After a year I still weigh things just to see how good I can be - That's what Calorie Calibration is all about.
The Cal-Index (see the Daily Menu Log below) is the number of calories per gram in an ingredient, it is an easy number to remember and easy to estimate calories once you know weight in grams. Again, after you get your Brown Belt you can skip weighing everything, because you are Calorie Calibrated; you can look at food, and guess the weight - or can look at a new food and say better not eat that, unknown weight, unknown ingredients and unknown Cal-Index could be dangerous.
By putting the food on the scale you can quickly see how many calories you are about to eat. How do I know the Carnot Cal-Index for the Quiche and for the Frittata on the left ? I know the Frittata Index because I made it and will show you how to be sure you also have accurate Cal-Index for everything you make. I know the Quiche because I ate one for lunch at a business meeting and gained weight that day. The Quiche was made by a local catering company - so I called them up and asked what they used to make it. Three cups of cheddar cheese, few more cups of pavilion, eight eggs, plus breaded pie crust with butter ….. it all adds up to about 600 calories per slice - it tasted great…. However, it is loaded with fat because that's how commercial food producers make you like what you eat. They all usually add fat, sugar and salt " enhancers " to make it taste delicious us.
However if you eat my Frittata on the right it has 192.6 calories and it too tastes great, its delicious, but because I used fresh, portion controlled ingredients, each selected based on the Cal-Index - the recipe was Carnised. Actually most people think my artichoke Frittata tastes much better than the Quiche, and if I have it for lunch that day I will lose between 0.25 and 0.35 lbs. It is also filling, I am not hungry after lunch because it tastes so good. This artichoke frittata is based on Thomas Keller, gourmet ingredients, using Sous Vide, and recipes he serves in his famous restaurant The French Laundry. My version takes me under 20 minutes of preparation time to make an 8 slice frittata pie. The individual slices can be frozen and kept for months, and weeks in the refrigerator.
I know the Cal-Index because I make frittatas all the time, and know and have weighed exactly what goes into them. It has cheddar cheese, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, 8 eggs, sautéed onions, red pepper and fresh artichoke hearts. It has 192 calories because it is Portion Controlled by me. I put these 192 calorie slices in vacuum bags and freeze so handy for a quick and easy lunch.
I have made so many frittatas over the last year and learned they all have an Cal-Index of 1.1 to 1.2 so no need to measure or weigh anymore - Once I have the ingredients, it only takes 20 minutes to make a frittata, with 45 minutes in oven (see Frittata Recipe ). Some other examples follow.
78 Calories - Sous Vide Seasoned Carrots
Carrots have a Cal-Index of 0.41 and what you see to the right weights 189 grams so in my head I know that is about 75 calories - If I enter weight into my daily log turns into 77.49. Everyone knows carrots are good for you - lots of Vitamin A, that bunch has about 5 grams of fiber or 25% what you need per day. However, what you may not know is that if you Sous Vide these carrots @ 185 F for 30 minutes with seasoning (Rosemary and tiny bit of lemon, or passion fruit), or roast them in parchment @ 350F for 20 minutes - they have wonderful flavor, and you won't feel hungry.
Once cooked they trick your eating command and control center, the Hypothalamus into thinking your satiated - eat these carrots as a snack to help you through the day, or add them to a gourmet meal, to make the meal festive. These carrots have about a two minute preparation time, as long as you have equipment and ingredients ready.
Carrots have a Cal-Index of 0.41 and what you see to the right weights 189 grams so in my head I know that is about 75 calories - If I enter weight into my daily log turns into 77.49. Everyone knows carrots are good for you - lots of Vitamin A, that bunch has about 5 grams of fiber or 25% what you need per day. However, what you may not know is that if you Sous Vide these carrots @ 185 F for 30 minutes with seasoning (Rosemary and tiny bit of lemon, or passion fruit), or roast them in parchment @ 350F for 20 minutes - they have wonderful flavor, and you won't feel hungry.
Once cooked they trick your eating command and control center, the Hypothalamus into thinking your satiated - eat these carrots as a snack to help you through the day, or add them to a gourmet meal, to make the meal festive. These carrots have about a two minute preparation time, as long as you have equipment and ingredients ready.
72 Calories - Tomato Basil Compote with Sous Vide Endive and Lemon Grass
You see a quick lunch plate I created one afternoon. Pouched tomatoes take a few minutes to prepare as a sou vide dish, or roasted in parchment, or just roasted. Tomatoes have a Cal-Index of 0.27 and that pile weighs about 150g - quick calculation 40 calories total. The endive has Cal-Index of 0.16 and each weighs about 100g - total for two 32 calories. The Lemon Grass does not add any calories just adds hint of lemon to Endive.
The meal/snack you see is piping hot, takes only a few minutes to prepare, is filling and has gourmet cuisine overtones - total 72 calories. Add Sous Vide Fish or Chicken and you have dinner. The Endive on the left has no pepper, because my wife does not like pepper. That is other great advantage of Techno-Gourmet cooking can cook many different custom meals, all at once.
You see a quick lunch plate I created one afternoon. Pouched tomatoes take a few minutes to prepare as a sou vide dish, or roasted in parchment, or just roasted. Tomatoes have a Cal-Index of 0.27 and that pile weighs about 150g - quick calculation 40 calories total. The endive has Cal-Index of 0.16 and each weighs about 100g - total for two 32 calories. The Lemon Grass does not add any calories just adds hint of lemon to Endive.
The meal/snack you see is piping hot, takes only a few minutes to prepare, is filling and has gourmet cuisine overtones - total 72 calories. Add Sous Vide Fish or Chicken and you have dinner. The Endive on the left has no pepper, because my wife does not like pepper. That is other great advantage of Techno-Gourmet cooking can cook many different custom meals, all at once.
471 Calories - Scallops on Wilted Spinach, Beets, Turnips, and Carrots.
Scallops have a Cal-Index of 0.86, and you see about 180g on the plate - 155 calories. They were sauté in 10g of Olive Oil (CI 6.00) and 5g of Ghee (CI 9.00) adds another 105 calories. You need extra Olive Oil to wilt the spinach. Turnips weigh 130g with a CI of 0.27, total calories 35. Beets CI of 0.43 weigh 160, for 72 calories. Carrots CI 0.41 and 67g, 27 calories. Spinach CI 0.23 and weigh 40g, 10 calories. Finally we added goat cheese as a garnish. 25 grams, CI 2.67 total of 66.75 calories.
The meal you see is piping hot, took only a few minutes to prepare, is filling and has become a staple gourmet dish in our house - total 671 grams and 471 calories with an average Cal-Index of 0.76.
Scallops have a Cal-Index of 0.86, and you see about 180g on the plate - 155 calories. They were sauté in 10g of Olive Oil (CI 6.00) and 5g of Ghee (CI 9.00) adds another 105 calories. You need extra Olive Oil to wilt the spinach. Turnips weigh 130g with a CI of 0.27, total calories 35. Beets CI of 0.43 weigh 160, for 72 calories. Carrots CI 0.41 and 67g, 27 calories. Spinach CI 0.23 and weigh 40g, 10 calories. Finally we added goat cheese as a garnish. 25 grams, CI 2.67 total of 66.75 calories.
The meal you see is piping hot, took only a few minutes to prepare, is filling and has become a staple gourmet dish in our house - total 671 grams and 471 calories with an average Cal-Index of 0.76.
242 Calories - Organic Grass Fed Beef, Carrots Endive and Pouched Tomatoes.
This steak dinner was cooked Sous Vide. Total Prep time was 15 minutes. The steak is 85g (3 oz) and because it is grass fed has a CI of 1.46, total 124 calories. Carrots 175g CI 0.41, 72 calories. Endive 100g CI 0.16, 16 calories. Tomato Compote, 120g CI 0.26, 31 calories. Finally Herb Butter for steak 10g CI 8.2, 82 calories.
Total 465 grams 242 calories with an average CI 0.52.
This steak dinner was cooked Sous Vide. Total Prep time was 15 minutes. The steak is 85g (3 oz) and because it is grass fed has a CI of 1.46, total 124 calories. Carrots 175g CI 0.41, 72 calories. Endive 100g CI 0.16, 16 calories. Tomato Compote, 120g CI 0.26, 31 calories. Finally Herb Butter for steak 10g CI 8.2, 82 calories.
Total 465 grams 242 calories with an average CI 0.52.
