{"id":47707,"date":"2011-04-26T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=47707"},"modified":"2011-04-28T15:19:33","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:19:33","slug":"an-indulgent-chefs-healthy-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/04\/an-indulgent-chefs-healthy-makeover\/","title":{"rendered":"An Indulgent Chef’s Healthy Makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by <\/strong>John Currence<\/strong><\/strong>. Brought to you by FoodandWine.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mississippi chef John Currence was once infamous for his profligate eating habits. But now he makes low-fat versions of the Southern dishes he craves that are delicious enough to serve guests at a dinner party. Here, he tells how.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em> <\/em>When pancreatitis hits, it’s like a phantom freight train, hard and with no warning. Trust me on this. I was a 44-year-old, pork-eating, whiskey-swilling chef in Oxford, Mississippi. I thought I was indestructible, but that belief came crashing down last summer, when I spent three weeks in a hospital bed, near death, as penance for my poor lifestyle.<\/p>\n

As much as I knew about food, it turns out I didn’t know very much about nutrition. I was a grab-and-eat survivalist in the kitchens of my three restaurants, snatching anything that was close at hand: a big piece of roast chicken skin, a slice or two of bacon.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While I was still in the hospital, I also began imagining my first meal at home. I realized I could create a welcome-home menu from several dishes I’d lightened in my head. I’d even create a nectarine-and-plum crisp using whole-wheat flour in the subtly sweet streusel topping. When I finally got to have that dinner, with my wife, Bess, and several close friends, it couldn’t have been better or more satisfying. It wasn’t my grandmother’s fried chicken, but I know my grandmother would have been happy to eat it, anyway.<\/p>\n

In the hospital, I started dreaming about fried chicken<\/a><\/strong> and fruit crisps and crumbles<\/a><\/strong>, which were now completely off limits. My daily intake of fat would have to be roughly equivalent to a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (not that I could have eaten one, because sugar was almost entirely forbidden). I knew that my restaurant dishes would probably end up looking a little different, too. I was OK with the changes\u2014my customers had been asking for healthier food, anyway\u2014but I wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t too predictable and stayed true to my family’s deep-South roots.<\/p>\n

I scoured the Internet for healthy cookbooks and fell in love with Heidi Swanson’s blog, 101 Cookbooks (101cookbooks.com), which has a great balance of authenticity and nutritional savvy. I came up with some strategies: Instead of rich sauces, I’d use seasoned vegetable purees and vinaigrettes. Rather than saut\u00e9ing spice-crusted shrimp in butter to serve with buttery grits and a butter sauce, I would roast the shellfish<\/a><\/strong> and accompany it with quinoa and a vibrant herb pistou. For the fried chicken I’d been fantasizing about, I’d brine skinless breasts<\/a><\/strong>, then coat them with well-spiced flour before pan-roasting; then, I’d use a little canola oil to prepare a caramelized-onion gravy. I could even make crumbly corn bread<\/a><\/strong> using low-fat buttermilk and fat-free sour cream.<\/p>\n

While I was still in the hospital, I also began imagining my first meal at home. I realized I could create a welcome-home menu from several dishes I’d lightened in my head. I’d even create a nectarine-and-plum crisp<\/a><\/strong> using whole-wheat flour in the subtly sweet streusel topping. When I finally got to have that dinner, with my wife, Bess, and several close friends, it couldn’t have been better or more satisfying. It wasn’t my grandmother’s fried chicken, but I know my grandmother would have been happy to eat it, anyway.<\/p>\n

John Currence is the chef and owner of City Grocery, Bour\u00e9 and the aptly named Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford, Mississippi.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>See more about health-conscious foodies from FoodandWine.com<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Joel Robuchon: From Haute to Healthy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Eat Like a Food Critic and Stay Slim<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

America’s Fittest Chefs<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo \u00a9 Peter Frank Edwards<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by John Currence. Brought to you by FoodandWine.com. Mississippi chef John Currence was once infamous for his profligate eating habits. But now he makes low-fat versions of the Southern dishes he craves that are delicious enough to serve guests … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,16],"tags":[8245,8253,7083,1432],"class_list":["post-47707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mens-health","category-recipes","tag-food-and-wine","tag-john-currence","tag-mississippi","tag-obesity-diseases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47710,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47707\/revisions\/47710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}