Eat Great, Lose Weight

More and more gourmets, hitherto shy about pleasing their palates for fear that savoir-faire would be more than matched in avoirdupois, are plunging into gastronomy with nary a thought to their waistlines. How come? For one thing, the shelves in gourmet shops are becoming filled with a growing variety of low-fuel foods. There are canned mackerel in white wine, clam juice cocktail, imported lean canned hams, jellied or clear soups from petite marmite to pheasant broth, Italian bread sticks and Finn Crisp Thins, low-calorie salad dressings and, above all, canned fruits with no sugar syrup. Black pitted cherries sweetened with Sucaryl are hard to distinguish from the same fruit packed in heavy syrup. And the flavor of canned pineapple with unsweetened juice can be superior to sugarladen pineapple, because it's taken from more mature fruit at the plantation. Simply including such foods in your menus provides you with a weight control so automatic that "weight-watching" – a dull pastime – can be avoided.

There's never a need for the sensible trencherman to feel that he's depriving himself to stay slim. Take the bon vivant's typical dinner of appetizer, soup, filet mignon, vegetables, salad, dessert and coffee. This could be caloric folly if it took the form of hot puff paste hors d'oeuvres, a French sorrel soup, Bearnaise sauce for the filet, Par-isienne potatoes, cauliflower au gratin, tossed salad with Thousand Island dressing, cantaloupe a la mode with fresh peach ice cream and coffee. But take the same number of courses, only serve instead a dozen cherrystone clams on the half shell, clear green turtle soup with sherry, filet mignon with fresh mushrooms, grilled tomato and asparagus, tossed salad with garlic dressing, cantaloupe a la mode with raspberry sherbet and coffee – hardly an example of austerity at the table – and you'll save a cool thousand calories. A great many chaps would consider the second of the two meals the

When it comes to the pleasures of drinking alcoholic beverages, the man of sense and sensibility will discover that, here again, he may indulge his appreciation without either depriving himself or forfeiting his figure. He will learn, for instance, that vermouth cassis or vermouth on the rocks before a meal – both negligible in poundage-producing agents – are aperitifs in the truest sense of the word, not only because of their stimulating icy-bitter tang but also because they're less filling than many other predinner drinks.

Should your taste run to bourbon, vodka, et al., a simple and painless rule for helping yourself stay slim is to enjoy these potables in their lower proofs. Other hints: order tall drinks, with soda or tonic or low-calorie ginger ale. Beer, a summer favorite for many, is comfortably filling, and yet a 12-oz. bottle contains only 150 calories. And gin and tonic, if you make it with a lower-proof gin, remains one of the most pleasant of summer refreshments – between, before or after meals.

Perhaps the happiest part of enjoying the best without straining the vest is that low-calorie menus are often the most appetizing, as you will soon discover if you take a crack at any or all of the following half-dozen regal recipes:

[recipe_title]Cold Salmon, Tartar Sauce[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

4 fresh salmon steaks, 6 ozs. each

1 medium-size onion, sliced

1 piece celery, sliced

1 bay leaf juice of half lemon salt, pepper

1/2 cup low-calorie whipped salad dressing

1/2 teaspoon grated onion

1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar

2 dashes Tabasco

1 tablespoon finely chopped sour pickle

1 teaspoon finely minced parsley

Pour 2 cups water into a wide saucepan. Add the onion, celery, bay leaf and lemon juice. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce flame, and simmer very slowly tenminutes. Add salmon steaks to the liquid, carefully placing each on the bottom of the pan; they should not overlap. Cover the pan and simmer ten to twelve minutes. Let the salmon steaks cool in their own liquid. Chill in the refrigerator. Combine the whipped salad dressing with the remaining ingredients. Remove salmon steaks carefully from the liquid, using a wide spatula to keep them intact. With a small paring knife, remove skin and center bone. Serve sauce separately at the table.

Cold fresh salmon fairly cries for a glass of chilled Rhine wine or Rhine wine and seltzer. Don't let the cry go unheeded.

[recipe_title]Playboy's Garlic French Dressing[/recipe_title]

(One cup)

1 egg

2 teaspoons imported Dijon mustard

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon salad oil

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon monosodium glutamate

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Put all ingredients in an electric blender. Blend at high speed for about thirty seconds. Chill thoroughly before serving. Serve with any type of tossed salad. Store in the refrigerator.

[recipe_title]Round Steaks, Rustic Style[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

4 pieces round steak, 1/2 in. thick, 6 to 8 ozs. each. (Be sure the beef is from the round and not chuck or any other fatty cut.)

salt, pepper

2 cups water

1 envelope instant beef broth

8-oz. can tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

4 anchovies, minced

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Heat a Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over a moderate flame with no fat added. Sprinkle bottom of utensil with salt. Brown steaks on both sides. Add remaining ingredients. Bring gravy to a boil. Reduce flame so that liquid barely simmers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender, about 2 to 2-1/4 hours. Season to taste. These steaks are excellent when cooked one day, kept in their gravy and then reheated for lunch or dinner the next day.

[recipe_title]Chili Con Carne[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

(Chili is conventionally made from ground chuck of beef, is served in a soup bowl, and is eaten with a spoon. Mexicans sometimes call it chili con gordo, meaning chili with fat. The lean cube steaks cut into small squares, in this recipe, bring the calorie count way down, although the chili still remains a deliciously substantial one-dish meal.)

1-1/2 Ibs. cube steaks

1 teaspoon oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning

8-oz. can tomato sauce

2 cups water

no. 2 can red kidney beans

2 teaspoons onion juice

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

salt

Cut cube steaks into 1-in. squares. Brush an electric skillet with oil. Set at 350°. Add the meat and saute, stirring frequently, until browned. Add chili powder and creole seasoning. Add tomato sauce, water, beans, onion juice and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce skillet heat to 300°. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until meat is tender and flavors are well blended, about twenty minutes. Add salt to please your own palate.

[recipe_title]Chicken With Burgundy[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

3-Ib. frying chicken

1 cup Burgundy-type red wine

salt, pepper

1/2 cup water

1 envelope instant chicken broth

1 teaspoon onion juice

2 tablespoon tomato paste

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon tarragon

Have the chicken cut into pieces, as for frying. Soak the chicken in the wine one hour. Preheat oven at 425°. Remove chicken from wine and place it, skin side up, in a shallow baking pan or casserole. Do not use a deep pan, or chicken will not brown properly. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Combine wine with water, chicken broth, onion juice, tomato paste, garlic powder and tarragon, mixing well. Pour liquids over chicken. Bake the chicken for 1 to 1-1/44 hours, basting about every ten minutes with the sauce. If chicken seems to be browning too rapidly, cover it with aluminum foil. Pour sauce over chicken on serving plates or platter. Don't forget a glass of Burgundy on the side.

[recipe_title]Brochette Of Scallops[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

1 Ib. scallops, cut into 1-in. cubes if scallops are large

salt, pepper

3 tablespoons catsup

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 teaspoons salad oil

paprika

Preheat broiler at 550°. Wash scallops well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a mixing bowl combine the catsup, soy sauce, garlic powder and ginger. Add the scallops. Mix well so that each piece is thoroughly coated. Arrange scallops on skewers. Dip the skewered scallops in the bread crumbs. Sprinkle with salad oil. Sprinkle lightly with paprika. Broil until brown, about five to eight minutes. After you've tried a few of these delectable low-calorie recipes, you should be convinced that staying slim needn't mean slim pickin's.

tastier, since the basic flavors of the fine foods are not hidden behind high-calorie disguises.