Kathleen Daelemans: Getting Thin and Loving Food!

By JULIETTE ROSSANT "Never trust a skinny chef" is not a saying in any book by Kathleen Daelemans. I've met my share of skinny chefs, but it seems like the chubby ones still far out number them. It's not easy to lose weight when food can be so tempting and free. Most chefs graze and rarely sit down for a meal and many of them are terrific athletes, building up stamina for their tough profession. But as they move up the ladder in the kitchen, they are likely to be cooking less, observing and tasting more -- and packing on the pounds. Sure, there is a trend started way back with Nouvelle Cuisine, to replace some of the cream and butter with stock and herbs, but Haute Cuisine food is still rich and fattening. But what happens if you get the chance to be one of the beautiful young chefs on TV – think Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, or Tyler Florence? Then it's time to take a look at Kathleen Daelemans. Kathleen is the star of the Food Network's first and only diet show, Cooking Thin. Her story is legend to her fans: she lost 75 pounds after landing a job at a spa cafe and coming up with a spa cuisine. Her first book was Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen. This second book, Getting Thin and Loving Food (Houghton Miffling 2004) is a guide to changing habits and eating better for the home cook. On the cover (and the only photograph besides the author's pic on the back flap) is a photograph, just waist up, of a smiling Kathleen balancing a cupcake and a bunch of grapes. Hmm, which one do you want? Inside, the book looks like one of the Dummy series, with boxes filled with readers' letters and Kathleen's helpful advice or steps and pointers. The first one-third of the book is a series of pep talks on her four principles: Commitment, Motivation, Accountability, and Support. These chapters read like a conversation, coaching you to follow her example, but it doesn't sound like a diet cookbook. There aren't the usual numbers and menus. " And no, I didn't include calorie counts in this book. I'm a cook. I'm a woman who lost weight and works to keep it off...Staring at fat facts before a meal is positively unnerving to me and takes away the pleasure." (p. 3) One of her mantras is portion control and that is a number that is part of every recipe in the book. Kathleen quotes from letters and provides encouragement. She writes about her own experiences fighting the bulge and keeping it from coming back. The recipes that follow are divided up into chapters from easy to slightly harder to more fancy dishes and then breakfasts, sides and sauces. A large part of the "diet" aspect of the recipes is that she has reduced the amount of fats, added more spices and herbs to enhance flavor, and there is little that is fried. Most of the recipes are family-oriented and there are plenty of comments that the kids next door love a particular dish. There are a lot of cassaroles, microwavable dishes, and a lot of advice on freezing leftovers. The chapters have fun names like "The Queen RSVPed! Little Plates, Appetizers and Lunches Suitable for Royalty" (p. 203) or "Pajama Meals: When You Have the Time to Cook and Want to Play" (p. 123) with dishes like Won-Ton Soup with Bok Choy and Shrimp (pp. 128-9) and Pork Tenderloin with Lemon Butter Sauce and Swiss Chard (p. 107) which really only has one tablespoon of butter for one pound of pork. Some of the recipes could benefit from illustrations showing how to make a wonton (she suggests that you go out and take a look at a won-ton and that it's just like a tortellini) but many are simple and some are just dump-and-cook. She also believes in plenty of vegatables and even has a chapter called: "It Tastes Just Like Chicken, Honey: Barely-Any-Meat Meals" (p. 161) full of recipes for filling soups and salads (perfect for the start of summer!). The "Breakfast for Kings" chapter (p. 343) is full of straight forward dishes like Microwave Frittata (p. 346) that uses egg whites, Carrot-Zucchini Walnut Raisin Muffins (p. 249) that uses low-fat buttermilk and only a little canola oil. Most of the recipes don't stray far from typical American supermarket ingredients, though some Asian inspiration sneaks in with noodles, sauces and salads like the Udon Noodle Salad (p. 222) that requires roasted peanut oil, daikon, and udon noodles. At the end of the book are, surprise, dessert recipes – and they contain sugar, chocolate and butter, like the Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse (p. 305), Rhubarb Ginger Crisp (p. 304) and a nice Earl Grey Tea Cake (p.321). The trick is that each dessert serves from 6 to 10, so everyone only gets a little. Previous articles: Aroma: Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel Tyler Florence: Eat This Book The Perfectionist by Rudolph Chelminski Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life Mother's Day Gift: Finding Betty Crocker The Sensual Language of Baklava: Diana Abu-Jaber Paula Deen & Friends Roland Mesnier's Dessert University Puerto Rico: Grand Cuisine of the Caribbean Don Pintabona: Shared Table Annabel Karmel: First Meals Nigella Lawson's Feast Cook Like a Kyrgyz Ozzi Dining Downunder and Bushfood Personal Favorites: The Chefs of Las Vegas Anne Willan: The Good Cook Gale Gand's short+sweet More Food from Alton Brown Manju Malhi's India With Passion SOS: Baking from the Heart Madhur Jaffrey: Our Lady of India, CBE Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs All Hail Alfred Portale Agassi's Star Palate: Celebrity Chefs Book links: Publisher Amazon.com Technorati Tags: chefs food restaurants cooking branding cookbooks television --> back to superchefblog