what meats?

Chicken Too
Chicken was the first meat Doug was able to eat (he actually grabbed a rotisserie chicken wing from my plate, as he just couldn't take the mashed potatoes and gravy thing any more). He has trouble with baked chicken breast (juicy-seeming, but actually dry to a dry mouth) but does OK with poached chicken tenders (just barely done). I also often slow-cook chicken thighs in the oven overnight: add wine/stock to the thighs in a casserole dish to almost cover them and then put foil over the top tightly - cook at the temperature above "warm" (about 225 or 250 F) for 8-10 hours. Remove the skin if you want (it's not crispy) and serve the chicken over rice or pasta (best foobricated with a gravy made with the juice left in the pan).

Braised meat works well - pot roast or pulled pork. Either can be done in a slow-cooker or low oven (start in the morning and eat at night or the next day). I did braised lamb shanks for Easter/Passover and he managed well with those also. Again, the pot roast and lamb were accompanied by gravy (if you are not comfortable making gravy, the Knorr or McCormick mixes in the pouch are OK).

I'm not sure about filet mignon - the reason it is traditionally cooked with the bacon wrapped around it is that it, while tender, is not particularly flavorful and can dry out quickly. Doug has managed a humble grilled rib-eye pretty well recently, as well as a sirloin steak cooked and cut London-broil style. We often serve sauteed mushrooms/onions with steak, or Bernaise sauce - both are good foobricators.

Skiffin16 said:

Meats
Nancy, I'm two years post treatment and like Canjun mentioned,keep experimenting as recovery is a very, very slow process....

For me seafood or creamy seafood pastas was one of the first hings that I ate. As for meats specifically Burger King Double Cheeseburgrs was and still is especially good...was before still is.

Pork tends to be pretty dry other than ribs...

Chicken, I definitely love chicken wings...I was always a big chicken breast or white meat fan. I tend not to eat breast so much any longer as they tend to be dry a lot. I'm sure it's the less fat content in both the breasts and pork.

I can eat breaded pork chops OK and actually is what we had for dinner. But if they're over cooked at all, they are way to dry for me.

Even with that being said, I probably have around 90% of both taste and saliva, yet those foods still tend to be pretty dry for me.

Bacon is still really good, another all time favorite of mine. I said pork, but was more thinking of roasts I guess, ham still works for me.

Best,
John

Meats
Could be you'll find the texture of the meat and what condiments applied to it as being as important as exactly which meat it is. My first- a hot dog, but that was as much due to the relish, onion and mustard (I like getting kicked in the mouth). For me, a former Whopper addict, there's something about the Wendy's Jr. Burgers- sliced white onion, ketchup and mustard, etc. I'm 27+-months out, and the actual flavors of the meat, itself, is still hard to differentiate. It's the texture and stuff put on the meat that registers for me.

kcass

rozaroo said:

Hi Nancy!
I managed medium well done lamb chop's nicely but with a hunter sauce! Also prime rib again not well done & with a gravy. Barbecued chicken leg & grilled filet of salmon with a butter sauce. Salmon is a great moist fish but I still needed the sauce to go with it. I can do a mild beef curry. Shepherd's pie made with ground beef & a very mild chilli over rice. Sweetblood is a great cook & has many fantastic recipies & cooking ideas. I am sure she will step in & give you some great cooking hint's . Don't forget about cottage cheese as an easy source of protien as it is wonderfull mixed with fruit etc.
Best of luck
Roz

I stay away from steak, sausage, bacon and hamburger. No can do
Meats, they are not easy to choke down for me either. I am completely missing one salivary gland, and of course the other was fried with radiation. I also have scar tissue with an upper esophageal stricture. I have been stretched a total if three times.

So far, beef is just a no go for me. I've tried all cuts and hamburger, and I cannot get it down. The only beef that I can get down, is short ribs. Slow cooked. I usually do them in the crock pot. I do a beef soup with them, I like a good beef and barley soup. I also use beef marrow bones, which I roast to brown before putting them in the stock and it gives a tremendous meaty flavor to the soup, and the marrow, yum, is good on a piece of toast. Or mashed in your bowl of soup. If I don't put barley in my soup, for something different, the next day with the left over soup, I will make dumplings, (on the side of a Bisquick box) and drop them in the soup, and cook. I also do short ribs and navy beans, almost like you would a cassoulet with sausage. All yummy comfort food, and the little meat that in there packs a punch of flavor, and you don't feel cheated in the least.

I can do seared scallops. Still struggle with shrimp though. The way I can manage to eat some shrimp, is to take some barely cooked shrimp, and pulse it in my mini chopper. Makes little fine pieces. Then I cook some angel hair pasta. While that is cooking I sauté some red and yellow peppers, and onions until soft and caramelized, with some garlic, add some butter and cream and heat that through and add the minced shrimp in last, just to heat through. Toss with the hot cooked angel hair.

Fish, is a hard one too. Dry, sawdusty, and mealy. Seems I do better with a light coating of breading. Not batter dip, but breading. It keeps the surface of the flesh if the fish from drying out. Honestly, I don't eat it often anymore, so I just buy Gorton's lightly breaded when I am in the mood.

I can do rack of lamb chops. That is the cut that works for me. Not cheap, but it works, so I do splurge. It's not like I eat a lot, any way. Two chops is more than enough. When I see them 1/2 price, I buy the lot, and I freeze them. Works brilliantly! I sear them in EVOO in a hot pan, just medium, let rest, so it stays pink and juicy, and it's my heaven on a plate. (or as close as it gets with eating these days) Lamb was always my favorite meat anyway.

I actually managed a lamb burger yesterday. It was not great, a bit like sawdust, well flavored sawdust, thanks to my spice mix, but at least I swallowed it. Mega amounts of tzatziki helped for foodbrication.

I can do slow cooked pork shoulder. With that, it has to be a fatty cut, cooked low and slow. My favorite way is to make a Mojo style marinade. Juice of an orange, one onion, fresh oregano, coriander, cumin, fresh cilantro, garlic and EVOO. (I especially like to take the marinade ingredients and liquify them in my HealthMaster) Marinate the pork in that for a few hours. Cook in the marinade at 350 degrees, one hour with it covered, then about a half hour uncovered. I serve with black beans, and rice. Any other pork, is too dry.

Chicken thighs are a relatively new break through for me. I managed to make them as fried chicken. Even if you cannot manage the skin, it keeps the thigh super juicy and moist. Eating slow cooked chicken thighs in the crock pot works pretty well also, but I have an easier time with the juicier fried. When I do my fried chicken, I season my flour with garlic powder, onion powder, and poultry seasoning. Dip in egg, then flour, then egg, then flour. I fry in hot peanut oil, just until golden. Then I finish cooking in a 350 oven just until 160, allowing 5 degrees for carry over and resting so it peaks at 165. About a 1/2 hour.

I can add ham steak to bean soups or chowders at the end, if I put the ham steak into a mini chopper and mince.

The other thing that I have found, is that for me, left over meats, just don't work. They get too dried out.

I have to say, that I am very lucky that I can eat as well as I can now. I had a peg tube for 18 months, and it was hard on me. Mentally and physically. Learning a whole new way of cooking, and preparing foods, has been a two year endeavor, and I'm still learning. My heart goes out to those who still struggle.

DrMary said:

Not in Maryland
We NEVER put too much bread in crabcakes here (except for folks from away, who don't know any better). I wish I could make a really good crab cake for you - good pieces of backfin meat, a fresh local egg, real mayo (just a tad) and just barely enough cracker meal (I use Matzoh meal) to bind it together. Oh, and Old Bay. Dip it in melted butter and bake it (or fry it in butter, but I always burn it that way). Foobricate with freshly-made tartar sauce.

Enjoy the scallops - they are a perfect example of simple food that tastes great.

We should take nothing for granted, but you don't know how good you have it until you don't anymore. Some day, I hope, you will eat an entire meal without thinking about swallowing. Until then, enjoy every small bit of ground you gain along the way.

Breadcrumbs in crab cakes.
Agreed! That is a sin punishable by 20 lashes with a wet noodle. I don't use bread crumbs in my crab cakes. Only to coat the outside, with panko, for crisp outside, moist inside. Saltines or Matzoh crushed up to bind. I posted these to my expressions page back in December, when I was making them for New Years Eve. They freeze well and are moist. I think I will splurge for crab next time I go shopping.

CRAB CAKES

grilled chicken thighs with
grilled chicken thighs with skin on the grill (of coarse do not eat skin),
Mac-D's double cheese burger with catsup and onion,
I enjoy tater tots,
mashed potatoes with gravy (hand mashed not mixer), left over mashed make patties and grill
flat bread roll ups with peanut butter and banana warmed in microwave,
sweet corn and helps if cut off cob,
mixed steamed veg's,
blueberry pancakes(blueberries for me do something for dry mouth,
pasta's light on sauce, cheese works best
pulled chicken thighs off grill add to fried onions and cabbage in olive oil with salt and pepper,
wheat thin bread(like bun but very thin, you can find in bread area with scrambed egg and american cheese.
Weight Watchers fudge cycles
tomatoe soup with grilled cheese
baked potatoes cut up in eatable size cubes and put in tomatoe soup
sweet potatoes backed in oven on alumfoil to extremely soft, oh my a favorite, no butter needed so smooth
cut up sweet and reg potatoes into thick/big fries, bake in over until brown. spray foil with span

john, burger king double cheese burgers work just as well as burger king, I have yet to be able to eat a homemade grilled hamburger just to tough

How Long
Hi All

I've just completed my treatments last week and am on a liquid diet of Ensure, fortified coffee, fortified carnation drinks and some consomee soups. Not the best of diets but I'm getting by. Solid food had tasted like heavily salted crap to me since I was about 1/2 way through my treatments. My stomach signals Don't you dare send that stuff down here or its coming right back up

I'd like to request that any further responses add how long "out" they've been. I noticed a few commented "I'm 1 year or 9 months out..." but many didn't

I'm just trying to get an idea of what to expect next

Thanx

akbear49 said:

How Long
Hi All

I've just completed my treatments last week and am on a liquid diet of Ensure, fortified coffee, fortified carnation drinks and some consomee soups. Not the best of diets but I'm getting by. Solid food had tasted like heavily salted crap to me since I was about 1/2 way through my treatments. My stomach signals Don't you dare send that stuff down here or its coming right back up

I'd like to request that any further responses add how long "out" they've been. I noticed a few commented "I'm 1 year or 9 months out..." but many didn't

I'm just trying to get an idea of what to expect next

Thanx

Year End
Like above, only I'll extend it a few months...but.

But, more than likely you'll be able to eat several different things, there's going to be a lot you still can't. Those that you can, probably more than 50% still won't taste that good.

But, of those that you can taste, will sustain you...keep experimenting and every few months or so revisit the ones that didn't taste well before.

Like mentioned in your other post, I'm just over two years post rads and have regained probably 90% of both saliva and taste....ice cream is one that hasn't really came back. For some reason sweet was really slow, and a lot of that depending on the item still isn't totally back. But a lot is like fruits and some cereals.

It's still in that first few bites taste good, but then fades fast.

I think that I'm still improving, though that might just be on items that I am just revisiting again after several months.

Best,
John

M E A T
Hey Nancy (aka Tough Cookie-great name by the way!!)

Mike (my partner) is 13 mos post treatment he still has difficulty w/beef (ground beef especially). Whatever meat he tries, has to be coverered in some kind of sauce/gravy/liquid. I'm pleased to report that on Friday (the day we received his clean PET results) he was able to eat PRIME RIB!!!! Very exciting and he almost cried...it was a fabulous piece of meat and soft/easy to chew and slide down!

He also does well with chinese food-chicken or pork-again, its all about the sauce. LOL

Although not meat, he does very well w/seafood-lobster, shrimp and crabs. We live in Maryland and it's crab season. The old bay seasoning can be kind of spicy for him but the crab meat slides right down (of course w/butter) but it goes down.

Hope that helps and keep trying everything. He loves going to all you can eat buffet because of the variety. LOL

Take care....

Chris

Lelia said:

Meats we've tried
Nancy, I remember you saying you get to The James regularly, maybe you could stop by North Market just up the road next time and try the ground chicken thigh from North Market Poultry & Game, I've had good luck making tiny meatballs steamed in fresh homemade chicken stock I buy from the same merchant (Yes I usually make fresh stock, too overwhelmed right now and enjoy supporting locals retail). As Sweetblood pointed out, chicken thigh is moist and tasty and seems to go down well, even as a burger. Speaking of burgers, ground salmon burgers are juicy and easy, also available at North Market and many other seafood shops.

Mainly what we've found is no caramelized meat like a browned burger, nothing crispy or crunchy. If it's braised, poached or almost steamed,seems to do much better.

Polpetteni en brodo
Soup with the little meatballs is one of those dishes that was served every holiday in my family, and a memory dear to my heart. Some also know it as italian wedding soup. Made properly is simple, yet incredible. You make meatballs out of ground chicken thigh, (my great gram also used veal) they just lightly poach in the stock, and are so yummy. Carrots, and either escarole or baby spinach is good for the vegetable component and either acini di peep or pastina for the pasta in the soup. Was my ultimate comfort food.

Makes me remember holidays past with family in my great grandparents 5 story walk up they owned in the lower east side of manhattan. 53 market street. I can still hear the buzzer to be let in, and I can remember exactly what that building smelled like when we walked in.