kidney trouble

[sylvia]

hi
maybe you all can help
my girlfriends husband is having problems with his kidneys
salt free diet
now she is kosher
she wont be anymore
but she wants to buy meat or chicken
in the kosher butcher meat and poultry is soaked in salt for sure
but in a lot of butcher shops it is done sometimes
so she cant trust the butcher
to remove salt from raw meat and poultry what would you do
any help would be much appreciated
sylvia

[Jan in CA]

I have high blood pressure so I have to keep my intake down, too. It's not always easy.

Most frozen foods have salt added. Fresh or not frozen will be much better. Lunch meats and preprocessed foods all have a lot of salt. Stores like Trader Joes are helpful, too.

[Carrie218]

There is no way to remove salt from meat -- the way it is brined, it molecularly attaches to the proteins in the meat. Soaking will remove some salt from the fat molecules, but it will not make for a salt-free meat.

[sylvia]

thanks for your replies
my friend is frantic and i would be to
i told her there was no way to reduce all the salt
but to soak it a few times in cold water
be cause she is kosher she wouldnt buy frozen anyways
after living kosher all her life this will be some change
and the same for the husband
but she will do it
thanks again
sylvia

[Jeremy]

Kosher meat is not brined. The meat is washed,soaked, covered with salt and then washed again. I do not know to what extent there is salt remaining in the meat but for sure, its just on the surface. Meat does not have to be salted to conform to Jewish law. It can also be broiled to accomplish the same thing. If she can find a butcher willing to work with her she can do that. Let me know if there is anything you need clarified.

[sylvia]

hi
bless your heart
i didnt know about the meat
i dont keep kosher
thank you thankyou
i am going to phone her now
sylvia

[knitasha]

I don't keep a kosher kitchen, but I grew up in one.
Jeremy is right. The idea is to remove the blood from the meat or poultry because eating the blood of an animal is strictly forbidden. You can do this by soaking the meat in water, then salting it and letting it drain on a slanted drainboard for half an hour.

You can also broil the meat, but it must be done over an open flame (a gas broiler is fine; I don't know if an electric broiler is technically okay), and the surface of the meat must be dry and brown -- no pink bubbles.

This treatment makes for dry, not-very-tasty meat. You won't find rare steaks or bloody roast beef on a Kosher table. (Besides, the hindquarters of animals are forbidden, so no sirloins.) Things are generally cooked well done and tough meats are cooked with sauces and spices to make them palatable. (Ah, my grandmother's pot roast!) Hamburgers are made from a solid piece of meat that is soaked and salted before grinding, then broiled until it is brown all the way through. (A kosher butcher may do the prep for you.)

It takes a great deal of care and dedication, but your friend does not have to give up her beliefs because of her husband's illness. Many of my observant friends have simply become semi-vegetarians, happily eating fish, vegetables, grains, fruit and lean dairy. This just happens to be a healthy way to eat for people with high blood pressure and other health problems.

Here's a web site with some details:
http://www.ou.org/kosher/primer.html

[sylvia]

hi
i phoned my friend yesterday and made her a very happy camper
she is strictly kosher and the fact that she was considering giving it up was amazing to me
now the meat wont be as appealing goes without saying
this condition that he has cannot be overlooked
but it has changed their style of living
as kosher as they are they eat out a lot and everything
he onced said that their kitchen would go to heaven and they would go to hell
but they are both missing the freedom of choice
it is a big change for them
so it is a learning process
there is salt in everthing
and it has cut down on a lot of the things that love to eat
she is a faithful wife and loves him dearly
so she will go along with everything
i am amazed at the amount of salt in packaged foods
just 1 example 1 angel food cupcake has 400 mg of salt
i treated my self to what i thought was a low calorie treat
but i have high blood pressure to
wont do that again
thanks for your replys
sylvia

[debinoz]

I'm glad your friend is trying to work something out. I hope they follow the doctors advice because kidney problems are very serious.

My mother ignored her doctors advice. She has high blood pressure and diabetes. She went into kidney failure and is now on dialysis for 3.5 hours 3 times a week, for the rest of her life.

[sylvia]

hi
i am sorry for your mother
i think that this is the danger he is in
i hope things better for your mother
sylvia