In the summer, it's best to eat less meat, but not to eliminate it entirely. Choosing the right kind of meat can even have health benefits. So, what meats should you eat in the summer? Cooling meats are the most suitable. Let me recommend a few for you. Let's take a look.
1. Duck
People often talk about the "four great meats": chicken, duck, fish, and pork. Duck meat has a much higher protein content than other livestock meats, with a moderate and evenly distributed fat content. Affected by summer heat, people often eat less and sleep less, and many become thinner, needing to replenish their bodies with food. It's not advisable to eat greasy and heating foods for summer nourishment, but ducks are actually very beneficial against the hot climate.
Duck meat is cooling in nature and has the effects of strengthening the spleen and Qi, nourishing Yin and moistening the stomach, and promoting urination to reduce swelling. The choice of duck breed is also important. Peking duck is delicious, but its fat content is as high as 40%, making it too greasy for summer. It's best to choose leaner varieties like lake ducks or green-headed ducks (with green feathers on their heads), as they have less oil and a stronger effect on promoting urination and resolving dampness.
"Chicken soup for its broth, duck for its flavor." When eating duck in the summer, it's best to stew it. This not only tastes good but is also the most nourishing. Duck stewed with ham and sea cucumber is excellent for nourishing the Yin of the five organs. Duck cooked with glutinous rice porridge has the benefits of nourishing the stomach, replenishing blood, and promoting fluid production. Duck stewed with seaweed can soften blood vessels, lower blood pressure, and help prevent and treat arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and heart disease.
Stewed Rice Porridge with Yam and Cured Duck Heads
2. Rabbit
Rabbit meat is cooling in nature and has the effects of strengthening the spleen and replenishing the middle Jiao, cooling the blood and detoxifying, making it suitable for summer consumption. Rabbit meat is known as the "health meat," "vegetable among meats," "beauty meat," and "versatile meat." Regular consumption of rabbit meat can strengthen the body, does not lead to fat accumulation, and is an ideal meat for obese patients. For women, it helps maintain a slim figure and has the effect of preventing disease and strengthening the body. Rabbit meat is a high-protein, low-fat, low-cholesterol meat with a fine texture, delicious taste, and rich nutrition. Compared to other meats, it has a very high digestibility (up to 85%), making it easily digested and absorbed after consumption—a quality not found in other meats.
There are many ways to cook rabbit meat, suitable for stir-frying, roasting, braising, as well as red-cooking, steaming with rice powder, and making soup. Rabbit meat has almost no sinews. It must be cut along the grain of the fiber. This way, after cooking, the dish will maintain its neat and beautiful shape, and the meat will be more tender and delicious. If cut improperly, the rabbit meat will turn granular after heating and will be difficult to cook thoroughly.
3. Pork
Pork is neutral in nature and sweet in flavor. It has the effects of moistening the intestines and stomach, promoting body fluids, replenishing Qi, and relieving heat toxins. It is indicated for conditions such as injury to body fluids by febrile diseases, thirst and emaciation, kidney deficiency and weakness, postpartum blood deficiency, dry cough, constipation, deficiency, Yin nourishment, moistening, liver Yin nourishment, skin moisturizing, promoting urination, and quenching thirst. Drinking pork soup can quickly replenish the restlessness, dry cough, constipation, and difficult labor caused by insufficient body fluids. Since pork is neutral in nature, it is fine to eat in the summer.
Modern medical research suggests that pork contains a large amount of high-quality protein and essential fatty acids for the human body, which can promote iron absorption and effectively improve iron-deficiency anemia. Although pork is a daily food that can be eaten by both healthy and ill individuals, eating too much can make one fat and phlegmatic, and eating too much or cold pork can easily cause bloating, abdominal distension, or diarrhea. For fatty pork and lard, patients with hypertension or paralysis (stroke), as well as those with a weak stomach, weak and fat body, excessive phlegm-dampness, or undigested food should be cautious or eat less. Generally, lean pork is used for medicinal purposes.
Honey-Glazed Pork Jerky
4. Fish
Eating fish also depends on the season. Nutrition experts suggest that summer is definitely the "golden season" for eating fish. Fish near their spawning period, such as yellow croaker, are the top choice for summer. Currently, it is the spawning season for large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, mackerel, Spanish mackerel, salmon, and turbot, so these are the most suitable fish to eat in the summer.
Eating more fish has many health benefits. Fish has a protein content of about 18%, with good composition and a rich and comprehensive amino acid content, containing more than 20 essential amino acids for the human body. The unsaturated fatty acids rich in fish can reduce blood cholesterol levels, prevent thrombosis, and are the protectors of the heart and blood vessels. Eating fish in the summer is also more beneficial for reducing the burden on the digestive system.
Clear-Steamed Spanish Mackerel
Red sugar apples
Emerald pickles
Garlic ribs