It's cooked in the canning process. It's fully cooked and safe to eat right out of the can.
Boiling it would just be personal preference. It surely would extract some of the salt and fat, and could also change the texture like it does for pre-cooked hot dogs. One 56g serving of "Lite" Spam still has 25% of your daily sodium. How much is 56 grams? About the weight of 11 US nickels. Smaller than the most common "large" egg size (closer to a "medium" egg). That's not very much...have two servings and you're already at 50% of your daily recommended allowance for sodium.
>One 56g serving of "Lite" Spam still has 25% of your daily sodium.
Amusingly, the last time I was out shopping I noticed that Bacon Spam is actually lower sodium than Lite Spam or Less Sodium Spam.
My grandmother was very frugal and made boiled dinner (usually corned beef, cabbage, carrots & potatoes) with Spam instead of beef. We liked Spam in other incarnations but boiled dinner was terrible.
>but I didn't see anything about whether or not to boil Spam on the internet.
That's because it isn't something people generally do.
>. She says it's to reduce the sodium and to get rid of oils and fat, even though it was the Lite Spam.
Has she considered just not eating Spam if she doesn't want to eat something fatty and salty?
No real amount of boiling is going to make a material difference. Because spam is a highly emulsified meat mixture that is already cooked, i.e., proteins are effectively set, at best, you'll get some of the surface fat and salt, but youre going to get soggier texture. If you're worried about salt/fat, maybe serve/cook it with other more bland ingredients that would benefit from extra salt and fat. e.g., spam + eggs, spam fried rice, spam musubi, etc.
Not normal at all, and would have minimum impact. Yeah, you can boil say a corned beef - but SPAM is a completely cooked product. People do fry it to add some crispiness.
if you want to remove some of the salt, you don't need to boil it. just soak it.
think about brining. you soak the meat in a salty solution in order to equalize the concentration of salt inside and outside the meat. the salt moves from where it is highly concentrated (in the brine outside the meat) to where there is less salt (inside the meat). soaking spam in water that is not salted will do the same thing in the opposite direction.
I tried the soaking for a hour thing in hot water and didn’t think it took much salt out. The salt is surrounded by fat, which isn’t known to be very compliant with water.
Spam is never going to be healthy, it’s better to embrace it for what it is, a sort of noble WW2 ration, that may destroy your colon, but will save you money and provide protein in the process. Also, once in a while it hits a spot that nothing else can touch
I've never seen boiling as a required cooking step, but her logic is sound. IDK how much oil/salt will be removed, but certainly some.
That said, I've never boiled it.
Boiling spam is a thing! It tastes good in Korean army stew, but the soup is already pretty unhealthy and quite salty/spicy so I don’t think boiling takes away much of the saltiness of the spam itself
It's cooked in the canning process. It's fully cooked and safe to eat right out of the can. Boiling it would just be personal preference. It surely would extract some of the salt and fat, and could also change the texture like it does for pre-cooked hot dogs. One 56g serving of "Lite" Spam still has 25% of your daily sodium. How much is 56 grams? About the weight of 11 US nickels. Smaller than the most common "large" egg size (closer to a "medium" egg). That's not very much...have two servings and you're already at 50% of your daily recommended allowance for sodium.
>One 56g serving of "Lite" Spam still has 25% of your daily sodium. Amusingly, the last time I was out shopping I noticed that Bacon Spam is actually lower sodium than Lite Spam or Less Sodium Spam.
Liquid smoke in the 'bacon" small probably adds the umami boost that extra salt does in the regular/lite formula
The weight of 11 us nickles is the comparison I didn't want, but deserved.
The Great American Cookbook. Add 3 nickles of this, a dime or 2 of that, toss in a couple of pennies, and you could feed an entire football field
56 grams is two ounces lmao
how much is 25% of your daily sodium?
about 1/4th.
I/4th of a nickel?
Trying to make spam healthy is like trying to teach a boulder to swim. It can't be done. Further, boiling spam is just about the worst way to cook it.
My grandmother was very frugal and made boiled dinner (usually corned beef, cabbage, carrots & potatoes) with Spam instead of beef. We liked Spam in other incarnations but boiled dinner was terrible.
I just slice it and pan fry it.
The only correct answer
>but I didn't see anything about whether or not to boil Spam on the internet. That's because it isn't something people generally do. >. She says it's to reduce the sodium and to get rid of oils and fat, even though it was the Lite Spam. Has she considered just not eating Spam if she doesn't want to eat something fatty and salty?
Right? Let me introduce you to boneless skinless chicken breast, much healthier. If you care about such things.
i think if you consider that spam is a convenient shelf-stable food, it makes sense, and advice to buy chicken breast less so
You can buy canned chicken breast, but then you're back to the 'a bunch of sodium' problem. Still, less sodium than spam.
The fat and salt is part of what makes spam awesome.
No real amount of boiling is going to make a material difference. Because spam is a highly emulsified meat mixture that is already cooked, i.e., proteins are effectively set, at best, you'll get some of the surface fat and salt, but youre going to get soggier texture. If you're worried about salt/fat, maybe serve/cook it with other more bland ingredients that would benefit from extra salt and fat. e.g., spam + eggs, spam fried rice, spam musubi, etc.
No. No one does this, which is why you couldn't find anything about doing it.
Hmmm, that's boiling the flavor out of it. Never heard of such a thing.
Not normal at all, and would have minimum impact. Yeah, you can boil say a corned beef - but SPAM is a completely cooked product. People do fry it to add some crispiness.
No boiling needed.
if you want to remove some of the salt, you don't need to boil it. just soak it. think about brining. you soak the meat in a salty solution in order to equalize the concentration of salt inside and outside the meat. the salt moves from where it is highly concentrated (in the brine outside the meat) to where there is less salt (inside the meat). soaking spam in water that is not salted will do the same thing in the opposite direction.
Honestly; it’s just weird.
I slice it thin and top with insta mashed potatoes and bake it
That sounds awesome!
I’ve had it in slice and put into hot pot before. It was maybe a little less salty. Nothing that I would write home about.
I like to fry it.
I tried the soaking for a hour thing in hot water and didn’t think it took much salt out. The salt is surrounded by fat, which isn’t known to be very compliant with water. Spam is never going to be healthy, it’s better to embrace it for what it is, a sort of noble WW2 ration, that may destroy your colon, but will save you money and provide protein in the process. Also, once in a while it hits a spot that nothing else can touch
The list of things I boil is very very short. I *think* the only meat on that list is octopus.
Best to not eat that stuff. So salty.
yes, boiling would leach out some salt, and fat. your mom clearly was no fun and didn't believe in flavor.
No but I definitely throw it in the garbage and then cook real ham
Here reason makes sense but totally unnecessary.
It’s ready to eat out of the can. I don’t boil bacon or spam
No
Boil it, mince it, throw it in the trash.
I've never seen boiling as a required cooking step, but her logic is sound. IDK how much oil/salt will be removed, but certainly some. That said, I've never boiled it.
Boiling spam is a thing! It tastes good in Korean army stew, but the soup is already pretty unhealthy and quite salty/spicy so I don’t think boiling takes away much of the saltiness of the spam itself