De-Carbing Strategy #2 Part 2

I'm still feeling kinda punk from this cold, so this is going to be a short post. That Nice Boy I Married and I were eating leftover Orange Pork Chili, and it occurred to me I ought to tell you how I substitute for orange juice. Orange juice and orange juice concentrate are pretty common ingredients, but 1 cup of orange juice has 26 grams of carb, while the 1/3 cup orange juice concentrate called for in the original recipe from which I adapted would have had 36 grams of carb -- just not happening.

Still, it wouldn't be Orange Pork Chili (or Orange Chili Pork, or whatever I wind up calling it) without an orange flavor. So I substituted a combination of things: I grated the rind of 1 fresh orange -- 2 teaspoons grated rind have just 1 gram of carb, but add a huge fresh orange kick. I also squeezed in the juice of half the orange -- wasn't more than a couple of tablespoons worth, or perhaps another 3 grams. To increase the citrus kick -- the tartness, sweetness, and orange flavor -- I added 1/4 cup of lemon juice mixed with 1/4 teaspoon orange extract, plus a couple of teaspoons of Splenda to replace the sugar that would have been in the orange juice. This combination had about 6 grams of carbohydrate, giving a grand total of 10 grams of carb for the whole recipe.

I don't know how the original recipe tastes, since I never have made it as written, but my version has a pronounced orange kick, along, of course, with porky goodness, some tomatoes, a jalapeno, cilantro, etc.

I have used the lemon juice/orange extract/Splenda combo repeatedly over the years, and find it works very well. For a somewhat less acidic flavor, I sometimes use half lemon juice, half rice vinegar, which is quite mild, plus, of course, the orange extract and Splenda. This, too, works quite well; in this recipe I wanted more intensity, since the original called for the juice concentrate.

I can't give you exact proportions for each recipe, since I play it by ear -- or tongue. Still, seemed worth giving you the concept to experiment with.