KitchenSavvy

Creaming Butter II

My wife says I have to cream butter and sugar with electric beaters in one direction only. She says this will help incorporate the air into the mix and make it creamy.  I seem to be getting results moving the beater through the mix ad hoc. Is there any science to beating in one direction for the purposes of creaming butter?

--Ling

Because of its complexity and the fact that cooking has evolved over thousands of years, it tends to be filled with both sound, provable science and popular folklore.  For example, one similar "rule" is that you need to stir in one only direction when making a custard and that changing direction or  whisking in a random pattern will cause the custard to curdle.  I can say with certainty that the custard thing is false, because I never bother to stir in just one direction and my custards don't curdle.

I know of no science that would either support or disprove your wife's theory but looking over my various references, I can't find any that say creaming needs to be done by beating the ingredients in only one direction.

On the face of it, I also can't think of any good reason why it would be so.  As I explained in the posting "Creaming Butter" the purpose of creaming is to incorporate air into the butter to help leaven the final product.  According to Corriher, creaming is perhaps the most important step in making good cakes.  Air bubbles are incorporated both from the air trapped between grains of sugar when mixing starts, and then by air blended in by the mechanical action.  Neither of these would appear to depend on what direction the beaters move during blending.  In fact, at the level of the beaters, regardless of how you move your hand, one blade is going clockwise while the other goes counterclockwise!

To test whether the direction of beating makes a difference, you would need to compare cakes made by creaming the butter by beating in only one direction versus cakes made when the beating is in random directions.  You would need to be careful to control every other aspect of the cakes -- the ingredients would need to be accurately measured, the butter would need to be at the same temperature starting and ending, and the beating time would need to be the same duration.  The cakes would then need to be cooled to the same temperature and under the same conditions.

After all of that, what I'm guessing you would learn is more likely that there are so many steps, involving so many factors, that ascribing differences in the result to the direction in which the butter is creamed is too simplistic.

The bottom line is that if your "ad hoc" beating technique produces good cakes, then you have shown that direction doesn't matter.  Now, go and enjoy your cake.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

How to Tell if Eggs are Fresh

I have a carton of eggs without a best-before date on it.  I think I have had the eggs for about two or three weeks.  Is there any way to tell if they are fresh?

--Lin

There are two ways to tell how fresh your eggs are, but you need to remember that these are rough guidelines and that they don't necessarily tell you if the eggs are safe to eat.

The first method is to fill a container with cold water.  If your egg is fairly fresh, it will sink to the bottom of the bowl and lay on its side, maybe tilted a little toward the rounder end up.  As the egg gets older, it loses moisture and the air sac inside the rounder end enlarges.  A somewhat older egg may still sink to the bottom of the bowl, but will rest on the pointy end.  If the egg floats with the round end slightly above water, then it is old and should be discarded.

The container needs to be deep enough that you can clearly see if the egg is submerged, touching the bottom, or floating.  A four cup (one liter) glass measuring cup is ideal for this test.

If you were planning to crack the egg anyway, you can also tell the freshness by emptying the egg onto a flat dish, such as a side plate.  If the egg is completely fresh, the white will stay together and mound up noticeably around the yolk so that it clearly can be seen to have two levels.  The yolk will be rounded and well domed.  As the egg get older, the white becomes more runny, spreads more on the plate and doesn't rise around the yolk.  The yolk also becomes flatter.  If the white is watery and shows little or no rise in level around the yolk, then the egg is quite old.

As I said above though, these are tests only of the age of an egg and don't tell you about the safety.  Improperly stored eggs can be contaminated and still pass these tests.  For safety, always try to be sure and buy eggs in a carton with a clear date, keep them in the carton, and don't move eggs from one partly used carton into another.  Always use eggs before the best-before date.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Crunchy bits in Parmesan Cheese

I notice in Parmesan cheese sometimes that there are crunchy little grains.  What are they and what causes them?  Do they mean that the cheese is no longer good?

--Anja

The grains you are noticing are crystals of either calcium lactate or the amino acid tyrosine.

Tyrosine is formed by the breakdown of proteins in the milk.  It precipitates out as crystals as the cheese loses moisture, rather in the same way that crystals form in a sugar water solution as it cools down.

Calcium lactate crystals are formed by the bacterial conversion of lactic acid into a mirror image form during ripening.  In either form, lactic acid will chemically bond with the calcium in the milk to form calcium lactate.  Because the mirror image form of lactic acid is less soluble, it precipitates out and forms crystals.

I recently encountered the same crystals in a delicious cheese called Beemster that I got at the Bulk Cheese Warehouse in Saskatoon.  Beemster is a Dutch Gouda-style cheese that has been aged for 18 to 26 months or longer.  It is sometimes referred to as Extra Aged Gouda.  The taste is somewhat like Parmesan, but with a caramel, nutty flavor slightly reminiscent of Gjetost.  The texture, however, is more buttery probably due to a fat content that may be nearly twice as much as that of Parmesan.

Other softer cheeses may also form crystals due to changes in the acidity of the cheese.

These crystals are a normal phenomenon, and do not mean that the cheese has gone bad.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Difference Between "Free Run" and "Free Range" Eggs

At the grocery store recently, I bought a cartoon of what I thought were free range eggs.  When I got home, I noticed that the package said "free run."  What is the difference?

--Glenda

Eggs can come from hens that are 'free range", "free run" or "battery".  The image people are most familiar with is that of "battery hens", crowded into cages with very little room to move.  Feed is placed in a trough at the front of the cage and eggs that are laid roll across the sloped floor so that they can be easily gathered.

On the other end of the spectrum is the idyllic thought of hens free to roam about the great outdoors, pecking their food from the ground and nesting where they wish.  This is the "free range" chicken.

Between these two is the "free run" hen, which is given the freedom to move about an enclosed barn and provided with nesting boxes in which to lay eggs.

In practice, many free range chickens, while they may have access to the outdoors, still rely on the shelter and safety of the barn and so are more like free run chickens than the mental image suggests.  In colder climates, such as Canada, hens are only able to be free range for part of the year.

While free range and free run eggs come from chickens that are handled in a more humane fashion, they are more difficult to gather and may have been laid in less sanitary conditions, making the labor costs and spoilage factors higher than for battery chickens.  This accounts for some portion of the increased price for these eggs.

There is little or no oversight of the industry to make sure that packing claims reflect actual conditions.  Nutritionally, the eggs from all three sources are quite similar.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Keeping Easter Eggs

How long can you keep boiled easter eggs without refrigeration?  How long can you keep boiled eggs in the fridge?  Please, we need this answer A.S.A.P.

--Ed

I assume when you ask how long can you keep boiled Easter eggs without refrigeration, you mean ones that you intend to eat afterwards.  If so, then the general food safety rule holds.  Cooked food should be kept no more than two hours at room temperature.   You may think that the shell will provide some extra safety, and therefore more time, but when it comes to food safety and the health of family and friends, it is always better to err on the conservative side, so stick with just two hours.

According to the American Egg Board, hard cooked eggs still in their shells will keep in the fridge for up to one week.  If they are peeled, they should be kept in the fridge for no more than three days.

If you store hard boiled eggs in the fridge, you may notice an odor from the outgassing of hydrogen sulfide formed during the cooking.  The odor will dissipate in a few hours and does not necessarily mean that the eggs were bad, assuming they were not past their "best before" date.

In any case, if you are dyeing the eggs first and then plan to eat them, be sure to use only food safe dyes.  Regular food coloring works well for dyeing eggs.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Discoloration of Egg Yolks

How do I keep an egg from turning dark inside when it is hard boiled?

--Raymond

The gray-green ring that forms around the yolk of a hard-boiled egg is the result of iron in the yolk combining with sulfur compounds to produce ferrous sulfide.  There appears to be some question as to whether the sulfur comes from the white or whether the yolk itself has sufficient sulfur to cause the discoloration to happen.  In any case, the reaction is encouraged by heat.  The colored ring is harmless.

To avoid having this happen, use the freshest possible eggs (see the post Peeling Hard-Boiled Eggs if you plan to peel them), do not over-cook the eggs, and if they are not being served right away cool them down in ice water to prevent continued cooking once they are taken off heat. 

As always, I recommend the Norpro Egg Rite Egg Timer to get eggs cooked to perfection.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Crème fraîche

What is crème fraîche?  I have several recipes that call for it but I can't find it anywhere.

--Eva

Crème fraîche [pronounced 'krem FRESH'] is a common ingredient in French cooking.  It is a fermented cream product with 30% or more butter fat, by weight, and is used to garnish soups or desserts.  It is also used as an ingredient in sauces, and may be incorporated into cheese cakes.  Crème fraîche is somewhat thicker than American sour cream and has a distinctly nutty and tangy flavor.

Because cream products in the United States and Canada are pasteurized, it is not easy to get an authentic crème fraîche, which is made from raw milk.

In some recipes, particulalry sauces, you can substitute commercial yogurt or sour cream thickened with a small amount of corn starch, but for a more accurate taste and texture, especially when it is used as a garnish for fruits or other desserts, try combining two tablespoons of buttermilk with one cup of whipping cream.  Store in a sealed, sterilized jar for 8 to 24 hours at room temperature.  The longer you leave it, the thicker it will be and the more the flavor will develop.

After that time, your crème fraîche can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Crème fraîche is not suitable for whipping.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Freezing Tzatziki

Can you freeze tzatziki? I have gallons of it left after a wedding.  help!

-- Wendy

This was kind of answered in the posting on Freezing Cream Cheese Dips.

The chances are that your tzatziki may exude some water after it has been frozen and then thawed.   If so, I would recommend pouring that off rather than trying to stir it back in.

The flavor should still be OK after freezing, but the texture may become grainy, depending on the amount of fat it contains.   If it does turn grainy, there is not much you can do to remedy that.   To help reduce the chances of it becoming grainy, you could try stirring in some heavy cream, although doing so will thin out the flavor and make it more runny.  If the tzatziki was made from full fat Greek Yogurt, or otherwise has a high fat content (more than maybe 12%), you may be OK, anyhow.

If you have the time, try freezing a small amount and then thawing it out the next day to see what happens to the texture.  Otherwise, I would package it into serving portions, freeze the lot and hope for the best.

Either that or eat tzatziki for breakfast, lunch and supper!

The longer you keep it frozen, the more likely the texture will be affected.   It should, however, keep for three months or more.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Beurre Blanc Breaks

Every time I try to make a Beurre Blanc, it separates into a greasy mess.  What is happening, and how can I prevent it?

--Meegan

A Beurre Blanc is a sauce made by reducing a mixture of wine, vinegar and shallots.  Butter is whisked into this to form a sauce about the consistency of heavy cream.  Other acids and flavors can be substituted for the vinegar and shallots, respectively, to make a variety of sauces.  For example, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of saffron can be used to make a very tasty sauce for shrimp or other sea foods.

The name is pronounced "Burr Blonk" and literally means "white butter" in French.

What is happening is likely one of two things, either you are using clarified butter in place of whole butter, or you are allowing the sauce to become too hot.

To understand, you need to know that Beurre Blanc is an emulsion of fat globules (small spheres of fat) evenly distributed in water.  Normally oil and water don't mix.  However by breaking the fat up into small globules and then coating those with a compound called an emulsifier, you can get them to combine into a homogeneous whole.  The emulsifier in Beurre Blanc is a milk protein that attaches to the fat globules and causes them to repel each other.  Because they are forced apart, the fat globules don't combine into bigger and bigger globs.

The reason you need to use whole butter is that the naturally occurring emulsifiers in whole butter are found in the non-fat part of the butter, which makes up about one fifth of its total weight.  If you use clarified butter, you have removed the emulsifier which make a Beurre Blanc work.

The other detail which you need to know is that the fat globules in butter are surrounded by a thin protein membrane.  At 136°F (58°C) this membrane breaks down, allowing the oil inside to leak out.  If you overheat a Beurre Blanc, the oil inside the fat globules will escape their protein/emulsifier cage and separate out.  The good news is that if you allow the sauce to cool to about 110°F (43°C), and then add a small amount of water and whisk it in, the sauce will re-form.  However since the oil is now released from the enclosing protein membrane that it previously had, it will slowly seep back out of the sauce.

The easiest way to avoid this problem, I find, is to start with chilled butter.  Once the wine and vinegar mixture has reduced sufficiently, I allow it to cool slightly off heat and then add a couple of tablespoons of the cold butter and whisk it in.  Once that has melted in, I add a couple more tablespoons of butter and repeat until it is all incorporated.  If the sauce cools off enough that the butter doesn't melt in, then I return the pan to the heat just long enough to get the heat up enough to start softening the un-melted butter.  By working back and forth like this -- on and off the heat -- I can regulate the temperature enough to keep the sauce from breaking.  Once all of the butter is incorporated, I return the sauce to the heat one final time while still whisking it, to warm it through, being careful to not allow it to get too hot.  If the sauce starts to get a sheen or I see any drops of oil start to appear, then I immediately take it off heat and whisk it until it cools down a bit.  It is then ready to serve.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Greek Yogurt

I have many recipes that require an ingredient called "Greek Yogurt".  How is Greek Yogurt different from other types of yogurt? Is it widely available?

-- Ivonne

There are three major differences between traditional Greek Yogurt, called yiaourti in Greece, and what you find in most North American supermarkets.  Greek Yogurt may be made from sheep's or cow's milk.  It may be somewhat higher in fat content than standard yogurt.  And most importantly, it is considerably thicker.

Cuisipro Donvier Electronic Yogurt Maker

To start with, sheep's milk has a somewhat different flavor which some describe as tangy or nutty.  Raw sheep's milk contains as much as 7% milk fat, by weight, compared to about 3.7% for cow's milk.  In production, either the milk is boiled down to reduce the water content or the yogurt is strained to remove excess moisture, resulting in a product which is the consistency of clotted cream.  The decreased water content results in a higher still percentage of milk fat, as much as 10% for the final product.  Substituting supermarket yogurt for Greek Yogurt won't work in many recipes due to the excess liquid and runnier consistency.  If you have ever had tzatziki made from regular yogurt, you probably found it thin and watery.  On the other hand, tzatziki made with Greek Yogurt is thicker and smoother.

Greek Yogurt may be found in some specialty or ethnic food stores.  The Fage brand of Greek Yogurt is available in the United States, although I have not seen it in Canada.  Some local artisanal dairies and cheese makers may even make Greek Yogurt.

If you can't find Greek Yogurt where you live, you can make an acceptable substitute by straining supermarket yogurt.  To do this, I line a large strainer with a coffee filter, set it over a bowl and dump in a container of full fat regular yogurt.  I then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.  When done, the yogurt will have reduced in volume by about half, and there will be an equal amount of slightly yellowish liquid in the bowl.  The strained yogurt, which some refer to as yogurt cheese, can now be used in cooking.  I prefer full fat yogurt for three reasons.  First the added fat will make it more tolerant to cooking.  Second, some flavors are fat soluble and therefore are better distributed in a full fat base.  And finally, the added fat improves the mouthfeel of the finished product.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward