KitchenSavvy

Inconsistent Gelatin Results

I find that I get inconsistent results when I use gelatin.  Even for the same recipe, sometimes it will come out softer or firmer than other times.  What is happening?

--Sara

Gelatin is a protein-based thickening agent used primarily in making desserts, aspics and jellies.  It comes in a powdered form which is easy and convenient for home cooks, and in a sheet form which is more often used commercially.   It can be tricky to get good results though, for a number of reasons.

First, despite the assurances of the manufacturers of the envelopes of gelatin which state that they are supposed to contain just enough to thicken two cups, never trust the contents to be measured accurately.  In my own kitchen, I have found up to about a 25% variation in the amount of gelatin in a pouch.  That is enough to make a difference in the result.

Gelatin should be soaked for about five minutes in a cool liquid first, before being heated or combined with hot liquids.  This soaking allows moisture to penetrate into the granules so that they will dissolve more readily in heat.  If you pour powdered gelatin directly into a boiling liquid, it will form clumps that take longer to dissolve.  Gelatin that remains undissolved results in a grainy texture and does not help to thicken the dish.

According to Corriher, gelatin loses some of its thickening power when boiled.  It should be heated only until fully dissolved, or should have the hot liquids added to it off heat, depending on your recipe.

Also, other ingredients such as sugar and salt can affect the result.  Salt will interfere with the bodong of protein molecules, making a weaker product, while sugar will attract water away from the gelatin molecules, causing a firmer result.

If you are using fruit, be sure it is not one that can affect the setting of gelatin, such as raw pineapple or kiwi (see Jellied Fruit Salad Won't Set). 

Acids found in fruit juices, wines and other ingredients can also affect the result by making the gelatin proteins less likely to bind together, by creating an electrical charge on the molecules which force them to repel each other.

Finally, when cooling jellies or other foods containing gelatin, resist the temptation to put it in the freezer, as the gelatin molecules need to move freely in the cooling liquid so that they can become entangled.  Too fast of cooling can prevent this from happening.  According to Harold McGee, jellies that are snap-chilled will regain a more normal consistency after a few days.

While not as fussy as some ingredients, gelatin does require some care in measurement of the ingredients used in preparing any dish.

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For fans of KitchenSavvy, our local paper, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, recently ran an article titled "In the Kitchen with ... Dave and Patricia Katz".  This is the most recent installment of their In the Kitchen series.  In the article you can find five of our favorite recipes including Pissaladiere, which is already posted here, and Shrimpniks, a lemon-butter-garlic shrimp recipe created in tribute to Cousin Nik's restaurant, which we used to like goiing to before it went out of business.

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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

Resting Pastry Dough

Why do recipes for pastry dough tell you to refrigerate it for a half hour before using?

--Ashlan

There are three reasons for chilling pastry dough before proceeding.  First, and most important, is that during the cutting in of the fat, usually butter or lard,  and mixing of the dough, the fat has had a chance to soften.  If you were to proceed directly from mixing to rolling, you would press the softened fat into the flour granules.  What you want to do is have the fat roll out into flakes between layers of the dough.  Refrigerating the dough cools down the fat and allows it to harden back up.  Once it is hardened, it will roll out into the desired flakes.

During mixing, you are trying to evenly incorporate the water completely into the dough while not mixing so much as to form a lot of glutens.  Glutens are formed by the combination of proteins in flour with water.  They are encouraged and strengthened by mixing, so stirring in the water creates glutens.  Some recipes attempt to minimize this by adding a bit of vinegar or other acid, which inhibits gluten formation.

All of this brings us to the second and third reasons for letting the dough rest.  Resting allows any glutens that were formed to relax, creating a more tender pastry.  At the same time, during resting the water in the dough will spread out, making for more even hydration and therefore a more consistent result.

You should consider the half hour to be a minimum resting period.  Pastry dough can be made up a day or more in advance without loss of quality, provided it is refrigerated until you are ready to use it.

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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

More on Unsalted Butter

Someone on the food channel stated that all baked goods that call for butter should use unsalted butter rather than regular.  If this is the case, why don't the recipes state that in their directions?  When I see a recipe call for butter, I have never seen it state a preference for unsalted butter.  Should unsalted be used instead, and if so why don't the recipes call for it?

I have only used it in making frosting, but never to my knowledge in cakes, etc.

-- Marge

The recommendation comes from a standard practice, especially in baking, that unsalted butter is used most often and therefore assumed to be what is required.  Also, it is preferable that foods be under- rather than over-salted.  So, if you have to err, better to use unsalted butter and end up with food that is a little bland.

As I stated in the posting Do I Need to Use Unsalted Butter?, in almost all cases you can use salted butter in place of unsalted simply by reducing the amount of salt in the recipe by about 1/2 teaspoon per cup of butter used.  As always, I recommend that readers let their tastebuds be the guide.  Try using unsalted butter, then try using salted butter and reducing the salt in the recipe, and see if you can tell or even care about the difference.

Sweet (unsalted) butter and regular salted butter both contain the same amount of butter fat, so unsalted butter has a bit more water, about 1/2 teaspoon per pound, to keep the fat content the same.  In general, that amount of water will not make a significant difference.

I agree that recipes should be explicit in stating whether the butter used is salted or unsalted.  Some cookbooks give a blanket statement somewhere regarding this.  For example, my old copy of The Joy of Cooking says, in the section About Butter on page 539, "Most of the recipes in this book call for sweet butter -- first-grade butter made from sweet cream with no added salt."  Of course, since most of us don't read every word of a cookbook, we may not see notes like that.  It is a good idea though to see if there is a general section about measurements, or notes on specific ingredients, that might help.

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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

Cookie Dough Spreads Too Much

Q: I have a wonderful spice cookie recipe that I would love to modify to allow me to make gingerbread shaped cookies instead of round, drop cookies.  The dough spreads too much during rising to keep the shape.  It also is very hard to work with. Is there a simple way to modify the recipe while keeping the same taste?

-- Laura

There are a few things that you could try that might help.  First, and easiest, is to refrigerate the dough before baking.  If possible, I would recommend rolling and cutting the shapes and then refrigerating for at least an hour.  If that isn't convenient, then refrigerate the dough for two hours, or more, and then roll out enough for one cookie sheet at a time, cut and bake immediately.  Also, always let the cookie sheet cool down between batches, otherwise it will warm the dough before it goes into the oven, which would defeat the purpose of cooling it in the first place.

Cappuccino Panna Cotta

This isn't supposed to be a recipe website (Lord knows, there are enough of those around!), but sometimes I'll find a recipe that is just so-o-o-o good that I want to publish it.  So, here is a great recipe for a tasty dessert:

Cappuccino Panna Cotta

Seized Chocolate

Q: For our anniversary, I was planning to dip strawberries in chocolate. As I was melting the chocolate in my double boiler, it suddenly turned into a solid lump. What happened?

What happened is your chocolate got ‘seized’, and I don’t mean by the culinary police. Seizing happens when water gets into melted chocolate. Only a very small amount of water, a drop or two, is enough to seize the quantity of chocolate you were likely working with. The water may have been on one of your utensils or may be steam condensed from the lower part of the double boiler falling into the chocolate. It is important to have everything dry, and to use only a very low simmer for the water in the double boiler.

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