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

Crystals in Honey

A few days ago I was planning to make cookies using a recipe that had honey in it.  When I went to measure the honey, it had large grains of something in it.  What were these, how did they happen and what can I do?

--Jamie

The granules that form in liquid honey are precipitated crystals of glucose.  Honey is a supersaturated liquid, meaning that there is more sugar in it than can stay dissolved at room temperatures.  Slowly glucose molecules separate out from the water.  As they do so, more glucose and some other sugars attach to the forming crystals, making them grow larger.  This is similar to what happens when you make rock candy.

Many factors affect the formation of sugar crystal including moisture content, temperature and even the kind of flowers that the bees visited in gathering nectar to make honey.  A friend who used to process honey complained about the difficulty in making a smooth honey from hives that had been visiting Sainfoin flowers.  Sainfoin  honey is very sensitive to how it is processed and will deposit crystals quite easily.

The best way to avoid crystals is actually to store your honey at temperatures below 50°F (10°C), although this is not practical for home use as the fridge is considerably colder and makes honey too stiff to handle easily.  Temperatures above 50°F encourage crystallization.  At temperatures above 81°F (27°C), crystallization is avoided, but the heat causes the honey to degrade quickly.  Honey should kept in an airtight container at room temperatures, and used within a year or so.

To remove crystals that have formed, either place the container of honey in a bowl of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes or microwave it for about 30 seconds per cup.  Stir after heating to help dissolve crystals.  If necessary, repeat until the honey is smooth again.

Two things to keep in mind, though.  First, as noted above, when honey is heated over 81°F(27°C) it starts to degrade so repeatedly having to heat honey because new crystals have formed since the lat time you used it will decrease the quality and flavors of the honey.  If you find you are doing that, consider buying smaller quantities.

Second, your recipe likely calls for butter or perhaps shortening.  If you heat the honey to remove crystals and then go straight to making the cookies, the heat of the honey may melt the fat and dramatically affect the end result.  You should be sure to allow the honey to cool down completely before proceeding.

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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

Making Gingerbread Cookies Chewy

'Tis the holiday season.  I really enjoy gingerbread cookies, but  every time I make them, my gingerbread turns out hard and flat.  I was wondering what makes a cookie chewy, but not necessarily soft?

--Lindsay

The first thing you need to check is whether the gingerbread recipe you are using is one intended to be used for making gingerbread houses.  Cookies tend to swell and round off during cooking.  Some gingerbread recipes used for making houses try to avoid this by using a drier dough and less leavening so that the pieces will fit together after they are baked.  That makes for a hard, flat cookie that isn't very good for eating.

Assuming that you have a recipe for cookies that are to be eaten, then here are some things you can try:

• If the recipe uses only white sugar and molasses, try replacing some of the white sugar with either brown sugar or honey.  Both brown sugar and honey are hygroscopic, meaning that they will absorb moisture from the air.  Your cookies may come out of the oven hard, but over a day or so they will become more chewy.
• When you add the dry ingredients to the wet, stir as little as possible to get all of the ingredients mixed.  Over stirring can build glutens which will make the dough tougher.
• If you are using all-purpose or bread flour, try substituting cake flour for some or all of it.  Cake flour absorbs less water per volume than all-purpose or bread flour, leaving a moister dough that will rise better and and a cookie that crumbles more easily.
• Finally, if the only fat used in the recipe is butter, try replacing some of that with vegetable shortening.  Different fats will react in different ways during baking.  Be careful though, because butter contains 16% to 18% of its weight in water, whereas shortening has none.  If you substitute 1 for 1, your dough will be drier, so you may need to add some water.  If your recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of butter, try using 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of shortening plus two teaspoons of water.

Some resources suggest that if you let the cookie cool longer on the pan before moving them to a rack they will end up more chewy.  I can't see the reason this would work, but it may be worth a try.  Just remember that because the pan is at oven temperature, it will continue to cook the underside of the cookies even after they come out of the oven, so they may end up too dark on their bottoms.

As always, when you fiddle with ingredients, you may need to try several combinations until you get the result you want.  Once you have a recipe you like, though, be sure to share it with KitchenSavvy readers.

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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

Blending Hot Liquids

Why is it that when you blend hot liquids they blow the lid off the blender if you aren't holding it in place?

--Dave

Actually, the science of this is pretty straight forward.  As you know, when you heat a gas, it expands.  So, you put hot liquid into the the jar of the blender and put the lid on.  At this point you have a near boiling liquid with some near room temperature air between it and the top of the jar.  When you start the blender, the air is pulled down through the liquid into the blades where it is broken into millions of tiny bubbles.  At the same time, all of that air gets heated up and expands to about a quarter again the volume it had before^*.  Because some of it is incorporated into the liquid, the effect of the expanding air is to push the liquid upwards.   Both the now hot air above the liquid plus the expanding liquid force the lid off the container.

In order to be safe, it is recommended when you blend hot liquids that you never fill the jar more than half full, that you put the lid on and then cover it with a dry towel and hold it down by hand.  Also, use as slow a speed as possible.

^* If you are interested in a more scientific explanation, the basic equation that describes the relationship between pressure, volume and temperature of a gas is PV=nRT, where:

P is the pressure of the gas;
V is the volume it occupies
n is the amount of the gas there is;
R is a scientific constant; and
T is the temperature of the gas in degrees Kelvin.

Kelvin is a temperature scale that has the same scale as Celsius, except that 0°K is the absolutely lowest temperature that anything can possibly reach.  0°K is the same as -459.67°F or -273.15°C.  What the formula says is that if you double the temperature, either the volume will double, the pressure will double (if the gas is tightly contained), or some combination of the two will occur.

So, the air in the blender jar is at room temperature, which is about 293°K.  You turn on the blender, and all of a sudden it is heated to around 373°K.  Assuming that the pressure tries to stay the same, which it will do if possible since the container has a lid that can be blown off, the gas expands by 373/293 = 1.273 times.

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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

Smoke Point

I recently heard a TV chef say that she prefers a certain kind of oil because it has a high smoke point.  What is a smoke point, and why does it matter?

--Sean

The smoke point of any oil or fat is the temperature at which it begins to smoke.  This is  important because at or near the smoke point, the oil begins to also undergo chemical breakdown.  The byproducts of this breakdown can ruin the taste of the food being prepared.  Also, at this temperature there is greater risk that the fumes given off could igniting, causing a fire.

Oils with a higher smoke point will withstand higher temperatures for longer periods of time without degrading as quickly.  Chefs prefer certain oils like peanut oil for deep frying because of their high smoke point,  and neutral color and flavor.

According to The New Professional Chef, Sixth Edition from the Culinary Institute Of America the smoke points for some common oils are:

	Smoke Point
Oil or Fat	°F	°C
Butter, whole	300	150
Butter, clarified	300	150
Corn Oil	350	175
Lard	375	190
Olive Oil	375	190
Peanut Oil	440	225
Safflower Oil	510	265
Vegetable Shortening	325	165
Sunflower Oil	440	225

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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

Baking Soda or Baking Powder at Altitude

I live at 8500' and am now using gluten free recipes.  I usually double or triple the recipe and always wonder if I am suppose to double or triple (whichever I am doing) the baking soda or baking powder.  Can you give me some help with this?

--Vedina

It is not clear from your question whether the recipes you are using are already adjusted for cooking at altitude.  At sea level, there are about 14.7 pounds per square inch of atmosphere pressing down on whatever it is you are baking.  At 8,500 feet higher, there are only around 10.7 pounds per square inch.

Lets say you are baking a cake.  In order to get a good result, there is a balancing act going on, as is frequently the case in cooking.  In this case, what is happening is that the gases released by the baking soda or baking powder push against the atmospheric pressure to raise the cake just enough.  Because the atmospheric pressure is so much lower, less "lift" is needed to get the same rise on the cake.  At just the right point, you want to the cake to set, fixing the bubbles in place.  At sea level proteins, starches and glutens form a fixed matrix in the range of between about 185°F (85°C) and 200°F (93°C).

Unless you reduce the amount of leavening appropriately, the cake will rise too high.  At the same time, because the boiling point of water is lower at altitude, the proteins, starches and glutens may not get as hot and therefore may take more time to form the structure of the cake.  The end result is that the cake will fall before it has set and some of the air bubbles will break, allowing larger bubbles to form.

In your case, because the boiling point of water at 8,500 feet is somewhere around 196°F (91°C) and since you are  using gluten free recipes, you have a double whammy of challenges.  First you will need to reduce the amount of baking soda or baking powder.  Shirley Corriher (Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed) suggests that it may need to be reduced by between 25% and 50%.  In other words, use 3/4 to 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe.  You might also reduce the sugar and fat slightly.

Then, because you are avoiding glutens and cooking at altitude, you need to rely on the starches and proteins to set the structure.  For this reason you will want to  and increase the egg content by as much as 15%.  For a cake using three eggs, you would need to add another half an egg.

Finally, Corriher suggest you might want to raise the oven temperature by 25°F (14°C) to promote faster setting and therefore a finer texture.  Even at that, you will likely find that the cake takes longer to cook that the recipe says.  Using a toothpick to check for doness will help avoid under cooking.

Even with the above guidelines, you will likely still need to trial and error until you get things working right.  If worst comes to worst, the Home Economics or Extension department of your local university may be able to provide some help.

If, on the other hand, your recipe has already been adjusted to work at high altitude, then doubling the amount of baking soda or baking powder will likely be fine.  See the posting on Scaling Recipes for additional details.

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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

Dry, Instant and Compressed Yeast

I have a cinnamon roll recipe that calls for 7.5 lbs of high-gluten spring wheat bread flour along with 4.0 ounces of yeast. Since its an old recipe, I assume this is for compressed yeast.  This flour/yeast ratio is where I need your opinion.

Originally, I was using 4 ounces of dry yeast but the rolls literally swelled out of the pan so I knew something was wrong. I am going to try about 1 to 1.5 ounces of dry yeast on my next run. Does this sound logical?

-- Paul

Compressed yeast is fresh, moist yeast that is ready to use.  It hasn't been dehydrated like active dry or instant yeast.  Compressed yeast should be refrigerated until used.  It will keep for about two weeks, or it can be cut into usable portions if necessary, wrapped in plastic and frozen for three or four months.  Frozen compressed yeast should be allowed to thaw to room temperature before use.

The approximate substitutions between the three type of yeast are:

1 teaspoon of instant yeast = 1¼ teaspoon of dry yeast = 1 tablespoon of compressed yeast.

Reinhart (The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread) says that the typical ratio by weight of yeast to flour is 0.66% for instant yeast and 2% for compressed.  There is a lot of leeway in this estimate, though.

Looking at your recipe, you had 7.5 lbs (120 oz) of flour and 4 oz of yeast.  The weight of the yeast is therefore 4/120 = 3.33% of the weight of the flour.  Given that ratio, as you suspect, your recipe was likely originally intended to use compressed yeast.

When converting from compressed yeast to instant yeast, you want to use ⅓ of the weight of the compressed yeast and make up the difference, ⅔ of the weight of compressed yeast, in water.  For dry yeast, use about 7/16 of the weight of compressed yeast, but still add the same weight of water.  For your recipe, then, you would use 1¾ ounces of dry yeast and add an extra 2⅔ ounces of water to the recipe.  Because the ratio of yeast to flour in the original recipe was so high, your estimate of 1½ ounces of dry yeast would probably be good.  Just don't forget to add the extra water to keep the percent hydration about the same.  After you try these changes, you may still want to change the amounts of dry yeast and added water until you are happy with the recipe.

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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

Rainbow Colors on Meat

I notice sometimes that meat in the display counter at my local butcher shop has a green and magenta sheen to it.  What causes this?  Is the meat still okay to eat?

--Toni

What you are noticing is likely a phenomenon referred to as iridescence, or more technically birefringence.  Essentially, this is the same effect as light passing through a crystal and splitting into a rainbow of colors, only the rainbow is from light reflecting off of a surface rather than passing through something.  This can happen with either fresh cut or cured meats, and depends mostly on the angle at which the muscle fiber happens to have been cut.

Birefringence is more noticeable on darker colored meats like beef that lighter ones like chicken because the dark background gives greater contrast.

Provided that it is caused by the reflection of light from the surface and not a permanent green color to the meat, it is still safe to eat.  You can tell by moving the light source, the meat or yourself to a different position and seeing if the rainbow colors shift or disappear.

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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

Lemon Juice Powder in Pancakes

I'm trying to formulate a whole wheat lemon-blueberry pancake mix.  I am using hard white wheat flour, lemon juice powder and lemon peel granules for flavor.  I'm wondering if the lemon effects the cooking of the pancakes by reacting with the baking powder.  It seems like the first couple of pancakes are better then subsequent ones, which also turn out darker in color. Any suggestions?

--Mike

You are right.  Acid in the lemon juice powder is reacting with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) in the baking powder.  A number of things are likely happening.  The bicarbonate is reacting to make carbon dioxide bubbles upon mixing with the other ingredients.  Baking powder is made to react partially when first mixed, and then again when it is heated (see Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder).  If the bicarbonate is consumed in the initial reaction with the lemon juice powder, then little if any is left to react during the heating phase.

Because pancakes are a thin batter that is used over a period of time, the carbon dioxide bubbles from the initial reaction can bubble off the surface.  Chances are that your first batch or two of pancakes are lighter than subsequent ones.

The way around this is to use a combination of both baking powder and baking soda.  Try replacing about one third of the baking powder in your recipe with about half that amount of baking soda.  Because baking soda contains something around four times the amount of bicarbonate of soda as the same volume of baking powder, there should still be some left over to react later, when the pancakes are cooked.

The exact amount that you need to replace, however, is not easy to calculate.  In checking the chemical composition of lemon juice powder, there doesn't seem to be any specific formulation.  Some are made with natural lemon fruit which is dehydrated, others are made with corn syrup, lemon juice and lemon oil, while others may contain  citric acid and lemon flavor.  What that means is the amount of acid in the lemon juice powder will likely vary by brand.  You will need to play around with the formulation until you get something that works well, produces consistent results and tastes right.  One hint is that too much unused bicarbonate of soda will give your pancakes a distinctly soapy flavor.

The reason for the color change is that blueberries contain a pigment from a group of chemicals called anthocyanins which changes color depending on the acidity of the liquid it is in.  They are red in acids, blue in neutral solutions and greeny-yellow in basic solutions.  Again, replacing some of the baking powder with baking soda should help.

One final suggestion is that you may be able to get some of your lemon flavor by using grated lemon zest instead of, or as well as, lemon juice powder.

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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

Yorkshire Pudding Won't Puff

I have a problem with Yorkshire pudding that I hope you can help.

My recipe is:
    1 cup all purpose flour
    3/4 cup cold homogenized milk and
    4 eggs

I put 1/8th of an inch of extra virgin olive oil in the muffin pans, heat the oil up just to the smoking temp then add the chilled batter and bake it for 25-30 minutes.  I bake it at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower the temp to 325 degrees for the remaining time. The problem is that they come out like hockey pucks -- 1 inch high, hard on the outside and sometimes pudding-like in the center.   They should rise up 3 to 5 inches.  What am I doing wrong?   Any help would be greatly appreciated.

--Dave

Ah, Yorkshire pudding.  The nemesis of many a good cook.

The American equivalent of Yorkshire pudding is the popover which is typically cooked in individual servings using a specially designed popover pan or a muffin tin.  Yorkshire pudding may be cooked as individual servings or as one large piece that is cut up to serve.

There are a few things that I can suggest you could try to solve your problem, but first a little kitchen science.  Steam from the eggs and other liquid, plus air bubbles trapped in the batter, provide the leavening that causes Yorkshire puddings, or popovers, to rise.  They rely on protein in the egg and glutens in the flour to form a membranous structure which traps the steam and causes them to inflate.  Finally, they depend on the starch in the flour to gelatinize and form the final shape.  Milk sugars and fat both help with browning and flavor.

The timing of events is critical because the batter needs to still be soft while the steam is forming, but then needs to set fairly quickly while it is inflated.  That is why they are cooked at high temperature.  Reducing the temperature as they cook allows moisture to escape while the starches gelatinize and the outside browns without burning.

So here are some suggestions to improve your success with Yorkshire pudding.

First, I notice the proportions in your recipe say 4 eggs to one cup of flour.  Assuming you are using large eggs, this is somewhat high.  Most recipes use 2 eggs per cup of flour.   Too much egg will interfere with the formation of glutens, so you may want to try reducing the number of eggs to two, and increasing the milk to one full cup in order to keep the batter loose.  It should be a bit thicker than heavy cream.

For altitudes above 3,500 feet (about 1,000 meters) it may be necessary to increase the proportion to 3 eggs per cup of flour (see High Altitude Cooking).  In that case, you will also want to reduce any fat in the batter by about 1 teaspoon per cup of flour.  In your case, the recipe doesn't use any fat in the batter itself.  Many recipes use around 2 tablespoons of melted butter for each cup of flour.

Second, depending on where you are located, all purpose flour may have more or less protein in it.  It is the protein which forms the glutens needed to trap the steam.  Your flour should have about 11% - 12% protein by weight to make adequate glutens (see Flour Power?).  You could try using bread flour or a combination of bread and all purpose flour.  Also, you could try adding about 1/2 teaspoon of salt per cup of flour.  Not only will this enhance flavor, it will help to strengthen the gluten.

Next, blend the ingredients together until they are completely smooth and air bubbles start to rise to the top.  This is contrary to some popover recipes, but you need to form the glutens, which happens through mechanical action.  The air bubbles trapped in the batter will help to inflate the Yorkshire pudding.

Most recipes recommend using room temperature ingredients.  In fact, one recipe I found even suggested warming the ingredients slightly.  The benefit to this is that steam is created earlier, before the outer surface starts to dry out.  Try working with room temperature ingredients.  If your recipe says to let the batter rest for an hour in the fridge, let it warm back up to room temperature before cooking.  In that case, also give it a final mixing before cooking to trap more air, since some will have escaped during resting.

The various sources I checked all seem to agree that there is no real need to pre-heat the pan.  Simply grease the inside to stop the pudding from sticking, whether you are making one large pan or individual servings.  Pour in the batter and cook, as you describe.  Some recipes say to turn the heat down immediately once the pudding is in the oven, while others let it run hot for 10 to 15 minutes and then reduce the heat, as you do.  Some start with the oven a bit higher, at 450°F (230°C).  Cooking times vary between about 30 and 50 minutes.

One final hint is to not use convection when cooking Yorkshire pudding or popovers as the forced air may cause them to end up misshapen.

Try these suggestions and see if they help.  It may still take a bit of practice to get the result you are looking for.

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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