Substitutes and Substitutions
Sep. 11th, 2008 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseMy recipe for mashed potatoes.
Take one medium potato per person and cut it into chunks. They shouldn't be too large, but there's no need to cut them finely either. Peel them or not according to taste.
Put them in a heavy bottomed saucepan add 1/2 cup of skim milk (up to 1 and 1/2 cups for six people) and enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and immediately turn down to a simmer so the milk doesn't scald. (Since we're not using all milk, it cuts down on the opportunity for scalding.) You may add a couple of black peppercorns or some peeled garlic to the pot.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Test the potatoes for doneness with a fork. If they fall apart easily, they're done. A little firmer is fine, completely disintegrating is a little overcooked. If they aren't done, recover the pot and cook another 5 to 10 minutes before rechecking, adding more water if necessary.
Using a slotted spoon, put a portion of the done potatoes into a bowl with a little salt and begin mashing. Add more potatoes and use the cooking water to moisten them until they hold together. Grind a little black pepper over them and/or add 1 Tablespoon of butter, if you like.
As you can see, this recipe, sans butter, is fat free. The flavor is nice because you're putting the flavor back in by using the water/milk mixture they cooked in. What I'm not doing is using fat free cream, fat free sour cream, or fat free evaporated milk.
I firmly believe most recipes will accept substitutions (Do not try this theory with cakes, cookies, or other baked goods unless you really know what you're doing. I'm talking about cooking not baking.). Substitutes, created by corporations and often involving something called guar gum, are an entirely different animal.
If you don't need your potatoes fat free, add a little more butter during the mashing or use whole milk instead of skim in the cooking. If you're serving them as a side dish with a kosher meal, just use water, but add a little more salt or garlic. Boiled garlic can add a buttery texture without adding dairy. And boiled peppercorns will mash.
Many of us have dietary restrictions. But I find using All Fruit (especially the St. Dalfour brand) in making fruit tarts to be superior to trying to use Splenda. There was a line in the TV show Friends, "That's what evil tastes like," to describe a fake chocolate. All I can say is, they hadn't tasted Splenda -- it's actually worse than aspartame for me.
As an example of how to do this, let me give you my peach cobbler recipe.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Make baking powder or Bisquik biscuits. The recipe here is very close to the one I use. (My cookbook with the biscuit recipe is in storage or I'd just write out my own from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook of 1964.)
Take a fairly deep casserole or souffle dish and grease it (vegetable shortening or butter according to taste). Cut fresh peaches into 1/2 inch to 1 inch chunks and put in the greased dish. I vary the size of the chunks in order to get a variety of texture.
Add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 cup of peach all fruit jam to a small saucepan over low heat and melt the jam to a liquid. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon or cardamom to the saucepan.
Pour the melted jam over the peaches. If there is not enough to cover the peaches, melt more, but don't add the vanilla or spices.
Roll out the biscuit dough. You can either do drop biscuits on top, or cut biscuits on top, or lay the rolled out dough over the top and cut a few vent holes.
Bake until the dough is cooked through, usually 20-25 minutes.
Take one medium potato per person and cut it into chunks. They shouldn't be too large, but there's no need to cut them finely either. Peel them or not according to taste.
Put them in a heavy bottomed saucepan add 1/2 cup of skim milk (up to 1 and 1/2 cups for six people) and enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and immediately turn down to a simmer so the milk doesn't scald. (Since we're not using all milk, it cuts down on the opportunity for scalding.) You may add a couple of black peppercorns or some peeled garlic to the pot.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Test the potatoes for doneness with a fork. If they fall apart easily, they're done. A little firmer is fine, completely disintegrating is a little overcooked. If they aren't done, recover the pot and cook another 5 to 10 minutes before rechecking, adding more water if necessary.
Using a slotted spoon, put a portion of the done potatoes into a bowl with a little salt and begin mashing. Add more potatoes and use the cooking water to moisten them until they hold together. Grind a little black pepper over them and/or add 1 Tablespoon of butter, if you like.
As you can see, this recipe, sans butter, is fat free. The flavor is nice because you're putting the flavor back in by using the water/milk mixture they cooked in. What I'm not doing is using fat free cream, fat free sour cream, or fat free evaporated milk.
I firmly believe most recipes will accept substitutions (Do not try this theory with cakes, cookies, or other baked goods unless you really know what you're doing. I'm talking about cooking not baking.). Substitutes, created by corporations and often involving something called guar gum, are an entirely different animal.
If you don't need your potatoes fat free, add a little more butter during the mashing or use whole milk instead of skim in the cooking. If you're serving them as a side dish with a kosher meal, just use water, but add a little more salt or garlic. Boiled garlic can add a buttery texture without adding dairy. And boiled peppercorns will mash.
Many of us have dietary restrictions. But I find using All Fruit (especially the St. Dalfour brand) in making fruit tarts to be superior to trying to use Splenda. There was a line in the TV show Friends, "That's what evil tastes like," to describe a fake chocolate. All I can say is, they hadn't tasted Splenda -- it's actually worse than aspartame for me.
As an example of how to do this, let me give you my peach cobbler recipe.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Make baking powder or Bisquik biscuits. The recipe here is very close to the one I use. (My cookbook with the biscuit recipe is in storage or I'd just write out my own from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook of 1964.)
Take a fairly deep casserole or souffle dish and grease it (vegetable shortening or butter according to taste). Cut fresh peaches into 1/2 inch to 1 inch chunks and put in the greased dish. I vary the size of the chunks in order to get a variety of texture.
Add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 cup of peach all fruit jam to a small saucepan over low heat and melt the jam to a liquid. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon or cardamom to the saucepan.
Pour the melted jam over the peaches. If there is not enough to cover the peaches, melt more, but don't add the vanilla or spices.
Roll out the biscuit dough. You can either do drop biscuits on top, or cut biscuits on top, or lay the rolled out dough over the top and cut a few vent holes.
Bake until the dough is cooked through, usually 20-25 minutes.
