KitchenSavvy

A Scalding Question

2012-05-27T15:39:00-06:00

When a recipe calls for scalded milk, can you use skim milk or do you need to use whole milk?

The kind of milk depends on the recipe more than on whether or not you are scalding it. In most cases, if not all, you should be able to substitute skim milk for whole, although it may give a slightly different mouthfeel to the finished dish.

Mouthfeel is a term used to refer generally to the way a food feels when you taste it. It is more related to texture than flavor. The fat in whole milk or cream adds to a feeling of smoothness or richness on the tongue and in the mouth. Using skim milk may result in some loss of that moutfeel, particularly in custard type recipes.

For scalded milk used in breads and biscuits, you likely won't notice any difference.

For more on scalding milk, see this post.

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, nor can we guarantee we will answer questions immediately
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Blow-by-Blow

2012-05-20T15:26:00-06:00

In a comment on your post regarding how to peel a hard-boiled egg, it says,"Another way to peel eggs to put a small hole in one end of the hard boiled egg. Cup the egg in one hand and then blow into the hole, the shell should come right off. Only use this method for eggs you are going to eat yourself."

I'm guessing that what is meant is that after you blow into the hole, you actually peel it, not that the blowing itself blows the shell right off the egg. If you mean the latter, that's something I'd certainly have to see to believe.

I have never tried this method myself but if you search the internet for videos on how to peel a hard-boiled egg, the latter is exactly what it means! For this trick to work, it probably helps a lot if you crack both ends of the egg, and if, on the end you are blowing on, you are able to tear the membrane that lies just under the shell. With those two tips, what happens is that blowing actually inflates the membrane like a balloon, pulling it away from the egg and the peeled egg flies out the opposite end.

The reason, of course, that you should only do this if you are eating the egg yourself is hygienic. There are commercial products such as the "Eggstractor" that purport to do the same thing without having to blow on your food.

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, nor can we guarantee we will answer questions immediately
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Eating with Your Eyes First

2012-05-12T14:33:00-06:00

It is frequently said that "People Eat with Their Eyes First", meaning of course that they usually get to see the food before they taste it and a bad visual appearance will impact their experience even before they taste it.^*

I have recently started using Pinterest to relay images from KitchenSavvy, as well as post pictures from some of my favorite travel and food experiences and my wife, Pat's beautiful watercolors.

It was Pat that pointed out to me that if you want a Master Class on the do's and don'ts of garnishing and presentation, you need go no further than Pinterest. Try seaching for 'gazpacho', like she did, and you will see a variety of presentations, some quite appealing, others ... let's just say 'less so'. Try other seaches, maybe 'beef wellington' or 'vichyssoise'.

Masterclass indeed. Pinterest can be an endless source of new garnishes and presentation ideas.

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^* If you know who originally said "People Eat with Their Eyes First", let me know. A quick internet search shows everyone is saying so, but I couldn't find an attribution.

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, nor can we guarantee we will answer questions immediately
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Old Tales Die Hard

2012-05-05T14:05:00-06:00

I noticed in your recipe for Salade Niçoise,that you say to put all of the dressing ingredients into a min-blender and whiz until smooth. I thought when making a vinaigrette or mayonnaise that you had to drizzle the oil in a drop or two at a time!

When making a vinaigrette or mayonnaise by hand you need to drizzle the oil in slowly while stirring constantly in order to make an emulsion that doesn't break. An emulsion is a homogenous mixture of two or more liquids that normally don't usually mix together, in this case oil and water. This is achieved by breaking one of the liquids into very small drops in the other liquid. To keep the drops from separating back out, you need an emulsifier. Egg yolks, mustard and honey are all common emulsifiers that can be found in most pantries. Some health food or specialty stores sell soy lecithin which also works.

To understand how an emulsifier works, imagine two villages. One village, lets call them "O", will only shake hands with their right hand. The other village, "W", will only shake with their left hands, so "O" and "W" can never get along. They never trade, or make friends because they can never shake hands on anything. The people from 'the other village' are just strange, so they never mingle.

One day a bunch of people from "E" comes along. They can shake hands either left-handed or right-handed. By shaking with "O" with their right and "W" with their left, they broker peace and friendship.

OK, a little far fetched, but that is kind of how emulsifiers work. They are molecules where one end likes to hang around with oil and the other end likes to hang around with water. Once the oil in your vinaigrette or mayo is broken into small droplets, they get coated by emulsifier molecules that keep them from separating from the surrounding water, and forming back into big globs that will rise to the surface.

The reason for pouring the oil slowly in the traditional hand method is to have as much of the oil as possible in small drops. If you don't, then the small drops will bump into the bigger drops and merge with them, making bigger and bigger puddles that will make the dressing separate.

When you use a blender, the blade of the blender chops the oil into tiny drops faster than you could ever achieve by hand. I have seen lots of recipes for blender sauces that still insist on drizzling the oil in, but really there is no need. Put everything in, crank it on high for a few seconds and you are done. I almost always use this method, unless I'm showing off making a Caesar Salad, with no trouble. Occasionally, a few drops of oil may surface if I make the vinaigrette a long time in advance, but another quick buzz is all it takes ot solve the problem.

The only exception is if you are making blender hollandaise or anything like it, that uses egg yolks and melted butter. In that case, if you just throw everything into the blender, the protein in the egg yolks may scramble from the heat of the butter before the sauce is blended. Drizzling the melted butter in will temper the eggs while the sauce is being made.

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, nor can we guarantee we will answer questions immediately
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward