|
|
|
|
What is the point of shortening?
at Tue, 21 Oct 2003 21:02:35 GMT in
>,
(PENMART01) wrote :
>Alex Rast) writes:
>
>>Vox Humana) wrote :
>>>"levelwave" wrote:
>>>> Yukon Cornelius wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Most recipes for baked goods include some kind of shortening. But
>>>> > no
>>>one ever
>>>> > says what it does.
>>>> ...
>>>> It's a cheaper substitute for butter...
>>>>
>>>Butter is a type of shortening.
>>
>>Technically, yes, if you're using "shortening" in the generic sense,
>>that is, any fat that shortens dough (generally the fats that remain
>>solid at room temperature.
>>
>>However, in the USA, at least, the term "shortening" has come to mean
>>specificially the hardened, deodourized vegetable fats produced through
>>hydrogenation, especially Crisco, the most common retail brand.
>
><perverse verboseness snipped, however your dumb ass>
>
>When refering to baking ANY FAT can be considered shortening[period]
In theory, yes. And as I implied, I think it's unfortunate that in the USA
the colloquial usage has come to be that "shortening" implies Crisco. But
the respondent's comment:
"It's a cheaper substitute for butter..."
implies that in his mind, shortening can be equated with Crisco or a
similar product because he uses the term butter in a context that excludes
it from "shortening" as he is using it. Now, the OP doesn't imply this:
"include some kind of shortening."
but the fact that a respondent has become used to the common usage of the
term as a synonym for Crisco suggests a more detailed response than the
terse, probably confusing response:
"Butter is a type of shortening."
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but when they're too short and addressed to
people with assumptions that are too far away from the person being brief,
they're not very illuminating.
>Whaddidya think, baking didn't exist prior to the invention of
>hydrogenated vegetable shortening...duh. Friggin' lard brained idiot.
You'll note that I tend to agree that the narrowing of the term in the
popular use to meaning Crisco or similar products is inappropriate:
"Personally I think this is a bit of a shame,"
and clearly I'm aware that baking must be possible without it, indeed, IMHO
preferable in most respects:
"I'd like to see more
recipes say, in spite of the longer verbiage, 'lard, butter, or vegetable
shortening'"
But wishing that the common usage hasn't transformed the meaning of
"shortening" from "any fat solid at room temperature that will shorten
pastry" to "white, more-or-less odourless and flavourless hydrogenated
vegetable fat" won't make it so, and therefore it would seem to me that it
is necessary to use more words to say the same thing. Reminds me of the
absurdity of political correctness, where the nice compact generic pronoun
"he" gets replaced with he/she (are we headed in the direction of he/she/it
in future?).
--
Alex Rast
(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
|