On Sun, 29 Jan 2006, jake wrote:

> Elaine Parrish wrote:
>> >
> > Hominy? Wonderful stuff. It's a typically Southern US item and, roughly,
> > costs about 1.00 dollar US for 2 15 ounce cans (50 cents a can).
> > Sometimes, I can get it 3
> > cans for one dollar. That makes it a very economical item.
> >
>
> This isn't in a can, they had 500 grams of "dry"kernels, labeled hominy.
> I googled for recipes. The ones I have read so far all assume you have
> canned hominy and were casseroles, usually. I'll cook part of the 500 g
> long ahead of time (since I don't know how long it will take) and then
> try one of those casseroles.
>

I never saw hominy dried and reconstituted without it being ground up
first.

My grandmother made hominy. She canned it. What she dried, they had ground
up. Gram always said that whole kernel wouldn't reconstitute well. But
that might just have been Grams' opinion.

I've never seen dried whole kernel in the markets here.

Please let me know how it comes out. I'm really interested.

>

> Shortening is non-existent her in The Netherlands. People use either
> margarine, oil, or butter.
>

Shortening was created as a substitute for lard. It's just oil infused
with hydrogen to make it solid. Oleo (aka, margarine) was a substitute for
butter and it is just oil infused with hydrogen in order to make it solid.

"Crisco" is the big name because the company spent mega-millions of
dollars in order to tell the public that it was the best.

If you have butter or margarine or oil, you don't need crisco - especially
at those prices.


> > I wouldn't pay 8 times as much for it over other things that I'm familiar
> > with.
> >
> I am not sure what to use as an alternative, because there doesn't seem
> to be a 1:1 substitute in the stores. But based on what people in this
> ng are saying, I might just use butter, oil or margarine. Or ask a
> butcher whether I can order lard (I've never seen it anywhere).


I use butter or margarine when I need solid fat such as for biscuits or
pie crusts.

I use oil for frying. Crisco is just oil that is solid at room
temperature.

If you have a recipe that calls for crisco in something where the crisco
is solid, just use an equal part of butter or margarine.

For frying, you have to melt the crisco down anyway.

Crisco is a product of advertising, not of necessity.

Elaine, too