is it another word for butter or something? or is it just called shortening, and if so, what is it used for?
2007-12-31 05:07:36 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Food & Drink ➔ Cooking & Recipes
Shortening is a semisolid fat used in food preparation, especially baked goods, and is so called because it inhibits the formation of long gluten strands in wheat-based doughs, giving them a "short" texture (as in shortbread). The term "shortening" can be used more broadly to apply to any fat that is used for baking and which is solid at room temperature, such as butter, lard, or margarine, but as used in recipes it refers to a hydrogenated vegetable oil that is solid at room temperature. Shortening has a higher smoke point than butter and margarine, and it has 100% fat content, compared to 80% for butter and margarine.
2007-12-31 05:17:37 · answer #1 · answered by Karen - 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Butter, margarine, lard, shortening, etc. These all have different fat to water percentages or ratios. When used in baking, it's a science, so make sure you know what you're doing before substituting, or ask a baker for the equation to find out how to substitute a fat for another fat...
2007-12-31 05:49:12 · answer #2 · answered by Awareness 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically any vegetable or animal fat or oil that is in a solid form ,,,lard ,Crisco, (suet?)
use ??? many in cooking
take pie dough chop up some shortening into some flour until it is like peas add some cold water squeeze into a ball and refrigerate when you roll it flat into the shell the shorting will make it very flaky same with cookies and cakes
2007-12-31 05:23:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shortening is a vegetable bi-product. It is from the oils in certain vegetables that is processed, hydrogenated to keep it solid when not in use.
Shortening for many many years was used to make pie crusts as well as used in any recipe that calls for butter other than recipes like shortbread cookies and pound cake which need the butter flavor.
The main products used before margarine was created were butter, shortening and lard (lard being pork fat that has been rendered). Margarine is a variation of shortening - the first product that came out was white like shortening but a little packet of yellow coloring was included with the margarine and the homemaker was to mix it into the margarine. So, basically they were the same but with a slight flavor difference.
Today, shortening and margarine both contain trans-fats which are not good for you (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated are the key words). So the world is spinning back to the use of butter even though it has saturated fats (less harmful than hydrogenated).
But, generally shortening is used for baking. It was also used to deep fat fry things.
I saw a chef on TV start his show off by placing a blob of shortening on his hand. He went on with his show for the full 30 minutes and right at the end of the show he pointed to his hand and we saw the shortening was still there in the form he put it in - it hadn't melted. He then said that his hand was 98.6º - the same as his insides and if it didn't melt on his hand, it wouldn't melt in his stomach either. Something to think about.....
2007-12-31 05:18:47 · answer #4 · answered by Rli R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its normally hydrogenated oil, so its a solid version of oil that you will often use in pie crusts and flaky pastries. Be careful with using it though because it does contain lots of trans fats.
2007-12-31 05:17:03 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is a solid form of oil. You can find it next to the oil.
2007-12-31 05:16:00 · answer #6 · answered by tysdad62271 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋