Cooking TipsCooking With Fats And Oils
If you are baking, in order to get the right end result, you need add some type of fat. Both fats and oils are added for flavor and tenderness. Without them, the end product will be a bland, rather hard clump. Fats are generally solid at room temperature and can be whipped to incorporate air into them. Oils cannot do this. The success of your recipe depends on using a specific type of oil or fat. The four most popular fats and oils are butter, margarine, hydrogenated vegetable shortening and cooking or flavored oils.
Butter is made from the sweet cream that comes from milk. It must contain 80% butterfat. It usually comes in a stick and is lighter in color when compared to margarine. While some people believe that margarine and butter are the same and that they can be used interchangeably, that is not the case.
Margarine is a substance that is made to look like butter. But it often has 80% oil or animal fat. And sometimes, it has as little as 40% oil or fat. If you choose to use margarine in a recipe that calls for butter, results may vary. It may melt at the wrong time or not combine in the right way. If you choose to use margarine, only use a stick product, not a tub spread, and make sure it contains a minimum of 60% oil or fat. Spreads should never be used in cooking.
Another common fat is shortening. It is made by processing oils to create a light, creamy texture. It is solid at room temperature and is probably the worst for you health-wise. It is most commonly used in making frosting and deep frying foods.
Cooking oils cannot be used in place of solid fats such as butter because they aren"t able to hold air when whipped. The most mild flavored oils are made from corn, soybeans, sunflower seeds, or peanuts and tend to have a very pale color. Oil made from nuts such as walnuts, has a much stronger flavor and have a darker color. These oils can totally change the flavor of a product. In addition to these, there is a whole new realm of flavor when you consider flavored oils. These are oils that have been saturated with such things as thyme, dried pepper, or garlic. The bottle is beautiful to look at and the flavor is out of this world.