[Suzanne]

Originally posted by W.DeBord

When baking, using spray pan releases that contain any other ingredients (other then fat like water) makes your cakes stick to the pan. Look at the label of your pan release....many list water as their first ingred..

Really? Wow, learn something every day. Thanks for the heads-up.

[kuan]

Originally posted by miahoyhoy
Do what you must to survive I guess.
I'd raise the price of my dishes 10 cents before cooking or using anything that's been hydrogenized. Here's one example.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/margarine.html
The truth is out there...
Jon

It's nothing new Jon. I've been reading these papers since the mid 80's. Do you not drain the oil before you deglaze the pan? How much do you think you actually ingest?

Kuan

[miahoyhoy]

Hi Kuan,
How about we just agree to disagree on this subject.
You say tomato and I say potato.
cool?
Jon

[kuan]

Jon,

First of all, if you were around 4 years ago around this time when butter was $4 a pound you would be raising prices more than $0.10 a plate. Maybe you were and you didn't for some reason, which brings me to my next point.

Second of all, even if you did raise prices $0.10 a plate your customers might go somewhere else. I'll repeat a small business lesson for you. Customers should not have to bear YOUR cost of doing business. True prices are set more by market demand than by your food cost.

You know what, do what you want. If you believe that eating minute quantities of free fatty acids will kill you then by all means don't do it. The problem is that overzealous health nuts use this information to spread fear among the general populous in order to further their irrational cause. The article you point to is titled to imply that for some reason the makers of margarine are out to fool the world. There is no margarine "hoax" as the article implies. Nobody is trying to kill us with tran-fats.

I cannot stress enough the importance of placing things in a proper context. Once again, you're not putting the stuff on a stick and eating it for dinner. If you're eating enough to make you worried then you should be worried about other things as well.

Kuan

[miahoyhoy]

I think Kuan needs a hug.
Jon

[kuan]

No I don't. There's a slight shift in the food industry's focus from anti-oxidants to a more direct effort in reducing transfats. I think it's a good thing, but they're doing it without providing a proper context for the general public. All everyone hears is that it's bad bad BAD for you, and our new french fries are good good GOOD! Hogwash.

I live with an oil chemist. Everywhere we go I have to hear the same fears about trans-fats. I'm tired of it. People who advertise their products as lower in trans-fats should try and do so without scaring the public.

Kuan

[miahoyhoy]

Well now I think I need a hug.
Jon

[Robert Peyton]

To me it's not so much the health risk (or lack thereof) in using margarine, it's a matter of taste. Butter tastes better to me, and that's what I prefer to use. Additionally, I derive more pleasure from cooking with products that are "natural" than products which are not. That's an entirely aesthetic choice, of course, and your mileage may vary.

I've read varying recipes for clarifying butter, but when I do it it goes something like this: Cut a half pound (or sometimes a pound) of butter into dice, then simmer on medium-low heat long enough to begin seeing a brown detritus on the bottom. I strain the butter through cheesecloth (and I don't try to strain the detritus) into a glass container. I suppose you could store it in the pantry, but I've got room in my fridge.

At any one time my fridge tends to have small bowls of rendered fats that I've saved from various cooking processes; bacon fat, duck fat, chicken fat, etc. Using those fats alone or in combination with others is a nice way to add another element to a dish.

[bumblecook]

Originally posted by miahoyhoy
Hi everyone,

Clarifying butter removes the water and the butter solids, not utter fat. That is what remains. Taking out the water and butter solids raises the smoke point considerably.
If you clarify your own butter you get about a 75% yeild. Thats 3/4 pound of clarified for 1 pound of whole.

Good day mate,
Jon

I'd say it depends on the brand. We use a lot of clarified butter and we found that some butter can yield as little as 60% and some up to 85%.

Depends on the water content. (which is not usually
mentioned on the package). So it usually pays to buy the more expensive butter.

[chefbk]

Sysco has clarified butter for $38 for 2-8 lb tubs.
Chef BK