vegetable shortening??

crispeater

any idea what it is? i've got both the dinner lady cookbooks and have only just noticed that on the recipes where you make your own pastry they use vegetable shortening, i have no idea what this is.
i thought pastry was just butter & flour and a bit of water.

Toxic_Lemon

Vegetable shortening is a solid fat. So you can use lard or butter or even suet if you like.

Strictly speaking, it's a hydrogenated fat, which is very bad for us.

crispeater

eewww so not really a healthy option then!! and this is from a cookbook cooking for kids.. yuk yuk!

before i read that my other question was going to be is it healthy as im starting a diet in the new year lol i think you sorted that one too

Toxic_Lemon

It's not healthy, no. Although there's nothing wrong with butter.

There's more and more evidence to show that our bodies cope very well with getting rid of (metabolising) animal fats and that it's a myth they are bad for us.

crispeater

the recipe asks for butter and vegetable shortening so if i was to do the recipe do i just double the quantity of butter and instead of using a lump of fat.. (which i have far too much of on my person already) lol

can you tell im still new to this cooking malarky lol

Fryn

I always replace shortening with butter, even in dumplings, and haven't had any problems

Toxic_Lemon

Fryn wrote:

I always replace shortening with butter, even in dumplings, and haven't had any problems

I've only ever used suet (Atora) in dumplings. Does butter change the taste?

halloweenqueen_2

I use vegetable suet in dumplings, it doesn't alter the taste from 'normal' dumplings in my opinion.

Debt_Free_Chick

crispeater wrote:

the recipe asks for butter and vegetable shortening so if i was to do the recipe do i just double the quantity of butter and instead of using a lump of fat.. (which i have far too much of on my person already) lol

can you tell im still new to this cooking malarky lol

In which case the recipe is really asking for butter & lard - lard makes a crispier pastry and the butter makes a rich one. So by mixing both fats (and yes, butter is a fat too ) you get a combination of a rich & crispy pastry. You can use pure lard or one of the "branded" pastry shortenings like Cookeen, Trex etc.

A little bit of fat doesn't hurt you and, in fact, it's an essential element of an overall diet - you simply can't live healthily on a wholly fat-free diet. The trick is to take everything in moderation and not to over-analyse every crumb you eat

I've just made a truffle torte - double cream, chocolate & brandy. Not at all "healthy" if you look at it on it's own, but it's not the only thing in my diet ....

I wish! :rotfl:

thriftlady_2

crispeater wrote:

eewww so not really a healthy option then!! and this is from a cookbook cooking for kids.. yuk yuk!

That's why I gave these books away Don't bother with any kind of marge/shortening. If you want to be healthy use butter as it is purely churned cream and have it in small quantities or occasionally.

Fryn

Re butter in dumplings, it does alter the taste a little, but they are equally as nice