- USDA "Thrifty Meals for Two" give some fun guidelines I may want to check out the update of their ThriftyMeal Plan
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/MiscPubs/TFP2006Report.pdf
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/MiscPubs/FoodPlansRecipeBook.pdf
- "How to Keep Alive" from 194x
..interesting description of what fruits ripen after picking & which don't.
which don't: blackberries, cocoa, cherries, dates, grapes, grapfruit, lemon/lime, orange, pineapple,raspberries, strawberries,watermelons.
which ONLY ripen after picking:
avocado
which do ripen in color but not sweetness:
apricots, bluberries, cantaloupe, figs, honeydew, nectarines, peaches, persimmons, plums
do ripen & get sweeter after harvest:
apples, kiwi, mango, papaya, pear
do ripen, get sweeter and change color:
banana
17-Oct update:
Interesting labeling for ketchup. Ketchup from summer tomatoes may be better. Check the dates:
on Heinz, for example. the last 4 digits on the bottle cap: the last digit indicates the year and the first three the day of the year. 0752 means 75th day of 1992. 2530 is 250th day of 1990. Telephone manufacturer for details.
30-Oct update from the end of the book:
Wheat flour is mostly starch, with 7-15% protein & 10% moisture. The 2 main proteins are gluteinin and gliadin. When you stir water into flour, the glutenin & gliadin come alive, connecting with the water and each other to form gluten, a tough and stretchy substance, that, when kneaded or stirred or streched, forms the elastic network that gives structure to bread (but turns pastry & cakes tough & rubbery)
Piecrust recipes have you go to elaborate lengths to avoid developing gluten. They warn you to use as little water as possible (without water, gluten cannot form); to mix and handle the dough very gently (w.out manipulation, gluten strands cannot join into networks); to use low-protein pastry flour or all-purpose flour (which has gliadin & glutenin): and to rest the ball of dough before rolling it out (which relaxes the stretchiness of the gluten, though it allows the water to reach particles of flour that had remained dry & therefore w.out gluten).
The ingredient in piecrust that combats gluten is shortening -fat. By coating the little particles of flour, shortening water-proofs the protein, prevents the water from reaching the glaidin and glutenin, and thus makes it impossible for them to combine and form gluten. And if they do combine, shortening keeps the thin strands of gluten apart, stops them from forming sheets, and networks that run through the dough, and tenderizes the crust by ensuring that the strands of gluten are separate and short. That's why it's called shortening.
Pure fats like lard and Crisco have more shortening (tenderizing) power than butter or margarine, which contain 15% water and can actually activate the gluten. Soft fats, even vegetable oils, coat the flour particles easily by flowing around them, protecting them from all water, but causing other problems. Fats that are solid at room temp are less effective, unless you first cut them into infinitesimal pieces. Acids attack and weaken the elastic gluten, which is why many people add vinegar to dough when making pies.
ALl of this is aimed at achieving a tender piecrust. But what about flakiness? When you roll out pie dough, the flattened particles of shortening separate the dough into layers. The pieces of fat act as spacers. The larger they are, the wider and longer the layers they produce. Depending on how you cut the fat into the flour, the particles can range from the size of a grain of coarse meal to that of a pea or small olive.
When piecurst is baked, the solid fats melt, leaving a gap between the layers of dough. The water in the dough begins to turn into steam, puffing the layers of dough apart. And when the dough reaches ~160F, the piecrust begins to set. Crispiness comes about when enough water has been driven from the dough by the heat of baking.
Lard, the rendered body fat of a pie, has a high melting point and coalesces into especially large crystals when it cools to lower temps. That's why lard acts as a terrific spacer between layers of dough. Lard was once widely considered the best fat for making flaky piecrust. Crisco was introduced in 1911 as a lard replacement with a long shelf life. Nowadays, lard has lost some of its popularity because of its pork flavor and widespread nutritional superstitions (even though it's less saturated fat than butter, 43 vs 50% - Crisco has 21% fsat fat to begin with and 14% transfat when hydrogenated to make it solid).
