Quote:
|
we don't have anything called that in the UK, so what does it consist of/what does it do?
|
Fat used for cooking.
Can get hotter before it goes crazy-smoky. Can be made with animal fats, or vegetable oils (or blended) Will generally solidify at room temperature. Good for high temperature cooking.
It can also stop gluten from developing in baking...erm, that would be it will stop the gluten from becoming activated when manipulated/kneeded/rolled with dough/pastry, and stop it from forming "long" strands (which is what it does for bread) and keeps those there strands "short", for stuff like shortcrust (sweet) pastry.
And yes, the name of shortening has SOMETHING to do with that, as I'm told.