2 COOK’S COUNTRY • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
ASK COOK’S COUNTRYIllustration:^ JayLaymanFreezing Kale
I always blanch kale to soften
it before sautéing it. Since
freezing also softens vegetables,
can I have the freezer do that
softening for me?
–Andrea O’Rourke, Palmer, Mass.
The process of freezing and
thawing ruptures vegetables’ cell
walls and makes them softer; while
this is often a bad thing, could it
eliminate the need to blanch kale
before sautéing it?
To fi nd out, we stemmed,
washed, and dried raw curly kale
and froze it for a few days. Then
we pulled it from the freezer and
tried it in our recipe for Simple
Sautéed Kale (which calls for
the kale to be blanched before
sautéing). We made a batch of the
regular recipe for comparison.
The frozen-and-thawed raw
kale was very wet out of the
freezer, and it turned stringy and
mushy (even after we squeezed
it dry) when sautéed. The kale
that we’d blanched, drained,
and pressed dry according to the
recipe was pleasantly tender and
fl avorful, not washed-out.
But the frozen-and-thawed kale
was perfectly fi ne when added di-
rectly to our Quick Hearty Tuscan
Bean Stew and blended into our
Kale-Pineapple Smoothies—tast-
ers barely detected a diff erence
between raw and frozen samples.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Freezing and
then thawing raw kale does indeed
soften it, but it compromises the
kale’s texture. We don’t recom-
mend this technique if you are
going to sauté the kale.Improv Hummus
If I don’t have tahini on hand,
can I substitute something else
and still make tasty hummus?
–Rowan Flanders, Charlotte, N.C.
Tahini, a paste made from ground
sesame seeds, gives hummus a smooth
texture and complex fl avor; we use a
full ¼ cup of tahini and one 15-ounce
can of chickpeas (plus olive oil, garlic,
lemon juice, and water) in our Clas-
sic Hummus. To see if we could make
hummus without tahini, we simply
omitted the tahini and proceeded with
our recipe; the result tasted too lean
and lacked the richness and depth of
the original version.
So we looked for a replacement for
the tahini, testing various ingredients
in its stead. Simply using more olive oil
(which has bitter notes similar to those
of tahini) made the mixture too loose
and wet. Whole-milk yogurt added
body, but its fl avor was too tangy and
the result just didn’t taste like hummus.
The best substitute was peanut butter;
it provided ample body and creaminess
and a toasty, nutty depth reminiscent
of tahini. But peanut butter’s sweetness
was a problem—it was easily identifi able
as an outlier in the hummus. Cuttingthe amount back from
¼ cup to 2 tablespoons
and making up the dif-
ference with extra olive
oil solved the problem.
Skippy, our winning
creamy peanut butter,
worked here, but our
tasters preferred natural
peanut butter, which
isn’t as sweet.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
You can use smooth peanut butter cut
with olive oil in place of tahini in hum-
mus, but the results won’t taste exactly
like the genuine article.Delicate sponge and chiff on cakes call for whipped egg whites as a leavener; the air
trapped in the whipped whites expands in the oven, giving the cakes lift. However,
both the texture of the whipped egg whites and how they’re folded into the batter
can impact the overall texture and height of a cake.
To illustrate this, we baked several versions of our Lemon Chiff on Layer Cake
recipe, which calls for whipping egg whites to soft peaks and then folding them into
the batter. At soft peaks, the whites have nearly reached their fullest volume, and
since their texture is similar to that of the batter, they incorporate seamlessly with a
few folds. But when overwhipped, the foam collapses (so it contains less air) and be-
comes chunky. This chunky texture requires more aggressive folding to incorporate
into the batter, which further defl ates the foam. And even with properly whipped
whites, you can still defl ate the batter if you use too heavy a hand in folding.
A cake made with properly whipped whites
that are gently folded in will be tall and fl uff y
with an even crumb; if you overwhip the whites
or fold them into the batter too aggressively, the
cake will be squat and dense.
THE BOTTOM LINE: To ensure a tall chiff on
cake, whip the egg whites just to the soft peak
stage before folding them into the batter, and
use a light hand when folding.by Cecelia Jenkins
SQUAT CAKE
Overwhipped eggs and aggressive foldingTALL CAKE
Properly whipped eggs and gentle foldingMIX MASTER
Be sure to fold the whites in gently.Go Ahead and Vent
Your grilling recipes specify how
the vents should be confi gured for
charcoal grills. Does their place-
ment really matter?
–Craig Campbell, Warwick, R.I.Unlike the fi xed vents that run across
the rear walls of gas grills, the vents
on charcoal grills, which are located
on the top of the grill lid and at the
base of the kettle, are adjustable and
give the cook the power to control the
strength of the charcoal fi re as well as
the fl ow of smoke.
Their operation and function are
pretty simple: When the grill lid is in
place and the top and bottom ventsare fully open, air fl ows through the
grill and allows the fi re to burn at the
maximum heat level. When both vents
are fully closed, the air supply is cut off
and the fi re will eventually die out. You
can modulate the strength of the fi re
by adjusting the vents accordingly.
The position of the top vent on the
lid also directs the fl ow of heat and
smoke, which rises from the coals and
is drawn out through the lid vent. You
can position the vent to minimize or
maximize heat and smoke contact with
the food you’re grilling.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Adjusting the top
and bottom vents on a charcoal grill
allows the cook to control the heat and
the fl ow of smoke inside the grill.Whip Correctly, Fold Gently
When I cut into my round of sponge cake, it was dense and gummy on the
bottom half but not on the top half. Why did this happen?
–Ellie Bergeron, Tempe, Ariz.TOP VENTBOTTOM
VENTPROPER WHIPPING
Soft peaks