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Shortening
is a fat used in cooking. Modern shortening is a
vegetable-based product that is just barely solid at room
temperature. Shortening has a higher smoke point than butter
and margarine (it is less flammable), leading to its use
in deep-fat frying and as a pan coating to prevent baked
goods from sticking. It is also sometimes used as an
ingredient, when a recipe needs a flavorless fat thicker
than oil but thinner than margarine. Shortening has 100%
fat content, compared to 80% for butter and margarine.
Shortening is so called
because it gives a "short" texture (as in
shortbread). Shortening was once made from animal fat
(lard). Crisco, a popular brand, was first produced
in 1911.
Refrigeration is a good
idea, because the pastry-like foods commonly made with
shortening will turn out best if everything (ingredients,
air, rolling pin, work surface, bowls, etc.) is kept cold
until baking.
Until just recently,
shortening was almost always made of partially
hydrogenated vegetable oil. Partially hydrogenated oil
contains trans- fats, which have been implicated in
causing heart disease. Newer products avoid trans-
fats by using a mixture of unhydrogenated oil and fully
hydrogenated oil. All vegetable-based shortenings are
cholesterol-free.
Some people choose to
replace shortening with equal amounts of apple sauce when
used as an ingredient. Butter or margarine, mixed with
vegetable oil to thin it, can replace shortening used to
prevent baked goods from sticking or used as an
ingredient. One may of course use lard or bacon grease, as
was tradition. Lard is a particularly good substitute,
producing the very best pastry crusts while having less
saturated fat than butter.
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