Trans fat and Stock's bakery

[guzzirider]

Interesting piece on KYW today:

http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/603012.php?co...ontentId=628577

The story that they broadcast had a bit more information as well. Mark Stock said that they've been experimenting with various recipes that eliminate trans fat, but they simply can't re-create their famous pound cake with any of them. They're going to put together a petition seeking an exception from the trans fat ban, and will be visiting city council with 2 pound cakes - one original recipe, and one trans fat free, so that the council members can experience the difference first-hand.

Although I'm not a fan of trans fats, I'm personally against this ban. Let people make their own choices. This is very different from the smoking ban, as someone sitting next to me eating pound cake has zero effect on my health.

ETA: Stock's pound cakes are gooooood... ;-) Oh, yeah... their doughnuts too...

__Jason

Edited June 21, 2007 by guzzirider (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

Hmm. Almost every pound cake recipe I've seen calls for using butter, not shortening, as its fat. You know, "a pound of butter, a pound of flour, a pound of sugar..."

Edited June 21, 2007 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[guzzirider]

I was wondering about this as well. I'm guessing they use a combination of butter and shortening. My guess is that it affects the texture.

__Jason

[mrbigjas]

you ever made a pound cake according to that traditional recipe? that's some heavy cake right there.

i've used some of the trans-fat-free shortening for pie crusts and the like, and the texture isn't quite the same as regular crisco. however, i suspect that as more and more places ban trans fats (and people in general are more aware of how bad for you they are) even regular shortening will soon be a thing of the past and these bans will go by the wayside.

(edited to say: by which i mean, i bet that stock's is going to have to figure something out sooner or later, whether or not they get their exemption now).

Edited June 21, 2007 by mrbigjas (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

you ever made a pound cake according to that traditional recipe?  that's some  heavy cake right there. 

Isn't that what the eggs are there for, to aerate and lighten the cake?

Meh, what do I know? Not much, that's for sure...

Edited June 21, 2007 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[Scoats]

The law is unfair for two reasons, it exempts chains and it exempts prepackaged foods in supermarkets. So basically it is a law that only applies to small businesses based in the city. Even worse it does very little to protect people from transfats.

A better solution would have been to have the Dept of Health issue colorful door stickers to businesses that voluntarily complied. And voluntary compliance is pretty much all we will have with this anyway. It's not like the city is going to hire inspectors to check up on every little food place.

I don't know anything about baking but I know that transfats haven't been around that long historically speaking. I'd have to think someone knew how to make great pound cake 100 years ago when transfats weren't available.

Progressive businesses were getting rid of transfats before this law anyway, which is why having the Health Dept recognize voluntary compliance would have been better, plus we would have one less law on the books that gets ignored by a large percentage of citizens.

[Mummer]

Showing that they can right a wrong, city council exempted bakeries from the trans fat ban today.

Christine Stock DeCarlis is quoted in this KYW1060 story.

Edited October 26, 2007 by Mummer (log)

[jmbrightman]

From what I have read, Isgro and Termini are positioning themselves as small neighborhood bakers, yet demand for their products during the holidays forces them to make cannoli shells 6 WEEKS in advance of sale - not possible unless they use the unhealthy trans-fats. I am unsympathetic to their plight. Revert to the old recipes that made them an institution; accept that the true small batch baker does not pull something off the shelf made weeks in advance.

[rlibkind]

I don't know anything about baking but I know that transfats haven't been around that long historically speaking. I'd have to think someone knew how to make great pound cake 100 years ago when transfats weren't available.

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Yeah. Butter or lard, depending on the recipe. Neither is better for your health than transfats but they are considerably less efficient and economical to use because of their poor shelf-life qualities when compared to transfats.

FWIW, here's what the FDA says:

Scientific evidence shows that consumption of saturated fat, trans fat, and dietary cholesterol raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad cholesterol," levels, which increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, more than 12.5 million Americans have CHD, and more than 500,000 die each year. That makes CHD one of the leading causes of death in the United States....

Although saturated fat is the main dietary culprit that raises LDL, trans fat and dietary cholesterol also contribute significantly.

Here's a link to the full page from the FDA: Revealing Trans Fat.

So, transfats are bad for your health. But the FDA says saturated fats (as in butter and lard and other animal fats) are no less of a problem and (probably because of their ubiquity rather than chemistry) even worse.

Hey, I'm in favor of both trans fat and saturated fats. Just don't consume it massive quantities like a Conehead. Now, I'm gonna dive into that bag of Grandma Utz's chips!

[Jack Sprat]

It's true that both trans-fat and saturated fat are bad for your cardiovascular health. The difference between the two is that the amount of saturated fat that you eat is directly proportional to the bad effects. Modest amounts of saturated fat aren't a problem.

Not true with trans fat. Even a very small amount of trans fat in the diet significantly increases risk of a heart attack.

If Isgrove's and Stock's etc. want to use trans-fat, I really think that the exemption should require them to advertise it. That's the way it is now on packaged food labels.

I guess it could go the other way, and trans-fat free bakeries could advertise (ala MSG-free chinese food).....

[jtnicolosi]

Along with some others here, I do not support the plight of the baker even in the slightest. To suggest that pastries and cakes cannot be made with trans-fats is ludicrous. This of course is a very long and in depth topic, but saturated fats are FAR superior to trans. Think of the "French Paradox," they consume more natural fats, more smoke, and more wine than us Americans, yet they live longer and look better. Go figure.

Let's forget the bogus science of the 60's and 70's that convinced the masses that trans-fats are superior. I don't care what the FDA says, lard and butter are the very things missing from the American diet. Those things both require real applications in cooking, that's what's missing! Trash the fast food, the chips, and the mass consumption of starches and sugar (one and the same, of course). Yes, we are talking about desserts here, but nevertheless, one made without the use of trans-fats certainly is the lesser of two evils.

Let's also forget the bogus claim that pastries cannot be made without trans-fats. So they need to make cannoli shells six weeks in advance? Tough. Work it out. They did it fifty years ago, they can do it again.

And Bob, the lard in those UTZ chips is perfectly ok, it's the potato that is the poison. Sugar is the killer, not the fat. People are often in disbelief by the suggestion that natural fats are healthy. Again, faulty science brainwashed us. No joke.

Part II coming- The second hand smoke BS... (kidding, sort of)

Edited October 29, 2007 by jtnicolosi (log)

[rlibkind]

Okay, Joe, when are you adding pork belly sandwiches to your menu?

[jtnicolosi]

I know, I know. But man, pork belly sandwich, how good does that sound? (well, maybe it's just me) You might just be on to something.

[jmbrightman]

I know, I know.  But man, pork belly sandwich, how good does that sound? (well, maybe it's just me)  You might just be on to something.

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I am so there for the pork belly sandwich.

[rlibkind]

Pork belly sandwich. Belly braised to perfection, then sliced, breaded and deep fried. Served on a soft hamburger bun so as not to interfere with letting the crunchy exterior and unctuous interior contrast. Branston pickle on top makes my heart go flippity-flop.

(You need the bite of the vinegar pickle to set off the sandwich's richness)

Apologies for the rhyme to Kewpie of Racine, Wisconsin.

[jtnicolosi]

Good God man, good stuff.

But remember, you must fry it in a non-hydrogenated oil!!

[Bluehensfan]

Good God man, good stuff. 

But remember, you must fry it in a non-hydrogenated oil!!

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Wow Joe you got your computer fixed? Welcome back to the real world.

The pork belly sandwich sounds good to me. But is there a way to do it so it's not deep fried? And greens or broccoli rabe?

[michael_g]

The pork belly sandwich sounds good to me. But is there a way to do it so it's not deep fried? And greens or broccoli rabe?

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So it's...not...deep fried? Not deep fried? Just where do your allegiances lie?

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

How big a roll would you need to turn THIS into a sandwich?