NEW Crisco

[rooftop1000]

Well I just finished mixing up a few batches of cookie dough....oatmeal-applesauce, snickerdoodle, sugar, choc chip, and ruggalach and while putting awy the remains of the New Crisco noticed it has "directions", The lable says that to substitute crisco for butter use 1 cup plus 6 tbls water for each cup of butter or margarine. Now after I already messed with these tried and true, straight out the betty crocker cookie cookbook recipies I thought some of the doughs looked soft already and I was supposed to add Water? Most already said butter or shortning already...Well I didnt add any water ....mmmyyummymmm anyway

anyone else try this stuff yet??

Tracey

[bloviatrix]

Old Crisco also required adding water to each cup. I'm not sure if anyone ever realized that.

[Maison Rustique]

I never added any water and can't remember Mom adding any either. Can't remember any problems or complaints!

[Anatolia]

my nana's has a great upside down cranberry tart which is made with crisco and we've never used water - or atleast i missed seeing her add it and i certainly don, i can also add that the tart doesnt taste as good when made with butter - who'd've guessed.

[jgarner53]

I never knew that about old Crisco either. It makes sense, though, since butter has water in it.

[Malawry]

But 6 T to the cup? A cup is 16 T. Most American butter is 80% fat, 20% water and milk solids. I don't get it.

[SethG]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this "new" Crisco?

[Maison Rustique]

New Crisco

[bloviatrix]

New Crisco lacks the trans fats. They tried it in the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of Cook's Illustrated by making pie crust, biscuits, and fried chicken. They said they couldn't discern any difference between old and new Crisco in the chicken, and although the crust and biscuits tasted the same, the texture was slightly different -- not as tender or flakey. Overall, they felt the differences were very slight.

[bloviatrix]

BTW, I asked about adding water to Crisco in this thread last year. No one had an answer then, either.

[SethG]

This all begs the question: so what the hell is in it, then?

Looking around their website, I'm finding only doublespeak. Can't we just come full circle to lard?

[bloviatrix]

Per Cook's Illustrated:

The new product is made from nonhydrogenated sunflower and soybean oils and from cottonseed oil that has been through a process of complete hydrogenation.  When an oil is completely, or fully, hydrogenated, it becomes a saturated fat-- considered better for you than trans fat but not as healthy as unsaturated fat, which is found in many unadulterate vegatable oils.

[patticky]

Crisco shortening doesn't contain water (which I never realized) but there is a substitution chart on their website. A Crisco cookie with no extra water added is higher and lighter, while a butter cookie is flatter and crisper. One cup of Crisco shortening plus 2 tablespoons water will equal 1 cup of butter or margarine, according to the chart. You can check the rest of the conversions at www.crisco.com, where I got this information. I suppose a lot of cookie recipes have that formula built into it but I never paid attention. And I wonder how many butter cookies were converted to shortening cookies without the formula, and passed on that way.

[nightscotsman]

Per Cook's Illustrated:

The new product is made from nonhydrogenated sunflower and soybean oils and from cottonseed oil that has been through a process of complete hydrogenation.  When an oil is completely, or fully, hydrogenated, it becomes a saturated fat-- considered better for you than trans fat but not as healthy as unsaturated fat, which is found in many unadulterate vegatable oils.

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So, basically vegetarian lard.

[viva]

Can't we just come full circle to lard?

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Yes we can!

[bentherebfor]

This all begs the question: so what the hell is in it, then?

As bloviatrix pointed out, the new crisco is a mixture of both unhyrogenated oil and fully hydrogenated oil. For some strange scientific reason, fully hyrogenating an oil removes all the bad that is put into it when it is partially hydrogenated. Partial hydrogenation, in case anyone is wondering, refers to a process during which an oil, frequently cottenseed or soybean oil, is heated to a very high temperature and then pumped with hydrogen. The more the oil is hydrogenated, the more solid it becomes at room temperature, while at the same time giving it an exponentially longer shelf life and therefore a cheaper production cost. Fully hydrogenating an oil makes it into a very solid "oil" though culinarily speaking it would, at this point be referred to as a fat.

Anyway, the premise of the new crisco is that by mixing unhydrogenated (liquid) and fully hydrogenated (very solid), you will be able to create a product of similar texture as a partially hydrogenated oil.

PS: While I have done quite a bit of reading on the health effects of hydrogenated oils (just stay away from them, trust me), I am by absolutely no means an expert on the scientific reaction that goes on during the process of hydrogenation. If I made a mistake please do correct me.

For more info on whats happening to your body when you eat Trans Fats (aka partially hydrogenated oil) see either this site (for a not so biased perspective), or my personal favorite, Ban Trans Fats.com

Edited December 16, 2004 by bentherebfor (log)

[chefcyn]

This all begs the question: so what the hell is in it, then?

...PS: ...I am by absolutely no means an expert on the scientific reaction that goes on during the process of hydrogenation. If I made a mistake please do correct me...

I seem to remember something from chemistry class to the effect that the process was more of the oil being pumped with very high pressure through very tiny holes and this caused some molecular change that incorporated hydrogen molecules into the fatty acid chains, making it "hydrogenated" and therefore "saturated"--which implies more hydrogen atoms in the molecule making up the fat. Or something like that.

[Patrick S]

The hydrogenation process does require hydrogen gas being passed through vegetable oils under high pressure at moderately high temperatures in the presence of a metal catalyst, such as nickel. This page has some interesting info on the technology used in oil hydrogenation.

Edited December 17, 2004 by Patrick S (log)

[jgm]

New Crisco lacks the trans fats.  They tried it in the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of Cook's Illustrated by making pie crust, biscuits, and fried chicken.  They said they couldn't discern any difference between old and new Crisco in the chicken, and although the crust and biscuits tasted the same, the texture was slightly different -- not as tender or flakey.  Overall, they felt the differences were very slight.

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I just made a pie with it tonight. I am very impressed with it. This particular crust is flakier than many others I've made. I don't do any measuring when I make pie crust, and I don't make it very often, so there is some variability in the crusts I make.

I did note, as did Cook's Illustrated, that there's more crispness than tenderness, but not at all to an objectionable degree. This crust was very flaky. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the results. Obviously, the fat content of the crust is the same, but having fats that aren't believed to be so harmful may lead me to make a few more pies per year. I really enjoy making pies, and this product is, as far as I'm concerned, really good news.

[bloviatrix]

jgm -- did you add water to your Crisco, or did you use it unadulterated?

[bentherebfor]

jgm -- did you add water to your Crisco, or did you use it unadulterated?

Here is what I understand about adding water when using Crisco:

Recipes that call for crisco and only crisco do not, repeat do not, require water to be added. Recipes that call for butter OR crisco are suspect, and this is because butter is 18%-20% water and milk solids while crisco is pure fat. Therefore, when substituting crisco for butter, one should, if they wanted to be completely accurate, take 80% of the butter called for and replace that with crisco, AND THEN, take 20% of the butter called for and replace that with water.

To sum things up, recipes that call for crisco and only crisco, not offering the option of crisco OR butter, do not need to have water added. Recipes that offer the choice should require the water to be added, yet they rarely do. In the long run, particularly when only a very small amount of fat is called for, it makes very little difference.