Related: What Is Tallow? Shortening is typically added to foods like baked goods and pie crusts to give them a crumbly and crisp texture. While bakers intentionally try to make some foods, such as bread, airy, stretchy and fluffy, shortening on the other hand is used to make recipes more mealy, dense and flaky.
Manufacturers of processed foods and baked goods love adding shorteners to their products because they are very inexpensive to produce, boost the mouthfeel and taste of recipes, and often do not require refrigeration depending on the kind.
Shorteners can help prevent gluten in baked goods from making the food elastic, dried out and chewy. Adding shortener allows dough to keep its softness and shape since it prevents gluten molecules from expanding too much. The most commonly used shorteners today are made with vegetable oils like soybean, cottonseed or refined palm oil. Using the process of hydrogenation, these oils are made to become solid at room temperature.
Although it depends on the specific kind, shortening is nearly percent pure fat. A mountain of evidence from the past several decades has shown that consumption of products containing trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils poses many health risks. Hydrogenation is the chemical process that turns liquid oil into solid fat that has a spreadable texture. Partial hydrogenation makes fats semi-solid at room temperature, while full hydrogenation makes oils totally solid.
They become oxidized easily when exposed to high heat, which means they may contribute to the formation of free radicals, oxidative stress and inflammation. They are called shorteners as they break down gluten into shorter strands, hindering the formation of gluten which would make the dough more stretchy by preventing the flour from absorbing water. OCR Topic exploration pack: Pastry. Skip to main content. The fat is repeatedly cut into smaller pieces and coated in flour.
The final size of the pieces will determine the final texture of the baked good. A texture that resembles coarse sand or cornmeal will create crumbly mixtures, like streusel. To fry with shortening, place the required amount in a heavy, high-sided frying pan and allow to melt and reach the desired temperature. Add the food to be fried, without crowding the pan, and cook until golden brown. Unlike butter or lard, vegetable shortening has a neutral flavor, unless butter-flavored shortening is being used.
This makes it useful for applications where strong fat flavors are not desired. There are quite a few substitutes for shortening. Lard, what was originally shortening before hydrogenated vegetable shortening was invented, is the best option for producing flaky results. It should be used in lesser amounts, however, removing 2 tablespoons from every cup for 1 cup of shortening.
Butter and margarine can be used in the same amount as shortening called for in a recipe. One thing to keep in mind is that butter contains water, producing a denser dough as liquid activates gluten and creating steam when baking, resulting in a flatter and crispier cookie.
Cooking oils are a natural substitution for shortening when frying. Vegetable and peanut oils are best and can be swapped equally with shortening.
Another solid fat is coconut oil, but it does have a significant flavor. Shortening is often on the ingredient list in certain traditional Southern recipes, like fried chicken and flaky biscuits, and is the key to perfect pie crust and tender sugar cookies.
Vegetable shortening will be found next to the cooking oils at the grocery store. For specific organic brands, a health food store or online is a better bet. It also contains very few vitamins and minerals. For example, a tablespoon 12 grams of Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening contains 9 :.
When oils are fully hydrogenated, they are completely changed from unsaturated fats to saturated fats , so no trans fats are produced. Yet full hydrogenation results in a very hard fat, which no longer has a soft, spreadable texture.
Therefore, fully hydrogenated oils are commonly blended with liquid oil in a process called interesterification, which results in a spreadable texture 2. The health effects of interesterified fats are still largely unknown. Unfortunately, though, recent rat studies on the effects of interesterified fats look fairly grim. In one study, researchers found that these fats promoted inflammation, enlargement of the fat cells, and fatty liver disease in rats.
Another study noted that interesterified fats in the diet promoted fat gain while impairing blood sugar control in rats 11 , On the other hand, one review investigating the effects of interesterified fat consumption in humans noted no ill effects. However, more research in humans is needed so we can better understand the health effects of these fats Regardless, shortening is still highly processed and is typically used only to make fried foods or pastries that are high in added fat and sugar.
Fully hydrogenated vegetable fats must be mixed with liquid fat to be spreadable. These interesterified fats may cause health problems. Shortening is highly processed and typically used only to make foods that are high in fat and refined carbs.
In addition to limiting your intake of foods that contain shortening, you can replace shortening with alternatives in recipes. Butter is probably the most popular alternative to shortening. Many people actually prefer butter because of the rich flavor it adds. In the past, health experts claimed that eating saturated fat was linked to a higher risk of heart disease However, several recent scientific reviews have not found that link, with some evidence suggesting there is no link between saturated fat intake and heart disease 15 ,
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