SC - Prince Biskets

[Philip & Susan Troy]

> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 18:19:39 -0700
> From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
> Subject: Re: SC - Prince-Bisket
> 
> At 12:09 PM -0500 6/11/98, Michael F. Gunter wrote:
> 
> (quoting me)
> 
> >> What in the recipe made you think it was a meringue? Assuming it is Hugh
> >> Platt's recipe, the instructions say to beat it to batter for an hour,
> >> which seems to pretty clearly eliminate that possibility.
> >
> >Okay, I had a redaction and it said to beat the eggs to a meringue and then
> >add the flour and sugar. I was a bit confused about that since it is pretty
> >difficult to whip whole eggs into a meringue.
> 
> If it is Hugh Platt's recipe, you have just demonstrated that the author of
> that redaction is not to be trusted. It sounds as though he started with
> the assumption that it was a meringue and changed the recipe to fit,
> instead of rejecting the assumption because it was obviously inconsistent
> with the original recipe.
> 
> You can find the original and our worked out version in the Miscellany, webbed.

Just to stir (yes, pun intended) this issue up, in hopes of reaching a
conclusion, rather than an impasse, let's think about _why_ the recipe
instructs the cook to beat the batter for an hour.

First of all, whole eggs will produce a perfectly good foam, although,
admittedly, not a meringue, if beaten sufficiently, especially when
warmed first. This is the basis of most sponge cakes in the European
repertoire, notably genoise, which is more or less an industrial
standard everywhere but in the USA, where things like baking powder are
considered essential.

It occurs to me that beating the batter for an hour, especially if it
contains flour, sugar, and other stuff, might have to do with gluten
development. Modern quickbreads often call for the most minimal beating
of the ingredients, so prevent toughness, and on some occasions you bite
into a lovely lump of baking powder or unmixed flour. Now, some recipes
seem to call for an amount of beating that is designed to develop the
full consignment of potential gluten, and then break it down again.
People probably don't need this theory, but glutein and glutenin
molecules combine with water to make long polymer strands called gluten.
The more you beat, the more gluten you build up (assuming you are using
a flour that contains glutein and glutenin, which for practical purposes
means wheat, especially the harder types). This goes on until you reach
a point where all the gluten strands that can possibly be built up,
_are_ built up, at which point further beating begins to break them down
again.

Experience with other recipes suggests these should be dry, slightly
hard and brittle, but not tough, as opposed to tender and slightly
chewy, such as you might find in other egg-foam based biscuits, like
macaroons, langues du chat, madeleines, and lady fingers.

You might try actually beating the batter for an hour, and see what
happens. I'd guess that would equate to about fifteen minutes using a
Kitchen Aid on low speed. Or, you could just have people work in shifts.

BTW, Sir Gunthar, the wrist of your sword-arm will thank you if you do
beat the batter for a long time.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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