SC - OT - Chicken Guilds

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Margo Hablutzel wrote, partially quoting Cariadoc, unless I'm mistaken:
> 
>         If it is the recipe I remember, the instructions
> didn't say
>         anything about beating egg whites stiff--which is a rather specific
> and
>         striking thing to do with them--so it wasn't clear whether what was
> being
>         made was something like angelfood cake or something more like Prince
>         Biscuit. There are a lot of different things that can come out of
> the same
>         list of ingredients.
> 
>         Perhaps if Margo can provide the actual reference and/or recipe, we
> can see
>         how clear it is that the "very much like angelfood cake" conclusion
> follows
>         from it.

Here I think Morgan is speaking in her own voice:

> I forgot to bring it in, I'll try to remember to look tonight.  The recipe
> for "Make a Fine Brede" doesn't say anything about beating the egg whites
> stiff, and my dedactions didn't do this, so I wonder about your comment?
> The only thing I could not figure out was when to add the other ingredients.
> It was all supposed to be "beaten" and "mingle[d] together wele" which in
> and of itself incorporates air into the mixture.  I called it angelfood
> based upon the texture at the end, which was more like a cake and not like
> prince-biskit.

I think what's happening here _could be_ a case of looking one or two
steps ahead to an anticipated result. Beating incorporates air, so it's
kinda like angelfood cake, so consciously or otherwise, I'm going to
make angelfood cake, since that's how I think it ought to be. I'm not
saying that's what is happening, but I think that's the thrust of most
of the questions being asked: how sure are you that the instruction to
beat and mingle together well is necessarily consistent with the kind of
beating found in an angelfood cake recipe?

Another area for confusion is that the concept of eggs beaten until
stiff may have different meanings to different people. There are eggs
beaten till stiff, as opposed to merely beaten to mix, and then you have
beaten till stiff, as opposed to beaten to soft peaks, beaten till dry,
etc. Personally I wouldn't beat egg whites till fully stiff for
angelfood cake either, but I'm trying to avoid the mincing of words, not
engage in it ;  ) .  
 
> Also, prince-bisket uses whole eggs, not just the whites, and this has an
> effect on the end product.  Whites alone hold more beaten-in air than whole
> eggs, because the fat in the yolks works against the protein in the whites
> (simplified kitchen chemistry lesson).

To some extent that's true, but then have you ever made genoise sponge?
Whole eggs will rise perfectly well if you beat them long enough.
Prince-Bisket gets beaten, as I recall, for an hour, and it's my belief
that this is more about developing, overdeveloping, and ultimately
breaking the gluten strands than about air incorporation. 

> When the batter/dough for "Make a
> Fine Brede" is baked, it rises in the pan and gets a soft crumb in the
> middle.

Makes sense. BTW, do you recall what kind of pan the original recipe
recommends? Just as an exercise in how different a recipe can turn out
when two people follow the occasionally vague instructions to the
letter, I'm trying to think of ways in which the final product might
move in the direction of, or away from, angelfood cake, and possibly
toward a biscuit of some kind, without actually sacrificing recipe
integrity. 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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