SC - Cressee webbed

[david friedman]

True saffron was sometimes adulterated with safflower.  (Perhaps Francesco
Sirene has more info on this practice?) Safflower gives a good yellow
color, but no flavor that I can detect. It also has the benefit of being
inexpensive.  I prefer using it in all my dishes that call for saffron.


Just a thought...

Cindy


>david friedman wrote:
>>
>> I've been crushing the saffron in a mortar, extracting with water,
>> and mixing that in. Do you think using whole threads would give a
>> stronger color, or dots of bright color, or what?
>
>I think whole threads (which, ideally, would be soaked for a few minutes
>in the eggs before mixing, although the recipe doesn't call for that)
>would give a sort of reddish-yellow marbled-thread effect, and it's
>possible keeping it whole might lessen the flavor release, so perhaps
>you could use a little more and not be troubled by unpleasant flavors.
>On the other hand, as I recall it also calls for ginger, which is a
>great accompaniment to freshen up that saffron/iodine flavor. A billion
>chinese seafood cooks can't be wrong ;  ) .
>
>Probably the thing to do is soak your saffron in a minimal amount of
>water, maybe a couple of tablespoons.
>
>Adamantius
>--
>Phil & Susan Troy
>
>troy at asan.com