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Friday, June 12, 2009 Yummy Experiments in Progress Someone once told me that I was probably a scientist in the kitchen as well as the lab. I beg to differ. For scientific experiments I follow protocol, optimize and troubleshoot with sometimes frightening thoroughness, and document everything like an obsessive diarist. In the kitchen, I don't follow recipes at all. I just throw whatever I have on hand together and hope it tastes good. The only two reasons I read or own cookbooks at all are the pictures and any bits of cooking science trivia. The smoothie is the one kind of food that seems tailor made for my kind of cooking philosophy. I love fruit smoothies, but I hate buying them because they're too expensive for the amount of work the person on the other side of the counter puts into them. And if ice is added into the mix, I think it's a total rip-off. So my goal this summer is to figure out (by random trial and error) what makes for great combinations. Notes so far: *Substitute ice with frozen fruit. *You can never go wrong with banana and/or yogurt--especially if you want a creamy texture. *Never use beer. *Apples make things more runny than you might first assume. *Ice cream might be something to add--if you want to drink liquid frosting. *It's quite possible that there is no optimal ratio for pineapple to coconut. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 1:29 PM : ]
Comments:
"Never use beer"
HAH hahahaha. (I like the drollery of that statement. Though yeah - the thought of beer in a smoothie kind of makes me want to hurl). It seems like most smoothies I've seen are banana-based, which doesn't work for me, as I'm allergic to bananas. I've found that canned pear halves (best if you can find them in their own juice rather than the sugar syrup) work well as a thickener. I often blend up a can of (mostly drained) pear halves along with frozen strawberries to make a simple sort of smoothie. I've also seen a number of recipes suggesting dry powdered milk as an addition, which would up the protein and probably make it sweeter (to me, powdered milk tastes almost sugary). I suspect frozen peaches (if you like peaches) would be really good in a smoothie. (I have some in the freezer, maybe that's the best way to use them. Maybe a peach-raspberry combo.)
I have tried peaches and pears--which has an interesting tangy flavor. But I recently got some kiwi on sale so that's probably going to be used for smoothie testing for the next couple of days.
And another note: I've found that yogurt can be used as a substitute for banana if you also decrease the amount of liquid you put in accordingly. I've also tested pudding--which, trust me, does not work. I've thought about using tapioca, but I've yet to get up my nerve to actually do so.
If you do use tapioca, I recommend the smaller (quick cooking) variety over the old-fashioned, "fish eye" tapioca.
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Unless, of course, you're aiming for something like a smoothie with "boba," in which case you'd probably want to hold off on adding the tapioca until after blending. I don't think some of the baking alternatives to tapioca as a thickener would be so good - cornstarch or arrowroot. I wonder whether partially set-up gelatin would work or just be gross? Links to this post: |
