Translating U.S. Cookery Terms

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30586, 31 October 1964, Page 2

Translating U.S. Cookery Terms

More American recipes are coming into New Zealand through our newspapers, American magazines and cook books. The Department of University Extension, University of Otago, has had many inquiries about the translation of American terms into New Zealand ones.

It must be pointed out that equivalents are not the same as substitutions. For instance, wholemeal wafers are the equivalent of Graham wafers from an American recipe, but golden syrup and water solution is a substitute for maple syrup. It has a similar appearance but not the distinctive flavour of maple syrup, and so is not equivalent to maple syrup. Here is a list of New Zealand equivalents of somi American terms to keep in the front of your recipe book.

American Graham flour Cornstarch i Biscuit I Cookies Crackers Griddle cakes Confectioners sugar Frosting Evaporated milk Cole Slaw I Rutabaga Pimento : Ground beef Flour Substitutions This is one place where substitutions must be made. Flour contains gluten and starch. By blending flours with different proportions of gluten and starch, the Americans obtain “pastry,” “allpurpose," “bread,” “cake” and “enriched” flour, each for a particular product. In New Zealand, there is one main flour which is approximately the same as all-purpose flour. Any recipe calling for allpurpose flour (or pastry ) can be followed exactly, providing the other ingredients are available. Bread, high in gluten and low in starch, can absorb more liquid than a low gluten flour. The flour here is relatively low in gluten and so absorbs less liquid than the American bread flour. American recipes calling for bread flour can be used, but the liquid in the mixture must be decreased.

Cake flour is deliberately low in gluten to give a tender product. It can be replaced by 4 mixture of our ordinary flour and cornflour, a tablespoon of flour in each cup replaced by a tablespoon of cornflour. Enriched or fortified flours indicate that some substance has been added to

New Zealand Wholemeal flour Cornflour Scone Biscuits Biscuits of water biscuit type Pikelets Icing Sugar Icing Unsweetened condensed milk Shredded cabbage salad Swede turnip Sweet red pepper Minced beef. increase the food value. This is not necessary in New Zea- ! land because in milling, 78 ■ per cent of the whole grain I is extracted for flour, whereas ; in many overseas countries. ' only 60 per cent of the whole • grain is used for flour. So ■ ov.r flour has a higher food 1 value than many overseas i flours, and does not need to - be enriched. Raising Agents

Yeast is identical in both countries, but a usual cake ■ of American compressed yeast weighs joz and a cake of New Zealand compressed yeast weighs l}oz. Doubleacting baking powder appears in many American recipes, but it is not available in New Zealand. It is, as the name suggests, stronger than the ordinary baking powder. One teaspoon of double-acting baking powder can be replaced by 1 1-3 teaspoons of tartrate or phosphate baking powder. By understanding and using the proper equivalents and substitutions, American recipes can be successfully used here to give interest and variety to New Zealand meals.