Home

Madelaine Bullwinkel Blog

WHO'S AFRAID OF GMOS?

Campbells Soup

Grocery shopping was a lot easier when we innocently pulled a familiar brand off the shelf.  Today  packages claiming its contents are fat-free or gluten-free or non-GMO give us choices we may have never before considered.  Some day you may need to bring a magnifying glass to the store to read the detailed disclaimers on food labels. Surely I exaggerate.  Two recent stories in the news suggest otherwise.

Just after my last post, Campbell Soup announced it will soon disclose the presence of genetically altered ingredients across all its brands which include Prego and Pepperidge Farm.  It's the first giant food company to break the code of silence since the FDA made GMO disclosure voluntary.  In a challenge that's sure to resonate in the food additive industry, Greek yogurt maker Chobani has begun a market campaign that mocks Yoplait and Dannon for their use of additives in competing 100 calorie products.  Those are fighting words.

Campbell Soup's step toward transparency is partly a response to the success of the Non-GMO movement whose voluntary verification project insignia appears on foods that contain 5% or less genetically altered ingredients.  It also heralds the arrival in July of a Vermont law requiring manufacturers announce the presence of GMO ingredients on their product labels. Since there is presently no federal law to serve as an umbrella, imagine the chaos and expense it will cause if this law is passed in some states and not in others. Studies have revealed that consumers do want to know if products have been genetically altered, but there's little research on how that information will effect sales.

 For the record, Monsanto has been selling corn and soybean seeds with an added gene that allows them to produce their own insecticide and herbicide. Since 1999 these have been planted over millions of acres worldwide.  Large scale growth of GMO crops now include canola, sugar beets and cotton. Interestingly enough, Monsanto continues to sell the same insecticides and herbicides transgenic seeds were intended to eliminate. Nature still manages to keep the upper hand.

My point is that none of us are GMO virgins. It's too late to ask whether the addition of one or two genes among thousands that make up a genome presents a threat to our health. The FDA's scientists say that it's not a problem, for now.  Meanwhile the technology that permits splicing and gene insertion is becoming more sophisticated making it likely that more transgenic foods will come up for approval in the future.

When consumers do read food labels, half the ingredients are most likely a mystery to all but the chemists. The FDA has approved what amounts to a food additive cabinet of more than 3000 synthetic chemicals.  Gutsy little Chobani had the temerity to malign two additives used by its giant rivals knowing it would alarm consumers. Sure enough, General Mills Corp. Yoplait's parent company and Danone that owns Dannon brand slapped Chobani with "cease and desist" orders for false advertising.

The additives in question are: potassium sorbate (in Yoplait) which retards spoilage but has been used to kill bed bugs, and sucralose (in both brands), a generic form of Splenda. Sucralose contains three sweetness-enhancing chlorine molecules that allegedly pass through the body without a caloric effect.  Chobani's ad implies that even their presence is dangerous.  No harm done? Maybe not.  But if Chobani can make a six ounce container of yogurt with 100 calories and without additives who needs the additives?  Oh, it's not sweet enough for you? Ahhh. That's a topic for a future blog.

Chobani Yogurt

 

 

 

Madelaine Bullwinkel Blog

WHO'S AFRAID OF HOLLANDAISE?

HollandaiseCover

When Chicago shuts down, as it did this past Sunday morning under a foot-deep blanket of snow, there's only one recourse.  Get out the cast-iron skillet and prepare a hearty winter breakfast.  At our house, that means Eggs Benedict.

When you love breakfast, you always have the essential ingredients, in case, for example, you should want to have breakfast at dinnertime.  I'm serious.  Supplies include English muffins (in the freezer), thick sliced bacon, eggs and Hollandaise sauce.  What?  You don't  have a jar of  Hollandaise next to the mayo in the door of your refrigerator?  It's time to remedy that situation
 
Leftover Hollandaise, like mayonnaise can be safely stored in the refrigerator from week to week.  When you want to restore it to a rich, coating consistency, simply whisk it tablespoon by tablespoon, off the heat, into a hot tablespoon of whipping cream and lemon juice.  Want a thicker sauce?  Whisk in  melted butter after the cold sauce, adjust the seasonings and Voila!  The Hollandaise sauce is ready faster than you can poach an egg.

Of course, you have to make sauce Hollandaise first.  In terms of technique, making Hollandaise is very much like making mayonnaise, with the addition of heat.  Both sauces start with yolks beaten with vinegar or lemon juice into which oil in the case of mayonnaise or butter with Hollandaise is slowly added.  An illustrated description follows:

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
Four Servings:
1 large egg yolk at room temperature
1 teaspoon cool water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Additional lemon juice
Freshly ground white pepper
Garnish: Freshly chopped chives

Hollandaise1


 Fig. 1:  Combine and whisk the yolk, water, lemon juice and salt until frothy.  Whisk in two tablespoons cold butter, one at a time, with the pan over low heat.  Continue warming this mixture until the bottom of the pan can be seen with each whisking motion.  The liquid should lightly coat the bottom and sides of the pan.  Off the heat, gradually whisk in the melted butter.  Season to taste with more lemon juice and freshly ground white pepper.

Hold the sauce in a hot water bath (100 degrees) for 2-3 hours, or in a thermos for 6 hours.

Leftover Hollandaise will break if it's warmed directly over heat, but the chilled sauce can be whisked back to life by adding it to a little bit of cream and lemon juice.  (A broken mayonnaise can be whisked back into an emulsified state by adding it slowly to a teaspoon each of mustard and vinegar,)   Any sauce remaining after serving this reincarnation goes back into the refrigerator, awaiting its next use.   With repeated heatings the proportion of egg yolk to butter in the sauce diminishes.  You can reverse that process by using the cold leftovers to start the next recipe of Hollandaise.

EngMuffins3EngMuffins2EnglishMuffins

Link to English Muffin Recipe


Those of us who dote on breakfast take advantage of the leisurely pace of a snowed-in Sunday morning  to make English muffins.  The dough requires a minimum of staple ingredients (flour, water, yeast and salt) and rises in one hour.  Muffins cook quickly on a hot griddle, dropped in free-form rounds or spread in metal hoops (or repurposed tuna fish cans).  Check to see they reach the internal temperature of 200 degrees on instant-read thermometer.

When it's time to poach the eggs, I add a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of white vinegar to boiling water in an eight inch skillet.  Instead of breaking them directly into the water, I open each egg into a ramekin and gently pour them into the water.  An offset spatula or fork comes in handy at this point to release the egg from the bottom of the pan.

PoachEggs


A plate of Eggs Benedict calls for a side of bacon, either Canadian bacon, thick-sliced applewood smoked bacon, even duck bacon (Maple Leaf Farms).   For Mardi Gras, I will be serving poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce over large crab cakes (see below)..  When spring finally arrives, there will be Hollandaise for asparagus and salmon.  I could go on, but it's starting to snow again.  Time to reach for my skillet.

HollandaiseCrab

Mardi Gras Eggs with Hollandaise on a  Crabcake


FYI:  I will be teaching these recipes and more in late May at the Alliance Francaise de Chicago.  Look for details this spring on the Home page of www.chezM.com or the Alliance Francaise.