Category: 1.4 Pantry

Sweet is one of the five tastes our tongue detects, it’s a fundamental part of the eating experience, and there are whole books dedicated to cooking with it. I’ve not got a sweet tooth, but still I keep and use several types of sweet things in my cupboard.

First a tiny bit of chemistry. Sugars are small organic compounds made as either a source of readily available energy or as building blocks for other things. They are called carbohydrates and there are loads of types – monosaccharides are the simplest: one sugar molecule like glucose, disaccharides are two sugar molecules (like lactose made of glucose and galactose, or sucrose which is glucose and fructose) these need to be split into mono saccharides by the body before being used. Then there are poly saccharides – long chains of sugars, starch is the most well known example, but so is cellulose. These more complex sugars need more processing (and time) to release their energy. Humans can’t digest every sugar, and so some passes through our gut (like fibre).

So for a quick hit use glucose, for a long burn use starch, for low calorie and filling use fibre. Simple.

This post is about the sweet stuff.

Unrefined (golden) sugar

This is my staple, I use it in tea (if someone wants it) and in cakes. It is my basic go to sugar for things I eat with sweetness in them, I prefer it to white, so I don’t use white – simple. This is the sugar I use for all my syrups and preserves.

Glucose (sugar from corn starch)

Glucose is cheap, and I use it in fermentation (cider, vinegar etc). It’s very sweet compared to soft brown and I use it for yeast cultures. So breads and brewing – that’s it. Oh and if I need a sugar syrup for crystallising leaves (like attar of roses) I’ll use this, just because it’s easy and doesn’t change the taste of the delicate preserves.

Malt

Malt is the sugary extract from germinating seeds. I use two types – wheat and barley. I wouldn’t have them in the house except for brewing, but having them here I use them to flavour breads, and cakes. They add a richness beyond unrefined sugar, and I use it as a substitute for soft brown sugar if needed.

Of course malt loaf isn’t possible without it and a wheat malt loaf (rather than the traditional barley malt) is a thing of loveliness.

Vanilla extract

Vanilla is naturally sweet and adding a little of this to muffins allows you to cut the sugar content quite a bit. The extracts are often in corn sugar syrup, so extra sweet.

Fruit

The last thing I use for adding sweetness is fruit. Fruit is naturally quite high in sugar, so a handful in a curry or couscous adds a sweetness to mellow the heat. Apples sliced in a pork hotpot do the same, as do figs served with venison, or quince with cheese.

When you look at recipes think about the flavours, see what sugars are there and that will allow you to think about substitutes. That can be to experiment, to lower calories or because it’s just what you have to hand.

Have a fiddle – go on I dare you 🙂

Tender herbs are a key part of my cooking. Unfortunately, not all herbs last all year, and I don’t like drying herbs from the garden (with the exception of fennel seed). I never like the taste of dried leaves – it always seems dusty. I know it’s not true but I just don’t like the flavour or texture.

So I make oils for the winter. I freeze the blitzed herbs in cubes too, using a little veg oil and store coriander, basil and tarragon that way. But tarragon in particular makes a fabulous oil.

So, how do you do it? easy. Pick the plant before it wilts and the leaves die pack, just before it goes. For basil I take the whole plant, stems and all. For tarragon when the leaves start to die I harvest 90% of whats there. The plant then just sits over winter and it you keep it frost free it will come back happily next spring.

In both cases I blitz in olive oil and steep in luke warm oil for a few hours or overnight. Avoid heating the oil too much as it changes the texture and taste – turning cis-unsaturated oil chains to trans. These trans fats are not as good for you, and do less to lower cholesterol. So cool steeping is best. When its good and smelly with the herb strain through a fine sieve and muslin.

If you only used the leaves you can still use the leaves in oil as a paste, for basil it’s ideal to make pesto, for tarragon I just freeze and note it’s in olive oil.

For the oil you’ve made leave it to stand for a day or three then decant it. The reason is that you will see a small amount of brownish water at the bottom – this will ferment over time and produce a vinegar that will ruin the flavour of the oil. So you want to decant the oil and leave the liquid. The oil then stores for months.

The only way to avoid this issue is to pasteurise the oil (heat it to at least 72c for 15 sec) – but this also changes the taste, and degrades the flavours of the herb and benefits of the oil. Up to you, but I prefer to fiddle a bit to keep the taste and avoid handling hot oil wherever possible.

When you use infused oils, add them at the end, as a drizzle or to coat the pasta before mixing in the sauce – less cooking means more flavour…

Flour comes in a huge range of types, and is a pretty basic ingredient. Unlike some other things where I try to minimise choice and just rely on one or two types, flour is something where you need several.

Things to think about. Firstly how much will you use? like any ingredient you want to have a reasonable turnover. Especially for things like wholemeal or rye you might use them less so be sensible how much you buy at once.

The second is about choice and taste. I do make fresh pasta, but I don’t use tipo 00 flour, I find I can make excellent pasta without it. I could also live without rye flour quite easily, but I like the taste. So there is a compromise – I need to use it enough to make it worth having. For most people it’s probably not an issue, but I have to buy rye flour online, about 6kg at a time.

So what’s in the cupboard and why:

Plain Flour

A basic workhorse. Plain white flour is for white sauces, tortillas, samosa, gyoza wraps, part of a mix for pasta, pastry, cakes. I only keep one bag in at a time, and when I use it it’s in 50 – 75g batches normally. But I use it a few times a week. Even if it’s just as a base to mix spices into then coat meat before sealing in a pan – it’s my go-to thickener. I don’t have arrowroot or cornflour in the house, and most of my gravies are stack based rather than bisto based.

Self Raising

I use this much less than plain, typically in cakes and muffins. In muffins I’ll often use it instead of baking powder and plain flour, because I prefer the rise I get. I don’t use it that often, so I tend to keep one bag in, it’s still a 1.5kg because just a few trays of muffins during soft fruit season and it’s all gone…

Strong White Bread Flour

Okay so there are loads of types of bread flour. I use strong, not very strong. Why – well because it’s plenty good enough. You can read lots of good articles on the difference, but to my understanding it’s about a higher gluten and protein content in very strong flour.

Strong white flour is the backbone of my baking, it’s 50% of my pasta mix, by pizza dough, naan, pitta, ciabatta, basic white. I buy it by the 16kg sack and it’s about 3 months before my next order. It’s worth noting that from October 2022 (I think) all UK flour (except wholemeal) will be fortified with 4 key things – Iron, Calcium, Thiamine and Niacin (Vit B1 and B3). Some flours also contain extra folic acid, but many (most?) do not. My understanding is that wholemeal and gluten free flours are more often fortified with folic acid than other types. For most people it’s invisible, but for some they will want the extra folic acid and for others it can cause issues. I’m no expert, but if you are going to bake your own bread find something that’s right for you and then stick to it, or at least know what your looking for if you change.

Wholemeal Bread Flour

For basic brown bread, brown baton and for brown pastry pie toppings. In a shortcrust pie topping it adds a great nutty rich flavour that goes well with red meats. I don’t use to much so I only keep one bag in at a time.

Rye Flour

Rye is a dark strong tasting flour, it has less gluten than white flours and therefore makes denser bread. The taste is fantastic and I always add some rye to a brown loaf for that reason. However, because it has less gluten the bread doesn’t rise as much or as quickly – so a longer rise is sensible. Occasionally I’ll make a 100% rye loaf, cut into wafer thin slices it is great with meats and cheese – stronger cheeses and smoked meats can be just superb with rye. Not to everyone’s taste but I’d not be without it.

Semolina Flour

Perhaps the most unusual choice for my selection. Semolina is a must have for me. It makes pasta awesome as it is milled from durum wheat kernels, unbleached – it has high gluten and protein ensuring the right texture to a fresh pasta. I use it to fortify breads as well. My sourdough starter is 60% semolina, my naans 25% – you get the picture… My pizzas just wouldn’t be the same without it.