Techniques

Beat, Whip or Whisk
In practice, these terms are fairly interchangeable, except that we usually talk of beating butter with sugar, whipping cream and whisking egg whites. Sometimes the object is merely to combine different ingredients smoothly (e.g., beating eggs, a little milk and seasonings with a fork or egg beater to make scrambled eggs), but often it involves the incorporation of air (using an electric mixer, egg beater, or wire or balloon whisk to whip cream or whisk egg whites).

 

Biscuit Baking (using the Creaming Method)
• On a cold day beat the softened butter briefly until plastic, using electric beaters for ease. Butter is preferred for a good flavour.
• Add the sugar all at once or in a steady stream and beat until light and fluffy; use regular white granulated sugar in preference to castor sugar to enhance the crunchiness of the finished biscuits, unless the recipe specifies brown or icing sugar.
• Add any eggs in the recipe and beat until just combined but do not overbeat for crisp, crunchy biscuits.
• Beat the flour in one or two lots until combined, but don’t overbeat; it is not usually necessary to sift the flour.
• Place the mixture on lightly buttered or non-stick aluminium baking trays, leaving about 2 cm (¾ inch) between the biscuits for spreading; the trays should be at room temperature and with low sides about ½ cm (¼ inch) high. Bake in a preheated oven, allowing enough space between trays for circulation of heat. Watch the biscuits to make sure they do not burn, using the recipe as a guide; most biscuits will be a light, golden brown when done. If necessary, test one, breaking it open, to make sure it is cooked through: return the biscuits to the oven if still soft inside.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, placing them in one layer. Then store in air-tight jars or tins. Most biscuits store well in the freezer (in an airtight container) if you make too many.

Boil
To heat liquid so that large bubbles rise and break on the surface rapidly and continuously. To ‘bring to the boil’ means heating liquid – usually cold or at room temperature – as quickly as possible until it starts boiling. To cook ‘at a rapid boil’ indicates that the liquid should really be boiling all the time, not allowed to drop to a simmer; this is useful when reducing liquid by evaporation to concentrate a broth or achieve a set or jell in jam making.

Cake Making (Butter Cakes)
• Get all the ingredients together before starting the cake in order to avoid delays once you have begun – particularly once the flour is added, since baking powder or the rising agents in self-raising flour will start to activate as soon as they come in contact with moisture. Have the butter and eggs at room temperature. Grease the cake tin with a little softened butter or use non-stick cookware. Preheat the oven.
• On a cold day beat the butter briefly until plastic, using electric beaters for preference. Cream the butter with the sugar, pouring the sugar in a steady stream, beating well until it looks fluffy and turns a pale creamy colour from the bubbles of air trapped within the mixture. Use castor sugar for preference as this will dissolve more quickly. Flavouring essence or zest can be creamed with the butter and sugar.
• Then beat in the eggs, taking care not to add them too quickly and curdle the mixture. (If curdled, you will lose some of the air you are trying to beat in to make the cake light.) Beat well so that any graininess disappears and the sugar dissolves almost completely.
• Sift the flour with any dry ingredients, such as baking powder, salt or spices (some prize-winning cooks suggest sifting up to 3 times for lightness). Fold the flour in alternately with the milk or other liquid, adding the flour in thirds and the liquid in 2 lots, beginning and ending with flour. Once you begin to add the flour, avoid over-beating: use a low to medium speed on the electric mixer or else fold in with a large metal spoon, or (in the case of rich fruit cakes) the palm of the hand. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl and the beaters to include all ingredients. Stir in any fruit or nuts at the end.
• Turn the batter into the prepared cake tin to fill half to two-thirds full. Cut down into the batter with a spatula or else tap the bottom of the tin sharply to release any air bubbles. Smooth over the top so that it is level. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven without opening the oven door until at least two-thirds done.
• When the cake starts to shrink away from the sides of the tin and begins to brown on top, it is probably cooked. To test for doneness, insert a skewer into the centre of the cake: if it comes out clean , not gooey, the cake is done. Alternatively, press the top of the cake gently with your finger: the cake should spring back at once. Remove from the oven, let stand for 4 minutes, then turn out onto a wire cake rack to cool completely.

Chutney Making
Follow the procedure for jam making, except do not cook until it jells: boil it merely until thick. Use well-flavoured ripe fruit and preferably malt (brown) vinegar and brown sugar for flavour. Success depends on the flavour of the fruit and spices, and getting the right balance of vinegar to sugar.

Cover
To place the lid on a cooking vessel to reduce evaporation of the liquid while cooking or stop the food drying out. If covering a saucepan on your stove top, you may need to put the lid at a slight tilt to allow excess steam to escape and prevent boiling over.

Cream
To cream butter and sugar, place in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric beater on high speed until it lightens in colour and looks ‘fluffy’. The butter should be at room temperature (softened). In winter, beat the butter first until ‘plastic’ (not a solid lump) before adding the sugar gradually. The aim is to combine the ingredients but also, in the case of cake baking, to introduce as much air as possible: therefore with cakes, always beat the mixture very well. Likewise, when beating eggs into the creamed butter-sugar mixture to make a cake, beat well to get as much air in as possible and to dissolve the sugar; using castor sugar helps. Avoid curdling the mixture by adding the eggs too quickly or you will lose air: if the mixture begins to curdle, beat in a little of the flour before adding more egg. For a better flavour and texture use Australian salted butter, never margarine or blends. Dripping (or lard in German Australian recipes) is a traditional alternative, particularly in the Outback where butter was not always available, or in the cities for economy.

Cut In
Similar to rubbing in, except that one uses a multi-bladed pastry blender (or, alternatively, two knives) to distribute the butter or other fat through the dry ingredients. Cutting in is particularly suited for pastry making since there is a large quantity of fat to flour and it is important to achieve discrete particles of fat. Chop down into the diced chilled butter and the flour, working as quickly as possible, and scooping up the flour from the bottom of the bowl with the blender, tossing it lightly in the air above the surface to aerate. Continue cutting in until the biggest pieces of butter are no larger than a small pea. Some cooks use a food processor, but it is necessary not to overprocess if you want flaky pastry.

Fold In
Blending a light mixture with a thicker mixture to retain lightness. For delicate mixtures, e.g., folding beaten egg whites or whipped cream into a sponge cake, soufflé or jellied whip, use a large metal spoon to cut down vertically into the mixture, draw across the bottom of the bowl, bringing a spoonful from the bottom over the top, thus ‘folding’ it in. Repeat the process until the two mixtures are thoroughly combined, turning the bowl occasionally so that you do not miss any. The aim is to mix without crushing the air bubbles. Where there is a great disparity between the thickness of the mixtures, it is advisable to fold some of the beaten whites or cream in first to lighten the mixture, and, once blended, to fold in the rest.

To fold flour into a creamed butter-sugar-egg mixture for a butter cake or biscuits, it is sufficient to use your electric mixer on a low setting: beat the flour in until just combined, finishing by hand if necessary with a large spoon. Do not overbeat or the flour will ‘toughen’ through development of the gluten.

Jam Making
• Use a preserving pan if you have it, or any large saucepan with a heavy bottom (to stop catching) and a wide mouth (to speed evaporation). Stick to the quantity in the recipe and don’t be tempted to cook huge quantities of jam at one time.
• The fruit should be cooked first to soften it and bring out the pectin, unless it is a very soft fruit like strawberries.
• Then the sugar is added and the mixture returned to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Use white sugar for preference so that the colour of the jam is true to the colour of the fruit. It is unnecessary to heat the sugar first, although some cooks like to do this.
• Then cook quickly, uncovered, and stir at least occasionally with a long-handled wooden spoon so that it does not catch and burn. Some jams will need to be stirred continuously, particularly as they thicken; it depends on the fruit. Turn the heat down a little if the jam starts to spit excessively or catch on the bottom. Use the time given in the recipe as a rough guide only.
• Test for jell (see ‘Jell or Set’) when you approach the cooking time given in the recipe or when you notice a change in the boil (when the jam goes from a fast, frothy boil to a slower boil). If it has not reached the jell point, continue to cook and retest, but remember that jam thickens as it cools and you need to allow for this or your jam will be leathery and overcooked: you may wish to take the jam off the stove while testing.
• When ready, bottle in clean, hot glass jars, either preserving jars or old jam and pickle jars: when the jam starts to thicken, put jars in the sink on their sides with the lids beside them and cover in very hot or boiling water. When the jam is ready, scoop out one jar at a time with a fork, shake out the excess water (do not wipe dry), set it upright on the sink or bench and spoon the hot jam in, leaving a small space at the top; if you have a jam funnel, use it, but these are often hard to get. Wipe the lip of the jar with a clean, moist paper towel to avoid ‘bridges’ of jam over which bacteria will grow. Work quickly and screw the lid on tightly, tightening up again after the jars have completely cooled. Label and store in a dark cupboard or pantry.

Jell or Set
To test if jam is ready to bottle, most cooks use the crinkle or saucer test: take a teaspoonful of the boiling fruit-sugar mixture and drop onto a chilled white saucer, placed in the freezer before starting the boiling process. Return to the freezer or fridge to cool for a couple of minutes or place on a windowsill with a breeze. Then gently push the jam with your finger: the surface should crinkle noticeably when done. An alternative is to use a cooking thermometer: 105°C (220°F) for set. For some jams with a low pectin content, e.g., those from dried fruit, the surface will not crinkle: instead, the jam should thicken on the saucer to the proper consistency of jam.

Measure
Always use level cup and spoon measures, unless otherwise stated. All old recipes have been converted to standard Australian metric measures:
1 cup = 250 ml (approx. 8¾ fl oz)
1 tablespoon = 20 ml (approx. ²⁄₃ fl oz or 1¹⁄₃ American tablespoons)
1 teaspoon = 5 ml (approx. ¹⁄₆ fl oz)
4 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
4 cups = 1 litre (approx. 1 US quart)
To measure dry ingredients, use nested cups, and spoon the ingredient in lightly until the cup is overflowing; give the side a sharp tap with the spoon to remove air pockets, and level off with the straight edge of a knife. Brown sugar should be firmly packed before levelling. To measure liquids, use a cup with the rim above the 1-cup line and fill to the desired mark, holding the cup at eye level.

Meringue Making
Make sure the bowl and beaters or whisk are completely clean and dry. Avoid plastic bowls. Carefully separate the whites from the yolks while the eggs are cold. Even a skerrick of yolk or fat in the whites will prevent them beating up properly. Place the whites in the mixing bowl and let them come to room temperature. Beat until they hold stiff peaks when the beaters are withdrawn. Gradually add the castor sugar, a tablespoonful at a time, sprinkling it lightly over the whites and beating thoroughly so that the sugar dissolves before adding more. The finished meringue should be smooth and glossy, not grainy.

Preheat
Heat the oven to the temperature specified before placing any food in: plan this when you start a recipe. Preheating helps keep track of cooking time and is essential when making pastry, cakes, scones and biscuits. However, all ovens vary: if you are having trouble with your oven, consider buying an oven thermometer. Temperature will also vary with the level in the oven where the food is placed.

Rub In
To incorporate chilled butter or dripping into flour to give a crumbly rather than smooth result. Used to make scones, damper, most pastry and some cakes. Always work as quickly as possible so that the fat does not melt and use the fingertips since these are the coldest part of the hands. Take the butter straight from the fridge and cut into dice with a knife, tossing these in the flour in a bowl to coat. Then rub the pieces of butter with the flour between the thumb and fingertips in a circular motion. Work above the bowl, letting the mixture fall through the fingers, thus aerating it and keeping it light. Keep working until the biggest pieces of butter are no larger than a small pea.

Sauté
To sauté vegetables or meats, cook them lightly in fat or oil in a frying pan or heavy saucepan, stirring with a wooden spoon, until soft and, if desired, golden brown. Usually cook them uncovered, although thicker pieces may be completed by covering the pan.

Scone Baking
Good scones require the minimum amount of handling and a light touch. Usually self-raising flour is used, but plain flour combined with baking powder (in the ratio of 1 cup of plain flour to 1 teaspoon of baking powder) can be substituted. Alternatively, substitute sour milk for fresh milk and add bicarb soda when sifting the flour (in the ratio of ½ teaspoon bicarb to 1 cup sour milk). Scones are best eaten the day they are made: if you have left-overs, reheat them in the oven and eat hot and buttered.
• Preheat the oven: scones are always cooked in a very hot oven (220°C, 420°F). Some cooks like to heat the baking tray as well while the dough is being prepared. Scone trays have low sides about ½ cm (¼ inch) high. There is usually enough flour on the bottom of the scones to prevent them from sticking to the tray without greasing. Scones must be placed in the hot oven as soon as they are prepared.
• Sift the flour and any dry ingredients, such as salt (to accentuate the flavour) and baking powder (if not using self-raising flour). Many cooks sift it twice.
• Dice the chilled butter and rub into the flour with the fingertips, working as quickly as possible until the largest pieces of butter are no bigger than a small pea. Alternatively, heat some of the milk and stir the butter in to melt.
• Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the milk (or half milk and half water for a lighter scone) all at once, stirring with a flat-bladed knife such as a butter knife, working from the centre outwards. A moist dough should stick to the sides of the bowl and will give a light scone.
• If there are any dregs of flour in the bottom of the bowl, turn out onto a floured board and knead for a few seconds until the dough comes together. Alternatively, knead while still in the bowl until just combined, using your hand, and then turn out onto a floured board. Avoid kneading if possible and never knead any more than is absolutely necessary or the scones will be tough.
• Using your hands, press or pat the dough gently from the centre outwards to the required thickness, about 2 cm (¾ inch) thick. A mistake is to make the dough too thin, which will produce a rather flat scone. Do not use a rolling pin unless making large quantities of scones.
• Using a sharp, round 5 cm (2 inch) cutter dipped in flour, cut out the scones. Or cut into squares or triangles with a sharp floured knife. Reshape any left-over dough and cut until no dough is left. Avoid twisting the cutter so that the scones rise evenly.
• Brush any excess flour off with a pastry brush and place the scones together on the prepared scone tray so that they are separated only by about 1 cm (½ inch): they will support each other as they rise, rather than spreading sideways. This will give added height.
• Brush tops only with either a little milk, or egg beaten with milk, to give a glossy, golden brown finish once cooked. Pop them immediately into the hot oven to bake for 10-15 minutes.
• When golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped with your fingertip, turn out onto a wire rack to cool, unless you wish to eat them hot and buttered. Cover with a clean tea-towel as soon as they come from the oven to keep them moist. To eat, break them open with your fingers; do not cut with a knife.

Separating Eggs
With perfectly clean hands, crack each egg sharply on the edge of a clean bowl or cup. Open the crack enough to let the white slip into the bowl. Then tip the yolk carefully from one half of the shell to the other to release the remaining white. Place the yolks in a separate bowl or cup.

Sift
Pass flour or icing sugar through a sieve to lighten the ingredient (by incorporating air) and to remove any lumps (particularly in pure icing sugar). Normally use a cake sifter. Avoid sifting wholemeal flour since sifting will take out a lot of the goodness: instead pass a fork through it in the bowl a number of times, tossing in the air to lighten; alternatively, sift the wholemeal flour and then tip all the bran caught in the sieve into the sifted flour.

Simmer
To keep liquid just below boiling point or at a low bubble. The aim is to cook food without catching on the bottom (leading to burning) and without boiling over. When directed to ‘simmer, covered’, place the lid on the saucepan to reduce evaporation while cooking; you may need to put the lid at a slight tilt to allow excess steam to escape or place a heat mat under the saucepan to achieve the desired simmer.

Soften
For most cakes and biscuits involving creaming butter with sugar, leave the butter out of the fridge until it gets to room temperature, preferably overnight unless the weather is hot. In winter, you may find it helps to set the butter in its mixing bowl on a sunny windowsill or in a barely warm oven for a while, but make sure it does not begin to melt.

Sponge Cakes
There are different approaches to making a sponge cake, but all depend for their lightness on the amount of air incorporated during preparation through beating the eggs or egg whites very well, sifting the flour (usually self-raising), and light handling.
• Get all the ingredients together before starting the sponge. Make sure the mixing bowl, the beaters and spatula are completely clean and free of grease. Avoid using a plastic mixing bowl as the eggs will not beat up as well. Separate the eggs if required by the recipe, taking them straight from the fridge, and then let the whites and yolks get to room temperature, covering them in hot weather so they don’t dry out. Sift the flour with any other dry ingredients into another bowl. Prepare the cake tin, usually by greasing lightly with softened butter, dusting with a little flour and tapping the bottom of the tin, holding it upside down to release any excess. If you prefer a sugary crust, dust with castor sugar instead of flour. Preheat the oven.
• Using an electric mixer for preference, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks when the beaters are withdrawn. Then sprinkle the sugar over the whites, a tablespoon at a time, beating well at each addition. Castor sugar is preferred since it dissolves more rapidly. If the recipe specifies egg yolks to be added, beat them in all at once and as quickly and briefly as possible in order not to break down the beaten egg whites.
• Some recipes involve the use of whole eggs, in which case beat the whole eggs with the castor sugar until very thick (about 10 minutes) and the mixture takes some time to level out when the beaters are withdrawn.
• Sift the sifted flour again over the egg-sugar mixture and fold in lightly but evenly with a large metal spoon: dip the spoon to the bottom of the bowl, bringing a spoonful up to the top, repeating as often as necessary until completely blended.
• If the recipe specifies the addition of butter and hot water, melt the butter in the hot water and fold in as quickly as possible with the metal spoon. (Hot water allows faster incorporation into the cake batter than cold, and therefore minimizes folding in.)
• Turn the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven. To test for doneness, insert a skewer into the centre of the cake: if it comes out clean , not gooey, the cake is done. Alternatively, press the top of the cake gently with your finger: the cake should spring back. Remove from the oven, let stand for 4 minutes, then turn out onto a wire cake rack covered with a clean tea-towel to prevent marks from the rack. Let cool completely out of drafts.

Test for Doneness
For cakes, insert a thin metal skewer into the centre of the cake: if it comes out clean (not gooey), the cake is done. Otherwise, press a finger gently into the centre of the top of the cake: if it springs back immediately, it is done. For biscuits, once they look golden brown, break one open from the first batch to see if the middle is cooked and not soft or doughy. For chicken, run a metal skewer into the thigh: when cooked, the juice which runs out will be clear and colourless, not pink.

Whip
Used interchangeably with ‘beat’ and ‘whisk’, but normally with reference to cream. Use electric beaters for preference, otherwise an egg beater. To whip cream until stiff (e.g., for filling cakes or for piping), beat until the cream acquires a lumpy, somewhat rough appearance and holds this when the beater is withdrawn. Be careful not to overbeat, or you will end up with butter.

Whisk
Used interchangeably with ‘beat’ and ‘whip’, but normally with reference to eggs or egg whites. Use electric beaters for preference, particularly with a large quantity, otherwise a balloon or wire whisk. If the latter, move the whisk as quickly as possible in a circular, vertical motion, bringing the mixture up and over. To whisk egg whites until stiff, whisk/beat them until they hold a stiff peak when the beater or whisk is withdrawn from the bowl; if the peak of white flops over, continue whisking; however, don’t overbeat. Always use clean beaters and bowl when whisking egg whites and make sure there is not a skerrick of yolk in the white: any grease or yolk will stop the whites beating up properly. If making a recipe where you are required to beat egg whites separately from other ingredients which also require beating, beat the whites first while your beaters are clean; then use the beaters to beat the butter, yolks or whatever.

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