Go to the Recipe: Beer Batter
Please tell me there's a malt vinegar recipe coming
can you tell us the brand of low gluten cake flour please
I suppose this must be also great for onion rings!
Yep.
These go into a dessert that's a riff on minestrone soup. That recipe and video coming very soon, but you can get a preview of the dish here: http://www.chefsteps.com/activ...
You don't need to know the brand. Have a look at the protein % at the back of the bag. Low gluten flour is around 8 to 9.
That is the daily value, not the % by volume. The most constant way is a manufacture spec sheet and some brands do say on the bag but its rare. you can take the total g protein per serving and dived that by the serving size they give. That will give you the protein content you are looking for.
- originally posted by Grant Lee Crilly
Of course you're right. In Europe packages figure at least the percentage. Sometimes even four values: percentage, value per portion, daily value of one portion and total daily amount for an average grown up.
The escort ad on the newspaper was amusing.
if cake flour absorbs more fat than AP; wouldn't that result in a greasier crust?
- originally posted by Le Wolf
No. Just the opposite.
i'm confused. when talking about tempura batter. the site says; "Make sure you are not using cake flour, as it absorbs a lot of oil and moisture", what's the difference here?
In a high-ratio cake, you want to hold all of the fat without collapsing the crumb In a tempura batter, you really don't want the batter to have the overwhelming richness of too much oil. Does this help clear things up?
The other reason for the vodka... Gluten doesn't develop in alcohol, even this small amount would effectively disrupt the forming of the protein bonds, thus yielding a much lighter fry. Vodka works well as substituting some of the water for a pie-dough, making a much more tender/ flakier crust.
any non-alcohol versions for this recipe; substitute beer for non-alcohol beer and would let's say red wine vinegar or verjus work for vodka, or perhaps white wine vinegar would be better than red wine vinegar?
HI there Chef Steps Love you guys!!!
Im just wondering if you think I could get similiar results doing this with a gluten free flour?
Im celiac and miss beer batter
Thanks Lesley.
All cake flour by its very nature is "low gluten"
Lesley, you can use Cup4Cup or just blend your own flour for the batter (I use a mix of 50% rice flour for crispiness, 25% tapioca for sturdiness, and 25% arrowroot - it is a good mix but is still a work in progress). I don't believe that the gluten contributes to the structure of a battered/fried dish. If you miss the "beer-y" taste, what you really desire is probably the roasted/malty flavors of the beer. Use rice malt syrup or molasses instead for the flavor, and soda water for the carbonation. You can get dehydrated beer powder, but that probably has residual gluten (I use it but I am not celiac). Do you react specifically to barley gluten (which does differ from wheat gluten)?
I'm not a fan of cup 2. Its highly overprocessed. Thanks for the % info I'll use it to come up with a custom blend. As for the beer I'll use a GF one no problem. As they're are a few really good ones out now. And to answer your q I am celiac which puts all barley out.
Thanks L
There's a lot of water in vinegar. So you could just use water. It wont be as crisp though
Depending on why a person is GF your statement is both correct and not.
I still wouldn't recommend for GF, be it celiac or your just avoiding or whatever. All it does (the vodka) is yield a lighter texture to the batter. The beer makes it taste better. I also use Matzo meal when making my beer-batters... A-MAZ-ING flavor and ridiculous crunch. Doesn't get too greasy either.
The beer is for flavor (mostly) as well as it somewhat ferments/ lightens up the texture. I suppose you could use a NA Beer, just as using club-soda for a tempura batter helps to lighten it up because of carbonation. Vinegars are going to add a rather aggressively sour flavor, and I don't think are going to have the same effect as stopping the formation of gluten proteins. If you leave out the vodka, I think it will be fine.
Is the vodka really making any difference for the crispyness?
I assume you made some double blind testing, but it seems to be far too small amount to actually do anything? (Total alcohol to water ratio raised from say, 5% to 9%)
Actually it makes a very big difference. The alcohol does two big things:
(1) When fried, evaporates far more quick than water will so that the batter cooks faster.
(2) Minimizes the development of gluten in the batter, which makes for a less doughy texture.
If you try it side-by-side, there is no mistaking the difference.
J-dub really dude have you spent time actually researching GF? Please dont pretend you know because if you did you wouldnt suggest Matzo as a option.
how long does the batter last in term of the carbonation
I assume this would make some amazing sous-vide fried chicken, as well?
J-Dub isn't referring to gluten free, but rather the development of the strands of gluten protein in the flour. Water + flour + kneading is why pasta works, and why bread works. Less water (in this case vodka, which is ~20% water) means less gluten development. But as you mentioned in another comment, that you're missing beer batter, have you found an acceptable gluten free beer? Ideas in Food (blog) has a recipe for gluten free flour (search for whatIIF flour on blog.ideasinfood.com) that I'd try before messing with any others. I think with that + gluten free beer you'd probably be off to a great start.
oh, how briliant this recipe is - thanks guys
Can you add an egg in this recipe to develop more flavour? Leavening are used to give a lighter product, but If you already use beer, do you still need baking soda?
I thought is that egg makes this less crispy (=> more protein, less starch) - I always used egg in my batters, but since reading this recipe I stopped it and they are more crispy now.
I'm wondering if, instead of vodka, if using whiskey would benefit the flavor at all, and if there would be a deleterious affect on the texture. Bought beer today, liquor stores aren't open on Sunday's in my area, so I'll be picking up some bourbon tomorrow.
Absolutely great, best batter ever. I didn't have cake flour some I used pastry flour, still came out very, very crispy. I could hear the crunch from across the room. Humm, how would it work on onion rings?
how'd it turn out?!
Didn't make a noticeable difference
This looks great! I wonder what would happen if I use a50/50 ratio for AP flour and cornstarch, it would be less protein and more starch. I cant find cake flour in my country BTW. Any suggestions?
Wouldn't think it would have necessarily. In a similar-ly alcohol themed thread I worked somewhere that beer brined chicken wings and while they could have likely upped the amount of beer in the brine the flavor was not very noticeable in the end result and I'm not sure it would be anyway as most people put sauces and the like on their wings, much like people put tartar sauce and lemon etc on their fried fish.
It's useful to put the batter in a whipping shipon?
Heston Bluemthol uses a siphon to make the batter lighter, so hellllll yeah this would work.
if you want to have a nice cake flour just replace 2 tbsp of flour in every cup for 2 tbsp of cornstarch, mix together. To sift flour without a sifter just use a strainer by filling it with flour and tapping against the palm of your hand over a bowl.
The vodka is more pure alcohol and and left les flavour in the mix, of course is more cheaper, and you want the alcohol because is more volatile than water and left les amount of liquid for the quick evaporation
instead of the baking soda,what can i add? Use the self-raising flour?
Using methylcellulose would it change the flavor and texture. If yes what quantity.
hi. what if you dont drink alcohol ? i can replace the beer with a Non alcoholic one but what about vodka? thank you
I'm going to try this. I've used vodka in batters .It works Amazing. I think the Rice flour would also add crispness !
Hello I've posted before but didn’t get a reply. I don’t consume alcohol and wondering can I sub the vodka with water or more non alcoholic beer ? And would putting the batter into a 1L siphon and charging it have a downside ?
Thank you.
really what the alcohol is in there for is that it acts as a liquid with the bater, but it evaporates faster when cooked than an alternative. na beer would be the same as just using water. in fact water should work just fine, or sparkling water. you won't have the same results but it will still be a good batter.
Thanks Kyl. The whole Na beer was for the “flavor” profil.
I’ve used club soda instead of beer and found it to be better than beer. Batter results in lighter and less oily fish.
Hi guys : the Mrs is alergic to Vodka can i substitute with any 80 proof booze? Or are some better than others?
Any 80 proof booze works, we just go with vodka for a more neutral flavor.
i know that the vodka isn't used for flavor here, but with the proliferation of flavored vodkas out there, would anyone suggest using one of those. at the very least maybe a lemon flavored one?
