Tip #4 Food Science Sunday

Another part of this blog is sharing the ingredient substitutions I make in recipes and why they might work/don't work. Tonight's dinner plans were changed last minute. Our friend Hermes brought over a salmon he caught this morning. Can't pass that up! To think this nice pink salmon was swimming in Puget Sound this morning and tonight was on my plate is very exciting to me! I love to broil salmon with a simple teriyaki glaze. Usually I use a recipe with brown sugar from Everyday Food, but when I looked for it online, I saw this one from Mad Hungry- a spin off of Everyday Food.
Click here for the recipe. I did not have the fresh ginger, but decided to go with it anyway. Fresh ginger is one of those ingredients that when you need it, you really need it- but it's hard to keep on hand. My tip (which I need to follow) is to buy a bigger piece of ginger than you need, peel and grate the extra and freeze it. I have only had marginal success keeping ginger more fresh in my crisper inside a paper bag- but it does last longer than usual that way. Most vegetables mold fastest inside plastic bags. I did use the ground ginger powder in the teriyaki recipe and the result was just fine, but the fresh ginger would have made the dish really pop. The salmon was so delicious, no one really missed it. I like teriyaki because it seems to flavor the salmon without overpowering it. I blanched sugar snap peas from our garden and tossed them with the Asian dressing from the salad recipe here.
The real crazy food science moment of the day came when I made a fruit smoothie out of frozen strawberries and blueberries, plain lowfat yogurt, milk, some vanilla and a dash of sugar. The result was creamy and smooth, but 2 hrs later the leftovers in the bottom of the blender were quite altered. It still tasted fine, but the texture was a mess! The body of the smoothie had congealed almost to the point of a soft gelatin or tofu and left a watery mess underneath. My immediate suspicion was that the high level of pectin in the blueberries was the culprit. Sure enough, I looked around online and saw that others had had the same experience. Click here
Pectin is found a lot in fruits, is great for thickening things and is part of soluble fiber, so it can help lower blood cholesterol- but be careful you don't make a smoothie too early before your guests arrive!