by Jeff Potter
Avoiding cross-contamination can be difficult, because it might occur in many places you’d never think it would. For example, if you’re cooking both rice noodles and regular pasta, the residual gluten left on your strainer after running the regular pasta through it might be enough to contaminate the batch of rice pasta. Selecting your recipes with care can help you avoid some of these problems. Again, everyone reacts differently, so your level of vigilance should be adjusted as necessary to match your guests’ needs.
Substitutions for Common Allergies
So, you’ve just found out that someone you’re cooking for is allergic to an ingredient in your favorite family dish. What to do?
This section includes a number of suggestions for ingredient substitutions for the eight most common allergies, based on information from Kristi Winkels’s website, Eating with Food Allergies (http://www.eatingwithfoodallergies.com). Visit her website for additional suggestions and recipes tailored to those with allergies.
This list contains many of the common ingredients and foods to avoid, but you should still check any questionable ingredients with your guests.
Dairy Allergies
Ingredients to avoid
Casein, whey, whey solids, buttermilk solids, curds, milk solids, lactalbumin, caseinate, sodium caseinate.
Foods commonly containing dairy
Milk, buttermilk, chocolate (milk and dark), hot chocolate, "nondairy" creamers, baked goods, spreads including butter and many margarines (even some that say "nondairy" on the label), cheeses, yogurts, frozen yogurts, frozen desserts such as ice cream, sherbets, some sorbets, whipped toppings.
Substitutions
For milk
Soy, rice, potato, almond, oat, hemp, and coconut milk are all possible substitutes for cow’s milk. If you aren’t dealing with a soy allergy as well, soy milk is a good option; it tastes pretty good and, when fortified, contains roughly the same amount of calcium and vitamin D (two important nutrients, especially for children). Rice milk is also often fortified and, like soy milk, can usually be found at the regular grocery store. Potato milk is available in specialty food stores in powder form.
For margarine
When searching for a dairy-free margarine, be sure to examine the product labels carefully and make sure the ingredient list does not contain "milk derivatives." Also bear in mind that most "light" margarines are not suitable for baking. Look for Earth Balance Light and Fleischmann’s Unsalted Margarine brands.
For yogurt
If you’re a yogurt fan, check out soy yogurt or coconut milk yogurt. Try using it as a dip for fruit, or buy plain and use it to make a creamy salad dressing.
Egg Allergies
Ingredients to avoid
Albumin, globulin, lysozyme, livetin, silici albuminate, Simplesse, vitellin, meringue, ingredients containing the word "egg" such as egg white, ingredients that begin with "ovo" (Latin for "egg").
Foods commonly containing egg
Baked goods (cookies, cakes, muffins, breads, crackers), desserts (custards, puddings, ice creams), battered foods (fish and chicken nuggets), meatballs, meatloaf, pastas, sauces, dressings, soups.
Substitutions
While dishes like omelets and egg salads are out, you can still achieve reasonable results in baked goods. Eggs provide air and leavening in cakes, add structure to breads and cakes, and supply liquid in cookie doughs, cakes, and muffin batters. Determine which functions the egg provides in the baked item and experiment with using one of the following alternatives.
To replace one egg in baking:
Baking powder, water, and oil
Whisk together until foamy: 1½ tablespoons (20g) oil, 1½ tablespoons (22g) warm water, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
EnerG Foods Egg Replacer
Whisk with water until fluffy; then add to your mixture. This is a great all-purpose egg substitute.
Unflavored gelatin
Mix 1 teaspoon (4g) unflavored gelatin with 1 tablespoon (15g) warm water. You should be able to find unflavored gelatins in your grocery store near the flavored gelatin (like Jell-O).
Flaxseed meal
Mix 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons warm water; let sit for 10 minutes. It does have a strong flavor, so does not work as an all-purpose egg replacement, but can be useful in cakes, pumpkin bars, oatmeal applesauce cookies, and muffins.
Fruit puree
In some cases, you can use a quarter cup of puréed banana or apple. Experiment!
Fish/Shellfish Allergies
An allergy to fish does not necessarily mean an allergy to shellfish, and vice versa. However, if you are cooking for someone who has an allergy in either category, the safest approach is to entirely avoid fish and seafood, unless your guest has specifically advised you of allowable food items.
Foods commonly containing fish or shellfish
Anything with fish or seafood, including imitation crab meat, Caesar salad, Caesar dressing, Worcestershire sauce, some pizzas, gelatin (sometimes derived from fish or shellfish bones), some marshmallows, some sauces, antipasto dishes.
Peanut Allergies
Ingredients to avoid
Peanuts, peanut butter, peanut starch, peanut flour, peanut oil, mixed nuts, crushed nuts, hydrolyzed plant protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, vegetable oil (if the source isn’t specified), and depending upon the severity of the allergy, anything that states "may contain trace amounts of peanuts."
Foods commonly containing peanuts
Baked goods, baking mixes, chocolate and chocolate chips (many contain trace amounts of peanuts), candy, snacks, nut butters, cereals, sauces (peanuts are sometimes used as a thickener), Asian food (stir fry, sauces, egg rolls), veggie burgers, marzipan (almond paste).
Substitutions
If you have a dish that calls for peanuts directly, you might be able to substitute something else, such as cashews or sunflower seeds. For peanut butter, you can use soy nut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter, if your guest is not allergic to them (true seeds and soy differ from peanuts).
Tree Nut Allergies
Ingredients to avoid
Almond (butter, pastes such as marzipan, flavoring, extract), brazil nut, cashews (butter, flavoring, extract), chestnuts (water chestnuts are okay as they’re not actually nuts), hazelnuts (filberts), hickory nuts, macadamia nuts (Queensland nut, bush nut, maroochi nut, queen of nuts, bauple nut), pecans, pine nuts, pinon (pignoli), pistachios, walnuts, nut meal, nougat, nut paste, Nutella.
Foods commonly containing nuts
Baked goods, snack foods, Asian foods, pesto, salads, candy. Cross-contamination is a major concern, so inspect packages for statements such as "may contain trace amounts of..."
Substitutions
Working around nut allergies can be tricky. As with peanut allergies, your best bet is to select recipes that don’t rely on nuts. In salads and snacks, you can use seeds, such as sunflower, pumpkin, or sesame seeds. Sunflower butter can replace nut butters.
Note
Sesame seed allergies are not uncommon, so check with your guest on this substitution.
Soy Allergies
Ingredients to avoid
Hydrolyzed soy protein, miso, shoyu sauce, soy-anything, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, soy sauce, soybean, soybean granules, soybean curd, tempeh, textured vegetable protein ("TVP"), tofu.
Foods commonly containing soy
Baby foods, baked goods (cakes, cookies, muffins, breads), baking mixes, breakfast cereals, packaged dinners like spaghetti or macaroni and cheese, canned tuna packed in oil, margarine, shortening, vegetable oil and anything with vegetable oil in it, snack foods (including crackers, chips, pretzels), nondairy creamers, vitamin supplements.
Substitutions
There are no good substitutes for items like tofu and soy sauce, so choose recipes that don’t directly rely on soy-based products. Note that soy is used in an amazing number of commercial products—often in places that you would
n’t suspect, such as pasta sauce—so read labels carefully!
Wheat Allergies
Note that a wheat allergy is not the same as a gluten intolerance. Wheat allergy is often confused with celiac disease (gluten intolerance), which is an autoimmune disorder in which the small intestine reacts to the ingestion of gluten. Still, celiac disease is often easier to explain as a severe allergy so that people unfamiliar with the details of it understand the importance of handling food for those with it.
Wheat allergies are triggered by proteins present in wheat specifically, not the gluten. Unlike those who have wheat allergies, individuals with celiac disease must avoid all gluten, regardless of source. Be careful to avoid cross-contamination: even a knife used to butter toast might contain sufficient trace amounts of gluten to cause problems, so make sure to carefully wash and rinse utensils, dishes, and hands when cooking for someone with gluten intolerance. For more information on celiac disease, visit http://www.celiac.org.
Ingredients to avoid
Wheat (bran, germ, starch), bulgur, flour (graham, durham, enriched), gluten, modified food starch, malt, spelt, vegetable gums, semolina, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, starch, natural flavoring.
Foods commonly containing wheat
Breads (bagels, muffins, rolls, donuts, pancakes), desserts (cakes, cookies, baking mixes, pies), snacks (crackers, chips, cereals), most commercial soups including broths, pastas (noodles, packaged dinners containing pasta), condiments (soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salad dressings, barbeque sauces, marinades, glazes, some vinegars), beverages (beer, nonalcoholic beer, ale, root beer, instant chocolate drink mixes), meats (frozen meats that are packaged with broth, lunch meats, hot dogs), gravies and sauces (most likely thickened with wheat flour), flour tortillas, tabbouleh (salad dish), pilafs.
Substitutions
Flour
Replacing wheat flour is tricky, because it contains gluten, which creates bread’s characteristic elastic structure and texture. It is difficult to duplicate wheat baked goods (especially bread) without wheat flour. Some nonwheat flours, such as barley and rye flour, do contain the proteins necessary to form gluten.
Note
People with a wheat allergy can usually tolerate those flours while people with celiac disease cannot.
Rice flour and rye flour are easy to find. Check your regular grocery store. You can use either in place of wheat flour in some recipes (substituting at a 1:1 ratio). Tapioca starch, potato starch (use ⅝ cups per 1 cup of wheat flour, a 0.625:1 ratio), potato flour, and sorghum flour can also be used.
You can achieve better results by blending several flours together. For an all-purpose flour mix, combine ¾ cups (120g) white rice flour, ¼ cup (30g) potato starch (not potato flour!), 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour), and, optionally, ¼ teaspoon (1g) xanthan gum.
Pasta
Luckily, there are great alternatives to wheat pasta! Pasta also comes in rice, corn, and quinoa varieties. Take care to not overcook these types of pasta, because they can get mushy and fall apart easily, and remember to make sure the colander is really clean if you’ve previously used it for wheat pasta.
Snacks
If your guest is more sensitive or has celiac disease, be sure to double-check with the manufacturer about shared manufacturing lines and cross-contamination. Rice cakes, rice crackers, popcorn, and corn and potato chips make for excellent wheat-free snacks (but are not necessarily gluten-free).
Appendix B. Afterword
CURIOSITY AND THE JOY OF DISCOVERING HOW SOMETHING WORKS ARE TWO OF A GEEK’S DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS. I can think of very few other things that have brought me as much joy as learning to cook and providing for others. It scratches the same neurons that solving a puzzle or producing a brilliant piece of code does, but tastes better and often takes less time—not to mention that you can do it for other people and make them happy, too!
Speaking of puzzles, here’s how to solve the 12-coin problem I gave in the first chapter. Start with coins 1–4 on the left side and 5–8 on the right side. If the scale registers them as equal, place 9 and 10 on the left and 11 and 1 on the right side. If equal, 12 is the bad one. If not equal, remove 11 and 1 and move 10 to where 11 was. If the scale remains in the same unbalanced position, 9 is the bad one. If the scale is balanced, 11 is the bad one. And if the scale flips to the other side, 10 is the bad one. The trick is to realize that a balance scale can give you not two but three bits of information: <, =, and >, as opposed to = and !=. I’ll leave solving the problem of the starting positions of 1–4 and 5–8 being unequal for you.
I hope that by now the puzzle that is learning to cook has been replaced with the joy of understanding the basic mechanics of the system. True, there are still many more puzzles left to understand, but the core principles of cooking can actually be summed up in a single page (see next page).
Whatever your reasons for learning to cook—health, financial, social, giving, romantic—and whatever your style, cooking should be fun. I hope you’ve found this book useful in showing you ways to bring a certain playfulness to food, both inside and outside the kitchen.
Happy cooking!
Potter’s Kitchen Tips
Manage expectations and perceptions. When cooking for someone, expectations and perceptions are just as important as the objective quality of the dish. Only you, as the cook, will know what it was supposed to be. If the chocolate soufflé falls, call it a fallen chocolate cake, toss some berries on top, and ship it.
Use quality ingredients. The number one predictor of a great tasting meal is great-tasting produce and ingredients. Tomatoes should taste like tomatoes, avocados should be soft and creamy, and apples should have their distinctive crisp.
Create harmony and balance. Harmony is found in combining compatible ingredients. Balance is found in adjusting sweetness and sourness (acids) and seasoning correctly with salt. Start with good produce, taste it, and adjust with an acid (vinegar, lemon juice) and salt.
Practice food safety. When working in the kitchen, be mindful of the growing conditions for pathogens. Avoid cross-contamination by washing your hands. Frequently. Foodborne illness isn’t fun, but it’s usually the secondary complications for at-risk populations that are life-threatening.
Eat whole foods. There’s nothing inherently wrong with processed foods, but they tend to be higher in salt, sugar, and fat. Food additives aren’t in and of themselves evil, but like anything, too much—or not enough—can be problematic because of what our body does or doesn’t do in response.
Measure temperatures, not time. Proteins in meats and starches in grains undergo physical reactions at certain temperatures, regardless of whether they’re boiled, grilled, or sautéed. A 4 lb chicken will cook faster than a 6 lb chicken, but both will be done at the same temperature. Timers are useful, but internal temperature tells you a lot more.
Add flavor and aroma with browning reactions. When sugars caramelize (for sucrose, starting at around 340°F / 171°C) and proteins undergo Maillard reactions (starting at around 310°F / 155°C), they break down and form hundreds of new compounds. For some reason, we like the way those compounds smell.
Pay attention to the details when baking. Use weight instead of volume measurements, and pay attention to the various variables in play; gluten levels, moisture content, and pH levels especially. Baking is a great place for A/B experimentation: the ingredients are cheap, relatively consistent, and easy to foist off onto coworkers trying to lose weight (muhahaha).
Experiment! If you’re not sure how to do something, take a guess. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, try both. One way will probably work better, and you’ll learn something in the process. Worst case, you can always order pizza. Have fun, be curious, but use your common sense and be safe.
Appendix C. About the Author
Jeff Potter has done the cubicle thing, the startup thing, and the entrepreneur thing, and through it all maintained his sanity by cooking for friend
s. He studied computer science and visual art at Brown University.
Index
A
absorption, Combinations of Tastes and Smells
acetic acid, Yeast in breads, Baking Soda, Playing with Chemicals
Achatz, Grant, Don’t be afraid to burn dinner!, Choosing Your Inputs: Flavors and Ingredients, Sugar, Modern Industrial Chemicals
acid hydrolysis, 154°F / 68°C: Collagen (Type I) Denatures
acid neutralization, Kitchen Pruning, Baking Soda, Acids and Bases
acidity of foods
baking powder and, Baking Powder
chemical reactions and, Reading Between the Lines, Cooking for Others, Pots and pans
FAT TOM acronym, Foodborne Illness and Staying Safe
