Stirring with knives?
So this past weekend I encountered a peculiar line in a recipe which I am hoping someone with more cooking knowledge than me can shed light on
Combine flour, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt in another bowl. Using two knives, work cold butter, cut into pieces, into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle mixture evenly over blueberries.
What I ended up doing whats putting everything into a pyrex bowl and pathetically hacking at the butter chunks until my wrists hurt. My question is two-fold:
1) Why? I assume the recipe has some justification for why two knives are the appropriate tool.
2) Is there a particular technique one should use when "working" the mixture?
Best Answer
You need to incorporate the butter into the flour such that the butter is in hazelnut sized lumps, without melting the butter. If you chop it that small on a board it will soften as you handle it. So you have to do it in the bowl.
You could buy a pastry cutter/dough blender but to be honest they are a pain in the wrist. If you have a food processor, you have a perfect pastry making tool - just blitz the butter and flour with a couple of pulses, then dribble in some cold water, blitz again, and repeat until you have a coherent (but not too sticky) dough with the aforementioned hazelnut sized lumps of butter mixed through.
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Is it bad to stir with a knife?
There are many warnings, traditions and superstitions related to the use of cutlery. For example, an English saying, \u201cStir with a knife, stir up strife\u201d, reminds us not to stir anything in the kitchen using a knife (be it liquid, flour, powder or anything else) as this could cause bad luck.What is the superstition about knives?
According to one superstition, a knife presented as a gift will sever the friendship between the giver and the recipient. The only way around this unfortunate outcome is to tape a penny to the knife. The coin must be promptly removed and returned to the giver as a form of symbolic payment.Is it bad luck to cross knives?
3) Don't Lay One Knife Across Another Crossed knives on a table will cause a quarrel. Crossing a knife with another piece of cutlery is a sign of witchcraft. And if you cross your knife with your spoon, you are implying the food didn't taste good and that you wish bad luck on the chef.Why do you mix dough with a knife?
The rapid action of a food processor's blade can turn dough elastic in just minutes with almost no effort. The food processor also helps ensure that the dry and wet ingredients are evenly incorporated and helps avoid unmixed pockets of flour for the most effortless doughs you'll ever make.Indians stirring with knives in australia
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Answer 2
You don't stir with the knives; the process is called 'cutting in'.
You can find videos showing how to do it, but the basic technique is:
- cut the butter into smaller bits
- toss the butter bits into the flour mixture.
- hold a knife in either hand
- pull the knives across each other, while keeping them touching the bottom of the bowl.
You can also hold your non-dominant hand still, and pull the other knife in your dominant hand across it, but it'll take a little longer.
Answer 3
Using knives is an old fashioned way to "cut butter." Which really means make the butter into smaller pieces that are then coated with flour. The best way I've found is to skip knives, pastry blenders, or the mess of my food processor, and instead freeze the butter and instead use a box grater, shredding the butter on the largest hole side.
Shred the butter on top of the flour and mix with hands working the butter into the flour until you have the consistency your recipe calls for. The frozen butter won't melt fast enough in your hands to over soften.
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