What exactly is shortening and can i use butter or margarine instead? Recipe for the white creamy chicken stew

In goods made with flour there are long chains of protein. These are similar to the long muscle fibers in meat. The shortening, and fat in general, is used to cut or 'shorten' these to make a softer texture. Think of shortening as the meat tenderizer of the baking world.

margarine is basically the same thing as shortening. Butter flavored crisco on toast? mmmm. yummy. You can sub margarine for shortening.

Is the shortening used in this recipe for making a roux? You can use any fat for a roux, veggie oil, olive oil, pan drippings (my personal favorite) butter. Remember that oils have different temperatures that they burn at. Its called the smoke point. So crank up the heat and put in whole butter.

The best results will be as written in the recipe. Altho butter, margarine and shortening are interchangable in recipes there is a difference. Margarines have water in them so they spread out more than the cookies with butter or shortening will. remember that margarines and shortenings are Trans Fats!

Use Butter. It's really better..... Lard is an animal fat, not suppose to be great for your heart but it tastes good. Crisco is the usual thing most people put in pie crusts but I always use Butter and have great success.

ps Read the label on the Margarine-not what I would want someone I cared about to eat.

Aloha,

Konagirl100

I always use margarine instead of shortening, and I've never had any problems. However, it's important to use a high fat content margarine, not a "light" one. I think the main difference is that shortening does not have any coloring in it, so it's white.

Using margarine should be fine, but if it has to be perfect this time, go out and get some Crisco. Otherwise try it with margerine or even non-stick spray and see if it turns out fine.

For the second part I would just Google "Chicken Pot Pie Recipe." I think you will find what you are looking for.

Crisco. I think that it behaves better than margarine or butter, especially when baking. The cream ingredient is probably simply Campbell's Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom condensed soup.

Shortening is hardened vegetable (or sometimes animal) fat. The only thing that absolutely requires it is a pie crust. (Unless you use lard instead.)

You can use condensed milk instead of cream, but you might need to cut some sugar out.

Shortening is actually oil from vegetable. I use margarine and organic milk for baking and cooking simple food that I like.

Recipe for creamy chicken soup...

2 med. potatoes, cut into 16 pieces

1 c. celery, sliced

2 c. carrots, cut-up

1 lg. onion, cut in chunks

1 tsp. sage

Pepper

2 1/2 to 3 lb. fryer, cut-up

1 can cream of chicken soup

Parsley

Layer vegetables in 4-quart, glass casserole. Season. Place chicken with thick edges to outside of dish on top of vegetables. Cover with glass lid or plastic wrap. Microwave on high 15 minutes. Drain and turn chicken over. Pour soup on top and recover.

Microwave on simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until fork tender. Let stand covered for 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley. Serves 4 to 6.

That they are good for health, however if you are asking which is better for diet in cases like this all vegetables would do well