Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Okay guys, I keep opening up the cookie book, the pie book, Viva Vegan, etc. and being confronted by the fact that I can't find shortening here (or at least I haven't discovered the Dutch version of it) nor chocolate chips (let alone vegan-friendly ones) nor chile peppers. I'm resigned to the fact that anything resembling Latin food will cross my path here, but am I out of luck with the shortening? My British colleagues at work said they don't use it either. Can you just sub extra margarine?

I've seen Crisco at the Asian market near my house, but I definitely don't want to use that. I don't even know if it's vegan. I miss my Spectrum tub!

you could substitute margarine, but it will probably yield a softer texture, as shortening is a harder fat.

Trex is the most widely available American-style shortening in the UK - not sure if you'll find that in the Netherlands. we also have shredded suet, which is little shards of hard (usually) vegetable fat dusted with starch to keep it from sticking together. you could also keep an eye out for palm fat. hard coconut oil might also work.

From what I understand, Crisco is vegan. I know it's not the healthiest option, with the hydrogenation and all, but I've been considering just giving in and buying a container, since I've also never found another shortening option here in NL. I keep avoiding recipes that call for it, so I'll be watching this space. Maybe coconut oil will do?

I haven't found vegan chocolate chips either. I keep meaning to check out the Kingsalmarkt in Amstelveen to see if they have any accidentally vegan ones. Chili peppers you should be able to get at a Toko somewhere, though.

and for chocolate chips, it's usually a lot more cost-effective to just chop up a bar of chocolate.

That's what my bf said, haha. I just love the chips!

I get hot peppers at the toko, but never really yields the flavors I'm looking for. I keep experimenting with random ones I find there, though.

I should just pony up and sub something like coconut oil. I'm curious about what the Kingslamarkt is.

oh, when you mention chiles, are you talking about dried or fresh? dried chiles should be fairly easy to get via mail order.

Coconut oil will do just fine for anything that calls for shortening- at least I sub it out equally and use it pretty regularly, no problems. I don't like the hydrogenation issue and coconut oil is a good alternative for me. I keep it in the fridge so it's hard and I chip out the chunks I need, I don't keep it liquid (not that it would liquify where you live, but where I live it often does).

I use it, and so does my mum. There's a brand called Trex here (England). In larger supermarkets, you can also get "margarine for baking", although I've used normal margerine to make pastry without any problems. It generally has a fat:water ration more similar to butter than shortening, which is about 99% fat so can be subbed more reliably in lots of recipes.

In Germany they sell those big blocks of vegetable fat, they come in 1-kilo packages and do not come in tubs but are wrapped in aluminium foil like butter. They are big, like a large brick.

They are usually somewhere near the oils and are being sold for deep-frying. Maybe they have somthing similar in the Netherlands as well? A well known German brand is Biskin:


There is also "Palmin" which is pure palm fat but it is really hard.

Lily, they do have stuff like that here. It's called margarine "voor bakken en braden". I've never found one here that's vegan, though. The closest I've stumbled across is Wajang margarine, which seems vegan, but they don't specify if their vitamin D is 2 or 3.



Not sure where you're located, pickledtreats, but Kingsalmarkt is a supermarket in Amstelveen that specializes in foreign (including US and UK) foods. I haven't been there yet, but keep meaning to go and check it out.

The only vegetable shortening available here in Australia is either hydrogenated or contains a bunch of palm oil - & I'm not too happy about either of those options. If you don't mind putting in a little time & effort, you could try making this recipe for vegan butter. http://www.veganbaking.net/other-vegan- ... gan-butter I've made this several times now & have used it for cakes, pastries & cheesecake crumb bases & it works brilliantly. I can't get hold of liquid soy lecithin, so I dissolve a teaspoon of granules in a tablespoon of boiling water, & leave it overnight. It works great.

You can just use coconut oil for things like pastry, but this butter recipe produces a denser, creamier texture than just coconut oil on its own & tastes pretty good too.

You do need saturated fat for it to be solid in room temperature. So you either use naturally saturated fats like coconut or palm or you hydrogenate the vegetable oils that are available to turn the unsaturated ones into saturated ones.

If you dislike the palm fat and the hydrogenating process, there are not many more options other than just using coconut fat.

Since shortening is just basically pure fat, any vegetable fat that is solid in room temperature should work for that.

Yes, I do realise that - which is why I prefer to use the recipe I linked to & make my own using coconut oil - otherwise, I prefer to avoid shortening. There's no way I'm ever going to voluntarily use hydrogenated oil, & I avoid palm oil as much as possible unless it's from a sustainable source. I was simply suggesting another option, whether it be useful where shortening is unavailable, or if people prefer to make their own from superior ingredients.

I also use coconut oil in place of shortening. It works for most pie recipes.

Mihl and torque are wise, you can sub coconut oil for shortening in baking, tamale making, and pretty much anywhere else you would use a solid fat in cooking, in my experience at least.

Awesome! I will try and find some this weekend then. Maybe I'll even make a pie.

In pies I simply use more margarine instead of shortening, it has always worked fine. I must say though that I have never used shortening so I can't compare, but as the end results are fine, I don't care.

Me, too. And I leave it out of icings. I'm happy to read I can use coconut oil for tamales, though. One day I will brave tamale making.