I have a recipe that calls for lemon oil. I have tried to find lemon oil, but all I can locate is lemon extract. Can I substitute lemon extract and, if so, would I use the same amount? Thanks for your help.
Unless you're cooking up some furniture polish, I'm dying to know what the heck kind of recipe would call for lemon oil.
My pet peeve (OK, I have more than one, but this is a biggie) is when recipes list ingredients that you can't find with a map, both hands and a flashlight. It's sort of like pulling the "easy to assemble" directions out of the box of hundreds of parts and then discovering pieces are missing.
Sometimes you can find culinary oils in health food stores or gourmet shops. Just make sure you don't pick up some vial of aromatherapy oil that isn't edible.
If you can't find it and want to substitute lemon extract, just remember that oils are generally stronger than extracts. I don't think there is a "rule of thumb" ratio, but my suggestion is to start by using twice the amount of extract as oil called for in the recipe. Then let your nose and taste buds be the final judge. Remember you can always add more, but you can't take it away.
I know you can help settle a disagreement. Isn't Salisbury steak just a hamburger with sauce?
More people need to live in your world where disagreements involve ground meat rather than weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, Salisbury steak is ground lean meat, just like a good burger. But to say it's just like a hamburger is like calling foie gras just liver, a Ferrari just a car, or Bruce and the E Street Band just a rock group.
I'll bet you thought Salisbury steak was invented by someone in the test kitchen that produced the original TV dinners. That's probably where you got your burger-with-sauce impression, and what was in those mashed potatoes, anyway?
Actually, this beef dish was named after one of the first health food faddists, Dr. James H. Salisbury. This 19th-century physician believed that lean meat should make up the majority of our diet, and this was years before the recently departed Dr. Atkins made a fortune off the same idea.
When Dr. Salisbury made this dish, the only thing he mixed with lean meat was minced onion. But I think we can spice it up a little more.
Cease Fire Salisbury Steak
1/2 onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
2 eggs
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup cooked and diced button mushrooms
2 ounces butter
2 tablespoons flour
24 ounces of canned beef broth
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
Saute the onions and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until they are translucent, then set aside to cool. Mix the beef with the cooled onion mixture, eggs, bread crumbs, parsley and mushrooms. Form the meat into 4 patties and saute in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil until golden brown on both sides, and set aside.
In a saucepan, melt 2 ounces of butter, whisk in the flour, and cook over low heat for 1 minute. Begin to add the broth, a third at a time, whisking and bringing to a simmer each time. Make sure there are no lumps. Add the mushrooms and simmer for 10 minutes. Place the patties in a roasting pan, pour the gravy over them, and bake in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.
Jim Coleman is executive chef at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia, a cookbook author and host of television and radio cooking shows. Candace Hagan is a food writer and cookbook author.
