Shoutout to shallots...my substitute for garlic allergy

Shallots, two ways 

Hello there, it's been a while. So much while, that for a year I neglected to notice that my website name had expired and someone tried to ransom and sell it back to me for....$3000. Not kidding. (They even thoughtfully offered to let me make payments! Um, no.) If you've followed me over the years and you've found me again, thank you for your patience. You'll see that I got a new domain name by just adding the "the" in and we're back in business.

Here's the short version of what I've been doing for five years if you care--pretend it's the movie montage section where time goes really fast! 

Got laid off, started a K-12 education technology startup for three years (investor pitches, competitions, Silicon Valley, the works) then ran out of money, nearly went bankrupt, my car broke down so I had none for six months, taught cooking classes for a year, sold my condo, and am now working at a global tech company. Whew. So managing my food allergies during this crazy time has been a back burner item and I basically kept eating/making the same faves over and over. So much so that my startup business partner knew how to order my Food Allergy Queen lunch order, complete with all my requests for condiments on the side for me to manage mystery ingredients. :)

So today's topic--shallots! Prior to my food allergy diagnosis, I LOVED LOVED LOVED garlic. I would happily eat those whole roasted bulbs of delicious garlic on toast and call it a meal. Order extra Lebanese white garlic paste from Zankou Chicken in Los Angeles. Garlic went into everything, so much so that I would usually double the amount called for in a recipe. Until I was diagnosed with a garlic allergy. GARLIC allergy. One of my true loves. It felt like such a betrayal. (Ok a little dramatic, but you get the idea of how much I loved it.)

For a while I went garlic-less. It was a sad time. I doubled the onions everywhere but it wasn't the same level of piqant and pungent flavor of garlic. Then I remembered that shallots have a flavor that's in between onions and garlic...and voila! It was similar enough from a flavor profile that it was a mild garlic-like flavor. Buttery and a little more delicate, but still can be robust enough rather than just using onions only.

Botanically, shallots are an offshoot of the onion family. 

Onion (and shallots): Allium cepa 

          Garlic: Allium staivum 

Interestingly, even though both garlic and onions are alliums, I am NOT allergic to onions. (And I know people who are the other way around--allergic to onions but not garlic--it's a mystery.) For me personally, I usually try to skip the botanical family of my allergen altogether--e.g. for salads I avoid all lettuces but eat arugula and spinach, which are a different family. But here I make the exception after some cautious trial periods.

Warning: if you have allergies for alliums, proceed with caution. Your experience may be vastly different from mine.

Uses: I use the dried versions from Penzeys when I need that garlicky "background" flavor. In soups, stews, etc. For fresh dishes like over fish or steak, I dice the fresh just like I did with garlic--saute and brown for carmelization. Because the taste is way milder than regular garlic, I usually sub 2x the amount of garlic requested as long as it doesn't impact the volume too much. 

As you can see from the nearly empty bag, I rely on them a lot. Hope you enjoy them as well. 

Substitutes: eggs in baking

I recently received an email from a reader who was struggling to find a way to make a "real" birthday cake for her young son, who is allergic to both wheat and eggs! She found my flourless chocolate cake recipe and was asking if flaxseed could substitute for the eggs. (note: I can't imagine how frustrating this would be...it's hard enough to explain to grown adults why you can't have "just a little piece" of cake, let alone to a kid on his birthday.)

People with food allergies need to know this key rule about substitutions: the majority of the time, you can't make 1:1 substitutions without making some adjustments. You need to understand the role of the food allergen in question and make sure that your substitute can contribute the same functionality. In the case of my flourless chocolate cake, beating the egg whites is what gives the cake its structure, essentially like a souffle, so in this case using flaxseed would have left a flat disc that would not rise. Being allergic to eggs would, well, suck eggs, because they're in just about every baked good, and in other things besides...fried chicken, candy (via lecithin).

Eggs are one of the more difficult things to substitute, especially in baking. In baking, they serve to bind ingredients together, provide structure, act as leavening to make things rise, and add soft texture to dry ingredients. The protein in eggs that does all this is exactly the same protein that allergic people can't have. So what are your choices if you're allergic to eggs?

I did some quick research (I've been meaning to do this anyhow for my cookbook), and here are some options, courtesy of the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Ground flaxseed can be used in small amounts as a binder but has a strong taste. It works well in things like pancakes and whole-grain items. 1 Tablespoon finely ground flaxseeds + 3 Tablespoons water= one egg

Silken tofu (Mori nu brand in a box) works best in dense cakes and brownies.1/4 c blended silken tofu = 1 egg

Ener-G Egg Replacer is probably your best best when you need to replace more than one egg in baking. Seems to work best in cookies and things that are supposed to be crispy. (it's made of potato starch, tapioca flour and a combination of natural gums). 1-1/2 Tablespoons Ener-G + 2 Tablespoons water = 1 egg

Mashed banana
used in small amounts works well in baking, except gives a banana flavor. 1/2 banana blended = 1 egg

Soy yogurt (I imagine you can use dairy yogurt too, but this is from a vegan cookbook says the FAQ) 1/4 c. soy yogurt = 1 egg

So, what did I recommend to my reader? Instead of going trying to invent something on her own, I recommended going to a good gluten-free or allergen-free grocery site (I have a link to Allergy Grocer on my site), getting a gluten-free cake mix and use Ener-G as a substitute the eggs. I guess we'll all wait to hear how it comes out because the little boy's birthday is a ways away and mom is practicing early! (Hopefully she'll read this and send us a picture.)

Next on the eggless journey...I'm dying to make eggless mayo with silken tofu, I'll let you know how it comes out. It will either be fabulous or funky. I can't wait to find out.