National Culinary Review - November/December 2010

This chicken salad packed with apples, grapes and red onions topped with crushed pistachios would normally have a mayonnaise dressing. Rather, it is tossed in a yogurt dressing, which helps reduce the calories.

moisture, lower fat, tenderize meat and increase protein and calcium content.

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For inspiration, look at seven ways your colleagues have incorporated yogurt.

BAKE TO A DIFFERENT BEAT Because of the tang and texture it adds, cookbook author Dorie Greenspan likes to use yogurt in baking. Among other things, she finds a place for the ingredient in pancakes and waffles. She wrote Waffles: From Morning to Midnight (Owen, Weldon

Charlie Baggs, Inc.

Inc., 2001), and notes that, like buttermilk and sour cream, yogurt yields a tender crumb. Instead of milk or buttermilk for a recipe, she may use 2⁄ 3 yogurt to ¹⁄ 3 milk. To work with the acidity, she adds baking soda.

yogurt. “It reacts better and will create a better consistency,” he says.

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Another of her favorites is the classic French yogurt cake. The dessert is simple, and one of few that French homemakers prepare themselves rather than purchase from a pastry shop. “You can see the great characteristics of yogurt in the cake—the tang and the texture. The batter is lovely,” she says, adding that you can do many things with the basic cake, such as add icing or a confectioners sugar/water drizzle; spread lemon or orange marmalade on it; cut it in layers and add jam between them; or make a birthday cake out of it.

Yogurt also works well in baking yeast
breads, as the bacterium helps activate the
yeast, says culinary consultant Gregory
Schweizer of Schweizer Culinary Service,
LLC, Lenexa, Kan. He also advises using
baking soda when baking with yogurt,
and suggests ½ teaspoon for each cup of
Schweizer previously was director of
culinary development for Olive Garden
Restaurants and executive director of
menu development and innovation for
Applebee’s International Inc.

DRESS THINGS UP

Yogurt works well in dressings and dips,
partly because of its acidity and neutral
flavor that can take on many additional
flavors, Moore says, adding that the acidity
almost eliminates the need to incorporate
citrus or an acid such as vinegar. Replacing
salt with acidity is one trick chefs are using
to lower sodium content. Moore cites creamy
Russian-style dressing as an example of
one that layers flavors without the need
for salt. While the dressing normally uses
mayonnaise, yogurt is a good substitute. h on it; cut it in layers and add jam between ; a yeast, says culinary consultant Gregory baking soda when baking with yogurt,

Tim Reardon, Culinary Director
The Food Group
New York
Chilled Yogurt Cucumber Soup

Yield: 6 ( 10 oz.) portions

1 qt. plain yogurt

1 qt. peeled, seeded, large-dice
cucumber
¼ cup medium-dice onion
¾ t. minced garlic

2 t. minced jalapeño

1½ T. sliced almonds

2 t. chopped dill

1½ T. chopped cilantro

1 T. chopped mint

1 T. lemon juice

1 t. white wine vinegar ¼ cup olive oil Salt, to taste

For a lower-fat, lower-calorie ranch dressing, use yogurt in place of buttermilk, Schweizer says. Either use straight yogurt, or cut it with skim milk. “If your yogurt has a tendency to be too thin, refrigerate it and it will come back together,” he adds. It also works well in place of mayonnaise as a binder for potato, tuna and chicken salad.