[food] further on the topic of rhubarb crumble

[kaberett]

The Graun is just wrong, on so many levels, and it's sort of endearing. They're correct about the Bird's, of course, but I absolutely categorically disagree with many of the conclusions they come to.

All else aside, they don't even mention pears, and they go for almonds as an addition to the crumble rather than the much-more-obvious hazelnuts.

(They do also give a shout-out to a recipe for gluten-free crumble topping, in case you're interested, but it does contain eggs and nuts.)

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for the chefsteps link — would you advise that much sugar if I was using, say, strawberries instead of rhubarb? (Seems like a lot!)

[killing_rose]

I wander in and offer my two cents (sorry Kab!), but yeah, I really, really wouldn't.

(In a battered cookbook somewhere in the hutch, there is a three generation or more old rhubarb crisp that evolved into fairly alcoholic rhubarb sauce somewhere in the 40s or 50s, both of which were still in use the last time I visited that side of the family. I use in that recipe roughly twice the amount I use if I'm making something with strawberries, which are so much sweeter. Admittedly, if they're frozen strawberries, it could go either way--it really depends upon when they were frozen.)

For me (and again, sorry for hijacking, Kab!), it's a to-taste, but for not-rhubarb, it's going to be drastically less. Heck, it's less if you do the "not everyone likes rhubarb, let's throw strawberries in there and pretend it doesn't have rhubarb, no really, y'all, of course that's just strawberries"* variety of crisp; I'd say ratio wise if recipe for rhubarb straight calls for 1 cup, then it'd be between 1/2 and 3/4, depending upon the sweetness of the fruit. (NOT saying use 1 cup, using it as ratios.)

[kaberett]

Having conversations in my comments is highly encouraged, especially when you know more about the thing in question than me. <3

[kaberett]

I have never used the chefsteps link but I normally halve the sugar in recipes where it's non-structural as a first step in any case! (i.e. I follow meringue recipes and cake recipes and jam recipes, but where it's "this is to make the thing Sweet Enough", recipe-writers' idea of "sweet enough" is normlly way outside my tolerance. YOU CAN ADD SUGAR LATER, etc.)

But yes, almost certainly less sugar if using sweeter fruit, as k_r says. :-)

[vass]

Pears are indeed a correct crumble base.

Also tinned peaches.

[kaberett]

yessssss tinned peaches + basil works REALLY well.

[fyreharper]

Ooo this is a pleasing notion.

[wohali]

Hm, I agree, that's not really a good article on most fronts.

The crumble topping they have is closer to the gluten/dairy/egg free topping I make, just substituting margarine/soy for the butter and a GF flour mixture for the flour. The streusel sounds OK but not as traditional.

I'm newly allergic to pears, apparently, so I will have to stick with apples as my preferred pairing, or as someone else already mentioned, tinned peaches.

I've never tried putting nuts in the filling, I don't think I'd like the texture.

[kaberett]

Ugh, sympathy re pears. :-(

And yes, my normal topping is flour + butter + some sugar + nuts/spices to taste, which is approx yours!

Agreed that I have 0 desire to put nuts in the filling.

[emperor]

That's one of the Graun columns I enjoy reading, although disagreeing with it is half the fun sometimes :)

I dunno, I've never been that sold on pears in crumble, but then I would tend not to put anything else in rhubarb crumble anyhow.

[kaberett]

Oh I definitely enjoy reading it, and a lot of the time I even follow their advice, I just think this one happens to be particularly spectacularly wrong ;)

I remain Deeply Suspicious of rhubarb in general (see aforementioned Bad Experiences With School Dinners), but as a massive pear fan in general I'm very pro pears +vanilla +cardamom-y/anise-y spicing, and tricked myself into eating the experimental rhubarb crumble by putting pear into it...