Redsugar
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Boulangers et pâtissiers often use spirits & liqueurs in their work. Yet how many of us reach for a bottle of beer – that is, to pour its contents into a dessert! Over the few years, I have become increasingly fascinated w/ the range of imported beers offered at the local liquor shops and their prospective culinary strengths. A recent statement from the gov’t-sanctioned corporation which regulates the importation & sale of beers has revealed that the import-beer category manifested a third-straight-year of double-digit growth. The current inventory sheet lists about 80 different imports, appended by the corporation’s aspiration to add another 20 labels in the near future.
Many of us are now learning that supposedly de rigueur food-wine matchups may be contested and sometimes be surpassed by beers. Witness this interesting comment from Alan Skversky, regional exec. Chef for the Arizona-based Hops! Bistro & Brewery restaurant: “There are no set rules. But, everytime we try a different beer with a different food, we’re blown away by the possibilities.” (Neil, I am intrigued to ask you whether similar knowledge transpires to your guests at the great Bellagio in LV?)
It was fascinating to read recently of a contest held in NYC between a sommelier (I think he was from the Gramercy Tavern restaurant) and a prominent authority on beer. The final showdown on their slate of food-&-liquor pairings was a supposedly difficult, rare cheese from France. Ultimately, the judges awarded the prize to the beer advocate.
Beer has a great gustatory range. Examples: Belle-Vue Kriek, a dessert beer from Belgium, is an admirable choice to serve w/ a bittersweet, glazed chocolate-&-dried-cherry cake à la mode. Sweet stout – famously matched to fresh oysters – is delicious served with a caramelized cheesecake. (A creamy stout, including my all-time favourite dark beer, Young’s Double Chocolate, froths up beautifully beside a devil’s food cake. A doppelbock complements a spicier dessert such as pumpkin pie. And a wheat beer can be drunk happily with a raspberry crumble. I wonder if any of my beloved Pilsners (Urquell, Okacim, Frydenlund, Zywiec) would blend with anything from the sweets trolley? Hmmm…unlikely!
Perusing my journal earlier today, I selected some of the beer-flavoured desserts I’ve prepared:
Chocolate Cake (using Nethergate Old Growler Porter)
Gingerbread Cake (using Marston’s Oyster Stout)
Pumpkin Cookies (using a dark Bock)
Cheddar-Cheese Corn Bread (using Mexican Sol beer); I know, it's savoury.
Prudence Hilburn’s Beer Biscuits (using an India Pale Ale)
On several occasions I’ve baked a large pretzel-shaped bread (using either Bitburger from Ger. or Kronenburg from Fr.)
And, I’ll confess that I made an unusual Dark-Beer Sabayon to accompany a Lebkuchen Soufflé!
There’s nothing highfalutin about this Green-Tomato Chocolate Cake , except that with a later-than-usual ripening season for my tomatoes this year, I expect there’ll be a huge basket of green ones to process!
You’ll need 1 cup of peeled, seeded, puréed green tomatoes.
Cream: 2/3 cup butter & 1¾ cups granulated sugar.
Add 2 large eggs & 4 oz. melted, unsweetened chocolate plus 1 tsp vanilla extract. Blend well.
Sift together: 2½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup non-alkalized cocoa, 2 tsp. Each of baking powder & soda, and ¼ tsp salt.
Stir tomato purée into chocolate mixture. Then stir in half of dry ingredients. Next, pour in 1 cup of flat beer (enchances texture, moistness, & lightness of cake). Fold in remaining dry ingredients.
Spoon batter into two greased, floured 9-inch layer pans. Bake for about 30 mins. in preheated 350° F. oven. Later you may cover w/ your choice of Cream Cheese Icing. And perhaps decorate w/ chocolate butterflies or marzipan ladybugs.
Bon appétit – and cheers, too!
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Carole Bloom (Int’l Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, & Confections) maintains that the terms ‘icing’ and ‘frosting’ are safely interchangeable. Laura Mason, author of Sugar Plums and Sherbet, agrees w/ Bloom’s linguistic assessment: “In N. America, the term ‘frosting’ has a slightly longer history than ‘icing,’ but the two terms became interchangeable and ‘icing’ has now become the preferred usage.”
Nevertheless, I am conditioned to a certain extent culturally to think that the names of some of these preparations are rather staunchly less flexible: For example, we say ‘Royal Icing’ but rarely, if ever, do we say ‘Royal Frosting.’ We invariably refer to ‘Fondant Icing’ as such, not as ‘Fondant Frosting.’ Also, I do not recollect having heard anyone say ‘Penuche Icing.’ It’s always ‘Penuche Frosting.’ Wouldn’t most of us say ‘Boiled Frosting’ instead of ‘Boiled Icing.’ The latter just doesn’t seem to ring as true. Am I too closeted to know otherwise? All in all, though, I very much doubt that there’s any lasting benefit in labouring over this curious, but ultimately small-fry, issue of semantics.
“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
~ Harriet van Horne
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"Sinclair" -- I too made the chocolate ravioli only once. It wasn't disastrous, but needed some modifications. Now, where oh where, is that recipe?
Andiesenji – your charming remarks re your great grandmother's notes make me hungry for travel to old-World Europe. (Not that I ever require additional incentive for gastronomic escapades.) Thanks!
Pastira
5 large eggs
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 pound Ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
¼ pound fine egg noodles
Beat eggs & sugar; add Ricotta, milk, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
Cook macaroni, drain, put in large mixing bowl and melt butter over top. Add egg/Ricotta mixture, stirring in thoroughly. Pour into buttered 8- x 2-inch pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350° F. Let cool, then refrigerate before serving.
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Dutch-style Appel Taart
8 oz. butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, beaten
3 pounds Red Delicious apples, peeled, cored, diced in ¼-in. pieces
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsps nutmeg 2 Tbsps cinnamon
Pinch of allspice
3 Tbsps sherry
Cut together butter, flour, sugar, and baking powder. Incorporate beaten egg. (Reserve ½ cup for topping. Mix remainder into a ball, press gently over the bottom and halfway up sides of buttered-&-floured 10-in. springform pan. The dough should have a uniform thickness of just over ¼ inch.
Mix together apples, lemon juice, sugar, spices, and sherry. Spoon onto crust. (The height of the filling will exceed the crust, but bakin will compensate.) Sprinkle w/ reserved topping.
Bake on middle rack of preheated 375° F. oven until top is a rich golden brown, approx. 50-60 minutes. After baking, allow the taart to cool and then you may refrigerate it. Unmould from the pan and serve with whipped cream & toasted natural almond slices.
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Many years ago, I baked a Blackcurrant Cheesecake. (I must ferret out the recipe.) Redcurrant Relish makes a delicious sauce on ice cream, although I prefer it as an accompaniment for roast lamb, pork, or chicken.
Redcurrant Pie
Crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ pound uns. butter
1 large egg
2 Tbsp milk
Fit into deep, 9-in. round pan. Sprinkle w/ sieved biscuit crumbs.
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Whisk 6 large egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1 cup granulated sugar, and whip to loosely stiff peaks. Stir in 1 cup ground almonds. Then fold in 4 to 5 cups of washed-&-rinsed, stemmed redcurrants. Turn mixture into prepared shell and bake until puffed & golden.
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Pasta desserts – now that is an intriguing concept! I have made white-chocolate ravioli stuffed w/ a hazelnut filling. I rolled the dough over my Raviolamp-24 mould
("apparecchio per la rapida confezione di ravioli e dolci").
I’ve made Jacques Pépin’s Pasta Cake, but that’s a savoury item.
On first look, I found a Chocolate Pasta recipe (in a Nika Hazelton book) by Dr. Giuliano Bugialli: 4 level Tbsps of cocoa powder are added to a basic 4-egg pasta dough. You could roll out that dough and start brainstorming for ideas.
Nicely sauced Angel-hair pasta would no doubt be appropriate, when used (sparingly) on some plated desserts. Perhaps ziti could be used in a pudding?
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A valuable recommendation re Feuille de Brick. It is a versatile dough that makes an excellect alternative to phyllo dough, even crèpe dough. The elasticity of brick pastry helps it to stay intact better (thus it’s superior for sealing in the flavour of its contents) than phyllo. I suspect phyllo could be used for the purpose under discussion, although doubling the leaves would be advisable. I’ve only used feuille de brick to bake a croustillant of pears.
Interestingly, and not too foreign to this topic, I once had a dessert of pineapple in spring rolls w/ rum ice cream.
Some further inspiration for the banana-fritter combinations may come from the Cambodian dessert known as as Kuay Namuan – for which bananas are poached in sweetented coconut milk until barely softened. Also, Filipinos make a simple, sorbet-like coconut ice called buko. Possibly worth looking up its method of preparation.
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Over the years, I have compiled a very extensive collection of Bread Pudding recipes. One of my fav. cold-weather versions is Cranberry-Pumpkin served w/ Ginger Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce. However, during the summer, fresh-picked berries are the de rigueur components in the puddings. Here is a straighforward, not-overly-rich (but still luscious) BLUEBERRY BRIOCHE PUDDING:
1½ oz. uns. butter, softened
4 individual brioches, or 8 oz. challah
1 cup fresh wild blueberries
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
¼ cup + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
Minced zest of sm. orange
1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 325° F. Lightly butter four 8-ounces ramekins.
Slice brioches crosswise into ½-inch-thick slices. Lightly butter each slice w/ remaining softened butter.
Divide bread amongst ramekins, arranging the pieces randomly upright & horizontal. Scatter ½ cup blueberries between around the slices.
Whisk together milk, eggs, ¼ cup sugar, zest, and vanilla until blended well. Divide egg mixture evenly amongst the ramekins, pouring it over brioche slices and berries. (Tops of brioche slices won’t be covered completely.) Sprinkle remaining Tbsp sugar over each pudding.
Since this is a custard-based dessert, we'll use a water-bath to cook then gently: Place puddings in hotel pan. Pour hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of the ramekins. Bake 35 minutes, or until the brioche slices are toasted and each pudding is just set around edges, but slightly soft in centre.
Cool until warm before serving. If desired, drizzle the puddings w/ Raspberry Syrup; or, be more extravagant, and top each w/ a sm. scoop of freshly-churned Amaretto-Peach Ice Cream. It's enough to make you swoon!
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Wendy: Coconut cream is, of course, available in tins. But if you prefer to make your own, it's quite easy....
Place 2 cups whole milk & 2 cups desiccated, unsweetened coconut (OR grated meat of 2 fresh coconuts) in the top of a double boiler. Bring to a simmer and set over barely simmering water and cook for 45-60 minutes. Chill and lift cream off the coconut meat. Place coconut meat in a cloth and wring out any remaining liquid and add to the cream. Discard coconut.
Mango Sorbet is lovely served in Vanilla Tulipes. Or accompanied by coconut shortbread cookies. Stepping further in one's imagination, how about serving Ile Flottante in a pool of coconut-cream custard sauce? Or on a Chilled Strawberry-Banana "Soup." Fabulous!
Also, during winter, Banana Fritters could be served w/ a well-chilled Orange Custard (made w/ liquid fructose) that had been baked in those 1/2-cup oval molds, then sprinkled w/ toasted coconut. Otherwise, you could flip things around and prepare a Cold Banana Soufflé (using Mandarine Napoleon) spooned into Coconut Tuiles with a Burnt-Orange Sauce coating the bananas à la Bananas Foster.
I have made a Coconut-Cream Custard and served it w/ Lemon Pound Cake topped w/ Mango Sauce. Here are the custard steps:
Lightly brush six 4-oz. ramekins with oil. Whip 3 eggs till frothy; add 2 Tbsp sugar, whip to light, fluffy consistency. Sprinkle 1 tsp gelatin on top, alllow to soften, then whisk in until incorporated.
Bring to simmer over med-high flame: 4 fl.oz. heavy cream and 4 fl.oz. sweetened coconut cream (okay, I used Coco Lopez brand). Slowly pour into egg mixture, stirring constantly. Cook over med. flame, stirring constantly, and cook as per regular custard base.
Immediately stir over ice till cool. Mix in ¾ fl.oz. dark rum. Beat 4 fl.oz heavy cream until fairly stiff, then fold it into custard. Divide amongst the ramekins. Refrigerate at least 6 hrs.
Enjoy!
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A friend of mine made this iced tea for us to enjoy on the glider-chair in her backyard:
Raspberry Tea
1 cup fresh raspberries
4 Tbsp lemon juice
1½ cups strong English Breakfast tea, chilled
¼ cup fructose
8 ice cubes
Purée raspberries using an immersion blender and strain into a small pitcher in order to remove seeds. Add tea, lemon juice, and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add ice cubes & garnish with sprigs of mint. Makes two drinks.
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I'm quite sure that canned Cream of Coconut would be a successful ingredient in the batter (flour, baking powder, eggs, water). And I might prefer making a Coconut-Mango Sorbet for better visual impact, as well as a brighter tropical palate on the plated dessert. Lime juice ought to be in there somewhere, too.
A trial batch:
Sift together 1 cup flour, 2 Tb baking powder, 1¼ tsps salt, ¼ cup sugar, a well-beaten egg, about 1/3 cup coconut cream, 2 tsps oil. Stir until the batter is thick & smooth. Fry the sliced coated bananas until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.
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In rapture over raspberries! There are a myriad uses for fresh raspberries, including ice cream, cobblers, coulis, frozen mousses, coupes, sour-cream coffee cakes, etc. On a more elegant level, one can make a Charlotte Russe or a large raspberry-studded Napoleon that's quite stunning. Also wonderful on a Pavlova or a Hazelnut-Meringue Cake.
Jane Grigson was spot-on, when she wrote that "raspberries are above all the fruit for eating raw, preferably on their own with Jersey cream and sugar. They are compatible with peaches and melon, if there are just a few of them, or with cream cheese mixtures. These remarks do not of course apply to people who grow so many raspberries that they are desparate to use them up, freezers overflowing, children stuffed, and red-mouthed beyond their desires."
These luscious berries have a 3-day, at-their-best longevity. Looks to me like you may be faced with preparing a cupboardful of jelly!
(BTW, what is the specific variety of your berries? Do they have a high ratio of flesh to seed? Are they all red or are some black? I love the golden yellow ones!)
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Unhesitatingly, I must congratulate Mr. Vengroff for his excellent treatment of the subject. Bravo! Also, I am grateful for the link (provided by a reader, supra to a Canadian online retailer).
I have used (for the past 10 years) an exceptionally accurate & dependable scale that was built in England: A Salter Electronic -- powered by a single 9-V alkaline battery. The device can measure up to 5kg (11 lbs) in 5g (¼-oz) increments. The press of a button instantly switches the readings from Imperial to Metric readouts; plus a zeroing-out feature is also included. An easily portable scale, functionally proven to have been worth an order of magnitude above the original purchase price. However, there have been times when I would have appreciated supra a scale that would provide readings of loads up to approx. 10kg. Eventually!
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Mark Sommelier, thank you apprising us of that sly bit of trivia. I had not known of it until now. However, please do not think that I have any intention of disputing the authenticity of your reference, but might you agree that it is perhaps somewhat more appropriate to signify the gasp of air as a "monk's fart?" (Especially when we consider, for example, Dom Perignon.) Also, from a sheer technical angle, a true lover of champagne does not let the cork pop, as too much carbonic gas & flavour escape the bottle. Nonetheless, I'll always find genuine humour when recalling your reference to flatulent abbesses!
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I offer a recipe for Orange Doughnuts:
4 navel oranges
1 large egg
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 oz. uns.butter, melted & cooled
3¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
Grate the orange zest into a large bowl. Cut up 1 of the oranges, reserving remaining oranges for another use. Discard the seeds and chop in processor. You’ll need about 1 cup chopped orange. Add to the zest w/ the egg, sour cream, sugar, & butter; combine mixture well.
Next, sift in the dry ingredients and stir the dough until it is just combined. (It will be very soft, like cookie dough.) Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it lightly, about 6 or 7 times, until smooth. Pat the dough out ½ inch thick and cut it w/ a well-floured doughnut cutter. Briefly knead the scraps together and make more doughnuts in the same manner.
Fry them properly. Drain the doughnuts on unglazed brown paper. Dip them in an Orange Glaze, if desired.
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In 1835, Fr. Naturalist Charles Morren found a method to cultivate vanilla commercially in places other than Mexico (where the Spainard Fanciso Hernãndez discovered araco aromatico in 1571 and proclaimed that it was in high favour amongst grandees in New Spain.) The orchid-like bloom of Vanilla plenifolia was revealed to be double sexed and pollination of the flower dependent upon the bee melipona, native only to Mexican vanilla-growing districts.
Later, experiments were to show that vanilla flowers could be pollinated by hand, with an expert able to pollinate about 200 flowers per day. Although Mexico would continue to produce the world's finest vanilla, French islands such as Madagascar & Réunion eventually became more prolific producers. By 1955, annual world production of vanilla beans reached about 700 tons.
Traditionally, the finest vanilla has been ascertained to come from Mexico's Mazatlán Valley, where it was for many years cultivated by descendents of the Aztecs. However, the islands of Madagascar, Réunion, and Comoro supplied about 80 percent of U.S. imports. Additionally, some beans were exported from Jamaica, Tahiti, Java, and Brazil.
Acording to the entry in Larousse Gastronomique, "the pods are gathered before they are completly ripe, plunged into boiling water, then, before they are quite dry, shut in tins, where their aroma develops. The best quality pods, very smooth in flavour, are covered w/ a frost of vanilline crystals." The articles proceeds to appraise the finest sources: "The Mexican vanilla is the most highly esteemed; after it come thos of Guiana, Guadaloupe, and of Réunion."
Additionally, we are keenly apprised that "it is sometimes falsified, either by emptying the pods and filling them w/ a neutral paste or by brushing ordinary vanilla w/ Peruvian balsam to frost them artificially w/ benzoic acid crystals."
Anyway, back to Central America: When the Spanish conquistadores, led by Hernán Cortés, were in Mexico in 1520, one of their officers, Bernal Días, observed that the emperor Montezuma was drinking chocolatl, a beverage consisting of powdered cocoa beans and ground corn, flavoured w/ tlilxochitl (ground black vanilla pods!), and honey.
It wasn't until 1602, that Hugh Morgan, apothecary to Queen Eliz. I, recommended that vanilla be used as an exquisite flavour in its own right, following, obviously, the example of the Aztecs. By 1700, vanilla was used in France for flavouring chocolate & scenting tobacco.
In 1841, Edmond Albius, a former slave on Réunion, perfected a quick pollination method: With the pointed tip of a small bamboo stick, he picked up the adhesive pollen masses, and prying up the flaplike rostellum inside the flower, he pressed the male pollen mass into contact w/ the sticky female stigma. This same mentod of artifical pollination of vanilla is basically used commercially today.
Vanillin, the crustalline component, was first isolated from vanilla pods by Gobley in 1858. By 1874, it had been obtained from glycosides of pine tree sap, temporarily causing an economic depression in the natural vanilla industry. The year 1891 brought another difficult period for natural vanilla, when two other processes for producing artificial or synthetic vanillin were introduced. One used eugenol, an aromatic substance obtained by fractional distillation of clove oil; the other was a patented electrolytic method of producing vanillin from sucrose. Subsequently, other syntheses of vanillin were developed from lignin, waste paper pulp, oil of sassafras & coal tar.
The FDA standards require that the label reads "Imitation Vanilla" when the product contains any synthetic ingredients. If the label states "Vanilla Extract," the product must be derived from vanilla beans.
For the past 18 years, I have adhered to the advice of Nancy Silverton (whose first book I bought while enrolled at cooking school) re selecting vanilla beans: "I use large plump beans, which are about 1/2-inch wide and about 5 inches long. Beans should be slightly firm, packed with seeds, and not too moist. Adjust the number of vanilla beans in a recipe according to the size of your beans. Unfortunately, the skinny, shriveled-up beans found inmost supermarkets have so little flavour that they're a waste of money. A vanilla bean should have a pungent, almost overwhelming vanilla aroma. Store in the refrigerator...to keep fresh."
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A recipe for Beignet Soufflés – Nun’s Farts!
2 oz. butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon orange oil or 1 tablespoon dark rum
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Powdered sugar
Combine 4 oz. water with butter & salt in saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add flour all at once. Stir vigorously until mixture leaves sides of pan and forms a ball around the spoon. (If a ball does not form almost immediately, hold saucepan over low heat and beat briskly a few seconds. Cool slightly.)
Add eggs, one at a time, and beat vigorously until mixture is smooth and glossy after both additions. Add orange oil or rum, if desired, and beat again.
Add oil for deep-frying to a wok, heavy skillet, or deep fryer to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat to 360° F. Drop dough by tablespoons into hot fat. Fry until browned on all sides and center is cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Fry and test one first to determine approximate cooking time. Drain on unglazed brown paper. Serve hot, sprinkled with powdered sugar.
[Classic Beignets are, of course, yeast-raised fried breads.]
Last evening, while musing on the subject of fried breads, I thought of those delightful little doughnuts known as Zeppole. (They're a toothsome specialty of Naples.) I have a recipe at hand if you're intrigued.
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Lindy's famous cheescake from the 1950s & '60s was baked (not in a waterbath, mind you!) for 10 minutes at 500° F. Then the oven temp. was reduced to 200° F. and the cake baked for about an hour more. Apparently springform pans were used. [steven Wheeler (The Book of Cheesecakes) instructs for Lindy's Cheesecake that it be baked initially at 475F for 15 minutes; and then baked for 50 minutes more in an adjusted oven temp of 275F.]
I am a longtime (about 23 years) devotee of baking cheesecakes in non-springform pans in bain maries. I generally use 8-, 9-, 10, and 12-inch cake pans that measure 3 inches in depth. The slower a cheesecake bakes, the creamier it becomes. Moreover, when cooked at a low temperature in a water bath, its surface is less likely to crack (don't mix the batter too long or at too high speed so as to avoid over-aerating it). And set the pan on a trivet so that the water will circulate under it in the bain marie. Also, don't allow the water to boil! Drop in a few ice cubes, if necessary.
However, according to David Joachim in his Brilliant Food Tips & Cooking Tips, cheesecakes don't need a water bath when it bakes in a remarkably cool oven overnight That is for 6 to 8 hours!
As for the estimable use of earthenware pans to bake cheesecakes, remember that the traditional Russian Easter cheesecake known as pashka is baked in a special kulich pan. I mold pashkas in 7" x 7" clay flowerpots.
For some of the heavier cakes, it may be advisable to run a thin-bladed knife around the edge of the pan once it has been removed from the oven, in order to ensure that the cake won't adhere to the sides of the pan and cause the top to crack via contraction in cooling.
Also, not all cream cheese react the same during baking. Some have more stabilizers (gums), or different stabilizers, than others. Additonally, you must be cognizant of the baking properties of other types of cheese used in these cakes...such as curd, mascarpone, ricotta, Neuchatel, Triple-Crème, and Quark; and cured cheeses, including Blue, Gouda, and Feta.
In many cases, a cheesecake must be regarded as a type of custard – and handled accordingly for optimal results. Keep in mind that when you're making a chiffon-style cheesecake, the whipped egg whites create another integral element. If the whites were overbeaten or become overheated, this delicate structure might collapse, and the result will be a soggy product.
Finally, accurate oven temps are critical. And baking the cheesecakes in a convection oven is usually benefical for many recipes.
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At least for the sake of historical curiosity, here is a recipe for marshmallows included in a 1920 cookbook which had belonged to one of my great Aunts:
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup cold water
1 package gelatine
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons vanilla essence
Soak gelatine 20 minutes in 1 cup cold water. Boil sugar & water together 10 minutes. Add gelatine to syrup and cook until it is dissolved.
A coating for the marshmallow:
2 cups brown sugar, 2 tablespoons water, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1/4 cup butter. Boil until brittle in cold water; then dip marshmallows in it.
A recipe for Marshmallow Fudge is appended in the book.
Incidentally, TP(M'sia)'s substitution (posted above) of glucose syrup for corn syrup theoretically reminded me of...
Turkish Delight
250g liquid glucose
1.25 kg granulated sugar
2250g cornflour
2 Tbsps rosewater
1/2 tsp pink food colouring, optional
120g powdered sugar
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Dessert recipes incorporting egg yolks on their own:
Marquise Sauce; Sablés; Zabaglione; Sauce Campagne; Crème Anglaise; Crème de Buerre; Continental Buttercream; Dobos Torte; Mexican Flan; Custard-Rice Pudding.
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For Sinclair, et. al.
To make Brioche Dougnuts, first you must prepare a classic brioche bread dough to the point that it's completed the first rising. Punch down the risen dough; then push and roll it until it's about ½-inch thick. Cut w/ a floured doughnut cutter and place the pieces on parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving spaces between them. Cover loosely w/ towel and let rise until double in bulk.
Gently drop the cut-outs into the hot oil and turn frequently until they’re golden brown. Remove from fryer using a wire-mesh ladle and drain the doughnuts on absorbent paper. A cinnamon-sugar coating is optional. Enjoy!
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A bountifully flavoured (Rosh Hashanah) Holiday Honey Cake is found on pp. 164/5 of Carole Walter's superb collection, Great Cakes.
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This is a subject which I invariably rank in the forefront of economizing importance in my kitchen, as I use a great number of eggs per week. Some recipes requiring egg-whites more-or-less exclusive of yolks:
Appetizers: Beef Consommé; Parmesan Croûtes; cold Borscht; Crab Puffs.
Entrées: Chicken Quenelles; Shrimp Cantonese; Crab or Oyster Soufflés; Veal Almondine.
Desserts: Sherbets; Soufflé Rothchild and other fruit Soufflés ; Mousses; Meringue-topped pies; American & Seven-minute Frostings; Jam Frosting; Marshmallow Buttercream; Meringue Nests; Macaroons; Baked Alaska; Vacherin; Pavlova; Angel Food Cakes; Lady Baltimore Cake.
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Occasionally, I entertain a few thought-experiments in the area of peculiar dessert names. Always, beignets soufflés are the first to come to mind. Students of the far side of culinary French recognize them as pets-de-nonne – the “nun-farts” you’ve mentioned to instigate this thread.
Of course, chocolate vermicelli is an odd name as well, when you realize that "vermicelli" translates as "worms!"
Not so odd, but rather quaint, is the too-rarely-prepared fluff of caramel-coated pastry w/ a heart of crème brûlée known as puits d'amour. Religieuse translates directly as "nun," and is a classic pastry that resembles a nun in her habit. Then there are the Italian cookies called brutti ma buoni – “ugly but good” and the more commonly known ossa di morte, aka "bones of the dead." Also, baci di Giulietta & baci di Romeo are delightfully playful names for sweet biscuits. Perhaps we might also include pane coi Santi, i.e., "bread w/ saints."
Italian dessert cookery comprises a host of fancifully named items. Another being Bocca di Dama, "mouth of a lady." The Italians produce a witchy liqueur, STREGA.
The long rectangular puff pastry named jalousie means, w/ good reason, "venetian blind." Kadin göbegi literally translates as "lady's navel." Kab el ghzal is rendered as "gazelles' horns." Langues de chat are those delicate French "cat's tongues." Reine de Saba, not so weird, but mythical-sounding nonetheless, is that dense, rich, moist chocolate-and-almond cake, "Queen of Sheba."
Oh, I've just recalled another comical "nun" pastry: Barriga de Freira; this one is from the Portuguese and spells out as "nun's belly."
Pfeffernüsse, when you think of it, is humorous...Peppernuts! And, pierogi are Polish "pockets." And how about the cobbler known as "grunt" for an appetizing-sounding dessert? Or those Indian sweetmeats, referred to as "barfi?" On second thought....
The Japanese must have a huge lexicon of bizarre culinary terms. I immediately think of Shabu shabu, the name of a dish which actually comes from the steaming sound of the food being cooked; the Japanese hearing "shabu, shabu" from the hissing vents. Speaking of steamed, there's a Thai steamed custard named Sankhaya. I wonder what that term means in English. Or that Sri Lankan coconut custard known as Vattalappam?
Venturing toward the soda fountain, we encounter a plethora of glammed-up names. For instance, there'sStrawberry Blonde, echoing a film that starred the beautiful Rita Hayworth. Oomph Girl à la Mode...named for Ann Sheridan, the red-haired actress & WW II pinup queen. Plus sundaes such as Adam & Eve, Angel's Nest, Aunt Lizzie, Barney Google, Brownstone Fronts, Knickerbocker Glory, and Maid of the Mist.
Roald Dahl invented some wacko names for desserts in his Revolting Recipe cookbook: Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipe cookbook. It has recipes mentioned in his childrens' books like Lickable Wallpaper, Scrambled Dregs and Fresh Mudburgers.
The goofiest -- and most revoltingly conceptualized -- instructions I've ever seen for partyfood: Purchase the plastic bowl that fits in a child's potty training chair. Wash the bowl and prepare lemon jello per package directions. Float miniature O-Henry bars in it, refrigerate, and serve. Horrible!
Beer and Dessert
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Pamela: Thx for your response. A Guinness Cake sounds inviting! I have recipe for Black-Velvet Ice which uses Guinness Stout & Sparkling Wine. Also, I've found a recipe in my files for a faintly bitter Guinness Stout Ice Cream which had been promoted by the American Homebrewers Association. (It would certainly cut the sweetness of a rich chocolate-oatmeal cake!) Beer can also be used to make sorbet.
The pretzel-shaped rye bread I mentioned in my original post contains 12 fl. oz of beer. However, as far as I know, beer is not used in the making of a great number of breads. Yet it imparts a pleasant, sourish flavour and a lightness of texture that is highly desirable. (The carbon dioxide in the beer lightens the dough and promotes a faster rising.)