Though I’m not in the habit of giving plugs, the queen of gelatin desserts, Lourdes Reyes Rosas, will be coming to the States — to my old home town of Chicago — to teach some classes on gelatin dessert design. Lourdes Reyes’ skill with gelatin simply amazes me. If you haven’t seen her site you [...]
September 2nd, 2010
Bread Pudding Recipe
Because so many bread puddings can get mushy, I like Gaston Lenôtre’s version the best. Not only is it classic Lenôtre — simple and light yet elegant — it delivers a range of textures from crispy to tender to soft. You’ll need:
6-7 ounces sliced sandwich bread, crusts removed and cut into triangles
about two ounces butter [...]
September 2nd, 2010
On Choosing the Right Bread
A simple bread pudding doesn’t have terribly many ingredients, which means, according to Joe’s Inverse Law of Ingredient Dynamics*, that the ingredients you use should be good ones. Good milk, fresh eggs and fresh, real vanilla beans are all desirable. However no single ingredient will effect the quality of your pudding like the bread. It [...]
August 31st, 2010
Those butter questions just keep a-comin’
Though I’m technically onto another project, it’s hard to say no to more questions about butter. The topic is just that interesting. Reader Austin asks:
You mentioned that winter butter has more saturated fat in it than summer butter. Why?
Great question. The reason is simply because pasture grasses have more unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in them [...]
August 31st, 2010
Next Up: Bread Pudding
I confess that as with tiramisu, I’ve experienced repeated twinges of anxiety as I’ve watched bread pudding creep up the list. That’s for good reason, for just like tiramisu, bread pudding has been done to the point of absurdity over the years. Once monuments to simplicity, today you can find bread puddings built on everything [...]
August 31st, 2010
A Budding Molecular Gastronomist
Reader Nicole writes:
You mention in several places the importance of relatively dry butter, and it got me thinking – could you make laminated dough with cooled browned butter, since the cooking process will drive off some water? How about something more solid at room temperature, like cocoa butter or coconut oil (the kind that comes [...]
August 31st, 2010
On Kouign, Salt & Butter
Reader Diane offers a flurry of interesting questions:
I was under the impression that salted butter has more water content than unsalted butter. I may be wrong. And it seems you wanted drier butter for Kouign Amann. So why not use unsalted butter in Kouign Amann? Also when buying salted butter I do not know how [...]
August 31st, 2010
fresh tomato sauce
Around this time every summer, I see the best signs at the markets: “Ugly but tasty!” “Pretty on the inside!” “Don’t judge a tomato by its cover!” Beneath them are usually buckets of craggly misshapen tomato beasts, with coarse seams like they’d been stitched back together after some rough past and distinctly un-heirloom colors. At [...]
August 28th, 2010
The Fridge and the Bog
Reader Mike writes:
Growing up, we never kept butter in the fridge, we kept it in a cupboard, in a cool dark dry place. I mentioned this fact aloud when I lived in CA or NY or one of the places in between, and my roommates looked at me like I had said I wanted [...]
August 28th, 2010
What exactly is "dry butter"?
Several questions have come in along those lines the last few days. “Dry butter” is a term that French pastry chefs frequently employ, usually in regard to the cultured butter they use for laminated pastry. I confess I don’t know what the technical definition of dry butter is in France (France being France, I’m sure [...]