My summer cold has put me behind in all senses, which means I haven’t been able to plan, much less execute anything for this coming week. Sundays are usually my “catch-up” days, however instead of doing something responsible I blew the whole day driving to St. Louis to watch the Cubs play the Cardinals. Now […]
READ ONBeen under the weather the last couple of days and haven’t gotten much pastry work done. Back with finished tiramisu on Monday.
READ ONNext month will mark the debut of the new film Kings of Pastry, a documentary that chronicles the run-up to the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition in Lyon. It’s a sure bet that it will clean up in the Baking & Pastry category at this year’s Cannes Film festival, and from there, well, who knows? […]
READ ONTiramisu bears a striking resemblance to English trifle, or at any rate the Italian-ized version of it, a preparation called zuppa Inglese, English “soup” or “stew.” Both involve spirit-soaked cakes, laid down in layers and covered with custard. The ladyfingers in tiramisu are soaked in espresso, but the principle is the same. It’s said that […]
READ ONSam: What is “tiramisu”? Jay: You’ll find out. Sam: Well, what is it? Jay: You’ll see! Sam: Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I’m not gonna know what it is! That brief exchange from the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle put tiramisu on the cultural map. Sure, it was […]
READ ONOr at least that’s the scuttlebut in some mascarpone-making circles. So it’s been claimed, lemon juice is the authentic way to go. I beg to differ about that. Mascarpone, as far as I understand it, was traditionally a summer cheese in Northern Italy. Lemons don’t ripen until autumn. Tartaric acid, on the other hand, would […]
READ ONTime and temperature are the secrets to a successful batch of mascarpone. Other than that all you have to work with are cream, some acid, a thermometer and a pan. Simple, right? Right… The formula is one pint of heavy cream and one pint of half-and-half (all of it un-homogenized and un-stabilized if at all […]
READ ONThat question from reader Amory. The answer is no — however that’s good initiative! Fermentation always provides more complex flavor, especially where dairy is concerned. The problem with using sour cream in a mascarpone recipe is that bacteria will already have begun producing lactic acid before you heat your cream. That means that proteins in […]
READ ONMost mascarpone recipes you find will warn against using ultra-pasteurized cream. So the recipes say, it gives the finished product an “off” flavor. That’s not true any more than ultra-pasteurized milk has an “off” flavor relative to plain ol’ pasteurized milk. Does better, fresher low-heat-pasteurized cream make better mascarpone than the ultra-pasteurized equivalent? No question. […]
READ ONBecause of the way it’s made, mascarpone is considered by some to be more like yogurt than a real cheese. These folks have sort of a point, since the process for making mascarpone is nearly identical, save for the fact that mascarpone doesn’t need to be fermented after it’s been heated. It thickens up all […]
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