There are a couple of things that make me wonder a bit about chocolate. Specifically that wherever it’s been introduced as a flavor (say as a candy or in an ice cream) be it in parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, what-have-you, it generally becomes the number one flavor in that product category in […]
READ ONCould it be something so pedestrian as it simply tastes good? Sure, it’s tempting to want to find some deeper pull to a food that elicits such passions in people, one that many feel they’re helpless in the face of (sort of a “Devil-made-me-do-it” dynamic). But what if it turned out it was just, well…yummy? […]
READ ONThe big tip-off that a flourless chocolate cake is actually a custard is the cooking method: the water bath, also known as the bain marie in French cooking circles. It’s purpose is to ensure that custards (and other heat-sensitive dishes) bake as gently as possible, slowly creeping up on the final setting temperature without overshooting […]
READ ONThis is a question that takes us back to earlier discussions of how proteins work. As you may recall, proteins (like egg proteins, for example), are extremely long molecules made up of chains of amino acids. In their natural state they occur loosely coiled, or “folded”. Yet by applying gentle heat we can coax their […]
READ ONIn general it can be said of cookery that as the number of ingredients in a recipe decreases, the importance of technique increases. Flourless chocolate cake is an elegant illustration of this principle, demanding a delicate touch in the mixing stage, and more than that, expert command of temperature in the baking stage. That said […]
READ ONThe beauty of a flourless chocolate cake based on only three ingredients is that it makes chocolate the clear centerpiece. Which means your selection of chocolate is the critical factor to the cake’s success. This again is one of those times when the home cook has a big advantage over the professional baker, since there’s […]
READ ONI was thinking it’s been a while since I’ve gotten into anything really serious chocolate-wise. Now I think the time is ripe. Summer is over and we’re all feeling sorry four ourselves. Time for a joy injection: Flourless Chocolate Cake Ordinarily I avoid Emeril recipes like I do a 2-year old with pinkeye, however I’m […]
READ ONBrowsing one of my favorite food references over the weekend, I came upon a funny little bit of editorializing that I wanted to remark on. The book was Food Lover’s Companion, Second Edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst. I love it, though it isn’t nearly as thorough as other food references. It does however possess the […]
READ ONNot a whole heck of a lot to debrief in a pudding recipe I don’t think. Soak, stir, cook…bing bang boom. However what I will say is Mr. Brown has concocted a mighty rich pudding recipe here, and the wife (even though she’s pregnant and should theoretically be enjoying full pig-out rights) is sensitive to […]
READ ONFor those of you getting tired of me crying “I’ve finally done it!” with my Chicago-style deep-dish pizza crust recipe, you might want to just go ahead and move on to Creampuffs in Venice now (anyway, Ivonne’s got a pretty wicked-looking Nutella panino up there this morning). But I did make a pretty significant improvement […]
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