Glad you asked that. You see it all the time on butter packages, yet for most of us the phrase has virtually no meaning. “Sweat cream”? What on Earth can that be? It’s not sweetened cream if that was your guess. Rather it refers to cream that has not gone sour, i.e. it is “sweet”. […]
READ ON…and you’re sick and tired of being asked for your vote (how many years has this darn election “season” gone on anyway?). However a vote cast for yours truly could win you two tickets to Napa Valley on the 23rd for a weekend of chocolate and wine. It may not be Paris, but it beats […]
READ ONFrequent reader and question-asker Sally C. from Tip of the Iceberg writes: All right – I’m sitting here, holding my FASTCO Creamery Butter (a Fareway brand) and trying to find the percent of butterfat that you keep going on about. Where on the package should I look to find that? There is a USDA grading […]
READ ONIn the same way the discovery of the so-called “fifth flavor”, umami, changed the way people thought about taste and taste buds, the discovery, or should I say the possible discovery, of a “fat” taste receptor is changing the way some people are thinking about the development of the human senses. The discovery was made […]
READ ONNobody likes fat. Either that or everybody does. It’s hard to figure out which. Really it depends on the circumstance in which you catch people, talking about it or actually eating it. In principle nobody likes fat. You hear it from nutritionally educated types all the time: Oh my family and I avoid fats wherever […]
READ ON…butter. Simple, perfect, butter. No substance is more fundamental to the pastry-making arts. Flour? Necessary. Eggs? Nice to have. Chocolate? Optional. But take butter away and there would be no pastry, period. And at over five bucks a pound these days (and rising) it’s no wonder little beads of perspiration are appearing on the brows […]
READ ONYou hear it all the time where things like Danish and croissants are concerned: is all that butter strictly necessary? The answer is yes, yes and yes. Not only is butter crucial to the physics of mechanical leavening, it tastes, well, fantastic. It can in fact be argued that the entire raison d’être of laminated […]
READ ONWho other than an ignornant, coronary-ily challenged hillbilly would ever think to eat something as absurd as a “butter pie”? Why our dairy fat-obsessed cousins the French, that’s who. In fact they almost certainly invented the butter pie, which probably explains why the “butter tart” is such a popular sweetmeat in Canada. Only the French […]
READ ONHere is a basic formula for choux: 4 ounces (½ cup) butter 8 ounces (1 cup) water ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon sugar 5 ounces (1 cup) all-purpose flour 4 eggs
READ ONI’m flattered to have been nominated to compete in Culinate’s Death by Chocolate food blog competition. It is a contest by which I (and anyone who votes in the competition) can win a two-day trip for two to Napa Valley and Copia’s Death by Chocolate Festival on the 23rd of this month. Should you wish […]
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