I was waiting for someone to ask that question. Thanks, reader Emily! Dulce de leche recipes call for baking soda for one simple reason: to help the mixture brown. Those of you who’ve stuck with me through past posts about caramel know that it takes a fair amount of heat for sugars to start caramelizing […]
READ ONBecause nobody else is going to save you any, that’s for sure. It’s just too sweet and buttery. Tender on the inside and crispy around the edges like a croissant, it has a crackly caramel top that adds just the right je-ne-sais-quois (I wrote that in French because I don’t know how to say it […]
READ ONFor all those who’ve put off getting their hands dirty with laminated doughs, kouign amann is a great place to start. Somewhere between a bread and a Danish, it only requires a couple of “turns” of the dough, and they need not be perfect. This is a rustic pastry, so your standards need not be […]
READ ONThis obviously isn’t the New York version, but rather the more classic version filled with Bavarian cream and topped with fruit. New Yorkers, I promise I’ll get to your eventually. Though a charlotte is a great choice any time of year, it’s especially good in the hot summer months. For one, it’s a no-bake dessert. […]
READ ONCharlotte Russe sounds like a fancy Continental dessert, and it is. So how improbable is it that for a time — from about 1900 to 1960 — Charlotte Russe was one of the most popular street foods in New York. Of course it differed quite a bit from the classic version. “Charla droosh”, as interpreted […]
READ ONThat’s right, and it was invented by a Frenchman. At least, so it’s said, by Antonin Carême himself. So the story goes, Carême created his own charlotte after seeing the baked version in England, where he worked for a time starting in 1815. On his return to Paris he produced an unbaked version he called Charlotte à la Parisienne. But that shortly changed when he accepted a position on the staff of Tsar Alexander and relocated to St. Petersburg, and it’s been charlotte russe ever since.
Is it true? Who knows? But it makes for a good story.
READ ONIt may not be traditional, but I can tell you how it tastes: phenomenal. The assembly goes like this: roll out your puff pastry to about 1/4″ thickness and cut out your crusts. You want the circles to be as big around as the outside lip of the ramekin molds. Once they’re cut, store them […]
READ ONLook around a little and you can find recipes for full-sized tomato tartes tatin, however I think the original mini-tarts still work the best. The New York Times’ large version from 2008 calls for a pound of cherry or grape tomatoes, but I think that’s still too watery, and I don’t much care for the […]
READ ONBeignets offer a great deal of payoff relative to time spent planning and preparing them. As long as you have a fry rig ready to go, they can take as little as two hours from mixing to frying. Start by combining your dry ingredients in a mixer bowl and giving them a whisk (you can […]
READ ONTroll around the web and you’ll find all sorts of overwrought beignet recipes, loaded down with eggs, butter, sugar, even evaporated milk. They’re all rather misguided to my way of seeing things. Though New Orleans beignets resemble doughnuts in many resects, they shouldn’t actually be doughnuts. Rather, they should be light and airy little frivolities […]
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