I’ve always felt that “buttermilk” is a misleading term. It implies a richer form of ordinary milk, when in fact most buttermilk is about as rich as low-fat milk. That makes a lot of sense when you consider where buttermilk comes from, for it’s the liquid that’s leftover when fat (butter) is removed from cream. […]
READ ONSince I’m planning to gather all my home-dairying posts together and put them in their own section, I thought I’d be thorough and put up a separate post on sour cream. Yes, I know I did this yesterday when I posted on cultured butter, it’s just how my mind works. Sure it’s redundant, but it’s […]
READ ON…won’t I just make more yogurt? That question from a few folks overnight. The answer is no. But why? Because yogurt cultures, like all fermenting cultures, are composed of scores of different types of microbes. Some grow better than others depending on things like temperature and humidity. The bacteria that create the stiff gels we […]
READ ONCultured butter is now synonymous with European-style butter, however it was once common in the States, at least until the rise of “sweet cream” butter, which is the American standard now. The spread of sweet cream butter was based on a technological innovation: refrigeration. For it was refrigeration that made it possible to get milk […]
READ ONBefore we move on to the next project, I want to go on a little excursion into the world of dairy. The reason being that I’ve been getting a fair amount of mail the last several months about cream, sour cream, crème fraîche and buttermilk. Readers have wanted to know what the differences are between […]
READ ONPastry chef Camille emailed in from Paris on Friday to ask why I didn’t incorporate any almond flour/ground almonds into the clafoutis. I had no answer other than I didn’t think about it (almond flour being something of a rarity in the states). That said, I should point out that you can substitute almond flour […]
READ ONSeveral readers emailed in over the weekend asking if clafoutis can be made with other types of fruit. Indeed it can be, and is frequently made with plums, peaches and apricots (other prunus fruits) but also with blackberries, blueberries, rasberries, huckleberries, apples, pears and concord grapes. However I believe only the cherry version can be […]
READ ONHaving made so many clafoutises this week, er, clafoutees. No…clafouteece? Having made so much clafoutis this week, I’ve learned a thing or two. Firstly, that there’s simply no comparison between a clafoutis made with unpitted cherries and one made with pitted cherries. The unpitted version wins the taste, texture and appearance trifecta hands down. Second, […]
READ ON…how is it that apricot pits can be used to make Amaretto? How do they get the hydrogen cyanide out? I received several questions about that overnight. This is where a real botanist or food scientist needs to step in, because I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is that inside prunus pits (peach […]
READ ONSo then, why is the almond the only type of prunus pit we eat? It’s not because cherry, apricot and peach pits are hard to crack and chew (though they are). It’s because the pits of most prunus drupes contain a chemical known as amygdalin, a member of a family of compounds known as cyanogenetic […]
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