February 10, 2009

zabaglione

Posted by Chef Victoria under Catering by Victoria, Chef Notes | Tags: , , |
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A thick, “creamy” sauce made from whisking egg yolks with another liquid, such as wine, over boiling water in a double boiler, so as not to scramble the egg.   Zabaglione, a.k.a. Sabayon, can be made either sweet or savory.  This is a great “creamy” sauce alternative for lactose-intolerent diets.

For a Sweet Zabaglione:

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/4 sugar
  • 1/4 cup dry Marsala wine

Bring a pot of water to a simmer.  In a steel bowl, whisk eggs yolks and sugar together until foamy, and place over simmering water.  Bottom of bowl should not touch the boiling water.  Continue to whisk constantly.  Gradually pour in Marsala.  Whisk approximately 5 minutes, or until volume of this custard has doubled and it appears very thick and very yellow in color.

 

February 9, 2009

couverture chocolate

Posted by Chef Victoria under Caffè Victoria, Chef Notes | Tags: , , , , , |
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Quality chocolate made with at least 32% cocoa butter.   To be properly labeled as “couverture”, it must contain 32-39% of cocoa butter, and the total of the percentage of the combined cocoa butter plus cocoa solids must be at least 54%.  Sugar makes up the balance, and up to 1% may be made up of vanilla, and sometimes soy lecithin.

Professional chocolatiers used couverture  for dipping, coating and molding.

 

January 12, 2009

blanching

Posted by Chef Victoria under Chef Notes | Tags: , , , |
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is a cooking term that describes a process of food preparing in which the food item is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief  time  interval  plunged into ice water bath (shocked) to halt the cooking process.

Blanching serves several purposes in food preparation:

  • Blanching enhances the color of some  vegetables by releasing gases trapped in the food that obscure the greenness of the chlorophyll. Because blanching is a rapid process, the heat does not have time to break down chlorophyll in the vegetable.
  • Blanching works well to loosens the skin on some fruits or nuts, such as onions, tomatoes, plums, peaches, and almonds.
  • Blanching enhances the flavor of some vegetablesby releasing bitter acids stored in them.