Daring Bakers' Challenge - April 2010

Blog-checking lines: The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Recipe Source: Recipes come from the following sources: Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course, The pudding club (http://www.puddingclub.com/), Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and the Dairy Book of Home Cooking and my family’s recipe notes!

Variations allowed: we were allowed completely free rein on flavours and fillings.
Any variations due to restricted diets are of course allowed. Due to the way these recipes are cooked it’s very easy to substitute for gluten-free flours and get very much the same results as wheat.
They can be made vegetarian and even vegan just by using the vegetarian replacement suet and an appropriate flavour/filling.

Type 1 Puddings — suet crusts.

Pudding Crust for both Savoury Pudding or Sweet Pudding (using suet or a suet substitute):

250 g Self-raising flour (Note* If you cannot find self-raising flour, use a combination of all-purpose flour and baking powder.)

175 g Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)

Salt and pepper (Note* If making a savory dish, can be replaced with spices for sweet if wished.)

210 ml Water (Note* You can use a milk or a water and milk mix for a richer pastry.)

Mix the flour and suet together. Season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pepper if savory and just a bit of salt and/or spices if sweet. Add the water, a tablespoonful at a time, as you mix the ingredients together. Make up the pastry to firm an elastic dough that leaves the bowl clean. The liquid amounts are only an estimate and most recipes just say water to mix. Don’t over handle the pastry or it will be too hard. Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased bowl. At this point add your filling. Roll the final piece of pastry out into a circle big enough to cover the top of the basin, dampen the edges and put in position on the pudding, pinching the edges together to seal. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil – pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking. Secure with string, and place it in a steamer over boiling water. Steam for up to 5 hours, you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. There is a lot of leeway in this steaming time and different recipes give different steaming times. Delia Smith says 5 hours for Steak and kidney where as Mrs Beeton says 2.5 for a similar dish! One way to tell that it is cooked is when the pastry changes colour and goes from white to a sort of light golden brown. It is also hard to over steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.

This sort of pastry can also be used as a topping for a baked meat pie and becomes quite a light crusty pastry when baked.

Sweet Pudding Options: Sussex Pond Pudding

1 amount of suet pastry (see recipe above)

120 g Demerara Sugar

120 g unsalted butter

1 large lemon

Cut the butter into small pieces and put half in the basin with half the sugar. Prick the whole lemon (preferably one with a thin skin) all over, using a thick skewer. Place on top of the butter and sugar in the basin. Cover with the rest of the butter and sugar. Finish building the pudding as per the pastry recipe. Steam for 3 ½ hours, or longer (for a really tender lemon), adding more water if needed. To serve, turn the pudding into a dish with a deep rim, when you slice into it the rich lemon sauce will gush out. Make sure each person is served some of the suet crust, lemon and tangy luscious sauce.

Now I must say:I must have done something REALLY wrong!

I couln'd find suet in the market. We are not used to that in Brasil. I asked my butcher and he told me to go to a place where the animals are killed.Well, the nearest one is an hour driving distance. No way! So I used lard. Pork lard.

The first thing I've noticed was I should not use the same amount of lard as of suet. It wouldn'd work. I understood that this dough should be done as a pate sable, mixing that fat with flour, using 2 knives, til you have something with a coarse consistency, so I had to add more flour to get the desired consistency of the dough. 
I was fascinated too by the idea of the Sussex Pond. Whole lemon? I was wondering if it wouln'd be to bitter, you know? That white peel usually tastes bad. But, I decided to try.

The result was awful. I don't know if it was the amount of fat (lard from the dough + butter from the filling) but I didn't get that flaky pastry. I looked more like the other type of pudding, The sponge type (look below).  And, of couse, it was incredible bitter and...I don't know how to express that. Terrible, disgusting, Baaaggghhh!

Someone asked me if I used waxed lemons. Well, I've never heard anithing about waxing lemons until I joined the DK. And I could find noone who knew anithing about that. I suppose limes, lemons and orages are not waxed in Brasil unless they are exported (?). So that was not the problem. I don't know what might have happen...
But I was decided to try this again. Perhaps with another filling. And I wanted to make a Spoted Dick too. I've first listened about that a long time ago, in a Jamie Oliver's TV show. Since than, I'm very curious. Keep reading.

Type 2 puddings – Steamed Suet Pudding, sponge type.

100 g All-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoons Baking powder

100 g breadcrumbs

75 g Caster sugar

75 g Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)

1 large egg

6 to 8 tablespoons Cold milk

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl. Add breadcrumbs, sugar and suet. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk. Turn into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin and cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil. Steam steadily for 2.5 to 3 hours. Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with sweet sauce to taste such as custard, caramel or a sweetened fruit sauce.

Spotted Dick - Add 75g/ 3oz currants and 25g/1 oz of mixed chopped peel with the sugar.

This time everything was ok. No mistakes. I liked the Spoted Dick very much. I think I'll do it again. But I'll use butter insted of lard. I belive it will be even better.

Many thanks to Esther for this challenge. I loved taking part of it. I'm sure I'll try alot more puddings in a near future.

Additional Information:

Suet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suet.

Suet substitutes: http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/suet.

Vegetable suet:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary/V/Vegetable-suet6708.aspx.

Delia Smith shows you how to make suet pastry with step-by-step photos here: (http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/baking/how-to-make-suet-pastry.html).

Video of the whole process of making a suet crust pudding.

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-steak-mushroom-pudding-317626/

Video of making a steamed pudding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afQ6g0R8pMc.

A very good place to find recipes for many British puddings is the Pudding Club website http://www.puddingclub.com/

Steamed Pudding:

http://www.puddings.net/desserts/puddings/steamedpuddings/preparing.shtml.

Mrs Beeton of course had many suet based puddings in her book and thefoody.com lists many of them. Some are described as boiled but nearly all can be steamed in a bowl in the same way as the full recipes I've give here including:

Staffordshire Fig Pudding:

http://thefoody.com/mrsbpudding/staffordshire.html),

Boiled raisin Pudding

http://thefoody.com/mrsbpudding/boiledraisin.html

Boiled Rhubarb Pudding

http://thefoody.com/mrsbpudding/rhubarbpudding.html

Ginger pudding

http://thefoody.com/mrsbpudding/gingerpudding.html

 and several more.

Bacon and Leek Pudding:

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/01/116229/Bacon-and-Leek-Suet-Pudding.htm

Butter based versions of steamed pudding

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3157/rhubarb-steamed-pudding

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sweet/steamed-treacle-sp...

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8185/sticky-gingerbread-pudding-with-...

Found a vegan one

http://www.scarlettdesign.co.uk/go-vegan/pudding.html

The whole of Mrs Beeton on line

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/beeton/isabella/household/

and just the puddings

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/beeton/isabella/household/chapter27.html

Some more pictures

Some more pictures. We've joined another picture shooting class. Now it was about picture composition. We worked with lines, forms, colours, light. Check the results at Laboratório Gastronômico.

Daring Cooks' Challenge - April 2010

Blog Checking Lines- The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Brunswick Stew has a long, and oft debated history. Brunswick, Georgia claimed that the first Brunswick Stew was created there in 1898. There is, at the Golden Isles Welcome Center on Interstate 95, a bronzed stew pot with a plaque proclaiming this fact.

However, Brunswick, Virginia claims that the first Brunswick Stew was created there by a camp cook named Jimmy Matthews in 1828, for a hunting expedition led by Dr. Creed Haskings, a member of the Virginia State Legislature for a number of years. He was said to have used squirrel in the original Brunswick Stew created for the group when they returned. The hunters were at first skeptical of the thick, hearty concoction, but upon tasting it, were convinced and asked for more.

Every year, there is an Annual Brunswick Stew Cookoff that pits ‘Stewmasters’ from both Virgina and Georgia against their counterparts, and takes place every October in Georgia.

In the early 20th Cent, the rivalry of the two Brunswicks helped make this dish as popular as it is today, and it quickly became a pan-Southern classic. Some recipe call for the original addition of squirrel, but most allow for chicken, turkey, ham, or pork, even beef on occasion. Rabbit is also used. The vegetables can vary widely from variation to variation, however, the Brunswick Stewmasters recipe says *exactly* what is used in competion stews, and states that “Adding any additional ingredient(s) will disqualify the stew from being an original Brunswick Stew.”

However, most agree that, Brunswick stew is not done properly “until the paddle stands up in the middle.”

Recipe Source(s)- Wolf has included two different recipes for this Challenge, out of the hundreds of variations out there. The first is from “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee”, and the second from the Callaway, Va Ruritan Club, who hand out cards with their recipe printed on them, every year at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, and where I tried my first ever Brunswick Stew.

Variations allowed

Recipes may be halved if you choose.

You may substitute any vegetables you don’t prefer. You may use fresh, canned or frozen vegetables.

You may sub out the rabbit for pork, turkey, beef, or even another game animal if you have it available.

Mandatory

You must use one of the two recipes provided. Now, to not exclude our vegans/vegetarians, if you’d like, use vegetable stock and leave out the meats. It won’t be a ‘true’ Brunswick Stew, but it’ll have the spirit of one. There’s no gluten anywhere in this that I’m aware of, so we’re good in that regard.

Recipe 1, the Long Way- This was the one I chose

From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

Ingredients
Serves about 12

100 g bacon, rough diced

2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened

450g rabbit, quartered, skinned. I’ve not finded it, so I used turkey

1,8 – 2,2kg chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed

1 Tablespoon sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste

8 - 12 cups Sunday Chicken Broth As you may already know by now I always have homemade chicken stock in my freezer

2 Bay leaves

2 large celery stalk

900 g Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced

350 g carrots (about 5 small carrots), chopped

800 g onion (about 4 medium onions) chopped

450 fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob (about 4 ears)

700 g butterbeans, preferably fresh (1 ¼ lbs) or defrosted frozen I used chickpeas

900 g whole, peeled tomatoes, drained

¼ cup red wine vinegar

Juice of 2 lemons

Tabasco sauce to taste

In the largest stockpot you have, which is hopefully larger than the 5 qt ones I have, preferably a 10-12 qt or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.

Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside.

Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the4 pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.

With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard.5 After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up, be careful not to pull a me, and squirt juice straight up into the air, requiring cleaning of the entire stove. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.

You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.

Recipe Two, The Short Way

This version goes on the assumption that you already have cooked your meats and have broth on hand. It’s got more of a tomato base, has larger, chunkier vegetables, but is just as wonderful as recipe one. However, it is a lot quicker to make than the first recipe.

Brunswick Stew recipe from the Callaway, Va Ruritan Club, served yearly at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, Va.

Serves about 10

2 ½ lb TOTAL diced stewed chicken, turkey, and ham, with broth - yes, all three meats

3 medium diced potatoes

2 medium ripe crushed tomatoes

2 medium diced onions

3 cups/ 689.76 grams / 24.228oz frozen corn

1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz frozen lima beans

4-5 strips crumbled bacon

½ stick / 4 tablespoons / ¼ cup / 56.94 grams / 2oz of butter

1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / .5 oz sugar

1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / .5 oz ‘Poultry Seasoning’

Dash of red pepper

2 diced carrots (optional)

In large stock pot or Dutch Oven, mix all ingredients, heat until bubbly and hot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato juice as desired. Cook until all vegetables are tender. Serve hot.

Links

History of Brunswick Stew

http://www.brunswickco.com/html/history_of_brunswick_stew.html

Brunswick Stewmaster's Association

http://www.brunswickstewmasters.com/History.htm

The New Georgia Encyclopedia Brunswick Stew

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-555

Georgia’s World Famous Brunswick Stew

http://www.officialguide.com/gistew.html

Video of a variation on Brunswick Stew

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/brunswick_stew_5

Daring Bakers' Challenge - March 2010

                 

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

This dessert is made of different layers: a pate sablee with orange marmalade, a flavored whipped cream topped with fresh orange segments and served with a caramel and orange sauce. You build the dessert upside down and then unmold the dessert so that the bottom layer (the orange segments) becomes the top layer.

Recipe slightly adapted from Alain Ducasse‘s Cooking School in Paris, France (http://www.ecolecuisine-alainducasse.com/).

Stabilized whipped cream (http://tamsin-cakes.com/2009/06/05/tamsincakes-on-flickr-adventures-in-s...)

Pate Sablee:

2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
80 grams granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
100 grams Unsalted butter, ice cold, cubed
2 grams Salt
200 grams All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor. Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle. Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

Marmalade:
¼ cup + 3 tablespoons freshly pressed orange juice
1 large orange used to make orange slices
Cold water to cook the orange slices
5 grams pectin
Granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes. Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices. Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges.
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

Caramel:
200 grams granulated sugar
1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons orange juice

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

Whipped Cream:
200 grams heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon orange marmalade (see recipe above)

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Resources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-tian.htm (An article about the dessert known as tian.)

YouTube link on how to segment an orange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG5mcEEBlcI

To learn more about Pectin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectin

What to substitute for Pectin: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary/P/Pectin-6222.aspx

Note: There are quite a few steps to making this dessert; however a lot of them can be made in advance. The orange marmalade can be made several days ahead of time and the caramel sauce and orange segments preparation should be made the day before you make the dessert. Also, if you have a scale, try and use the weighed measurements as they will be the most accurate.

The recipe can be a little bit tricky to put together, especially the first time. My main tip is to make sure the whipped cream is firm enough when you make it and be sure to leave the desserts to set in the freezer for long enough or they will fall apart when you unmold them.

Variations allowed:
• You can choose to serve the dessert ‘family-style’ and don’t have to make it in individual portions
• You can use your favorite “Pate Sablee” recipe if you have one, but it must be a pate sablee
• You can add any additional flavoring to your whipped cream
• You can play with different citrus in this dessert (grapefruit, blood orange, lemon) at any step in the recipe.
However, you must make the tart dough, the whipped cream, the caramel sauce, citrus segments and marmalade.

Ok, so as variations were allowed, I did some. The first one was I added orange zests to the dough (Pate Sablee). Then, as I don't like the taste of orange mixed to dairy products, I've decided to switch oranges for a Brazilian berry: Jaboticaba as we say. Hummm, good.

Brazilian Berry Marmelade
300g berries
Cold water
Sugar
Juice of 1 lime.

Soak the berries in cold water and bring to simmer. In low heat let it boil until the little fruits start to pop up. Then turn it into a sieve, keeping the liquid. Don't press the berries in the sieve, just drain them. Mesure how many cups of liquid you have and add the same amout of sugar. Add the lime juice and cook it  til a jam consistency.

Daring Cooks' Challenge - March 2010

Blog-checking lines: The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

Ok, I wouln't say that risotto is a real challenge for me. I've already made lots of risottos in my life, specially at culinary school. Regular, Arborio, Carnarolli and Vialone Nano rice. But I love it. It is an amazing confort food. It doesn't matter if you are italian or not. 

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I always have some kind of stock in my freezer. I don't cook with industrial stock. Never. I hate it.

And, of course, a good stock is the most important secret for a delicious risotto.

So here is my 3 risottos:

1º Lamb and peas - I had some lamb meat leftover, so I used its bones to make a superb stock, then I added some peas and voilá. As simple as that. I serve it with a sirloin steak.

Can you see the smoke coming from the risotto?

2º This was a sweet one. Nothing special. I just made a traditional recipe of arroz doce ( sweet rice). I think it's pretty much the same as your rice pudding. Here in Brasil we are used to cook it with regular rice, but since it has become easy to find all these italian rices in the supermarkets I've switched to it.  Much more creamy and yummi.

I added some cinnamon, pistachios and orange zests to taste and decorate.

3º Jerked beef, pumpkin and mascarpone cheese (yes, a leftover from the tiramisu) risotto, served with taioba  leaves (Xanthosoma sagittifolium or arrowleaf elephant's ear) and fried onions. So one can say that despite the mascarpone cheese and the fried onions, it's a "brazilian" risotto. First picture at the top of this post.

I don't know how do you call this kind of pumpkin in English, but this was the one I used.

and not this one

Recipes
Every risotto has the same basic recipe
Onion small diced
Olive oil or/ and butter
Risotto rice - arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano rice
Salt
Wine
Stock - chicken, beef, vegetable, fish etc

Heat oil and/or butter in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil/butter and toast slightly. Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.

Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). 

Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed. Repeat this again and again, making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step.

Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.  I like to add a spoonful of cold butter to the risotto, just before serving it. It will provide an extra creamy and shining (is that correct? or should I say bright ?) look.

Lamb risotto: lamb meat previously baked, lamb stock and frozen peas.

Brazilian risotto: cooked and stir-fried jerked beef, cooked and smashed pupkin, mascarpone cheese. 

Taioba leaves: A bunch of taioba chopped and stir-fried with olive oil, garlic and onions.

Sweet risotto: just change the stock for milk (and of course won't fry any onion), add sugar and a can of condensend milk at the end of cooking.

 

One of the first dinner we made in this Gastronomic Lab, I cooked a strawberry, almonds, Parma ham and champagne risoto. Although the picture is not very good, you can see it here (portuguese version). I used veggie stock, 200g Parma, 200g stawberry, 150g almonds and 2 glasses of champagne.

 

Thank you Eleanor and Jess for this challenge. Cooking (and eating) risottos is always a great pleasure.

Some more pictures

Here they are, the pictures from another class. This time it was about picture composition.

Daring Bakers' Challenge - February 2010

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Aparna and Deeba settled the Daring Bakers a challenge this month to make their own Tiramisu, from scratch.

MASCARPONE + SAVOIARDI BISCUITS + ZABAGLIONE = TIRAMISU!

The perfect Tiramisu is a balance of flavors of a sweet zabaglione, strong coffee, marsala wine, creamy mascarpone cheese and the dusting of unsweetened cocoa.

So when, where and how was tiramisu born?

Tiramisu is said to have its origins in Treviso (Italy), and there are quite a few stories about how it came to be created .One story traces the tiramisu as far back as the Renaissance claiming that it was first made in honour of the visit of Grand Duke Cosimo di Medici to Tuscany. Yet another one points to the tiramisu being an adaptation of the "Zuppa Inglese" referring to the sponge cake and cream layered English Trifle.

However, experts in this area generally agree that the tiramisu as we know it today, was born in the ‘70s.

Some believe that the Tiramisu was created in the the Le Beccherie (a restaurant in Treviso). Ohters suggest that Tiramisu was first made in 1971 by an Italian baker named Carminantonio Iannaccone in a small bakery in Treviso, Italy.

RECIPE SOURCE:

Mascarpone Cheese – Vera’s Recipe (Baking Obsession) for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese.

Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits – Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home

Tiramisu – Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007

THE CHALLENGE:

We have chosen Baltimore pastry chef Carminantonio Iannaccone’s version of tiramisu for a couple of reasons:

Firstly, his recipe is different from most other tiramisu recipes as he makes a zabaglione, an egg custard which is flavoured with Marsala wine (I used coffee instead). Even more important is that his zabaglione is cooked so there is no risk from using raw eggs.

He also makes a vanilla flavoured pastry cream which we haven't seen in other tiramisu recipes.

MANDATORY:

We MUST make our own savoiardi / ladyfinger biscuits and mascarpone cheese with the given recipes. We must also make the zabaglione and pastry cream using the given recipes.

Tiramisu is made up of several components which can be made separately and ahead of time and put together the day before serving.

Making tiramisu from scratch requires about 2 to 3 days (including refrigeration) from when you start making the mascarpone to the time the tiramisu is served. So this challenge requires some prior planning.

Please read the instructions as you need to begin making the mascarpone at least a day in advance.

The zabaglione & pastry cream also need 4 hours to an overnight for chilling, as does the main dessert. The flavours mature after an overnight rest, and the dessert can be kept refrigerated for 2-3 days.

Once assembled, the tiramisu can be frozen till you need to serve it, in case you are not serving it immediately.

MASCARPONE CHEESE

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)

Ingredients:

2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.

It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.

Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

LADYFINGERS/ SAVOIARDI BISCUITS

(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated

6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar

3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)

6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner's sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.

Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.

Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.

Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.

Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.

Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

TIRAMISU

(Recipe source: Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 )

Zabaglione

2 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar/50gms

1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee) I used coffee

1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.

In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.

Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

1/4 cup/55gms sugar

1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.

Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)

Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

Whipped Cream:

1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)

1/4 cup/55gms sugar

1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

To assemble the tiramisu:

2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed

1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional) I used some cocoa powder, almond extract and no sugar.

1/2 cup/110gms sugar

1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese

36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)

2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice.

Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.

Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.

Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.

Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.

To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

LINKS & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Step by step pictures for Tiramisu including zabaglione & pastry cream

Gluten Free Ladyfingers: 1000 gluten-free recipes by Carol Fenster (ladyfingers pg 436, Tiramisu pg 651)

Diary Free Tiramisu: Levana Cooks Diary-Free by Lévana Kirschenbaum, Menachem Adelman, Meir Pliskin (pg 86)

Video links for making tiramisu:

These are not for the recipe given for this challenge, but the procedure in the video would be a helpful guide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TEJXgjId8w

Gordon Ramsay - Video for dipping savioardi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HlqQqP6Mcw