Food Science and Molecular Gastronomy
When I was a kid I had an irrepressible passion for puddings. I loved bonet (a Piedmontese chocolate pudding) and, certainly, panna cotta, but doubtlessly my favorite one was crème caramel (prepared by my maternal grandma by rehydrating some ready-made industrial lyophilized pudding with hot milk et...voilà :)).
Read MoreAfter the super nerdy post of Thuesday, I found appropriate to conclude the week with a feeling-good recipe. So, I prepared some shortcrust pastry to make one of my favorite comfort food: occhi di bue (literally translated as beef's eyes). Before freaking out, you should know occhi di bue are typical Italian pastries, made of shortcrust pastry and jam. One pastry is made with two discs of pastry (one of them has a hole in the center, resembling an eye) filled with jam. A simple recipe that requires excellent ingredients (e.g. a good shortcrust pastry) for a great outcome.
Read MoreI often had the problem to find flours with the strength I needed. Here, the all-purpose is the dominant flour, although pastry and bread flours are available as well. However, I found difficult to find very week or super strong flours, as the Manitoba type*.
Read MoreI was in doubt if posting the recipe of cocktail Pastis...it is so trivial :) but if you find it intriguing, here you are:
Read MorePastis is a French liquor made with anise and liquorice, and often other herbs. Pastis became popular after the banning of Absinthe, the famous spirit made with wormwood. Despite what most people think, Absinthe was unfairly convicted: the so-called Absinthe syndrome was actiually resembling more an alcoholic status (if you want to learn more on the story, please see here).
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