Χριστουγεννιάτικος κορμός σε πολλές παραλλαγές

 Χριστουγεννιάτικος κορμός σε πολλές παραλλαγές



http://tantekiki.blogspot.gr/2011/12/blog-post_23.html

Τούρτα βανίλια - σοκολάτα σε χρόνο ...μηδέν!

Τούρτα βανίλια - σοκολάτα σε χρόνο ...μηδέν!



ΥΛΙΚΑ για ένα τσέρκι (ή φόρμα με σούστα) 22 εκ.*
1 πακέτο μπισκότα σαβαγιάρ
Για τη σαντιγύ
500 ml (2 κουτιά) κρέμα γάλακτος με 35% λιπαρά
1/2 φλ.τσ. ζάχαρη άχνη (περίπου)
1 φακελάκι φυσική βανίλια 
Για τα μπισκότα
2 (περίπου) φλ.τσ. γάλα φρέσκο + φυσικό άρωμα πικραμύγδαλου (προαιρετικά)
Για την κρέμα σοκολάτας
200 γρ. κουβερτούρα γάλακτος, σε κομμάτια
1 κ.σ. μέλι
150 ml γάλα φρέσκο
1 κ.σ. βούτυρο
Για τη διακόσμηση
100 γρ. τριμμένη σοκολάτα (ή έτοιμες νιφάδες ή τρούφα σοκολάτας)
Πολύχρωμα κουφετάκια σοκολάτας

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΙΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΚΟΡΜΟΣ

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΙΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΚΟΡΜΟΣ







http://www.glykes-alchimies.gr/?p=742

Υλικά για τη βάση:

• 4 ασπράδια αυγού 
• 4 κρόκοι αυγού
• 100 γρ. αλεύρι για όλες τις χρήσεις
• 100 γρ. ζάχαρη κρυσταλλική 
• ξύσμα από 1 λεμόνι
• 100 γρ. κονιάκ για ράντισμα

Υλικά για την κρέμα σοκολάτα:

• 600 γρ. κουβερτούρα Nestle dessert τεμαχισμένη σε μικρά κομμάτια
• 500 γρ. κρέμα γάλακτος 35% λιπαρά της  , χτυπημένη σε μορφή γιαουρτιού
• 250 γρ. γάλα

https://youtu.be/X3R4TtjuMOA

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΙΑΤΙΚΟΣ ΚΟΡΜΟΣ 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrPTRP97Wig

Κορμός με mousse κάστανο και κρέμα σοκολάτας

Κορμός με mousse κάστανο και κρέμα σοκολάτας

Brioche Feuilletée Express 

 

 

 

TSOUREKI RECIPE BY KIRA LENI

SWEET EASTER/CHRISTMAS BREAD | TSOUREKI

GREEK SWEET HOLIDAY BREAD

(TSOUREKI)

 

 

 

2 pounds flour (preferably bread or high gluten flour)

3 TBS  dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 +- cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted but not hot

5 eggs

1/2 warm milk

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp ground mahlepi (oriental spice)

1/4  tsp salt

1 egg plus 1 Tbs water for brushing

Slivered almonds for topping

 

In warm water dilute yeast with ½ cup of the flour and a pinch sugar.  Set aside the mixture until it gets bubbly.

 

In a large mixing bowl beat eggs with sugar on high speed  until thick and pale. In a small sauce pan melt butter and add the milk. Now add to the flour mixture,  the egg and sugar mixture half the  flour and half the yeast mixture as well as half the butter and milk, mahlepi and vanilla.  Continue until you have used all the ingredients. knead  in mixer with bread hook attachment, until dough is elastic. Not to hard, not soft either. Let rise for 1 hour in an unlightened oven covered with a dumb tea towel. 

 Cut dough in 12 pieces. Use three and make a braid. You will have 4 braids. Place them in two different baking pans and allow quite a bit of space in between as they rise a lot.   Let rise for another 40 minutes in an unlighted oven.   When double in size,  brush with egg wash before baking.  Sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake in a 360F. or 180C. preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes on the mid lower rack of the oven until the breads have a light golden color.

If bread is made for the Christmas holiday,  tradition dictates that you divide the dough into two pieces. Divide each piece in three pieces and make a large braid.  Connect the two ends so to make a circle braid. Line two large cake pans with parchment paper (ladoxarto) and carefully place them into each pan.  Once the breads are cooked and cooled down close your eyes and insert a small clean coin through the bottom of the bread.  Whoever in the family  finds the coin is to be the new Years most blessed person.

Πολίτικο τσουρέκι

http://tantekiki.blogspot.gr/2013/04/blog-post_29.html

ΥΛΙΚΑ: 

80 γρ. βούτυρο αγελάδος

100 γρ. φρέσκο γάλα πλήρες (ή εβαπορέ)

190 γρ. ζάχαρη άχνη

3 αυγά μεγάλα

7 γρ. μαχλέπι 

5 γρ. κακουλέ 

2 κ.σ. ξύσμα πορτοκαλιού (ή 5 γρ. μαστίχα)

100 γρ. νερό χλιαρό 

50 γρ. νωπή μαγιά μπύρας (ή 2 φακελάκια ξηρή μαγιά)

640 γρ. αλεύρι σκληρό + λίγο ακόμα για το πλάσιμο

1 αυγό για επικάλυψη αμύγδαλο φιλέ





 ΥΛΙΚΑ:  1/4
20 γρ. βούτυρο αγελάδος
25 γρ. φρέσκο γάλα πλήρες (ή εβαπορέ)
45 γρ. ζάχαρη άχνη
 1 αυγά μικρό
 2 γρ. μαχλέπι 
 1 γρ. κακουλέ(κάρδαμο)
½ κ.σ. ξύσμα πορτοκαλιού (ή 1 γρ. Μαστίχα)
25 γρ. νερό χλιαρό 
1/2   φακελάκια ξηρή μαγιά
160 γρ. αλεύρι σκληρό
  1 αυγό για επικάλυψη αμύγδαλο φιλέ 



Recette de Brioche feuilletée au beurre - 750 Grammes






Recette de la Brioche bouclette - 750 Grammes



Brioche Feuilletée Express

Brioche feuilletée

 

Ingrédients pour la brioche feuilletée : Υλικά για το φύλλο τσουρέκι :  
 Zutaten für die schuppige Brioche:


500g de farine   αλεύρι       Mehl
60g de sucre      ζάχαρη       Zucker
10g de sel           αλάτι         Salz 
15g de levure                       Μαγιά   Hefe
100g de beurre ou huile   βούτυρο ή λάδι Butter oder Öl
75g d'eau selon consistance   νερού σύμφωνα με συνοχή 
Wasser nach Konsistenz
4 œufs       αυγά   Eier

: 
  
 




Brioche Feuilletée Express

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/nduja_sausage_and_sheeps_56588

'Nduja sausage and sheeps’ cheese pizza

These spicy, tangy homemade pizzas are so much better than anything you can have delivered – the perfect pick-me-up.

Ingredients

For the pizza dough

• 200g/7oz semolina flour
• 800g/1lb 12oz type ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 650ml/1 pint 3fl oz tepid water
• 1 x 7g sachet fresh yeast

For the topping

• 1 x 400g can plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
• 400g/14oz sheeps’ cheese, crumbled
• 300g/11oz ’nduja (soft spicy Italian sausage, available from delicatessens or online specialists)
• 1 large handful fresh basil leaves
• 1 tbsp peanut oil

Preparation method

1. For the pizza dough, sift the flours, sugar and salt into a large bowl and mix well.
   
2. Mix the yeast and a splash of the water to a paste in a small jug.
   
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the yeast paste. Gradually pour over the rest of the tepid water, bringing the dry ingredients into the centre a little at a time, until the mixture comes together as a soft dough.
   
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a large, clean bowl and cover with a damp, clean tea towel. Set aside in a warm room to prove for 1½ hours.
   
5. When the dough has almost doubled in size, knock it back by punching and kneading it a little, then divide it into four equal balls.
   
6. Place the dough balls onto a lightly greased baking tray, spaced well apart, and cover with a lightly greased sheet of cling film. Set aside to prove again, for at least four hours (in a warm room) or overnight (in the fridge).
   
7. When the dough balls have doubled in size again, preheat the oven to its highest setting. Place a heavy baking tray or pizza stone into the oven to heat up with it.
   
8. Roll one of the dough balls out onto a lightly floured work surface to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness. Sprinkle a little flour onto an upturned baking tray and transfer the pizza base onto it.
   
9. For the topping, blend the canned tomatoes to a purée in a food processor. Spoon some of the mixture into the centre of the pizza base, spreading it almost to the edges.
   
10. Sprinkle some of the sheeps’ cheese, ’ndjua and basil leaves onto the pizza, then drizzle over the peanut oil.
    
11. Working as quickly as possible, scoot the pizza into the oven by pushing it from the upturned tray onto the pizza stone or hot baking tray. Cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the base is cooked through, the cheese has melted and the tomatoes are bubbling.
    
12. Meanwhile, repeat the process with the remaining three pizza bases and the remaining topping, serving each pizza immediately.
    

1 Recipe, 5 On-the-Go Breakfasts

http://www.worldkitchen.com/en/blog-article?fdid=bakerssecretblogDir&cid=blog-Baker-s-Secret-1-Recipe-5-On-the-Go-Breakfasts

1 Recipe, 5 On-the-Go Breakfasts



It’s no secret breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But a lot of “breakfast foods” just don’t cut it when you’re hunting for a healthy morning jumpstart. For a simple alternative that will sustain you until lunchtime, we’ve got one great idea—make-ahead Morning Egg Muffins! Get the basic recipe below, then stir up 5 variations with our mix-in ideas. In less than an hour, you’ll have an entire workweek’s worth of sunrise noms ready to enjoy.

1 RECIPE, 5 VARIATIONS

Say good-bye to processed toaster treats and wave hello to one easy breakfast. Make these muffins once and enjoy for days. With one basic recipe, you can fill your fridge with 1 dozen fiber-licious egg muffins, store them for 3-5 days, then quickly reheat on busy mornings.

• Need to freeze ’em? Feel free! Simply tuck cooled cooked muffins in resealable freezer bags. To reheat, place on a microwavable paper towel and microwave on High until warm (about 1-2 minutes). Muffins will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

BASIC EGG MUFFIN RECIPE (Makes 12 muffins)

• Cooking spray (olive oil or coconut oil preferred)
• 12 slices whole grain wheat bread
• 8 eggs
• 4-1/2 teaspoons half-and-half
• 1 cup mix-ins (diced veggies, shredded cheese, chopped herbs)

HOW TO MAKE IT

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a BAKER’S SECRET® SIGNATURE™ 12 CUP MUFFIN PAN with cooking spray.
2. Use the large cutter from the BAKER’S SECRET® ESSENTIALS™ 3-PC BISCUIT CUTTER SET to cut 1 round from each slice of bread. Press 1 round into bottom and side of each muffin cup.

3. In medium bowl, beat eggs and half-and-half with whisk. Stir in desired mix-ins. Pour into muffin cups, filling three-fourths full.
4. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool slightly before removing from muffin pan.

Tiny Bites Tip. If you’re cooking for a crowd or prefer petite bites, use the BAKER’S SECRET® ESSENTIALS 24 CUP MINI MUFFIN PAN and bake for 8-12 minutes. Use a small biscuit cutter to cut 2 rounds from each slice of bread.

FILL ’EM UP!

Before you pop those muffins in the oven, personalize them with a unique blend for each day of the week. Make a whole batch of one blend or mix 1-2 tablespoons of different toppings into individual cups to create a whole pan of unique flavors.
Experiment with different meats, cheeses, veggies and spices. There are endless ways to customize your breakfast muffins! Here are a few tried-and-true options to get you started.

MONDAY: MEATLESS MONDAY

Stir in a solid dose of color with this veggie-packed version. The key here is color and variety. Add diced asparagus or sweet potatoes…frozen peas…grated or shredded carrots…torn fresh spinach or kale. Feel free to experiment with different combinations—almost anything goes with veggie combos.

TUESDAY: EAT YOUR BROCCOLI

A fun way to eat your greens, here’s a super-nutrient combo to try: chopped broccoli and mushrooms with turkey sausage (cooked and crumbled), tomato and Parmesan cheese. For even more flavor, add a sprinkling of coarse sea salt and dill weed to taste.

WEDNESDAY: QUICK QUICHE

Power through your morning routine with energy-boosting ingredients. Line muffin cups with strips of cooked turkey bacon, then prepare the basic recipe as directed. Stir in cubed baked or boiled red potatoes, and chopped zucchini, red bell pepper and red onion. Top with your choice of cheese just before baking.

THURSDAY: BAKIN’ BACON

Liven up classic egg muffins by adding bacon bits, chopped green onions and shredded Cheddar. Worried about bacon’s bad rep for contributing to heart disease? Turn to crumbled turkey bacon instead, or try a vegan version for smoky flavor without the fat.

FRIDAY: FOR THE SWEET TOOTH

Ditch the doughnuts and satisfy sugar cravings with natural sweetness. Blend eggs with mashed ripe banana, 1 tablespoon raw honey and a handful of blueberries. You can mix in dark chocolate chips, too (a powerful source of antioxidants). This combo of ingredients sounds crazy, but it tastes like a banana bread scone!
Grab some eggs, it’s time to get crackin’! With so many simple variations on this delicious morning muffin recipe, you’ll be eating healthy all week…and enjoying every bite.
EXPERT TIPS:

• HEAT-AND-EAT. Make more yummy morning morsels with our Savory Breakfast Muffins. This recipe is great for busy mornings and pretty enough to serve at brunch parties, too!
• CROWD-FRIENDLY FARE. Need to feed more than just a few family members in the morning? This Wake ’n’ Make Breakfast Bake is big enough for a whole crew!
• QUICK BREAKFAST BITES. Like making food in a mug? Then you’ll love these ideas for Big Breakfast Flavor in Smaller Sizes.

Step-by-Step: How to Make a Perfect Apple Pie

An American classic, perfected. [Photographs: Vicky Wasik; Food Stylist: María del Mar Sacasa]

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/11/how-to-make-a-perfect-apple-pie-step-by-step.html

 

Get Recipe

Perfect Apple Pie

More

Thanksgiving Survival Guide

Everything you need to know, from turkey recipes to wine pairings and beyond

A great apple pie can be as simple as picking the right type of apples; chopping them up; tossing them with sugar, spices, and a thickener; dumping them into a killer homemade pie crust; topping it; and baking it. A perfect apple pie, on the other hand, takes just a little bit more work. Here's how to get there, fully illustrated with step-by-step photos.
In my recipe, we activate the power of apples' endogenous enzymes by giving them a soak in hot water. These enzymes in turn help to shore up the structure of the apple slices, ensuring that they retain their shape even as they tenderize. Instead of apple mush inside the pie, you wind up with distinct chunks of tender apple bound together in a juicy, lightly sweetened and spiced sauce.
A quick note: There are two basic types of apple pie out there. Pies using precooked apples tend to be rich and jammy, with a filling that holds its shape as you slice; pies made with uncooked fruit tend to be much juicier, while maintaining a fresher, brighter apple flavor. Deciding which version is better is like trying to pick a puppy out of the litter. It largely comes down to personal preference.
This pie is of the latter variety and comes out fresh, bright, and quite juicy. But don't despair, thick-pie-lovers: We'll be coming out with a brand-new recipe this season that uses par-cooked apples for a thicker, richer filling. Stay tuned!
Read more about the science of pie dough, more on how to pick the right apples for pie, and more on the science of apple pie filling. Or, jump straight to the step-by-step photo guide here.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/how-to-make-the-best-carbonara-sauce-spaghetti-pasta.html


 

Make Foolproof Pasta Carbonara Without Scrambling (Eggs)

 

Daniel Gritzer

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Carbonara sauce is quick, easy, and requires just a little finesse. [Photographs: Vicky Wasik]

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Spaghetti With Carbonara Sauce

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had some chickens, E-I-E-I-O
So he took those chickens and grabbed their eggs, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had some cows, E-I-E-I-O
So he milked those cows and made some Parmigiano-Reggiano, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had some sheep, E-I-E-I-O
So he milked those sheep and made Pecorino Romano, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm, he had some pigs, E-I-E-I-O
So he took those pigs and slit their throats, chopped 'em up, poured salt on top, and made a year's supply of pancetta and guanciale, E-I-E-I-O
And Old MacDonald looked at what he had and said, I'm making some goddamned spaghetti carbonara, E-I-E-I-O
And that, friends, is how carbonara—the quick-cooking pasta dish with cured pork and black pepper in a creamy egg and cheese sauce—was born. Except that Old MacDonald was more likely named Giuseppe.
No, seriously. Of all the theories of how carbonara sauce came to be—and there are a lot—the most probable is that it's just an old Roman dish using the kinds of ingredients that have been kicking around the Italian countryside for centuries. Add to that plenty of freshly cracked black pepper, a spice so deeply woven into Roman history that it was twice extracted as ransom by invaders, and you have the building blocks of the famed sauce. But even if you subscribe to one of the other, more spurious origin stories, you have to admit it's a rare and remarkable recipe that includes ingredients from all four of the major farm animals, as defined by the Major Farm Animal Index. (The 1973 version, not the one from '94, which anyone in their right mind would agree was a hot mess—alpacas at number five? Gimme a break.)
While it's fundamentally a simple dish, the challenge of carbonara is cooking the sauce just enough to form a thick, silky coating on the pasta without accidentally scrambling the eggs. I'll get to how to do that in just a second, but first I want to go over a few smaller decisions you'll have to make before starting—namely, choosing your cut of pork, deciding whether to use whole eggs versus just yolks, and picking your cheeses.

Ingredient Indecision

First, Pick Your Pork

From left: bacon (smoked and cured pork belly), pancetta (cured pork belly), and guanciale (cured pork jowl).

One of carbonara's origin stories says that it was created to appeal to bacon- and egg-eating American G.I.s stationed in Italy after World War II. But, as David Downie's great Roman cookbook, Cooking the Roman Way, explains, the dish existed under one name or another long before that. (As for the name itself, the tale that carbonara was named after soot-covered coal miners is equally difficult to prove.)
That means that on carbonara's pork authenticity scale, smoked American bacon is down near the bottom. Pancetta, Italian cured (but not smoked) pork belly, is much higher up. At the top is guanciale, cured pork jowl.
But knowing what's most authentic only gets us so far. What about flavor? I prepared three versions of carbonara, using each of those three ingredients. All proved themselves to be worthy options, though there were differences.
Guanciale, as you can see in the photo above, tends to have the highest ratio of fat to lean meat, which means that it renders the most liquid fat as it cooks, creating a more unctuous sauce. It's also often cured with a more generous amount of warm spices rubbed onto its surface; sometimes it's made with black pepper alone, but the guanciale I used in my tests also had a stronger flavor of clove and cinnamon. Those spice flavors come through in the finished dish.

Slicing and cooking guanciale.

Pancetta, meanwhile, delivered the purest porky flavor, which most of my tasters seemed to prefer. American bacon, as you can imagine, added a hint of smoke, which is pretty darned tasty in its own right and definitely worth considering. It's also an undisputed natural partner for eggs, even if that's not how carbonara came to be. If smoked bacon is all you can get, there's no reason to let authenticity stand between you and a filling bowl of carbonara.
No matter which type of cured pork you end up using, it always helps to chill it well before attempting to dice it, since fatty pork can be frustratingly squirmy at room temperature.

Second, Get in on the Yolk

One of the biggest differences you'll notice when reviewing carbonara recipes from around the world is that some call for whole eggs and some just the yolks. When I started working on this recipe, I was expecting to just call for whole eggs, since it's annoying to have to decide what to do with leftover whites. We have some suggestions here, but let's be honest: Wouldn't it be better to not have to deal with that?
Welp, sorry to say it, but after side-by-side tests, I've become a yolk evangelist. If you use my recipe (and you should!), you'll have leftover egg whites to look forward to.

In my test, I made a single portion of carbonara using 100 grams of dried pasta (my go-to amount for one person) and a single whole egg. I measured that egg by mass and made a second batch at the same time, using the exact same amount of yolk. Take a look at the photo above, because it speaks for itself. The yolk made a tight, rich sauce that coated the spaghetti beautifully, though some tasters found it a little too rich. The whole egg thickened into a nice sauce, but was more watery (remember, I used exactly the same mass of whole egg and yolk, so it's not because there was less egg in the yolk-only batch), and there was really no easy way to tighten it up without scrambling the eggs.
My final recipe, which serves four, calls for mostly yolks, with just a couple of whole eggs tossed in. The result is a sauce with an absolutely perfect texture, just thick and rich enough.

Third, Choose the Cheese

Last up are the cheeses. This is a Roman pasta dish, so, to me, it just won't taste right without the salty tang of Pecorino Romano, an aged sheep's-milk cheese. But Pecorino Romano alone has an assertive flavor, which is why I and many others like to cut it with the sweeter, fruitier flavor of Parmigiano-Reggiano. I use equal parts of each and whisk them into the eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl, along with plenty of coarsely ground black pepper.
Okay, now it's time to actually cook the dish.

Cooking Pasta Carbonara the Right Way

Let's quickly review the way we finish most pastas: First, we cook the pasta in salted (but not too salty) water, using only as much water as we need to submerge the pasta. The less water we use relative to the pasta, the starchier the water will be, which will help bind and thicken the final sauce.
Meanwhile, as the pasta cooks, we heat our sauce in a separate pan. When the pasta is al dente, we transfer it to the sauce, add some of the pasta water, and finish cooking them together until the sauce has thickened just enough to coat the pasta. If it reduces too much, or if the pasta is still a hair underdone, we can keep adding more water, bit by bit, until the sauce is just the right consistency and the pasta is at its absolute perfect point of doneness. Then we stir in some grated cheese and serve.
With carbonara, though, that universal pasta-cooking method won't work (incidentally, it also doesn't work with pesto, which tastes best if the sauce isn't cooked). The eggs in the sauce make it impossible to simmer the pasta with the sauce for any length of time, lest they scramble.
What that means is that we have to combine the cooked pasta with the egg-and-cheese mixture and cook it without too much fiddling, so that the eggs thicken just enough, but don't overcook.
I've met some folks who swear that you can just toss it all together off the heat and serve it, but I've never been able to make that work. The eggs have to cook just enough to reach a light custardy consistency, and we need some extra heat to do that...just not too much.
There are two ways to go about it. The quickest is in a skillet on the heat. The safest is a trick I came up with while developing this recipe. Here are both of them.

Higher Risk: The Skillet Method

Let's start with the slightly faster but also higher-risk method: finishing the pasta in a skillet over direct heat. While the pasta is cooking, I crisp the pork in a skillet with a little olive oil. Then I whisk the eggs with the cheese and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
When the pasta is ready, I drop it into the skillet with the pork and stir it around so it picks up the fat and crispy bits. Then I scrape all of that into the mixing bowl with the eggs and add some of the pasta water. I give it all a good stir so that the pasta is well coated, then transfer it all back into the skillet.
I set that over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with tongs. The key here is to use the pasta almost like a mop, so that none of the sauce is left in contact with the hot pan's surface for too long. That mop-like effect is easiest with a long noodle like spaghetti, which is my top choice for carbonara, but you can make it work even with short pasta like penne, another popular carbonara option.

You'll know it's ready when the sauce tightens up, coats the noodles, and leaves clear trails behind as you stir it. To help regulate the heat, you should feel free to lift the skillet on and off the heat as needed until you reach that point of perfection. As soon as the sauce reaches the right consistency, transfer the pasta to a warm serving bowl. Like scrambled eggs, carbonara can easily overcook through the residual heat in the skillet.

Lower Risk: The Double-Boiler Hack

It occurred to me while I was working on this that I had everything I needed to set up a makeshift double boiler: a pot of boiling water, and a large mixing bowl that I can nest on top. As anyone who's ever made an egg-based sauce like hollandaise or crème anglaise knows, one of the best ways to ensure that you don't scramble the egg is to cook it in a double boiler, as the steam heat on the bottom of the top chamber is gentler than a direct flame under a pan. Since carbonara is essentially a savory custard sauce, it's a trick that works just as well here. This is now my preferred method, and the one I'm giving in the recipe linked at the top and bottom of this article. The key is to not drain the pasta pot, since you'll use the boiling water to heat the mixing bowl.
To do it, cook the pasta and pork as usual, and mix the eggs and cheese in a large mixing bowl, just as described above. Make sure to choose a mixing bowl that will nest well over the pasta pot without the bottom touching the water. Then, using tongs and/or a strainer, transfer the pasta to the skillet with the pork and scrape it all together into the big mixing bowl with the egg mixture. Once again, add some of that pasta water and give it all a good toss.
Then nest the mixing bowl on top of the still-simmering pasta pot and stir constantly until the sauce thickens up. You still need to stir constantly, because the egg will eventually scramble even in a double boiler, but this setup gives you some insurance against it happening so rapidly that you don't even realize it before it's too late.
As soon as it's ready, transfer it to bowls and serve. Then eat it right away: This is not a dish that gets better as it sits.

Take a look at this and tell me Old MacDonald Giuseppe didn't know what's up.

 

 

 

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/how-to-make-the-best-carbonara-sauce-spaghetti-pasta.html


 

Make Foolproof Pasta Carbonara Without Scrambling (Eggs)

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html

The Food Lab: The Science of the Best Yorkshire Puddings

 

 

Extra-tall and extra-crisp Yorkshire puddings. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

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The Best Yorkshire Puddings

Back when I was earning my wage as a cook at a co-ed fraternity house, I received a special dinner request from a few exchange students from Cambridge University: toad-in-the-hole, the classic British dish of sausages baked into a large Yorkshire pudding. Only problem? I had no idea what a Yorkshire pudding was. It was described to me as "sort of like a batter and you pour it into a pan and you bake it." Rather than, say, doing some actual research, I decided to wing it.
Pudding, I thought to myself. That ought to be rich and moist and sort of spoonable like a custard, right?
I ended up with essentially that: sausages baked into a vast pool of eggy custard, their tops just poking through the surface, like a construction worker who's fallen into a vat of half-set concrete. (And the dish was just as heavy as it looked.)
The one good thing about cooking for a fraternity house is that college students will eat anything. Still, at the behest of the British students, I dove a little deeper and discovered that Yorkshire pudding is really nothing more than the British equivalent of the popovers that my mother loves. Sure, our popovers are baked in specialized tins and typically served sweet while Yorkshire puddings are served with beef drippings and gravy, but conceptually they're pretty much exactly the same.

Yorkshire puddings are traditionally cooked in large pans, though most modern recipes call for muffin tins or popover pans.

This was well over a decade ago and I've spent several months in northern England as well as many hours in the kitchen baking pudding after pudding since then.
Printed recipes for Yorkshire pudding go back as far as the mid-18th century, and the dish likely existed long before that. It's simple—almost primal—in its ingredients and process: Mix together milk, eggs, and flour with a pinch of salt to form a batter ("as for pancakes," according to the 1937 cookbook The Whole Duty of a Woman), then pour the batter in a pan that has been greased with the drippings from a roast. Originally that roast was mutton, these days it's more likely beef.
A Yorkshire pudding works on the same principle as a French pâte a choux, the thin pastry used to make cream puffs, Parisian-style gnocchi, and gougères. Those recipes all start with a high-moisture dough and rely on the power of steam to puff and rise into their light, crisp final forms. Yorkshire puddings and popovers take the same concept to the extreme, using a batter that is so moist that it pours out like cream and puffs up to at least quadruple its volume.

A hollow core is the hallmark of a good Yorkshire pudding.

As with all simple recipes, Yorkshire pudding technique is steeped in rules designed to make you believe that they're a tricky, fickle food and that following the wrong recipe or wrong technique will lead to disastrous results.
After dozens of tests and hundreds of puddings, I have some good news for you: It's nearly impossible to mess up a Yorkshire pudding (despite the fact that I managed to back in my fraternity chef days). You can play with the ratio of ingredients every which way and still end up with a batter that rises tall. You can bake it in any type of pan you'd like. You can rest the batter or bake it fresh. You can chill it or leave it out at room temperature. Heck, you can even break the cardinal rule of Yorkshire puddings and pour the batter directly into a cold tin. Break every one of these rules and your puddings will still puff and turn out light and crisp.
But of course, some puddings are lighter and crisper than others. I considered it my duty to investigate each and every rule and theory in the lore of Yorkshire pudding to figure out which ones rise to the top and which are simply puff pieces.

Testing Yorkshire Pudding Theories

Before we dive in, a quick shout out to Felicity Cloake's fantastic article on Yorkshire puddings, where, in the true intrepid spirit of an adventurous scientist, she tested a half dozen different recipes before landing on her own version. Her columns are always enlightening and this article hopes to pick up where hers left off.

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #1: Cold Batter = Better Puds

I've heard this one over and over. Make sure that your batter is chilled in the fridge and that your pan with drippings is ripping hot from the oven. But there is debate. The Royal Society of Chemistry rather imperiously advises against it, claiming that to place pudding batter in the refrigerator is a "foolish act." (They, rather unscientifically for an organization of scientists, deign not to explain why.) However, most recipes, like James Martin's, tell you to chill your batter before baking.
This was a very easy one to test. I divided batches of batter in half, storing half in the refrigerator for an hour and the other half at room temperature. I also repeated the experiment with batter I'd refrigerated in its entirety for an hour, then divided, leaving half of it on the counter to come to room temperature before baking. I baked all the puddings in the same tin (repeating the test multiple times, of course), and compared heights and textures.

The difference wasn't as drastic as some other tests, but the fact is that the warmer your batter is to start, the better your puddings will rise. However, there is another thing to consider: Colder batter stayed pooled in the center as the edges rose from the heat of the pan, weighing down the center and creating a more distinct cup shape to the finished puddings.
Verdict: Depends on what you want. Warmer batter will create taller, crisper puddings with a more hollow core (I kind of like them this way), but colder batter will create denser puddings with a more distinct cup. If you are the type who likes to make a separate onion gravy to pour inside the puddings as a first course, colder batter might be for you.

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #2: You Must Start With a Hot Pan

Sizzling fat = taller puddings. Or does it?

The idea of starting in a screaming hot pan makes sense for a couple of reasons. First, there's the idea of oven spring. A hot pan will get more energy into the batter right from the start, causing it to puff and rise while it's still relaxed and stretchable. Second is that with a hot pan, your batter is less likely to stick (think: pouring scrambled eggs into a cold pan vs. a hot pan), which means less resistance to rising.
There's no divide on this debate: everybody says you must start with a hot pan in order to get the tallest rise, some going so far as to tell you to preheat your beef drippings for a full half hour before adding your batter.* Still, for the sake of thoroughness, I better test it, I thought. I poured cold batter into a cold, greased tin, then placed it in the oven. At first it looked like not much was happening. But after a few minutes, the puddings started rising. And rising.
*This, for the record, makes no difference at all if you're using a tin. It is as hot after five minutes as it will ever be.

By the end of their 20-minute cook time, they were nearly (but not quite) as tall as any other pudding I'd baked thus far. Granted, they had slightly different and irregular shapes with less cupping. A couple of them stuck to the bottoms of their tins. Still, the results were far from the disaster I was expecting. When I repeated the experiment in a cast iron skillet, the differences were far more pronounced with the pre-heated pan producing a much taller pudding, and this gave me a clue as to the origins of this particular theory.
With the traditional baked-in-a-heavy-pan pudding, preheating is necessary simply because a cold pan will suck up so much energy from the oven before the batter can really begin to bake. In order to get the batter to heat quickly, your pan must be hot to start. With a modern popover/pudding tin, however, this is not the case. The thin metal is so light that it barely takes any energy at all to heat up. After a few brief moments in the oven, you're essentially in the same initial state as you'd have been if the pan had been fully preheated to begin with.
Verdict: True (sort of). Your puddings will come out slightly higher and better-shaped with a hot tin, but it's not the end of the world if you forget to preheat it. (Just don't try it in a full-sized skillet.)

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #3: Rest the Batter at Least 30 Minutes

Delia, the arch-queen of modern British cookery, declares in her recipe: "There is no need to leave the batter to stand, so make it whenever it's convenient." Jamie Oliver agrees. His recipe has no rest at all (in fact, he doesn't even start making the batter until the tin is preheating in the oven). But Marco Pierre White, a Yorkshireman (as if that really matters), advises letting your batter rest for at least an hour.
When authorities disagree, it's time to appeal to science. I made a half dozen batches of pudding batter, the first a full six hours before the last, then baked them all side by side in the same oven. Amazingly, there was a direct correlation between how long the batter had rested and how tall the puddings rose. You could tell exactly how old a batter was simply by holding a ruler up next to the baked pudding!
Just to be sure of my results, I repeated the test, this time taking it up to a full day of resting before baking. Here are the results:

Resting the batter is the single most important factor in Yorkshire puddings.

Let me show that to you again, outside of the tin:

I'm going to say this: Resting your batter is the single most important step you can take to improving Yorkshire pudding and popovers. Not only do they come out taller, they also come out much tastier, with a more complex, toasty flavor. Non-rested-batter puddings taste positively flat (literally and figuratively) next to rested-batter puddings.
In my exploration of chocolate chip cookies a few years ago, I found a similar advantage to resting cookie dough. According to Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking, it comes down to the breakdown of proteins and starches over the course of the overnight rest. Here's an excerpt of my explanation in cookies, which applies to puddings as well:

It helps to think of proteins and starches as large LEGO structures. During the process of browning, those large structure are broken down into smaller parts and individual pieces and subsequently rearranged. Sort of like destroying that LEGO castle so you can build a dozen spaceships. Now, both of these phases—the breaking down and the reconstruction—take time. By resting the dough, you give the deconstruction phase a head start. It's as if you left your LEGO castle sitting out over night and your annoying little sister came by and smashed it all, King of Tokyo-style. With the pieces separated, building your spaceships is much faster.
It's really the same thing, except instead of LEGOs, you've got proteins and flour. Instead of an annoying sister, you've got enzymes. And instead of awesome spaceships, you get awesome cookies. How awesome? We're talking, oh, a million puppies on the moon wearing superhero underpants under their little doggie spacesuits levels of awesome.

Resting makes a big difference in the interior texture as well. With little gluten development, the interior of a Yorkshire pudding baked right after forming the batter is almost cake-like, with small bubbles and not much stretchiness. A pudding baked after an overnight rest has a stretchy texture with large bubbles inside. In most cases, you'll end up with the ideal case: a Yorkshire pudding that is essentially one large bubble in the center. Perfect for holding gravy and drippings.

The stretchier interior also accentuates that wonderful contrast with the crisp outer shell.
Verdict: True. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that resting at least overnight is essential if you are really after the best.

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #4: More Egg Yolks Make For Richer Puds

Another easy one to test. I made a few batches of Yorkshire puddings, keeping the total ratio of liquid to flour identical (in this case, both eggs and milk count as liquid), altering the ratio of yolks to egg whites. The more yolks you add to your puddings, the more rich, tender, and custardy they become. The more whites you add, the taller and crisper they puff.
Thankfully, I found that whole eggs gave the most desirable results. Still plenty tall, but not so lean that they become dry.
Verdict: True, but we don't necessarily want richer puddings.
If lowering the amount of fat in a batter makes the puddings crisper and lighter, then the fat content the milk adds to the mix must also have an effect on the end results, right? That brings us to our next test.

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #5: Add Water for Crisper Puddings

Again, this was a simple matter of adding water while keeping the ratio of liquid to flour the same. As expected, puddings with more water in them rise up puffier and crisper. Unlike with excess egg yolks, however, the puddings stay tender enough that the tradeoff is worth it. In my recipe, I ended up using milk and water at a 7:1 ratio (that is, for every 175 grams of milk, I use an additional 25 grams of water). Even easier is if you have skim or low-fat milk—they work just fine on their own, no need to cut them with water.

I wondered if using soda water might help create an even lighter, crisper pudding. It works wonders in thin batters like tempura—the extra bubbles give it a much lighter texture. With a Yorkshire pudding, the results are not so hot. The fact that the batter is heavily beaten and rested eliminates all the bubbles the soda brings to the party. The batter rises just about the same amount as with regular water. What's worse, soda water is slightly acidic, and the Maillard browning reactions are inhibited in acidic environments, which means that puddings made with soda water come out less brown and less flavorful.
Similarly, adding vodka to the batter (another trick that works well in batters or pastry crust to get lighter, crisper end results) was a bust. It inhibits gluten formation too much, and without gluten, your puddings don't have the necessary structure to puff properly.
Verdict: True. But stick with plain water, leave out the bubbles and booze.

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #6: Beef Drippings Make the Best Yorkshire Puddings

Beef fat has more flavor than a neutral vegetable oil, but the choice of fat in your Yorkshire pudding can affect more than just flavor. It also has an effect on texture. Just like with deep frying, the more highly saturated your fat is (that is, the more solid it is at room temperature), the crisper your puddings come out. Puddings baked with vegetable oil will be limper than those baked with shortening, which will be limper than those baked with beef fat.
Craving puddings without the roast? Clarified butter is an excellent choice.
Another note about fat: As the batter rises, the fat tends to pool in the center. If you use plenty of fat, that pooled fat will weigh down the center of the puddings, creating a deeper cup shape. So for the deepest cupping, use plenty of fat, colder batter, and a slightly higher ratio of flour to liquid in your batter.
Verdict: True.

Yorkshire Pudding Theory #7: Don't Open the Oven While Baking

If there's one bit of advice you hear more frequently than any other, it's this: Do not, under any circumstances, open the oven door while your Yorkshire puddings are baking. Everyone from Gordon Ramsay to Felicity Cloake advises against it. Your puddings will fall, they say. They will refuse to puff, they say. They will spontaneously combust and burn down your house with your goldfish and sense of self-worth trapped inside, they say. They will raid your fridge, finish the milk, and put the empty carton back, they say.*
* They only actually say two out of four of these things.
Fortunately, none of it is true. I baked batches of puddings side by side in two identical ovens. One I monitored carefully through the glass door in the soft orange glow of the oven light. The other I opened up every few minutes to peek along at its progress. (I have two ovens and only one working oven light, so this actually worked out quite well for me.) With the latter, I even took the risk of rotating the tray a few times during baking.
Both batches rose just fine and equally tall.
Verdict: Totally, absolutely false.

Further Testing

Just because I tried to answer all of the most frequently asked questions doesn't mean I was done with things here. I had a few more tests to run through before finalizing my recipe.
Oven Temperature
Hot enough to cause intense rising, not so hot that the exterior burns too fast is the way to go. 450°F (230°C) is ideal. No convection. Some folks recommend turning the oven down towards the end of cooking to allow you to leave the puddings in the oven longer, thereby setting their exteriors more firmly so that they don't deflate as much once you pull them out. I recommend that those folks just learn how to eat their puddings in a more timely manner.
Pan Size
A good Yorkshire pudding batter will work in any size pan. I did most of my testing in large 6-well popover tins, but the batter works equally well in muffin tins, mini muffin tins, and in a preheated cast iron skillet or casserole dish (these large-format methods being the most traditional). It's all just a matter of how you want to present them.
Flour-to-Liquid Ratio
There is a vast range of liquid-to-flour ratios in Yorkshire pudding batter recipes online. Cloake's, for instance, calls for a hydration level of only 140% (that is, for 100g of flour, there are 140g of liquid). The BBC recipe more than doubles that ratio with a hydration level of 285%!
I found 140% to be far too low, with 200% hydration the bare minimum for a thin, pourable batter that rises dramatically.

More water = higher rise and less cupping.

The higher the ratio of liquid, the more dramatically your puddings will rise, but the less of that contrast between crisp shell and stretchy interior you get. At 300 to 350% hydration you're bordering on a pudding-shaped cracker. With lower hydration levels, you also get deeper cupping. My final recipe calls for 75g of flour for every 200g of liquid for a hydration level of 266%.

Serving Yorkshire Puddings

I have a few bits of advice here, the most important being this: Make sure your guests are seated and ready a few minutes before your puddings come out of the oven. Yorkshire puddings are light, they are delicate, and they lose heat fast. Like time and tide, a Yorkshire pudding waits for no one, so you better be ready when it is.
My mother loves Yorkshire puddings but never gets them enough. The few times we've served them at family dinners, it's been alongside the roast, which lets you mop up the drippings. I've come to prefer serving them the more traditional way: as a course on their own before the meat lands on the table. Serve them hot and filled with pan drippings and gravy. It creates a nice bed in your stomach for your meat and vegetables to settle into later on (and of course, filling up on puddings means more reasonable meat portions later on. The holidays are all about reasonable dining, right?).
Having spent a few months living in the north of England, I have some fond memories of overcooked (but very crispy) beef roasts moistened with plenty of Bisto gravy. No, it's not natural tasting, but yes, it's salty and savory. Typically I eschew store-bought beef stock* for its distinctly fake flavor, but there is something nostalgic about it for me here, where a little store-bought stock flavored with sautéed onions and thickened with cornstarch is an almost perfect match for Yorkshire puddings. Real gravy is great, but don't be ashamed to go with whatever calls to you at the moment.
* Even in meaty recipes, I'll use store-bought chicken stock in place of beef stock, as packaged chicken stock typically has a much higher ratio of actual chicken, while beef stock is not much more than brown water flavored with yeast extracts.
Recently I tried something that might have forever changed my life for the better: thickened French onion soup. I had a few quarts of our recipe kicking around in the fridge (I'm working on a pressure cooker version of that dish). On a whim I decided to reduce it to about half its original volume, jazz it up with a little splash of soy sauce, then thicken it all to a glossy, gravy-like consistency with a cornstarch slurry.
Oh my, was it tasty. For that batch I went with a low hydration batter and a large muffin tin to maximize cupping, turning each pudding into a little tureen for the thickened French onion soup, simultaneously combining three cultures (and probably offending all of them in the process) into one delicious hodgepodge.

It doesn't matter. I'll take a Yorkshire pudding any time, anywhere, breakfast, lunch or dinner. In fact, I just remembered that I have a cup of batter leftover in the fridge from last night's onion-soup extravaganza. Cuppy Yorkshire puddings with a poached egg and some Hollandaise sounds like a pretty serious end-of-December breakfast to me. All it needs is one of those cutesy British food names and we'll have a new classic on our hands. Muckery cluck or peg-in-pud will do.

 

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html

The Food Lab: The Science of the Best Yorkshire Puddings

 

 

 

Τα 7 Μυστικα της Λαχταριστης Σπιτικης Μαρεγκας

 

 http://caruso.gr/marenga/

Τα 7 Μυστικα της Λαχταριστης Σπιτικης Μαρεγκας

 

 

Η σπιτική μαρέγκα μου είναι απόλυτα οικεία ιδέα, από τα παιδικά μου χρόνια και ομολογώ ότι ποτέ δε μου πέρασε απ’ το μυαλό να αγοράσω έτοιμη απ’ έξω. Έμαθα να φτιάχνω μαρέγκα, στη πρώτη Γυμνασίου, στο μάθημα μαγειρικής του σχολείου μου στην Αγγλία, χτυπώντας μάλιστα τα ασπράδια με σύρμα στο χέρι. Αυτό βέβαια ήταν πιο πολύ γυμναστική, παρά μαγειρική!
Από τότε λοιπόν που ήρθα στην Ελλάδα, μου φαινόταν πραγματικά περίεργο ότι ενώ ο κόσμος ισχυρίζεται ότι λατρεύει τη μαρέγκα, το σημείο αναφοράς του ήταν συνήθως αυτά τα έτοιμα από ζαχαροπλαστεία, λευκά κατασκευάσματα, που εμένα μου μοιάζουν αισθητικά και γευστικά με διογκωμένη πολυστερίνη. Χωρίς διάθεση σνομπισμού, αυτές που πουλιόνται από ζαχαροπλαστεία για μένα, δεν είναι μαρέγκες.

Γιατί η πραγματική σπιτική μαρέγκα, λιώνει στο στόμα και έχει πολυεπίπεδες γεύσεις και υφές που δεν έχουν καμία απολύτως σχέση με τις έτοιμες. Τεράστια διαφορά!

Με τα σύγχρονα μίξερ και τα πολυμηχανήματα που έχουμε όλοι σπίτια μας, συν τα μικρά μυστικά που θα σημειώσω πιο κάτω, η παρασκευή σπιτικής μαρέγκας είναι πανεύκολη υπόθεση και δεν σηκώνει δικαιολογία. Έχει δε, μόνο πλεονεκτήματα!

Χρησιμοποιείτε μόνο δύο ευτελή βασικά υλικά, μπορείτε να ετοιμάσετε τη μαρέγκα μέρες πριν την χρειαστείτε και μπορείτε να την έχετε αποθηκευμένη σε αεροστεγή συσκευασία, ώστε να είναι σε επιφυλακή για ξαφνικούς επισκέπτες. Τότε την βγάζετε και την σερβίρετε είτε σαν Πάβλοβα, είτε σαν Eton Mess με λίγα φρούτα, σοκολάτα ή ξηρούς καρπούς και χτυπημένη κρέμα, σε απλές συνταγές του πεντάλεπτου, που θα βρείτε στο Cucina Caruso.

Η συνταγή για σπιτική μαρέγκα είναι πάρα πολύ απλή και εύκολη, αρκεί να είστε σχολαστικοί με τα 5 σημεία προσοχής που σημειώνουμε πιο κάτω. Είναι μια συνταγή βάσης για πολλά γλυκά και αξίζει να τη δοκιμάσετε με την πρώτη αφορμή, την οποία λέω να σας  δώσω πολύ σύντομα με μια συνταγή για μαρέγκες με πηχτή κρέμα λάιμ (lime curd) και passion fruit!

Τα 7 Mυστικά της Σπιτικής Μαρέγκας :

1. Ασπράδι χωρίς ίχνος κρόκου. Οι πρωτεΐνες του ασπραδιού δεν μπορούν να διασπαστούν δημιουργώντας αφρό, αν υπάρχουν έστω και λίγα μόρια κρόκου ο οποίος περιέχει λίπος.
2. Απόλυτα στεγνά και καθαρά σκεύη από λίπη και υγρασία. Για τους ίδιους, καθαρά χημικούς λόγους, κάθε σκεύος, ακόμη και το κουτάλι που θα χρησιμοποιήσετε πρέπει να είναι καθαρό, στεγνό και σκουπισμένο.
3. Κουζίνα χωρίς εστίες υγρασίας έντονης θέρμανσης. Στο χώρο που θα χτυπήσετε μαρέγκα, ας μην ψήνετε ή τηγανίζετε κάτι καυτό, ούτε να βράζετε κατσαρόλα. Η έντονη ζέστη και η υγρασία μπορεί να επηρεάσει το αποτέλεσμα.
4. Μην περάσετε το όριο στο χτύπημα της μαρέγκας γιατί θα διασπαστεί. Η στιγμή που δημιουργούνται οι μαλακές κορυφές που στέκονται και το μπολ με την μαρέγκα μπορεί να σταθεί κάθετα χωρίς αυτή να πέφτει, είναι η κατάλληλη στιγμή για την προσθήκη της ζάχαρης. Όχι πριν, όχι πολύ μετά.
5. Δυνατότητα για αυξημένη σταθεροποίηση. Με πρόσθεση κορν φλάουρ και ξυδιού, μετά την ενσωμάτωση ζάχαρης διασφαλίζουμε καλύτερη συμπεριφορά στο τελικό αποτέλεσμα. Το κορν φλάουρ αντιδρά με τις πρωτεΐνες του αφρού, προστατεύοντάς τες από υπερβολικό εξωτερικό ψήσιμο, ενώ το ξύδι βοηθά στη μαστιχωτή εσωτερική υφή της μαρέγκας. Όμως μπορείτε να κάνετε και μαρέγκα χωρίς την πρόσθεση αυτών των δυο υλικών, μόνο με ασπράδι και ζάχαρη.
6. Πιο υψηλή θερμοκρασία στη προθέρμανση του φούρνου, απ’ το ψήσιμο. Η ομαλή πτώση της θερμοκρασίας από τότε που η μαρέγκα μπαίνει στο φούρνο στους 150ºC, μέχρι να ολοκληρωθεί το ψήσιμο στους 140ºC, είναι βασικό στοιχείο της συνταγής.
7. Αφήνετε τη μαρέγκα στο φούρνο για ώρες αφού ψηθεί μέχρι να κρυώσει. Πάλι, η ομαλή πτώση της θερμοκρασίας διασφαλίζει ότι θα σκληρύνει το εξωτερικό κέλυφος και θα μείνει μαστιχωτή από μέσα.

Χαρακτηριστικά της συνταγής:

Βασική συνταγή για ένα σωρό εύκολα γλυκά. Η ετοιμασία παίρνει 15 λεπτά και από εκεί και πέρα το ψήσιμο και ο χρόνος μέχρι να σταθεροποιηθεί η μαρέγκα στο φούρνο είναι επιπλέον ανάλογα με το μέγεθος. Μπορείτε να ετοιμάσετε μαρέγκες και να τις διατηρήσετε περί τον ένα μήνα σε θερμοκρασία δωματίου, σε αεροστεγές σκεύος (τάπερ ή σακούλα).
Υλικά

6 ασπράδια από φρέσκα αυγά (καλό είναι να έχετε περισσότερα αυγά για την περίπτωση που κάποια δεν χωριστούν καλά απ’ τον κρόκο)
250 γρ. λευκής ζάχαρης (ιδανικά τύπου caster αν βρείτε, που είναι πολύ ψιλή, αλλιώς την κανονική ελληνική)
1 κ.σ. κορν φλαόυρ
2 κ.γ. ξύδι από λευκό κρασί
1 κ.σ. ψιλοκομμένα καβουρντισμένα αμύγδαλα (προαιρετικά για κάποιες συνταγές)

Παρασκευή:

1. Προθερμαίνετε τον φούρνο στους 150ºC.

2. Μαζεύετε τα ασπράδια. Σε χώρο της κουζίνας μακριά από εστίες θερμότητας, βάζετε τρία μπολ, σχολαστικά σκουπισμένα με χαρτί κουζίνας (ένα για προσωρινή χρήση συλλογής κάθε ασπραδιού, ένα για τους κρόκους και το τρίτο για να αποθηκεύσετε όλα τα ασπράδια που συλλέξατε σωστά).
Αρχίζετε να ξεχωρίζετε το ασπράδι απ’ τους κρόκους σε κάθε αβγό. Μαζεύετε στο πρώτο μπολ “προσωρινής συλλογής”, το ασπράδι και στο δεύτερο ρίχνετε τον κρόκο.
Εφόσον πετύχει η διαδικασία, μεταφέρετε το ασπράδι από το πρώτο μπολ στο τρίτο, όπου θα μαζευτούν εντέλει τα 6 ασπράδια.

Αν τυχόν στο πρώτο μπολ με το ασπράδι πέσει έστω και ελάχιστος κρόκος, το πετάτε χωρίς δεύτερη σκέψη και χρησιμοποιείτε άλλο αβγό, αφού πρώτα καθαρίσετε και σκουπίσετε το μπολ. Επειδή είναι πολύ πιθανό να συμβεί αυτό, η μεθοδολογία με το επιπλέον μπολ “προσωρινής συλλογής” που προτείνουμε, διασφαλίζει ότι ακόμη κι αν συμβεί ένα ατύχημα στο τέταρτο ας πούμε, αβγό, δεν πετάτε τα προηγούμενα τρία που είναι ασφαλή και ‘αμόλυντα’ από κρόκο, στο κανονικό μπολ αποθήκευσης. Επαναλαμβάνετε την διαδικασία για τα 6 αβγά, ώστε να μαζέψετε τα 6 ασπράδια.

3. Βάζετε τα 6 ασπράδια στο μίξερ έχοντας τη ζάχαρη έτοιμη για χρήση και ένα πεντακάθαρο κουτάλι. Χτυπάτε τα ασπράδια σε υψηλή ταχύτητα μέχρι να κάνουν μαλακές κορυφές που στέκονται. Όταν η μαρέγκα στέκει στο μπολ, καθώς το γυρνάτε κάθετα, είναι έτοιμη για να προστεθεί η ζάχαρη.
Προσοχή! Μην παραχτυπήσετε τη μαρέγκα γιατί θα ξαναρχίσει να υγροποιείται και να πέφτει.

4. Αφού δοκιμάσετε αν η μαρέγκα στέκει, ξαναβάζετε το μίξερ σε υψηλή ταχύτητα και ρίχνετε τη δόση της ζάχαρης, δυο κουταλιές κάθε φορά, μέσα στο μίξερ, μέχρι να έχετε ένα αφράτο αλλά σταθερό μίγμα με σατέν λάμψη.

5. Αφού η μαρέγκα έχει ενσωματώσει την ζάχαρη, προσθέτετε πρώτα το κορνφλάουρ και στη συνέχεια το ξύδι. Τα δύο αυτά έξτρα υλικά θα βοηθήσουν την σταθεροποίηση του τελικού αποτελέσματοις και τη μαστιχωτή υφή, κυρίως στη περίπτωση που φτιάχνετε ατομικές μαρέγκες. Μόλις ενσωματωθούν κι’ αυτά, σταματάτε το χτύπημα στο μίξερ.

6. Στη περίπτωση που θέλετε να προσθέσετε τα καβουρντισμένα αμύγδαλα, σε αυτό το σημείο μπορείτε με την μέθοδο του διπλώματος να τα βάλετε στη μαρέγκα.

7. Ετοιμάστε ένα χαρτί ψησίματος κόβοντάς το ακριβώς στο μέγεθος του ταψιού του φούρνου σας.

7α. Αν κάνετε μια ενιαία μαρέγκα για Πάβλοβα, αδειάστε το περιεχόμενο του μπολ στο κέντρο του χαρτιού και με τη βοήθεια του κουταλιού, εφόσον χρειάζεται, δώστε στην παχύρρευστη μαρέγκα ένα παχύ κυκλικό σχήμα.

7β. Αν κάνετε ατομικές μαρέγκες για άλλες χρήσεις, με δύο κουτάλια, φτιάχνετε μικρά λοφάκια μεγέθους μιας γροθιάς πάνω στο χαρτί, όπως φαίνονται στις φωτογραφίες.

8. Ψήνετε τις μαρέγκες: Βάζετε το ταψί στον φούρνο που έχει προθερμανθεί στους 150ºC και αμέσως μόλις μπουν, χαμηλώνετε τη θερμοκρασία από τους 150ºC στους 140ºC.

9. Για τις ατομικές μαρέγκες βάζετε το χρονόμετρο στα 50’. Για την ενιαία μαρέγκα της πάβλοβας στη 1½ ώρα. Μόλις το χρονόμετρο χτυπήσει, κλείνετε τον διακόπτη και αφήνετε τις μαρέγκες μέσα στο φούρνο να κρυώσουν με την ησυχία τους. Δεν ανοίγετε τον φούρνο, ούτε κατά τη διάρκεια του ψησίματος ούτε και για αρκετές ώρες μετά, μέχρι να κρυώσει εντελώς (το άλλο πρωί ιδανικά).

 http://caruso.gr/marenga/

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