Text 6042, 139 rader
Skriven 2006-09-30 13:45:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: A tasting report 335
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 -=> Dale Shipp said to All <=-

 DS> They were made by Snyder's of Hanover, a brand recognized by us. 
 DS> The label said "Butter Snaps Pretzels" and "Natural Butter Flavor". 
 DS> They had a taste in between normal pretzels and a short-bread cookie.
 DS> Interesting, but totally not what we'd expected.
 DS> I expect that Michael might have run into these, and grabbed a pill
 DS> after one bite:-}}

Yes, I've run into them, and now swerve to avoid them.

 DS> Along the lines of sleight of hand:
 DS> The front label says "only 1 gram of butter per 1 oz serving"
 DS> and the back label says:
 DS> serving size 1.5 oz (which happens to be the package size)
 DS> total fat 1.5 g.

Worse is the 2 oz packages whose nutrition information says
something like "serving size 1.5 oz; servings per package
approximately 1.3."

--mm
Tiramisu
cat: mine, dessert, Italian, French, Chinese
servings: 6

3 Tb Sam Choy's Kona Blend coffee
9 oz water
1 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM*
2/3 pk (16) Trader Joe's soft ladyfingers FDM
1 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate FDM
2 Tb Hershey's cocoa FDM
1 oz additional Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM
The zabaglione
3 lg egg yolks
2 Tb Realemon FDM
2 1/2 Tb water
1/4 ts Nordstrom's vanilla powder FDM
2 Tb sugar
3 oz cream
1/2 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM
The mascarpone filling
5 oz Garelick heavy cream
3 Tb sugar
7 oz Bel Gioioso mascarpone
1/2 ts Nordstrom's vanilla powder
1/2 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM

*FDM = "faute de mieux"
For the rum I'd have used Cruzan Black, but I enjoy
drinking that and do not enjoy drinking Gosling's but
have had some success cooking with the latter. The
reviews all say that Gosling's is great and Cruzan is
not, but they lie.

The ladyfingers were anything but soft - they were in
fact almost crunchy. This is fine for a dish that
requires them to be sprinkled with liquid, but otherwise,
I'd have said "non" (they are made in France) and had
them sent back.

At TJ's I'd looked for bittersweet; the only one
available was Scharffen Berger at 3 oz for $3-something.
Carol said, why not get the Ghirardelli semisweet in
bulk at $3.49 a pound? So I got nearly half a pound of
Ghirardelli for the price of an ounce of Scharffen Berger,
figuring that with all the other sweet ingredients, the
difference would be unnoticeable, and then I could sneak
the rest in little increments.

Hershey's cocoa is okay, but I'd prefer something else
if that were available at reasonable cost. Bear in mind
too that Scharffen Berger is now owned by Hershey. But
a nice rich Droste might go well here.

Realemon, it was there, what can I say?

Nordstrom's vanilla powder - again, it was there. Kind
of old, but that lent a subtlety to the vanilla presence.
I tend to like a strong, woody, bourbony vanilla presence
that gives the lie to the term "plain vanilla," but for
this dish, this stuff was fine.

Procedure.
Brew coffee double strength - I made just over 1 cup.
Combine 3 oz of this with 1 oz rum. Save the rest of
the coffee to correct textures of other ingredients.
Drizzle the ladyfingers with this liquid, making sure
the whole length of each is treated, but the ladyfingers
are not soaked.

Grate or shave the chocolate and set aside.

For the zabaglione. I used Harold McGee's microwave
pasteurization method as described by Barrie Lax.
Beat egg yolks well. Add lemon juice and beat well.
Add water and beat well. Transfer to microwave
container; cover and microwave 8 sec. (Using Carol's
antiquated machine, I did 16 sec.) Beat well again;
cover and return to microwave 8 sec. (Using Carol's
antiquated machine, I did 16 sec.) Beat again. Over
simmering water, combine egg yolks, vanilla, sugar,
cream, and a splash (say 3 Tb) of coffee. Beat and cook
until the mixture coats a spoon thickly. Off heat, beat
a bit longer. Refrigerate.

For the filling. Beat cream with sugar until the peaks
just begin to form. Beat in the cheese, vanilla, and rum.

Assembly. Drizzle bottom of a 1 1/2 qt square pan with
rum. Arrange half the ladyfingers in a single layer on
the bottom. Spoon 2/3 of the mascarpone filling over.
Sprinkle half the chocolate shavings over this, Arrange
the other half of the ladyfingers in another layer; pour
the zabaglione over this; smooth nicely. Sprinkle the
remaining chocolate shavings over. Spoon the rest of the
filling over and smooth. Sprinkle with the cocoa. Let
sit covered in the fridge until serving time, which
should be within 24 hours.

Other notes.
Sam Choy's blend may be only 10% Kona, but it is a nice
coffee. And Ghirardelli semi-sweet is only a little too
sweet (but way not bitter enough). On the other hand, it's
very smooth. I know it's bad for me, but I couldn't
resist continually shaving more bits off for me to taste.

This should have, given the ingredients, been one of the
best tiramisu ever made. It was I think not aged enough -
I made it between 2 and 2:30, and we ate it at 10. So the
hard "soft ladyfingers" hadn't quite melded enough. The
people we made it for did say it was the best tiramisu
they'd ever had. That's a small exaggeration but perhaps
not much of one.

Source: Carol's kitchen, me, chef
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