Pie and Pastry Bible (176 page)

White truffle oil, an intensely aromatic addition to savory cream puffs and the mashed potato topping for a shepherd’s pie, is available from specialty food stores and the Balducci catalogue (page 676).

ELDERBERRY FLOWER CONCENTRATE
This extraordinary flavoring tastes like a combination of very ripe peach with the freshness of lychee. It is available from Ambassador Fine Foods (page 677).

FRUIT PURÉES AND PROCESSED FRUIT

APRICOTURE
This wonderful apricot glaze, which does not require straining, contains citric acid, corn syrup, sugars, pectin, and apricot pulp. Since it has less moisture than apricot preserves, it works perfectly to seal crusts and pastry and to glaze fresh fruit tarts. (It’s available from Albert Uster Imports, page 677.)
To thicken supermarket apricot preserves for brushing on pie crust:
See page 20.
To thicken other supermarket preserves for brushing on fruit:
Simmer the preserves with a little refiner’s or corn syrup, stirring constantly. Simmering thickens them by evaporating some of the liquid, while the syrup keeps them fluid enough to apply to the fruit.

DRIED APRICOTS
Turkish apricots, which have a pure tart flavor, are available in specialty food stores and by mail order from Sultan’s Delight (page 677).

LEMON CURD
Commercial lemon curd varies widely in quality. Tiptree brand, however, is very close to homemade because it is prepared by hand in small batches. Its exceptional flavor is also due to the lemons used in its preparation, which are from Spain. Coincidentally, the jar contains the same volume and weight as one recipe of my lemon curd (page 568).

PLUM BUTTER
Sultan’s Delight (page 677) carries an excellent “plum butter” from Poland, perfect as a filling for Danish.

PERSIMMON PURéE
See page 638a.

FRUIT PERFECT™ CHERRIES
To my profound astonishment, the wonders of modern technology have conspired to produce a processed food that tastes more purely delicious than the unadulterated natural fruit. Justin Rachid, of American Spoon Foods in Michigan (capital of sour cherries), revealed their secret. First, they use individual quick-frozen sour cherries picked at the height of ripeness. But the special ingredient that elevates the clarity of their flavor is the cherries’ own juices, concentrated by 65 percent to a ruby red, intensely bright-flavored syrup. Rachid explained that it took two years to “develop and perfect the vision.” One of the challenges was to achieve consistency in the ratio of fruit to syrup in each jar. A special cornstarch was formulated that is thick when hot, suspending the cherries evenly in the syrup, and thins to the desired consistency on cooling.

Once opened, the cherries will keep for several weeks refrigerated, but perhaps only if hidden from view, as they are hard to resist. Although they are intended to eat right out of the jar, two jars of the cherries, with the addition of a touch more cornstarch and sugar, make an easy and perfect pie (page 95). Also worth checking out are the Fruit Perfect™ blueberries, Marionberries, and peaches. (All are available from American Spoon Foods, page 676.)

GRIOTTES
These small sour cherries in brandy make a lovely accompaniment to pastries such as Napoleons. They are available in specialty stores and in larger quantities from Gourmand (page 677).

GELATIN

Gelatin is made from ground-up animal by-products, including hooves and bones. According to Knox, one 7-gram/¼-ounce package of their gelatin will gel 2 cups liquid. One package measures 2¼ teaspoons, so 1
teaspoons are needed per cup of liquid. If, however, a significant part of this liquid is a fruit purée that is very concentrated, such as a raspberry or strawberry purée for a chiifon pie, then I use only about 1 teaspoon per cup of liquid (including the egg white) instead of 1
teaspoons.

Leaf gelatin, which comes in sheets, can be substituted for powdered gelatin using the same weight. One package of powdered gelatin is equal to 5 sheets of leaf gelatin measuring 2
inches by 8½ inches. The problem is that gelatin leaves vary in size. If using 6- by 3-inch leaves, for example, you will need 5½ instead of 5 to equal the same amount.

Leaf gelatin should be soaked for at least 30 minutes in cold water until it becomes soft like plastic wrap. As long as the water is cool, the gelatin will not start
to dissolve. The excess water should then be squeezed out and the gelatin soaked in hot liquid from the recipe until dissolved.

Some people prefer leaf gelatin to powder because it imparts less flavor. I do not find the difference significant and use the powder because it is more practical. Powdered gelatin should be softened in cool water for at least 5 minutes before being heated to dissolve it. According to the Lipton Research Department, “While it is true that extensive boiling will denature unflavored gelatin, … normal use in recipes, including boiling, will not adversely affect the product.”

Gelatin requires a minimum of 4 hours to thicken a mixture and will continue to thicken it over a 24-hour period. Once the mixture has reached its maximum thickness, it will not thicken any further, even on freezing. Freezing does not affect thickening power. A mixture containing gelatin can be frozen, thawed, remelted, and refrozen several times before losing its strength.

I use Grayslake powdered gelatin, available at cake decorating supply places such as New York Cake and Baking Distributors (page 677), because it comes in a canister, making it easy to measure out the amount needed. New York Cake also carries leaf gelatin.

A kosher gelatin, made of vegetable gum, tapioca dextrin, and acids, is produced by Kojel Food Company (page 676).

AGAR-AGAR
is an alternative jelling agent used in Japan and by vegetarians. Made from seaweed, it is available in powder and stick form. Four teaspoons (2 ounces/56 grams) of the powder will jell 2 cups of liquid. A 3-ounce/84-gram stick will jell 3 cups of liquid. It’s available at Katagiri (page 675).

GOLD
Twenty-two-karat gold leaf and silver leaf are available in sign-painting supply stores and from Albert Uster Imports (page 675). Small flecks of gold make dramatic decorations for tarts. “Gold” and “silver” powders are available from New York Cake and Baking Distributors (page 675).

LARD
Leaf lard, the fat around the kidney, also has excellent flavor. A butcher will sometimes be willing to special-order it. The Yorkville Packing House, Inc., has an excellent-quality lard they will ship (page 677).

Caul fat is stored in brine, so rinse it well, or soak it for a few hours in cold water, and dry it. It still will be slightly saltier than leaf lard.

Lard or caul fat will render a little less than two thirds its weight. (If you start with a pound of caul fat or leaf lard you will have about 10 ounces lard.) The rest will be “cracklings,” which are great for adding to bread dough.

To render leaf lard, chop it fine or process it until well broken up. For caul fat, there is no need to chop it, as it is lacy and thin, except for the edges. Place the fat in a small heavy pan. Cook the fat on the lowest possible heat—just barely simmering (to avoid browning)—for 5 minutes, covered. Then cook for 40 minutes to an hour, uncovered, until only little golden brown bits remain in the pan. Strain it into a jar. It will keep refrigerated for months and frozen for about 2 years.

A half cup of rendered lard weighs about 4 ounces/113 grams, varying slightly according to the type used. If you are measuring rather than weighing the rendered
lard, for ½ cup: If using leaf lard, use ½ cup; if using commercial lard, use ½ cup plus 2 teaspoons; if using rendered caul fat, use ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon.

MINCEMEAT
I don’t make my own mincemeat quite simply because the most fabulous mincemeat I’ve ever tasted, Vintage Mincemeat, is made by Postilion in Wisconsin and is available from La Cuisine (page 676). I use it in my Brandied Mincemeat Ice Cream Pie (page 228) and also as an alternative stuffing for baked apple dumplings (page 141).

MORELS
Dried golden morel mushrooms from France are carried by India Tree (page 676) and Gourmand (page 677) and dried black morel mushrooms from Washington by American Spoon Foods (page 676). The golden morels are more subtle in flavor, the black morels more intense and slightly smoky.

NUTS
Freshly shelled nuts have the best flavor, but the canned shelled varieties are excellent and a lot more convenient.
Lightly
toasting most nuts, at 350°F. for about 10 minutes, greatly enhances their flavor. It is particularly desirable to toast walnuts, because the skins are very bitter and toasting loosens most of them. If you toast 7 ounces/200 grams of walnuts, about 0.3 ounce/9 grams of skin will come off if you rub them lightly in paper towels or while you are breaking or chopping them (pick out the nut pieces and discard the skin).

Most nuts have a fat content of about 70 percent. All nuts are prone to rancidity, but higher-fat nuts such as pecans, walnuts, and macadamia nuts are more prone to it than others. Always taste nuts before using them, as rancidity will ruin the flavor of a dessert. Nuts keep well for several years if stored airtight in the freezer. I use either reclosable freezer bags, expelling all the excess air, or glass canning jars, filling the empty head space with wadded-up plastic wrap.

Nuts should always be at room temperature before grinding them to prevent them from exuding too much oil. When grating or grinding almonds, starting with sliced nuts results in more even and less oily ground nuts. For every cup of ground almonds needed, start with 1¼ cups of sliced almonds.

If only whole nuts are available, use a generous ½ cup and start by using the grating disc of the food processor. Then switch to the metal blade and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped. A tablespoon or so of cornstarch, flour, or powdered or granulated sugar—borrowed from the rest of the recipe—will help absorb oil and prevent the ground nuts from clumping.

A small food processor works best for grinding nuts evenly The Mouli hand grinder also does a fine job.

ALMONDS
Almonds are the first-ranking nut crop in America and are grown in California. They were introduced there in the middle of the nineteenth century by Spanish missionaries.

PECANS
These are a native American nut, ranking third in harvest after almonds and walnuts. The majority of pecans are grown in Georgia and Texas. They were named
pakans
by the Algonquin Indians from the word for hard shell. Pecans have a high fat content (about 73 percent) and are therefore prone to rancidity. They should be stored frozen. If using fresh pecans, 1½ pound in the shell will yield 13½ ounces shelled. Good mail-order sources for fresh pecans, both shelled
and unshelled are: San Saba, in Texas (page 677), and Sunnyland Farms, in Albany, Georgia (page 677).

WALNUTS
Our second-ranking nut crop, walnuts are grown in California, and also grown and appreciated all over the world. They have a high fat content and are quite prone to rancidity if not stored frozen.

HAZELNUTS OR FILBERTS
These nuts are grown in Washington and Oregon, from cultivated stock brought over from Europe, and can be ordered from Hazy Grove Nuts, (page 676). They have a lower fat content than walnuts and pecans. The skin on hazelnuts is very bitter and difficult to remove. An easy method, taught to me many years ago by Carl Sontheimer, of Cuisinarts fame, uses baking soda. For ½ cup of nuts, bring 1½ cups of water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and the nuts and boil them for 3 minutes. The water will turn black from the color of the skins. Test a nut by running it under cold water. The skin should slip off easily. If not, boil a few minutes longer. Rinse the nuts well under cold running water, use your fingers or fingernails to remove the skins, then crisp or brown them in a 350°F. oven.