A croquembouche is a French dessert consisting of a pyramid of choux-buns bound with threads of caramel. It’s sometimes served instead of a wedding cake or as a treat at other parties. It’s become popular also to make a croquembouche to look like a decorative Christmas tree.
Blanching is to briefly and partially cook food, usually vegetables or fruit, in boiling liquid, usually water but oil is sometimes used.
The technique is useful for preparing vegetables for the freezer. In which case, once the food has been briefly cooked it’s usual to arrest the cooking process by plunging the fruit or vegetable into iced water. (This is called ‘shocking’ or ‘refreshing’.) The blanching technique is also used when preparing vegetables ahead of time. The blanched vegetables, being part-cooked, are quicker to fully cook later at the required time.
Usually when making roast potatoes, the spuds are parboiled or blanched before putting them in the roasting tin to roast in oil or lard.
Abalone is a name given to several different species of sea snail. It’s hard to give an exact number because not everyone agrees on the definitions, but there are anything between 30 to over 200 species, ranging in size from small to very large.
The name “abalone” comes originally from the Californian Rumsen language via Spanish. The final E is pronounced, so it’s “a-ba-lo-né”, not “abba-lone”.
Abalone are particularly prized in East and South East Asian cuisine. They were once considered a luxury item in Chinese banquets along similar lines to shark fin soup and bird’s nest soup. In Korea they were often presented to the King.
Nowadays, with the introduction of commercial farming, abalone are more popular. One Western Australian company has set up what it describes as an abalone ranch – an artificial reef consisting of 5,000 concrete blocks weighing 900kg each. The abalone are seeded from an onshore hatchery, taken out to the reef and then left to their own devices.
In North America evidence of abalone consumption along the Californian coast has been dated back to 12,000 years ago. These days you can find abalone on Californian pizzas!
Abalone are also sought after for their shells, the inner surface of which is covered with a particularly iridescent nacre (mother-of-pearl) that’s used in jewellery, button-making and as inlay in furniture and musical instruments.
The albacore is a species of tuna found in all three of the world’s major oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea.
It’s a popular source of tuna for canning – the history of tuna canning goes back to 1903 when 700 cases of albacore were experimentally canned.
In the US it’s the only species that can legally be described as “white meat tuna”. The canning industry use this phrase to distinguish albacore meat from other tuna species.
It’s also known as longfin tuna. This is because of the long pectoral fin running down its side, for up to 30% of the total length of the fish.
Like all fish it accumulates methylmercury over time, but as it’s an apex predator (at the top of the food chain) it does so to a greater extent than most fish species. Although the human body does naturally break methylmercury down over time, it takes over a year to do so.
Albacore caught individually by pole is reckoned to be the most sustainable form of tuna, so look out for it when shopping.
Slashing is a bakery term which refers to slashing the top of the dough with a very sharp knife or razor blade. This is crucial – a blunt knife simply won’t do the job properly.
As well as giving the bread an attractive appearance, historically – in the days of communal ovens – it was also the baker’s signature which enabled easy identification of which loaf belonged to whom.
Slashing the dough also has a practical function. It controls where the dough bursts during the rapid expansion which happens in the first stage of baking. This leads to a better texture of the loaf as well as making it look better.
Kneading is the process of working dough, especially bread dough, to speed up the development of gluten to turn the dough into a firm and more workable mass. Kneading isn’t necessary – there are plenty of no-knead recipes. Given enough time and water, the proteins in wheat flour will do this for themselves. Kneading is simply a mechanical means of speeding up the biochemical process.
Kneading can be done by hand or by using the dough hook on a stand mixer. However, if using a domestic mixer, take care to read the manual for the machine otherwise you risk burning out the motor. Usually doughs have to be kneaded for at least ten minutes and many domestic machines recommend only running the motor for four minutes at a time.
Many people find hand kneading therapeutic. Others would prefer to let a machine do the grunt work. When the kneading process is complete, the dough should feel smooth and elastic. Some people describe is as ‘silky’.
When bread loaves are first put in the oven to bake, they swell rapidly. This is known as oven spring. If this has been planned for, eg by slashing the top with a lame or sharp knife, it can give the loaf an attractive design. However, a rupture, or random burst, could look unattractive so it’s generally advised to control the burst.
Autolyse is a term for bread baking technique of mixing the flour and water together and leaving it to rest before adding the other ingredients, such as yeast and salt. This simple technique is said to improve the structure of the bread as well as to make mixing and kneading easier.
Professor Raymond Calvel, a research chemist and a baking expert introduced the technique in his highly acclaimed book ‘Le Gout du Pain’, which was later published, in 2001, in English as ‘The Taste of Bread’.
Among other people, Calvel taught bread making to Julia Child.
Try the BakeryBits website for more info about Professor Raymond Calvel and his autolysing technique.
A sausage roll is a savoury pastry snack which is popular in Britain and in the Commonwealth nations. They’re commonly sold in retail outlets such as supermarkets and bakeries. The mini, or cocktail, versions are often served hot or cold as buffet or party food.
A sausage roll consists of a tube of sausage meat enclosed in puff pastry and baked.
Not Delia makes cocktail sausage rolls
True Balsamic vinegar is an artisan product from Modena, in Italy. It’s made from grape juice, which is simmered to make a concentrate, and then fermented. Finally it’s matured in barrels for a minimum of 12 years. The barrels used are made from different woods to impart different flavours. The result is a rich, dark and syrupy vinegar, which should be used sparingly – not least because it’s expensive. The real thing will be labelled ‘tradizionale’ and/or marked DOC.
It’s possible to buy cheaper balsamic vinegar. This is made industrially from vinegar and grape juice and is called ‘aceto balsamico di Modena’. This vinegar does not undergo the same ageing process as the artisan product and the flavour is inferior and weaker – but it’s fine for salad dressings and the like.
A typical Italian starter or side dish consists of bread served with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Balsamic vinegar also marries well with fruit, particularly strawberries.
See also Vinegar for more details about how vinegar is made.