Monday, November 05, 2001


took a moment yesterday to ponder the concept of chocolate pastry cream. . .

little tarts are often filled with delicious pastry cream, a luscious concoction of cream, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and a thickener. just slowly boil it down until it thickens, let it cool, and voila! fluffy heaven.

then it also dawned on me -- d'oh! -- that panna cotta is a luscious concoction of cream, sugar, vanilla, and a thickener. just boil it down until it thickens, let it cool, and voila! fluffy heaven. finally, the indian/middle eastern pudding called firnee is. . . you've guessed it. . .

panna cotta is normally thickened with a soft gelatin; firnee normally with cornstarch or rice flour; pastry cream with cornstarch or arrowroot. how can we take the best of these things -- pastry cream's can't-stop-eating richness, panna cotta's silky texture, and firnee's pistachio topping -- and add the crucial ingredient, chocolate? what marvel could we produce?

what indeed! an experiment must soon be undertaken. recipe will shortly follow. . .

this must wait until the wekend. . .i can't do it tomorrow, as i'm going to jivamukti to take a workshop with rodney yee. you'll hear all about that on wednesday, i promise!

posted by fortune | 7:13 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments