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Category Deconstructing Recipes
The Science of Biscuits and Gravy (+ Recipe)
If you read this title and are wondering why on earth people would eat a biscuit with gravy, you’re probably not from the South of the USA. You probably prefer eating your biscuit with a cup of tea. Even though…
The Science of Shortbread – Role of Flour, Butter, Sugar
Feel like eating a cookie? But want something simple, with only a few ingredients? Shortbread cookies are what you should be looking at. You can make this cookie style with as little as three ingredients. Mix flour, butter, and some…
How to Make and Store Almond Paste (+ Recipe)
We eat strawberries in summer, Brussel sprouts and kale in winter. Chocolate Easter eggs in the weeks before Easter and pumpkins in autumn. We eat pepernoten (a Dutch cookie) in the month of November. Almond paste fits well in that…
Crunchy cranberry pie – On (not) dissolving sugar
Sugar definitely is one of the most complex and fascinating ingredients in the kitchen. It sweetens your food, but can also be used to create a whole lot of different textures and structures in your food! Sugar helps thicken a…
Brown Butter is a Cookie’s Best Friend
It smells nutty, almost vanilla-like, buttery, and just generally delicious: brown (or burnt) butter. It requires only one ingredient and just a little bit of patience. That simple process unleashes a series of chemical reactions which all contribute to the…
Craquelin on Choux Pastry – What Is It and How Does It Work
Have you ever seen those profiteroles or cream puffs with a speckled decorated top? The pattern on top almost looks like dried out earth, with a lot of cracks and spaces in between the darker spots of decoration? Note only…
How to Make Super Thin Doughs (Strudel, Filo, Etc.)
So many cuisines have dishes that are made with super thin pastry. The very thin dough can be used for making anything from Middle Eastern baklava, Greek spanokopita, German strudel to Indian samosas. They’re all made with phyllo, or the…
How to Save a Collapsed Italian Meringue (+ Recipe)
Have you ever been left with egg whites after making a recipe that calls for egg yolks only? And not feeling like making crispy meringues from the oven, again? Good thing there are other options such as these soft and…
The Science of a Rice Pudding (+ Recipes)
A rice pudding, isn’t that just a regular, simple dessert? Nothing special or fancy? After making a rice pudding the other day (for testing The Turkish Cookbook), and of course, making several steps along the way, I thought the contrary:…
The Science of Risotto (And a Lazy Way of Cooking It)
If you’re an avid follower of Masterchef Australia (as myself), you’re probably familiar with the ‘death dish’ (although it’s less of a death dish in the more recent seasons): risotto! On this cooking competition, more than one contestant has either…
How to Make Maple Cream (The Science of Sugar Crystallization)
If there’s anything more maply than maple syrup, it’s maple cream. It’s not as common as maple syrup and you won’t find it in most supermarkets. Which is a shame, because if anything, it tastes even more like maple than…
Science of a strawberry mousse mirror glaze cake
You don’t really understand food and recipes, until you’ve tried them. At least, that is my opinion. Once you’ve tried something a few times, it starts making more sense. This strawberry mousse mirror cake covers several learning points which we’ll…