Techniques – Page 2 – CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN

Les Quatre Mendiants au Chocolat, A Candy Offshoot of Provence’s Thirteen Christmas Desserts

December 8, 2010

Gorgeous, huh? Yummy? You bet! And the best part is that, with a quick flick of a switch and your wrist, you too can make these beauties, part of the Thirteen Desserts of a Provençal Christmas. Mendiants au Chocolat Noir ou Blanc Makes about 75 – 100 candies, depending on size of circles 1 pound … More Les Quatre Mendiants au Chocolat, A Candy Offshoot of Provence’s Thirteen Christmas Desserts

Anatomy Lesson: Rustic Mushroom Tart

June 27, 2010

“Nature alone is antique and the oldest art a mushroom.” Thomas Carlyle [Note: This post forms part of the Picnic Game, sponsored by Louise over at Months of Edible Celebrations. For more recipes and the bloggers/sites that participated, see below!] Ah, mushrooms. Either you love them or you hate them. Maybe you act indifferently toward … More Anatomy Lesson: Rustic Mushroom Tart

A Gallery of Birthday Cakes

March 15, 2010

It’s lovely to think that a birthday cake actually manifests an ancient custom, when — just like today — bakers baked things for special days, like weddings, births, and funerals. Most of those celebratory items took the form of breads baked into unique shapes. But not until the nineteenth century could the average Joe (or … More A Gallery of Birthday Cakes

Pandolce: From Liguria with Love, Thanks to Laura Schenone

December 22, 2009

Laura Schenone, author of the soulful The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken and the scholarly (and prize-winning) A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove, traveled back to Liguria for Christmas in 2007. From that trip came her perpetual Christmas gift to all of us, Pandolce. In an article in the December 2008 issue of SAVEUR … More Pandolce: From Liguria with Love, Thanks to Laura Schenone

Idylls of Cuisine, #39

November 22, 2009

[A photograph, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.] Today’s post is number 500!

Fermented Foods of the World

September 18, 2009

For those interested in the impact of fermentation on human history, here’s a useful tool: Fermented Foods of the World: A Dictionary and Guide, by Geoffrey Campbell-Platt (Butterworths, 1987). Now somewhat rare, with a price tag of over $600.00 for at least one used copy available online, it’s not a book that should be checked … More Fermented Foods of the World

Idylls of Cuisine #28

August 30, 2009

[A picture, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.]

Weihenstephan, the Oldest Brewery in the World (?)

August 26, 2009

Make that the oldest brewery still standing (and producing) in the world, never mind that the oldest brewery is actually a smashed clay pot [no pun intended] someplace yet to be dug up by an intrepid and curious archaeologist. Given my deep interest in fermentation, as well as the impact of monks and monasteries on … More Weihenstephan, the Oldest Brewery in the World (?)