721 recipes. Page 23 of 31
Pasta, steak, and other Western recipes
With only five ingredients in this Breton pastry (flour, butter, sugar, yeast, and salt), the folding technique decides almost everything. Butter is wrapped in the dough and sugar is scattered over each fold, three times in all. In a hot oven the sugar melts into a glassy, dark caramel shell while the layers inside stay moist with butter.
This needs a wood-fired oven with a whole suckling pig of about 6kg turning on a spit, and pork belly in a home oven makes a different dish. The garlic, lard, pepper and salt paste goes inside the cavity, which then gets sewn shut to hold it in. Neither skin color nor time proves the meat is done: the pig comes off the heat only when several thick spots in the shoulders and thighs, away from bone and fat, all read at least 63°C. Pull out every bit of the sewing thread before carving.
Australian lamingtons start with cubes of plain sponge cake, dunked one at a time in a glossy sauce of dark chocolate, butter, and milk, then rolled in coconut while the coating is still wet so the flakes cling all over.
The skin should be dry and crisp, the center hot and fluffy, and everything else piled on top: cheddar, bacon, sour cream and chives. Potatoes of similar size finish together, and fork holes on every side let heat and steam move through evenly. Salted butter rubbed over the skin draws out moisture if the potato sits around, so it goes into the oven right away. A crisp shell also lets you fluff the flesh with a fork without tearing through the side. The cheddar comes first, straight onto the hot flesh, so the potato's own heat melts it before the rest is added.
Lemon juice, egg yolks, and sugar are stirred over low heat into a curd, poured into a baked shortcrust shell, and chilled until set. The curd comes off the heat before it boils, once a line drawn through the thin coat on the spatula holds, and cream stirred in afterward, then a pass through a sieve, leaves it silky. Only the yellow outer peel is zested; the white pith underneath tastes bitter.
Already-cooked lobster meat folds into a warm sauce enriched with egg yolks and spooned over toast, the opposite of a chilled lobster roll. The timing starts from shelled, fully cooked meat; boiling and picking a whole lobster is not included. Tempering the yolks with a ladle of hot sauce, then keeping the heat gentle, prevents strands of cooked egg. The sherry is heated only briefly, so the dish is not alcohol-free. It goes to the table at once, because the yolk sauce turns grainy if held over heat.
Holes poked into a hot lemon loaf let a sharp lemon syrup soak right through, and as it cools a thin layer of sugar crystals sets on top with a slight crunch. In Britain it is a plain, undecorated afternoon tea staple.
Cold, lightly dressed lobster goes into a warm bun just toasted in butter, and the contrast in temperature is the whole point. Mayonnaise and lemon juice should only film the chunks, while diced celery adds crunch. Chopping the meat too fine or stirring hard turns it into a paste and loses the visible grain of the lobster.
The lemon filling is thickened with cornstarch and finished with butter for gloss. Meringue goes on while that curd is still hot and is spread right to the crust, which seals the bottom and keeps it from weeping, and a short spell at 200°C browns only the tips of the peaks. Chill it before slicing for clean layers.
Boiled lobster meat is folded into a Dijon cream sauce, spooned back into its own split shell, topped with Parmesan and given a brief blast in a hot oven. Since the meat is already cooked, the sauce and oven only need to warm it; every extra minute tightens it. Bite-size pieces hold up better than fine shreds, which dry out first.
Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour go in at nearly equal weights, giving the dense, close crumb of a classic pound cake, and lemon zest and juice turn it bright. Rubbing the zest into the flour first spreads its oils so the aroma is even throughout. A crack running down the top is the sign of a good rise, and a thin powdered sugar glaze, poured once the cake has cooled, sets into a sweet, glossy film.
Thin semolina dough, stretched by oiled hands rather than a rolling pin, wraps a tomato and onion filling that has already been cooked down and cooled. Cooking the vegetables first keeps their juice from soaking the folded square as it browns in the pan. The vegetable oil in the list is for hands, work surface and pan, not something poured into the dough. With one pan, ten pancakes cook in sequence, so the griddle stage is the longest part of the job.
Strips of dough laid in a lattice, in the traditional Austrian way, let the raspberry jam bubble up and show through in deep ruby squares. Ground almonds in the dough make the crust shorter and more crumbly than a plain flour pastry.
With only tomato, mozzarella and basil on top, a Margherita lives or dies by its base. The baking tray heats inside the oven during preheating and gives the dough a strong first hit of heat, which firms the center instead of leaving it soft. Mozzarella drained, torn by hand and scattered with gaps keeps its moisture from pooling and browns in spots. The sauce stays thin with the rim left bare, since too much of it turns the crust soggy. A thin center and a slightly thicker rim give the edge room to puff. Basil, Parmesan and olive oil are added after baking, when their aroma is still fresh.
Browning the butter until it foams and smells toasty gives these madeleines a hazelnut-like depth that plain melted butter cannot. The hump on the back comes from resting the batter in the fridge for at least 1 hour: cold batter meeting a hot mold sets at the edges first while the center surges up. The crisp edges go soft within a few hours.
Drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes flavor the cream sauce without thinning it, carrying less water than fresh ones. Pounding the breasts to about 2cm lets them cook through without scorching. The browned bits left after searing the chicken get loosened with stock and become the base of the sauce. Once the cream is in, a gentle bubble at the edges keeps it from splitting, and the chicken simmers on in it until the thickest part reaches 74°C. The parmesan melts in off the heat, and since tomatoes and cheese both add salt, taste before adding any more.
A baguette is cut almost to the base and every slit is filled with garlic butter before baking. Plenty of minced garlic goes into that butter along with condensed milk and honey, which makes this Jeju-style manong baguette sweet as well as garlicky. An air fryer at the same temperature can stand in for the oven.
Meatballs browned on the outside finish cooking in a thick tomato sauce, then go into warm sub rolls under melted mozzarella. Breadcrumbs and egg hold the mixture together, so mix it with your fingertips only until it holds and shape the balls without packing them; heavy kneading makes them dense. The pan only colors the outside, leaving the centers to finish in the sauce. The sauce stays thick on purpose: anything runny soaks the bread before you reach the last bite, so reduce it a little longer if it looks watery. Melt the cheese under a broiler or with a torch just until it blankets the meatballs, and serve before the rolls soften.
A little more cornmeal than flour gives these a coarse, crumbly texture. Crisp crumbled bacon and maple syrup both go into the batter, so salty and sweet take turns from one bite to the next.
A ketchup glaze darkens and tightens over the beef as it bakes, giving the loaf a sweet, tangy top. The real test comes at the cutting board: thick slices hold together only after the loaf rests in its pan for at least 10 minutes. Cutting straight from the oven lets the juices run out and the slices fall apart.
Brown sugar instead of white gives this pound cake a caramel edge that lines up with the woodsy sweetness of maple syrup. The crumb stays tight and buttery, as a pound cake should, with toasted pecans scattered through every slice. It tastes better the next day: wrapped overnight, the maple flavor moves through the whole loaf and the cake turns rounder and more even in flavor.
Dipped in egg and milk and fried in butter, this ham and Swiss sandwich lands somewhere between French toast and a grilled ham and cheese. Dijon mustard spread on the bread cuts through the richness of the egg coating. Slice it in half while still warm and the melted cheese stretches between the halves.
The sheet is a chiffon batter with meringue folded in, light and springy, and the bitterness of matcha lingers after the sweetness of the cream has gone. How green it turns out depends on how briefly you fold once the flour and matcha go in.
Crisp toasted ciabatta, a thin layer of pistachio paste, loosely folded mortadella and soft burrata each bring a different texture, and none of them should be pressed flat. Folding rather than stacking the mortadella keeps the sandwich airy. Peppery arugula and a thread of balsamic glaze cut through the fat of the ham and cheese.