This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
No need to boil gelatin
Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen.
A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around 40°C.
Find out why this precision is essential, and how you can easily incorporate it into your preparations.
A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around 40°C.
Find out why this precision is essential, and how you can easily incorporate it into your preparations.
5,053 5/5 (1 reviews)
Keywords for this post:GelatinTemperatureMeltingMeltGelling agentLast modified on: November 21th 2024
No need to boil gelatin
What is gelatin?
Gelatin is a protein derived from collagen, widely used for its gelling properties in desserts such as mousses, entremets, panna cotta and bavarois. When used correctly, it provides a delicate, melt-in-the-mouth texture.
But its effectiveness depends on one golden rule: don't boil it. Indeed, gelatin dissolves perfectly in a hot liquid from 40°C, but if heated above 60°C, its gel-forming properties begin to break down.
Bringing the preparation that will contain it to the boil is therefore a rather bad idea, risking compromising the final texture of your desserts.
How do I use it?
Drain the gelatin sheets, softened by soaking in cold water, and add them directly to a warm-hot mixture (40-50°C).
If your recipe calls for a hotter mixture, add the gelatine off the heat to prevent overheating.
Once the gelatine has been incorporated, leave your dessert to cool in the fridge for the magic to happen (the gelatine sets).
Setting time varies according to recipe, but generally allow 2 to 4 hours.
Mistakes to avoid
- Boiling gelatin: As explained, this reduces its gelling capacity.
- Adding it directly to a cold mixture: It will not dissolve properly and may form lumps.
- Using the wrong quantity: Each recipe specifies the optimum dose, often around 2 g gelatin per 100 ml liquid for a classic texture.
In short: Forget recipes that require you to bring gelatin to the boil, a reasonable hot temperature is enough to reveal its potential, for perfect desserts and a consistently successful texture.
Lasts posts
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20256855
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...July 31th 20251,1585
Parsley stems
Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?July 28th 20251,184 13
A drizzle of olive oil
Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...July 13th 20251,4105
Always secure your cutting board
When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.July 1st 20251,4965
Other pages you may also like
The "pith" of the cauliflower
When using cauliflower in a recipe, there is a lot of preparation work at the beginning: removing the leaves, taking the tops or florets, etc. It's a bit tedious, but in the end you're left with the best of the cauliflower, ready to be used in your recipe.February 5th 202211 K4.9
Preserving egg yolks
If you're using only the egg whites in a recipe (such as meringues ), you'll need to store the yolks until you're ready to use them again. There's nothing very complicated about this in principle - all you have to do is chill them, but there are a few pitfalls to be avoided in practice.June 18th 20245,5635
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.June 21th 201763 K 24.2
For well opened (puffed) cakes
It's always nice to have a well puffed up cake after baking, not only will it taste good but it looks great too. Let's see how to get this beautiful shape almost every time.January 23th 201930 K4.2
Baking cakes
Where we see that to put a cake in the oven, once the dough is finished and in its mould, there is no hurry and that the cold is your friend.June 28th 201942 K4.1
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.