How to use gelatin

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Gelatin is a gelling agent use in some desserts where a rather firm texture is required when cold. It can also be used to stabilize a dessert (mousses especially) that you need to keep longer than usual.

Strawberry Charlotte

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This is a faily quick charlotte recipe. It begins, as usual, by soaking finger biscuits in syrup, in this case flavoured with lime. The charlotte is then assembled with alternate layers of Chantilly (whipped cream) and strawberries.

Fruit crémeux

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This kind of "crémeux" (it means "creamy", but contains no actual cream) is a basic recipe in the repertoire of French pastry chefs. It is smoother but less frothy than a mousse and uses gelatin to set it as it cools. Often used as a tart filling or in other desserts, crémeux is usually poured to set in a mould. This fruity version is made with raspberries.

Diplomat cream

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Diplomat cream or "crème Madame" (a much prettier name) is one of many creams in French pâtisserie based on confectioner's custard. The classic confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream) has gelatin added while hot, then whipped cream is folded in when cold. This gives a very...

Apple paste

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Apple paste, like most other fruit pastes, is a simple mixture of apple juice, sugar and a gelling agent - pectin here.

Clementine diplomat cream

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Diplomat cream, as delicious as ever, in a double clementine-flavoured version. It can be used in lots of desserts and pastries.

Bavaroise cream

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A "bavaroise" is made with custard, set with gelatin after cooking, and with whipped cream added once it has cooled. This makes a delicious, smooth cream that can be used to create many different desserts.

Lime meringue tart

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For this delicious tart, you will see how the crisp, sweet pastry is the perfect foil for the distinct taste and slight sharpness of the lime filling and, of course, the smoothness of the Italian meringue topping.

Pistachio panna cotta with custard

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In this dessert, the pistachio panna cotta is teamed with real vanilla custard and topped with a few caramelised pistachios.

Two-coloured chocolate-orange tart

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This tart, with its twinned chocolate and orange flavours, is a bit fiddly to make. The fillings are fairly straightforward (classic chocolate ganache and orange curd), but it is tricky to ensure that the fillings do not run into each other. You will need to make a divider but, as you will see, this makes everything possible and, of course, I explain all the details.

Avocado and smoked salmon terrine

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In this colourful terrine, layers of avocado alternate with smoked salmon and diced tomato in balsamic vinegar.

Apricot blancmange

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Blancmange is a very old dessert recipe, going back to the middle-ages. Updated for our century, it's almond milk with whipped cream and a smooth apricot puree.

Pear charlotte

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A charlotte filled with pear mousse (made with whipped cream and pear coulis).

Individual charlottes with morello cherries

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The French "griottines" are delicious little wild morello cherries, stoned and macerated in a Kirsch syrup, used here in individual vanilla charlottes.

Black Forest gateau

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Black Forest gateau is a sophisticated dessert which comes from Germany. It is essentially a combination of four flavours: chocolate, cherries, cream and kirsch. Here is my own version.

Plum and almond panna cotta

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The combination of plums and almonds is always a winner. Here's a version that uses almonds to make a delicious panna cotta with a difference.

Blackberry and almond fondant tart

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Balckberries and almonds go so well together: the slight tartness of the berries is the perfect foil for the sweeter almonds. This combination makes for a delicious tart. The sweetcrust pastry case is filled with a blackberry jelly and an almond panna cotta, presented in a bold and unusual way as a change from the usual layers.

European glass

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A little dessert that's rather long to make, but which will always impress your guests. Layered in a glass: a jellied red fruit coulis, a layer of pineapple charlotte cream, a layer of kiwi coulis, topped with a peeled clementine segment. It's "european" because it resembles the italian flag, and in another version with apricot instead raspberries, the irish flag (a country so dear to me).

Coconut-vanilla cream for Elsa

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A dessert in three layers: a first of smooth vanilla cream, a second of coconut cream (also very smooth), and to finish, a thin crunchy layer of coconut tuiles. In the spirit of crème brulée: break through the crisp surface layer to discover the smooth melting coconut and vanilla creams beneath. A delight...

Panna cotta

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Panna cotta is an Italian dessert which means "cooked cream". It's a set vanilla cream, similar to blancmange, which is frequently served with other things like fruit coulis (fruit purée), caramel etc.. Here is the basic panna cotta recipe.

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...
November 21^th 20245,1375

Devising a recipe

A question I'm often asked is: how do you come up with your recipes? How do you perfect them? This is something I've already mentioned on this page, but I'll take this opportunity to go into a bit more detail.
October 15^th 201215 K4.4

The time of the jams

We are well into summer as I write this, and this is the time when most of the fruit is giving or about to give in full. And for many of us, it will also be the time for jams and jellies, one of the best ways to preserve fruit for the next winter.
July 12^th 202125 K4.5

The art of the charlotte

In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...
February 27^th 201342 K4.3

Fruits which can ruin your jelly

There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...
March 6^th 201375 K4.0

The 3 secrets of successful mousses

When you make a traditional mousse, that is to say without using a siphon, whatever the recipe, it's always the same principle: on one side you have a dense mixture, very tasty, and on the other side egg whites beaten until stiff. All the difficulty of the success of a mousse, it will be to mix the...
April 3^rd 20217,5304.6

The so-called "nervous" meats

You've probably heard this before, we're talking about "nervous" meat, or meat with nerves, to describe what is indicated by the blue arrow on the left. This is a piece of beef, and what we call a nerve is not a nerve, it is in fact collagen (chemists sometimes call it a "collagen sink"), a...
April 16^th 202132 K4.5

Creams in pastry

In this post, I propose you to make a small tour of the different creams in pastry. If you like to make them at home, you have already noticed the many creams that exist for the different desserts: Chantilly, custard, diplomat, Bavarian, etc. etc. Each one more delicious than the other, they...
March 12^th 202211 K4.5

The gelling agent in a cream

If you start making a Bavarian cream for example, or any other that contains a gelling agent such as gelatin or agar-agar, you will sooner or later be confronted with the problem: How to properly incorporate this gelling agent into my cream? (and we will focus on gelatin).
June 18^th 202212 K4.9

The (small) miracle of béchamel sauce

Making a béchamel sauce is going to confront you with a little miracle that happens every time: You pour milk over a roux, it's very liquid, you stir over a low heat, and then all of a sudden, miracle, the sauce sets, it thickens, you've got your béchamel. Let's see what happened.
August 27^th 20246,3454