drink

The sweet, cultured taste of Calpis

maki — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:26:31 +0200

As your sometime guide to Japanese culinary culture, I would be remiss if I let another summer pass by without talking about Calpis.

Calpis is a sweetened fermented milk beverage. The label says:

“CALPIS” is a cultured milk drink, a refreshing gift from nature.

People tend to either love or hate Calpis. It tastes somewhat like very sweet, thick yogurt syrup with a dash of buttermilk. It is similar to Yakult, which seems to have been introduced more successfully around the world. However unlike the “gut-friendly” Yakult, Calpis makes no claims about containing active-bio-friendly-Dr.-Something-flora and things. In other words, it’s basically bad for you, as a sugary beverage should be. (It does have some half-hearted blurbs about being a good source of calcium, but then there’s all that sugar.) The ingredients are listed as cane sugar, milk and ‘dairy products’ (lactose), maltose and soy derived sugar.

It is sold as a carbonated drink (and labeled Calpico or Calpis soda, depending on where it’s sold), non-carbonated Calpis (or Calpico) water, and as a concentrate. There are fruit flavored versions too, but I like to stick to the original, unadulterated flavor. Derivative products include a premixed alcoholic cocktail called Calpis Sour, Calpis flavored candy, and frozen ices.

To English speakers in particular, the name is somewhat unfortunate, especially for a beverage. This is why Calpis has been marketed as Calpico in various overseas markets.

Originally Calpis was only sold as a concentrate, in a heavy glass bottle. The bottle did not have a label stuck on it. Instead, it was completely wrapped up in textured white paper patterned with blue polka dots. The paper was pleated like a summery dress of the 1950s, the decade in which the bottle was designed. (Think Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.) You can still get the concentrate in this elegant bottle (mostly in boxed gift sets), sans the pleated paper, but nowadays the concentrate is mostly sold in boring paper cartons. They have kept the blue-polka-dot-on-white design though.

Calpis concentrate also makes a great syrup for shaved ice (kakigouri). When I was in Hawaii in November, I kept looking for Calpis as a flavor choice at the shave ice places, but never found it. I was disappointed. In Japan Calpis is ubiquitous.

I’ve always preferred the concentrate over the ready to drink Calpis, because you can put in as little or as much Calpis as you want. My mother used to scold us if we put too much Calpis in our ice water. Even now I get a small guilty thrill when I make my Calpis nice and thick. I become a 10 year old again, sneaking into the kitchen when my mother wasn’t looking, to add a big extra dollop of the stuff in my glass. I would stir it well, but there would always be a bit of full-strength concentrate at the bottom of the glass. I would tip my head back, letting the thick syrup glide slowly down the glass into my mouth, the last, sweet treat.

Unlike mugicha, my other favorite cold summer beverage, I do not indulge in Calpis that often these days. Mugicha is zero calorie and supposed to be good for you. 100ml of Calpis diluted to ‘regular strength’ contains 48 calories according to the official Japanese website. To compare, 100 ml of regular cola has 43 calories. (There is an artificially sweetened concentrate now with ‘60% less calories’, but it’s hard to find outside of Japan. Besides, what’s the point of artificially sweetened Calpis?) I would have to burn it off the way I did when I was 10, by playing Kick The Can for hours on end, to be able to handle more than an occasional glass. I tell you, growing up is highly overrated.

Calpis (Calpico) Water and Calpis (Calpico) Soda are available in many Asian grocery stores. Calpis concentrate is available at well stocked Japanese groceries especially in the summer, such as Japan Centre.

(Note: When I tell Swiss people about Calpis, they nod sagely and say “Ah, it’s like Rivella”. Well Rivella is also a cultured milk based drink (soda), but to me it tastes nothing like Calpis. Neither does the Migros knockoff Mivella.)

How to use Calpis concentrate

The recommended dilution for Calpis concentrate is 4:1 or 5:1 water to Calpis. I have gone up to as high as 2.5:1, but that is a bit extreme. The concentration level of pre-bottled Calpis/Calpico water is about 5:1.

To prepare, just fill a glass with ice cubes, pour in concentrate to your desired level, then fill up with cold water. Stir well. Since the concentrate has a tendency to sink to the bottom, it’s best to serve this with a straw or muddler to stir it around with. For an extra hit of Calpis, finish off the glass with a swirl of extra concentrate.

Use the concentrate neat as a topping on snowcones or shaved ice.

Calpis Sour

This is a cocktail. I use vodka instead of shochu, since shochu is not easily available in Europe.

Pour 1 finger of vodka and 2 fingers of Calpis concentrate into a glass. Add ice cubes. Top up with water and stir well. (You can also shake it in a cocktail shaker.) Garnish glass with a slice of lemon. Serve with a straw.

Use soda water instead of still water for a bubbly version.

Photo credits: Calpis Water bottle - luisvilla; Calpico bottles - samk; Calpis vending machine - jpellgen; Calpis closeup with ice balls - chidorian; Calpis giftset from my mom. (Other photos are by me.)

Homemade Umeshu (plum wine) and Ume Hachimitsu Sour (ume honey-vinegar drink)

maki — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:53:59 +0200

Since so many people liked my mom’s umeboshi recipe, here are two more recipes using ume plums from her. She doesn’t have photos for these, so I’ve taken a picture of her notes, with a little illustration she did of how to layer the ume and sugar for the umeshu (plum wine).

How To Make Umeshu (plum wine)

Although it’s called plum ‘wine’, this beverage is actually a cordial or a liqueur. It’s much easier to make than umeboshi, since the alcohol prevents any mold from forming.

Ingredients and supplies

To make umeshu, you need three ingredients: unripe green ume plums, rock sugar (called kouri zatou (氷砂糖) or ‘ice sugar’ in Japan) and shochu or shouchuu or another flavorless distilled alcoholic beverage, such as vodka. Rock sugar is preferred because it melts slowly, but you could also use granulated sugar. (You can buy rock sugar at General Asian/Chinese grocery stores - maki)

For equipment, you need a large, wide mouth glass jar with an airtight lid. I use a very large canning jar with a snap-on lid with a rubber gasket. You could also use a screwtop lid. The jar should be large enough so that when you put the ume plums, sugar and shochu in, it should only come to about half of the height.

You’ll also need a sharp tool such as a toothpick or skewer to take out the stem ends, and a scale to weigh the ingredients.

Amounts

Weigh your ume plums, then weigh out about half of that weight in rock sugar. If you want it sweeter, increase to 60%. If you want to less sweet, use less sugar, though I would not go under 40% since unripe ume plums are very sour.

I like to keep it simple, and use 500 grams of sugar for every kilo of ume plums.

I never weigh the shochu, but there should be enough so that it completely covers the ume plums in the jar. For a kilo of ume plums I use about 2 liters of shochu.

Incidentally, I usually make about 5 kilo (11 lbs) worth of ume plums in one session, and I make it every year! So, that’s 5 kg of ume plums, 2.5 kg of rock sugar, and about 10 liters of shochu.

Method

Wash your jar or jars and lid well, and sterilize them in boiling water, in a hot dishwasher, in a warm oven, or with some of the alcohol you are using (shochu or vodka), just as you would when making jam or pickles.

Wash and dry the unripe green ume plums, and take off the stem end bits in the same way as in the umeboshi recipe with a toothpick or other pointy tool. You don’t need to soak them in water to get rid of the bitterness as you do with umeboshi, though you can if you want a very smooth tasting umeshu.

Weigh your ume plums after washing and de-stemming them, to get the amount of sugar you need.

Put a layer of ume plums in the jar, then a layer of rock sugar. Repeat until all the sugar and plums are used up, and press down with a clean spatula to compact it all in the jar. Pour the shochu or vodka into the jar until it just covers the topmost layer of plums. The jar should only be about half full, since a lot of liquid will come out of the plums. If you fill the jar too much to start with, the liquid may overflow and burst the lid off!

Put the lid on securely, and leave the jar in a cool, dark place. You may want to shake the jar occasionally to help things along. After about 3 months, the plums will have exuded a lot of juice and will come floating up to the surface - remove the ume plums (you can store them separately if you like; since they are completely saturated with sugar and alcohol, they won’t go bad). After about 5 months, the umeshu is ready to drink, but I like to leave it for at least a year to let it mature. Umeshu really at its best after 2 years, and just mellows and improves with age.

Mellow umeshu has a beautiful light green color, like light olive oil.

Some people like to eat the ume plums that have been used to make the umeshu; it’s believed to have medicinal qualities. People say that an ume a day keeps your insides healthy. You can also float a single ume plum in your umeshu drink as decoration.

How to drink umeshu

You can drink umeshu straight, or on the rocks (over ice cubes) like any liqueur. I like to mix it with water, at about a 1:1 ratio, with lots of ice cubes.

Fruit ‘wine’ with other fruit

If you can’t get ume plums, you can use the same method with other fruit. Strawberry wine, or ichigoshu, is very popular in Japan: for 1 kilo of good, ripe strawberries, use maybe 100 grams of sugar, depending on how sweet the fruit is. After 2 to 3 months, the strawberries will become completely white! Take them out (I wouldn’t eat these), and let the strawberry ‘wine’ mature. You can try apricots, quince, regular Western plums, and so on.

How To Make Honey Sour with ume plums

While umeshu is delicious, it is very alcoholic. So for non-drinkers and my grandchildren, I make a non-alcoholic version with honey and vinegar, called Honey Sour (蜂蜜サワー).

Honey Sour is easier to make than umeshu. Just take equal amounts in weight of unripe green ume plums, honey and vinegar. The vinegar can be rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar - any light flavored and colored vinegar will work. Combine it all in a sterilized large jar. After a while (3 to 4 weeks), take out the plums that will have come floating up to the surface; these can be eaten too, like the umeshu plums. You can rebottle the honey sour in sterilized bottles at this point if you prefer, which can be kept at room temperature.

Use Honey Sour in the same way as you would use umeshu - on the rocks, mixed with water, and so on. It’s also nice as a syrup on shaved ice (kakigouri). I like to bring a small bottle of it on hikes, where we mix it with clear, cold water from mountain streams. So refreshing!

You could try other fruit too. Quince (called karin in Japanese) are really good as a Honey Sour base.

Footnote from Maki: My mother’s drawings

I love the little drawing my mom did for her umeshu instructions. I think her drawings are great, and keep telling her so, but she doesnt seem convinced! Here’s one she did of breakfast a couple of years back, with a wedge of melon and a bowl of muesli. I’m trying to convince her to let me show more of her drawings!

Recipe: Glühwein, mulled wine for Christmas and wintertime (and a bit about Christmas markets in Europe)

maki — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:59:09 +0100

(I've noticed an increasing number of searches for this again. It's that time of year after all. Here in middle Europe, Christmas markets are starting up again in earnest this week, and of course mulled wine (Glühwein) is a must at any Christmas market. In case you can't make it to one, here's my recipe for Glühwein from the archives. How many days to Christmas? Originally published in December 2005, and expanded slightly.)

I have rather mixed feelings about Christmas markets (called Christkindlmarkt in German and Marché de Noel in French), which abound in this part of the world at this time of year. On one hand, they are colorful and seasonal and very festive. But unlike flea markets, which I'm addicted to, and crafts/artisan's markets, the merchandise selection can be a bit mixed. There's an awful lot of touristy junk being sold. They can also be horribly crowded - try going to the Nürnberg (Nurenberg) market on a weekend after 7pm and coming out alive! (Note: I wrote that sentence 3 years ago, but last year I noticed that there was a whole lot less junk and more of the things Christmas market fans love, such as locally crafted items. Maybe people are paying attention to what people want!)

What makes Christmas markets tolerable is Glühwein, which is a mulled wine. Hot, a bit sweet, and spiced, it warms you up nicely as you brace yourself for another round of stall-gazing with more enthusiastic friends and family members pulling you along.

I like to make a potful of Glühwein sometimes at home too. It's a great drink to have after a bracing walk or yet another shopping trip. But the main reason I make it is that it makes the house smell so wonderfully festive.

The base for Glühwein varies - it can be white wine, cider (the alcoholic European kind of cider, not the apple juice of that name sold in North America), or even Jagermeister. I think that a robust red wine works the best though. If you want to up the alcoholic content and fun quotient, add a shot of liqueur like kirsch or pflaumen to each mug. (Don't add the shots to the hot pot or you will get a faceful of knock-out fumes.) No need to stop making it after Christmas either - it's such a warming, fragrant drink that it's served at many ski resorts.

Glühwein, mulled wine

A 750ml bottle of inexpensive dry red wine (no need to splash out on something expensive, but it should be drinkable. I usually just use whatever red wine is on sale at the supermarket.)
2/3 cup of raw cane sugar or white sugar, or non-artificial sweetener of your choice
Juice and peel of one small lemon
2 cardamon pods
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks

Put everything in a heavy bottomed pan. Stir to melt the sugar. Heat the mixture over low heat, and leave for about an hour - it should never boil, just sort of seethe.

Serve in small mugs (straining out the peel and spices), with optional shot of brandy, kirsch or other liqueur.

Notes: Increase the amount proportionately to serve more people. Vary the sweetener to change the taste - honey is interesting, as is dark brown sugar or molasses.

My take on some Christmas markets in Europe

My favorite big, typically Germanic Christmas markets are the ones at Salzburg, Austria and Strasbourg, France. The decidedly non-Germanic Christmas markets in the Provence, such as the one in Aix-en-Provence, are wonderful too.

If you love Christmas ornaments and things, Nurenberg, the biggest market of them all, is worth at least one visit, though you can buy the same Christmas items in the permanent stores in town without the awful crowds at any time of the year.

The market here in Zürich are a bit lacking if you are looking for Christmas kitsch, though there's a lot of merchandise to browse through. (The town of Zürich itself becomes elegantly decked out for the season.) The Glühwein with raclette combo is mighty tasty though. However, there are many terrific Christmas markets all around the country, especially in small towns. Consult the Swiss Tourism site for a schedule. This year, I plan to go to a lot more Swiss markets.

Mugicha (barley tea) is the flavor of summer in Japan

maki — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:14:08 +0200

From the archives: We’ve had a really cold spring so far, but the weather has finally warmed up and I’ve started to make mugicha again. Here is a slightly updated article about mugicha, or toasted barley tea, my favorite non-alcoholic summer drink. Originally published on May 10, 2007.

When we were growing up, my mother frowned upon most sugary drinks for us kids. So things like sodas were generally not stocked in the house - an ice-filled cup of Coke was a great treat whenever we went out to eat. Things like Calpis, or when we lived in the U.S. Kool-Aid, were strictly rationed. The cool drink we always had in the refrigerator was mugicha, or barley tea. Even when we lived in White Plains, New York, there were always a couple of jugs of mugicha in the large American refrigerator.

Mugicha is traditionally made by briefly simmering roasted barley grains. It has a toasty taste, with slight bitter undertones, but much less so than tea made from tea leaves. To me, it’s much more refreshing to drink than plain water.

My anti-sugar mother always made sugarless mugicha, but my younger self craved the sweetened mugicha that most of my friends’ mothers seemed to make. I always begged my mother to make sweet mugicha, but she always refused. Some day, when I am the one making mugicha, I’ll put all the sugar I want in it, I used to think. So, when I reached my teen years, and my mother was back working full time, I used to pour rivers of sugar into the mugicha. My little sisters loved it. I’m not sure if it made them more hyper than usual, though I have vague memories of my younger sister sitting on my head when she got bored.

Now that I am nominally an adult, I much prefer unsweetened mugicha. I’m growing more like my mother as I get older, a rather scary thought.

How to make mugicha

You can buy mugicha in three formats. The most traditional kind is just loose barley grains that have been roasted to a deep, dark brown. The second, and most popular are mugicha tea bags meant for cold brewing. Then there are ‘hybrid’ type tea bags, which can be simmered or cold brewed.

Simmering makes the most robust tasting and dark mugicha. To make mugicha this way, bring water up to a boil, throw in the loose grains or a tea bag, lower the heat and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat off and let cool in the pan to room temperature, then strain and chill in the fridge. Allow one tea bag or 2-3 tablespoons of loose grains per liter (about a quart) of water.

Cold brewing is so convenient though that I tend to make mugicha this way most of the time. It’s lighter in color and taste, but refreshing to drink nonetheless. Just put a mugicha tea bag in a jug of cold water and put it in the fridge; when it’s nicely chilled, the tea is ready. You can also brew it in the sun, like sun tea, if you prefer.

As I’ve noted above, mugicha can be sweetened or unsweetened, to your taste.

Health benefits of mugicha

Many people in Japan believe that mugicha helps to cleanse the body. There have been studies done that may indicate that it helps to reduce stress and so on. I sort of tend to think that the rehydration factor plays a large part in this but it doesn’t hurt anyway. Mugicha is naturally caffeine free.

One word of warning though - mugicha could be an acquired taste. The Resident Guy (who is not Japanese) for instance can’t stand it - he says it tastes like hay to him. (He prefers fermented barley drinks (that’d be beer).)

Since barley does contain gluten, gluten-sensitive people should probably avoid mugicha. (I am not sure how much gluten is released into the water during the brewing process, but it may be better to be on the safe side if you have serious allergy issues.)

Buying and storing mugicha

Mugicha (or boricha as it’s called in Korean) can be purchased at any Japanese or Korean grocery store, though some may only stock it in the warm months.

The one thing to watch for is freshness - since it uses whole barley grains, it can turn rancid. Once I open one of the foil packs, I put it in a plastic bag and use it up as soon as possible. Any left over is stored in the freezer. I try to use up any opened packs before the summer is over.

For U.S. readers: The reliable Uwajimaya sells House (that’s a manufacturer called House, not Uwajimaya’s ‘house brand’) brand cold brew type mugicha and simmering type mugicha via Amazon. You can also get mugicha that’s been blended with regular tea and/or other herbs with various health or weight loss claims on them. For UK/Europe: Japan Centre stocks the House cold brew type. And elsewhere, you can order cold brew type tea bags from J-List, who ships worldwide.

You can buy bottled mugicha too, even a Hello Kitty one. You may want to try a bottle of mugicha first to see if you like the flavor, before going for the tea bags.

Rhubarb, ginger and berry smoothie to chase away a cold

maki — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:45:07 +0200

I have a raging cold at the moment. Stuffed head, fever, ringing ears, streaming eyes, the lot. What makes it worse is that the weather is glorious outside, and here I am stuck inside, groaning a lot and feeling sorry for myself.

In times like this the only things I can even think about eating and drinking are fruity yogurt, juices, and tea. This smoothie, which is an adaptation from a recipe in the adorable Innocent Smoothie Recipe Book, combines two of those elements and is tart yet spicy in a nice chest-clearing sort of way. It also tastes wonderful. Although, I’m pretty sure it would taste even better if my mouth didn’t feel like cotton wool.

It’s a good thing I took this picture against the clear blue spring skies before the cold took over at full steam.

The glass in the photo is a vintage ’60s frosted-glass one I got at a flea market in New York. I have a set of 6. I love them and would kill anyone who broke them.

Rhubarb, berry and ginger smoothie

For the stewed rhubarb in apple juice:

1 carton of apple juice (1 litre or 1 quart) - organic, blabla preferred, or juice your own apples
4-5 stalks rhubarb, cut up

Stew the rhubarb in the apple juice until soft, about 10-15 minutes. This can be stored in the fridge for making the smoothies later.

For the smoothie:

1 cup stewed rhubarb and juice
1 cup fresh or frozen red berries - strawberries or raspberries or a mix
8 Tbs. plain yogurt
1 Tbs. ginger syrup (if you don’t have ginger syrup, use honey)
1 tsp. ginger juice (grate some fresh ginger and squeeze out the juice)

Combine all in a blender. Serve in tall cool glasses.

Makes 2 servings (which you may consume by yourself if needed as medication)

Notes

It’s also great without the ginger element. (The original recipe doesn’t have ginger.)

The Innocent Drinks Company is a U.K. maker of smoothies and other ‘healthy’ type drinks, with very hip and cute marketing. (They’ve recently branched out to Germany too.) In a way the book is another marketing ploy. It has cute bite-sized bits about saving the environment and so on, alongside the nice and sometimes quite imaginative smoothie ideas.

I do try to not over-indulge in smoothies since one glass of a smoothie can be like 3-400 calories, but nothing much else goes down as, eh, smoothly, when your tonsils are swollen.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #25: Champagne Fleury

Guruman — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:23:57 +0200

(Posted by Max: Maki is out of commission since her Powerbook's system disk went belly up yesterday.)

When Sam from Becks & Posh announced the Wine Blogging Wednesday #25 to be about Champagne, it gave me a reason to dig a bit through the cellar, where I found a long-forgotten bottle of a Champagne Fleury which must be almost 10 years old.

It reminded me of the way I got this bottle. Many years ago, I got an assignment for updating a company brochure for a stock metals dealer. The brochure was very heavy on photos, so we were supposed to do some shooting in their warehouses and workshops. So, I rented (as normal for such a project) studio flash equipment and got there. To make the story short, instead of the planned 2 days, I spent 4 long, tedious days in that place.

The company was a family operation, and one of the two sons was more interested in importing wine than copper. And for the inconveniences I had with them, he handed me a wooden box, a gift pack, containing a bottle of that champagne with two matching glasses.

The project eventually got finished, after long, long discussions about whether to use photos of their own staff, or to use stock photos for the office shots. (I recall that one of the sons really wanted to use photos of sexy young girls, never mind that the youngest female worker in their office was probably in her late 40s...)

Anyway, that bottle got into the cellar, and kind of forgotten.

Tasting: Champagne Fleury Brut, Elaboré par Fleury Père et Fils, Courteron; no vintage, but most likely produced from the 1996 crop. The back label states that only organic fertilizer and compost is used. According to the Fleury Website, it is a fully organic product.

When trying an over-aged wine, one has to expect surprises. One may or may not like the result, and it could be that the wine has simply turned bad. That said, we opened our minds and then the bottle.

... and the results were positively surprising

A champagne with a light amber color and medium size pearls. The bouquet started with flowers and caramel, and then got a stronger and stronger tone of honey. And honey, it was. The first taste gave the feeling of drinking essence of honey we tasted in many places in the Provence. It was something between acacia and forest flowers, but not as strong as chestnut honey ... very intensive.

This kind of champagne is defniitely not suited for an aperitif. It would well suit rather strongly flavored smoked fish, such as mackarel or a hearty terrine. We didn't eat anything with this bottle particularly because of the system disk belly-up problem which led some crankiness from a certain party.

Conclusion: we liked it very much, well knowing that this was a one-time experience. It even lessened some crankiness a bit.

How to brew a perfect cup of shincha (new green tea)

maki — Wed, 24 May 2006 19:25:53 +0200

My mother always says that she is not a particularly good cook, though I beg to differ. But she proudly admits to having the skill to brew a perfect cup of tea. The tea that she makes with shincha - green tea made only from new, young tea leaves - has a delicately sweet flavor that seems to blossom in one's mouth, with no bitterness at all. Since she is here now for a month long visit from Japan, I thought that I'd finally pry out her secret to making such delicious green tea. And so...here it is.

Make sure that you have good shincha, which has a true delicate sweetness.
Use an earthenware or ceramic pot. Make only one or two cups worth at a time if you can.
Use charcoal-filtered water if you can (though regular tap water produces good results too, unless it's overly chlorinated.- Maki's notes.)
Bring the tea water to a rolling boil, then let it cool down to about 90°C/194°F. (Note: 100°C is the boiling point for water, so you want the temperature to be just below boiling.)
Pour some of the hot water into the waiting teapot to warm it up. Warm up the tea cups at the same time, then throw away the water.
Use 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea leaves per 2 cups, and put in the warmed up pot.
Put in enough hot water (2 cups worth), then let steep for about 3 minutes, no more.
Use a tea strainer to gently pour out the tea.
Sip slowly and enjoy.

You might be skeptical, thinking "you need boiling water for a good cup of tea!". That's what I thought too, until I tried this method. It really does produce a most superior green tea. Boiling water seems to work better in bringing out the oils in more robust teas though.

Note: Gyokuro is a type of tea that is most often sold as shincha and is widely available.

Technorati Tags: green tea, Japanese, ocha, tea

Masterchef challenge day 18: Syllabub with Vin Santo and Almond Tuiles

maki — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 22:44:43 +0100

It's day 18, and here are the ingredients:

Wild mushrooms
Lemons
Ciabatta bread
Anchovies
Tallegio cheese
Turnips
Vin santo
Steak

This is the oddest ingredient list so far, because one item just doesn't belong with the rest - the vin santo. Vin santo is an Italian fortified wine, that is quite sweet and heavy in flavor. It's similar to a Tokay or an Eiswein, though not as sweet as the latter. In other words, it is definitely a dessert wine. At least one of the contestants tried to cook with it (she used it for the mushrooms), and her dish was not praised.

I could have omitted it and made a savory dish with the other ingredients, but I wanted to do something with the vin santo. That lead me to this dessert for adults: a syllabub made with the vin santo plus a smidgen of lemon juice, almond tuiles, and a small glass of the wine to accompany it.

Syllabub is one of the easiest desserts to make. All you need is heavy cream, sugar, white wine, and a little lemon juice. The amount of wine defines how alcholic it becomes. You can also make it with a light cream, and serve it as a drink. It's a very old fashioned dessert, that was often made with top-of-milk cream or fresh milk. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the syllabub was left out for a while to ferment.

The one thing to be careful of is to not over whip the cream. If you want to be sure to avoid overwhipping, use a hand whisk. If you chill the syllabub in the refrigerator for a while, it may separate a bit, but don't worry - just stir it gently before putting into the serving glasses.

A traditional Italian accompaniment to a dessert wine would be biscotti, but I prefer delicate, thin cookies. Tuiles are a French classic, and they are fairly quick and easy to make, provided you watch them in the oven like a hawk, and work rapidly when you take them out. You don't want to burn them, and since they are so thin they do burn very easily. If the little circles are a bit misshapen though, don't worry. Once you have bent them over the rolling pin to give them that tuile (roof tile) shape, no one will notice that they are not perfect spheres.

This is a great dinner party dessert because it's light yet creamy, boozy, and can be made several hours in advance.

Unused ingredients: basically everything except the vin santo and lemon!

Technorati Tags: dessert, masterchef, vin santo

Almond tuiles

120g / about 4 oz. unsalted butter, softened (or 1 stick)
100g / about 3 1/2 oz. white sugar (or 1/2 cup)
50g / about 1 3/4 oz. plain white flour, sifted (or 1/3 cup)
2 egg whites
a pinch of salt
a few drops of almond extract
1 cup of sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F. Line a couple of baking sheets with silicon pads.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg whites, salt, flour, and extract. Don't whip it in, or the egg whites will get a bit foamy, making the texture cakey. You want the cookies to be flat and crispy, not spongy. Stir in the sliced almonds.

On one of the lined baking sheets, put teaspoonfuls of the mixture at least 3 cm / 1 1/2 inches or so apart. (The reason you only want to bake one sheet at a time is because it's hard to handle two sheets full at once to turn them into the curled tuile shape.) Put in the oven and set the timer for 8 minutes. Start checking them from that point - the cookies should be golden brown on the edges and just starting to turn brown in the middle. In the meantime, make ready a rolling pin - a marble one is best, but a wooden one would do too.

Take the baking sheet out, and rapidly scoop up a cookie with a spatula - use two if you need to. Drape the cookie on a rolling pin, and very lightly press down on the sides if it's sticking up. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Let them cool on the rolling pins until they have hardened, then slide them gently off. Bake the rest of the batter in the same way, in batches. Tuiles keep in an airtight container for a few days (though to be honest, they never last beyond a couple of days!)

Syllabub with Vin Santo

2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vin santo
1 Tbs. lemon juice

Whip the cream lightly with the sugar. Add the vin santo and the lemon juice and continue whipping until soft peaks form. Cover and put in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serve in wine or cocktail glasses, with the tuiles on the side and a small glass of the vin santo.