Italian Cream Tarts


Ingredients:
1/3 cup  sugar
1/4 cup  all-purpose flour
1 cup  milk
3   beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoons  liqueur (such as clear creme de cacao, orange, or raspberry) or 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 17.3-ounce package  frozen puff pastry, thawed (2 sheets)
1 8-ounce carton  mascarpone cheese (1 cup)
4 ounces  semisweet chocolate, cut up
1 tablespoon  shortening
 
Directions:
 For the pastry cream:
-in a medium saucepan combine sugar and flour; gradually stir in milk
-add egg yolks, beating until smooth
-cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, stirring often
-remove from heat
-stir liqueur or vanilla into pastry cream; pour into a bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap
-cool, then chill
 
 For tart shells:
-thaw pastry according to package directions
-unfold pastry sheets, one at a time, on a lightly floured surface
-roll lightly to minimize ridges
using 2 1/2- to 3-inch cookie cutters, cut out about 24 tarts (be sure to cut out an even number of each shape); place half of them on an ungreased baking sheet and prick each a few times with a fork
-using 1-1/2- to 2-inch cutters (of the same design or round), cut the middle out of the remaining pastries, reserving cutouts
 
-brush edges of the tarts on baking sheet with water and top with tarts that have the middles cut out; press gently to fuse layers together to form taller tart shells
-arrange small cutouts on another ungreased baking sheet
-bake pastries in a 400 degree F oven until puffed and golden, allowing 7 to 9 minutes for small cutouts and 10 to 12 minutes for larger tarts
-cool pastries completely
 
-up to 1 hour before serving time, add mascarpone cheese to chilled pastry cream; beat with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth
-carefully spoon mixture into tart shells
-melt semisweet chocolate and shortening together in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly
-remove from heat
-spread a thin layer of chocolate over tops of small cutouts
-pipe or drizzle remaining chocolate over the cream-filled tarts
-refrigerate both until chocolate is set
 
-to serve, arrange filled tarts and chocolate-glazed cutouts on large platter and surround with berries
-makes 12 servings
 
Make-Ahead Tip
Prepare pastry cream, cool, cover, and chill up to 4 hours before adding the cheese.
 
Preparation time: 45 mins (total - 4 hrs 52 mins)
Difficulty level: Medium 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

Did ‘This American Life’ discover Coke’s secret formula?

One of the most closely guarded trade secrets in the history of commerce may be a secret no more: the radio show "This American Life" thinks it has found the exact recipe for the world's most popular soft drink in a 1979 newspaper article.

According to the show's host, Ira Glass, the drink's secret flavoring component, which was created by pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886, is something called "Merchandise 7X." The show's staff recently stumbled across the February 8, 1979 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which published an article on page 28 about a leather-bound notebook that once belonged to Pemberton's best friend, another pharmacist in the Atlanta area named R. R. Evans. The notebook contained a number of pharmacological recipes--but the main entry, for students of commercial history, was what's believed to be the exact recipe for the soft drink: all of the ingredients listed with the exact amounts needed to whip up a batch.

The Journal-Constitution piece also featured a photo of the page in Evans' notebook detailing Coke recipe--essentially revealing the recipe to the world. But since 1979 well antedated the explosion of digital media, the photograph of the recipe didn't travel far beyond the Atlanta area.

Coke's recipe is one of the most closely guarded secrets in American commerce, steeped in cloak-and-dagger lore. After businessman Asa Griggs Candler bought out Pemberton--who also conjured up cough medicines and blood purifiers, among other things--in 1887 for $2,300, the exact recipe for 7X was placed in the vault in an Atlanta bank. It's been reported that only two company employees are privy to its ingredients and how they're mixed at any given time--and that those two aren't allowed to travel together out of fear that a traveling accident might take both of their lives.

According to company historian Mark Pendergrast, Candler was so paranoid about the recipe leaking out of his proprietary control that he would go through the company mail himself to prevent any employees from seeing invoices that might tip off its ingredients.

"It's this carefully passed-on secret ritual," Pendergrast told Glass, "and the formula is kept in a bank vault at Sun Trust, which used to be the Georgia Trust Company."

After Pendergrast reviewed the recipe in the 1979 newspaper photo, he concluded that it could well be the real deal: "I think that it certainly is a version of the formula," he said, adding, "It's very similar to a formula that I found" in one of John Pemberton's notebooks when he was doing research for the book. Coke, for its part, denies that the security of its secret formula has been breached. "Many third parties, including 'This American Life,' have tried to crack our secret formula," company spokeswoman Kerry Tressler said. "Try as they might, they've been unsuccessful." Coke's archive director Philip Mooney told "This American Life" that the recipe may well have been a "precursor" to the prized formula, but probably wasn't the version that "went to market."

So what's the secret to making Coke? Well, here's what was written in the notebook:

The recipe:
Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USP
Citric acid: 3 oz
Caffeine: 1 oz
Sugar: 30 (unclear quantity)
Water: 2.5 gal
Lime juice: 2 pints, 1 quart
Vanilla: 1 oz
Caramel: 1.5 oz or more for color

The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):
Alcohol: 8 oz
Orange oil: 20 drops
Lemon oil: 30 drops
Nutmeg oil: 10 drops
Coriander: 5 drops
Neroli: 10 drops
Cinnamon: 10 drops

Pemberton had reportedly hit upon the formula for Coke in an attempt to overcome the addiction to morphine he contracted after the Civil War, so it's perhaps not surprising that, in addition to alcohol, the drink originally contained Coca leaves laced with cocaine. After Atlanta passed a local prohibition ordinance in the 1890s, the company took the booze out of the formula, and the company has used cocaine-free coca leaves since 1904.

When the beverage debuted in Atlanta-area pharmacies owned by friends of Pemberton, marketers pronounced it "a shot in the arm"-- while Pemberton himself hailed it as a cure for cure pain, impotence and headaches. In our more enlightened age, of course, we know that Coke "adds life"--together with a dollop or two of neroli and nutmeg oil.

CORRECTION: This post originally called "This American Life" "NPR's 'This American Life'." However, while the show does air on NPR, it is produced by Chicago Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International.

(Photo: AP/Coca-Cola)

Source: Yahoo

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

Appetizer With Fried Eggs.


Ingredients:
(for 2 people)

- 4 boiled eggs
- 1-2 tablespoons of flour
- 1 raw egg
- 3 tablespoons of bread crumb
- 1 tablespoon shaved cheese
- oil for frying

Preparation:

  Put in one bowl the flour and in other bowl the bread crumb mixed with shaved cheese.
  In other bowl beat the raw egg with a little cold water.
  Peel the boiled eggs and go them through the flour, beaten egg and the mix of bread crumb with shaved cheese (be sure that the flour and the mix of bread crumb and shaved cheese are well fixed on the egg).
  Preheat the oil very well in a deep pan and fry the egg (this operation takes about 1 minute).
  Remove them on an absorbent towel.
  Serve them either hot or cold.

Green Sauce:
Mix mayonnaise sauce with choped parsley, choped green onion and a few spices.

Preparation time: 10 mins
Difficulty level: Low
 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS