A crumble is a fruit-based dessert with a crumbly topping called a streusel that's a mixture of flour, butter and sugar -- plus optional flavorings like cinnamon, vanilla extract, lemon zest or nuts -- that is baked until crisp. The flour, butter and sugar are combined until they form crumbs; some people like to add oats or nuts to the mixture.
Apple crumble is traditional, but you can make a crumble out of rhubarb, blackberries, plums or just about any fruit. A crumble is delicious warm or cold, plain or accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream, heavy cream or custard.
The crumble is said to have been invented in Britain during World War II, when food rationing made pie crusts an impossibility. Americans sometimes call the crumble a crisp.
What's the point of bringing a casserole to room temperature before cooking?
What's the point of bringing a casserole to room temperature before cooking?
When baking a casserole that you've pre-assembled and stored in the refrigerator, remember to bring it to room temperature (usually about 30 minutes) before subjecting it to the heat of the oven.
If you stick a cold casserole in a hot oven, you risk drying out the top of the casserole before you've given the inside time to cook or heat through.
If you want your casserole to cook evenly, do yourself a favor and let it come to room temperature first. If for some reason you can't, then as a last resort, reduce the heat to allow it to cook more slowly without drying out.
What's the point of letting a casserole rest before cutting into it?
What's the point of letting a casserole rest before cutting into it?
If you spend time baking a casserole, be it macaroni and cheese, lasagna, meatloaf or anything else, be sure to let it rest for a few minutes before cutting into it. (Don't worry that it will get cold; it's been sizzling away in a hot oven for quite some time, and there is plenty of heat circulating in the pan to keep it warm.)
Letting a casserole rest for 10 minutes or so means that the proteins and starches will have time to set, making for a more stable mixture before you cut it into portions. If the casserole is too hot, it will be harder to manage, fall apart more easily, and won't taste as good.
Salt cod is salted and dried cod, a method of food preservation that has been around for hundreds of years.
To bring salt cod back to life and purge it of excess salt, you need to soak the fish in cool water for 24 hours, changing the water 4 to 5 times. Many chefs also swear by the slow running water method whereby cod is submerged in a dish of cold water and left in the sink under a slow-dripping faucet, so that the salty water is constantly replaced with fresh water.
Once the cod has finished soaking, you can pre-cook the fish for various recipes by placing it in a pan deep enough to hold the salt cod fillets and covering with 1 inch of water. Bring this to a simmer, remove from the heat, cover and let stand 20 minutes until the fish is tender and easily flaked. Once the fish is cooked, you can easily remove the skin and bones.
A pescetarian is somebody who eats fish or other creatures of the sea (excluding mammals) but otherwise does not eat meat.
Pescetarians are sometimes called pesco-vegetarians, but they are not strictly vegetarians. Some pescetarians eat eggs and dairy.
Biryani is a one-dish rice-based meal that consists of layering cooked rice and meat in a casserole, before baking it in the oven. Originating in Persia and popular in India and the Middle East, biryani can be made with chicken, seafood or meat, and can also be made as a vegetarian casserole.
Biryani is normally made with basmati rice and flavored with cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf, coriander, mint, ginger, garlic and onions. Traditionally, orange saffron milk was sprinkled on the top of the dish before baking, so that the rice grains had a variated white and yellow-orange color and a subtle saffron flavor; today the high cost of saffron means that many restaurants unfortunately use yellow food coloring instead.
Biryani is often served with a yogurt-based condiment such as raita or a tomato, onion and cilantro relish. It is good for crowds and a favorite at Bangladeshi wedding receptions, Indian family dinners and Muslim dinner tables in Thailand.
A cobbler is a baked fruit-based dessert that is a cousin to the crumble and the crisp. Unlike a crumble, which is topped with a dry crumbly streusel topping before baking, the crumble is covered in a batter that often involves eggs and milk.
Americans and Brits both make a habit of cobbler, but American cobblers -- frequently made from fresh apples, peaches, blackberries or cherries -- are more commonly eaten for dessert, with a topping that rises and forms a kind of giant dumpling. In the U.K., a cobbler is typically a savory dish like a lamb casserole, covered with a biscuit or scone topping that is spooned on into individual toppings across the top.
The American cobbler has nicknames like the Betty, Buckle, Sonker, Grunt, and Slump. New Englanders make Slumps and Grunts in a stove-top iron skillet, topping the fruit with dumplings. Buckles are made with yellow batter that's mixed with the filling. Sonkers are deep-dish cobblers from North Carolina. The Brown Betty is made with layers of fruit and bread or graham cracker crumbs, kind of like a fruity bread pudding.
