| 298 | 299 | 300 | 301 | 302 |
| 1 | 103 | 205 | 308 | 410 |
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for a minute or two. Professionals call this step blooming. To activate gelatin, it must reach 140°F
60°C), the gelatinization temperature. Without bringing the liquid with the gelatin to this
(
temperature, it will not gel your liquid. If you don’t use a thermometer, bring the liquid to hot but
make sure no to boil. Boiling loses some of gelatin’s setting ability.
In cooling, the next process, the unstructured molecular chains of protein crystallize into
molecular aggregates and eventually into a three-dimensional crystal structure. Don’t agitate the
liquid during cooling as it interferes with the process. Occasionally you may stir very gently.
When the cooling temperature drops below 75°F (25°C) the three-dimensional structure
begins to set into a gel (the setting temperature is lower in acid liquids). By the time it reaches
refrigeration temperature, it is a stiff, semi-solid gelatin. Set your timer if your recipe calls for
folding ingredients into setting gelatin to remind you before it becomes too stiff. Should the setting
go too far, it may reaches the point of no return, and folding becomes impossible. If that happens
but the gelatin is still not fully set, immerse the container into a bowl of hot water—the heat may
soften the gelatin enough for you to fold. If that fails, start again.
Follow recipes exactly with gelatin—using too little, and your liquid does not set stiff
enough. Using too much, you may get the consistency of rubber ducky. As a rough guide, one
packet (2¾ teaspoons) sets 2 cups of liquid.
To unmold gelatin desserts, dip the dish into a bowl of very hot water for about 5 to 10
seconds. The gelatin near the contact with the dish softens enough that it lets the entire mass slide
out on a platter. The most efficient way to do that is to place your serving platter up-side-down over
the gelatin mold and turn them together right-side-up. If the gelatin doesn’t release from the mold,
let it sit over the serving dish for a few minutes, and hope it will release. If still not, try the hot water
again.
Gelatin packages warn you, and many cooks know it, that you cannot use some fresh fruits
in gelatin desserts. An enzyme in them deactivates gelatin's setting property. After you cook these
fruits, however, you deactivate the offending enzyme. These fruits are fresh pineapple, fig, kiwi,
papaya, honeydew melon and ginger.
Rarely you may see recipes calling for sheet gelatin. European kitchens like to use these, but
they are not readily available on this side of the Atlantic. They are identical to our powdered gelatin
but are in sheets.
Chocolate
Easy to eat, loved by everyone, chocolate, nevertheless, is a tough one in the kitchen. I don’t
mean baking with it as in brownies—that is hardly a culinary headache. But in any preparation
calling for tempered chocolate you need plenty of knowledge and experience—working with it is
both an art and a science. It is a highly specialized part of baking with complex physical and
chemical reactions. Working with chocolate involves information that are book-length and beyond
the scope of this book.
Yet every cook should know at least the basics of chocolate. Complex or not, chocolate or
cocoa is one of the top favorite ingredients in everyday baking.
Baking chocolate contains various alkaloids that effect the human body, most important of
which are theobromine and caffeine, both stimulants. But far more important effect is its
incomparable flavor. To many, nothing in the entire culinary repertoire can come near to the
hedonistic pleasure of eating chocolate, and there is certainly no substitute for it.
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